Why raspberries refuse to bloom and bear fruit: experienced gardeners answer
It often happens that a gardener waits and waits for the raspberry harvest, but the raspberry bush doesn’t even think about blooming.
An expert of the online publication Belnovosti, agronomist, and landscape designer Anastasia Kovrizhnykh explained why raspberries never bloom.
First, you should check the acidity of the soil, the pH of which should ideally be between 5.6 and 6.5.
In addition to acidity, the composition of the soil is also important – raspberries will not grow well in clayey or poorly drained soil.
Another important rule for fruiting is annual pruning.
To carry out this procedure, it is worth remembering what kind of variety is growing in your garden - the pruning features depend on the characteristics of the variety.
For example, summer raspberries should be “visited” with pruning shears twice a season, removing all weak shoots at the beginning of April, and all fruit-bearing shoots after harvesting.
The right time to prune purple and black raspberries is in March - at this time it is worth removing all side shoots up to 8 cm. Re-pruning for purple raspberries is carried out when their stems grow to 30 cm - you will have to remove 3 cm from them. Owners of black raspberries wait until the branches grow to 24 cm and in the same way remove 3 cm from the top on young shoots.
Finally, if you want to pick berries by the bucketful, try planting your bushes in raised beds that receive full sun.
If you checked all the points using this cheat sheet, but everything was done correctly, the reason for the lack of berries should be sought in diseases and pests.
