Two types of raspberries are available to the home gardener. Summer bearing or June bearing types initiate flowers on first-year canes, or primocanes, from late August to early September. The canes overwinter, bloom and fruit the following spring and summer, then die. While the fruiting canes, or floricanes, are bearing, new primocanes emerge for the next year's crop and continue the life of the planting. Root systems are perennial.

Fall fruiting types, also known as everbearing or primocane fruiting types, bear fruit on the top half of first-year-canes from early August through late September. They overwinter and produce a second crop on the lower half of the canes the following June through July.

No one cultivar can be universally recommended. June bearers have ample plant vigor, but they produce fruit with different flavors. The earliest ripening cultivars usually produce mature fruit by the second week of June in the southern districts, and 1 or 2 weeks later in the northern regions (of western Washington). The potential harvest season lasts 4 to 6 weeks. The fall-fruiting varieties usually have fruit in early August.

Summer bearing varieties:

• Willamette - Earliest fruiting with large, dark berries. Industry standard from 1942 to 1970.
• Meeker - 1967. Popular, late, large, firm berries suitable for mechanical harvesting.
• Nootka - 1978. Short dark conical fruit, superior flavor to most varieties. Hard to find.
• Tulameen - 1990. Very large, firm fruit with very good flavor.

Derived from Nootka:

• Qualicum - 1996. Large fruit, good flavor, long shelf life reduces rots, fresh or processing.
• Malahat - 1996. Earliest variety, large fruit, good firmness,flavor good, for fresh market.

Fall or everbearing varieties:

• Heritage - 1969, developed in New York. Very winterhardy but ripens after September first.
• Summmit - 1976, productive, small fruit, good flavor, some root rot tolerance.
• Fallred - 1964, New Hampshire. Earlier than Heritage, better size,flavor and firmness.
• Amity - Recent Oregon release similar to Fallred.
• Autumn Bliss
• Summit
• Fall Gold (yellow fruit)

There are also several varieties of gold, purple, and black raspberries. Many are less productive and less flavorful. Some varieties of black raspberries are severely affected by diseases to which red raspberries are tolerant.

Planting

• Beds. Plant in raised beds or mounds in heavier soil to improve drainage away from crown.
• Stock. Use certified stock, plant or root cuttings.
• Spacing is generally 18 to 36 inches, averaging 28 inches apart in rows 6 to 8 feet apart.
• Soil. Good drainage, ideally 4 feet minimum to water table with high fertility.
• Established weeds. Remove all weeds, especially perennials.
• Hill Culture. Maintain plants as individual hills or allow to fill in as a solid row as in a hedge row. Tie canes individually or in clumps in fall or winter to top wire.
• Pruning. Top canes back in early spring to about 5 feet to stimulate lateral branching. Leave all canes over 6 feet and the diameter of your index finger, about 12 canes per hill.
• Fertilizers. Apply 2 to 3 pounds of 5-10-10 or equivalent fertilizer to each 100 feet of row.
• Training. Place wires at 30 and 54 inches to support canes. Use three or four wire systems.

Diseases and Pests

• Phytophthora root rot, wet soil root rot, crown gall, botrytis fruit rot, spur blight, verticillium wilt, yellow rust, anthracnose, and viral diseases, such as raspberry bush dwarf.
• Crown borer, cane borer, dryberry mite, true bugs and spider mites.
• Other. Crumbly berry, due to poor pollination, nutrient deficience,virus diseases, or genetics.
  
  

Further Information

• WSU Growing Small Fruits for the Home Garden - Raspberry
  
• WSU Hortsense - Check out the Small Fruit section.
  
• Plant Disease Control Guide (Oregon State University)
• Or contact your local WSU Extension Office.

Written by Jim Kropf, WSU Area Extension Agent, King/Pierce Counties
Reviewed 1997. Links updated 5/12/04, Dave Pehling