Interesting. Initial diagnoses:

o What is your pruning regime?

o Raspberries have fairly good tolerance if all their needs are met, most importantly N but not too much. When you say 'like the rest of the garden', is this for greens or for potatoes? Provided I get final familial approval for the raspberry patch here in our McSuburb, I'll have heavy duty organic matter and I have my superphosphate already, and much of the N will come from lawn clippings, as I don't like too much N in mine...

o Do you mulch with hay in fall?

Dan

Hi Dan,

I should have mentioned one more thing. I have a strawberry patch next to the raspberries and they've been light producers as well, although better than the raspberries.

I'm not very diligent with pruning. I've pruned old canes and thinned others the last 3 years. Before that I didn't prune. I've pruned them around April 1, when the snow melts (this year, because of the cold temps, that will probably be August 15).

I grow a little of everything in that 650 square foot plot- broccoli, legumes, nightshades, root crops, greens and squashes. I have some mints growing next to the berries.

I use a general vegetable garden fertilizer mix from Coop. I don't recall the exact blend, though.

I don't mulch, but wouldn't the reliable snow cover do the same thing?

I haven't put great effort into them, but after all, they're raspberries. Weeds, really.

It's frustrating because of the raspberries and strawberries my mom grew on our farm. I don't recall her pruning or mulching the raspberries (our farm was between Sioux Falls and Fargo) and she had bumper crops every year.

As I've mentioned, I am building a new raised bed garden adjacent to my greenhouse, I'm debating whether or not I want to establish a new bed of either berry there, although I will be able to control the soils better.

Mark

Hmm, that's a lot of years to go with only a cup of fruit. This is my 3rd year growing raspberries. The first year they produced quite a bit and then last year not much. This was probably due to last years growth was mostly first year. I did google search a bit about non-producing and found this info.

http://www.gardenguides.com/80653-old-raspberry-plants-bear-fruit.html

Basically it says get on a pruning, mulching and weeding routine.

Raspberries need good, well-draining soil too in addition to the gardener getting into a routine with them. In my view, out here they almost require raising the bed somewhat and importing planting mix.

Dan

Dan,

The bed is raised about 8' and the soil has adequate drainage. The garden is located in a clearing in a mature gambel oak woodland. The soil has a tad of clay but not much. The soil is pretty black and I've dug with a backhoe to 5 feet or more before I hit the rock and clay alluvium from the mountain above.

Given the health (visually) of the vegetation, the plants are prospering. Could it be a pollination problem? Shouldn't be, though. I grow squash within a few feet of them. Must be nutrition.

Could it be the June frosts? Raspberries are pretty hardy, though. It does often freeze hard enough in June to curl the leaves.

Last year I decided to transplant some to an area closer to the house. They did well until mid July when some uninvited dinner guests showed up. Rude deer. They didn't even say thank you!

Mark