I have a couple of friends who are very much into board games. They seem to remember the rules of 15+ games by heart and juggle an impressive number of winning strategies for every single game. It’s baffling to me, a board game novice, how they seem to play every single game on easy mode while the rest of us rack our brains before we make a move.
What does this have to do with raspberry cuttings, you ask? Well, I may be bad at board games, but my friends tell me I’m playing this cuttings propagation game on easy mode myself. And to them (self-confessed black thumbs), I also seem to hold an infinite number of winning strategies up my sleeve when it comes to gardening.
Let’s just say I give them cuttings from my garden, and they don’t give me grief about having to explain the rules of the same board game for the fifth time.
Propagating raspberries from cuttings is an easy game for me because I follow one simple rule: know which canes are viable.
Once I explain this rule, you can also play the “get more berries” game on easy mode.
Can I really propagate raspberries from cuttings?
Yes, you can. But you’ll be successful if you use this year’s canes (also known as primocanes).
Let’s clarify a bit.
Generally, red and yellow raspberries can be single-bearing (also known as summer-bearing) or everbearing (also known as double-bearing).
Summer-bearing raspberries will produce fruit only once (usually in July) on last year’s canes.
Everbearing raspberries will produce fruit twice a year.
The first batch comes in early summer. In my garden, this usually happens in late May and peaks in mid-June. The fruit grows on the canes left over from the previous year (also known as floricanes). Once I harvest the fruit, these canes will start drying and dying back. They’ve done their job and I cut them back.
The second batch of fruit comes in late summer and early fall. In my garden, it peaks in September. This harvest grows on canes that have sprouted this year (also known as primocanes). Once I harvest the fruit, I leave these canes to overwinter in the garden. They’ve done half of their job this year, and will fruit again next year, from side shoots. So these canes will turn from primocanes (this summer) to floricanes (next summer).
Some gardeners treat all raspberries as summer-bearing. By cutting everything down to ground level in winter, the plant will only produce new canes in the summer. This eliminates early summer berries, and only gives late summer ones.
The reasoning is that you’ll get more raspberries this way, and you can pick them in one batch.
I beg to differ.
I grow my raspberries as everbearing because:
- Since I’m not a commercial grower, I don’t need my crop to be ready all at once for distribution.
- I like enjoying raspberries for months – roughly from May until October.
- So far, I haven’t noticed any diminishing in the quantity of my harvest. On the contrary, the stronger the raspberry root network seems to get, the more fruit we get.
This September, I’ve been picking a small bowl a day, almost every day, from my golden raspberry patch.
Ok, but what does this long-winded explanation have to do with taking raspberry cuttings?
Well, I felt that the explanation was necessary because I want you to remember two things:
- DON’T take cuttings from floricanes (old canes that emerged last year). It will not work. This is the one mistake I was referring to in the headline.
- DO take cuttings from primocanes (young canes that sprouted this year). These will make viable cuttings.
If you don’t know what you’ve got growing, take a sample. Young canes look light green on the inside (like in the photo below), while old canes will already be light brown and desiccated when you cut into them.
How to Take Raspberry Cuttings Step-by-Step
For this article, I’m taking cuttings of my golden raspberries in the fall. You can also take cuttings in the summer, but keep in mind that cane fruit needs chilly weather in order to start producing roots.
Step 1: Prepare your pots and potting soil.
Since I’m taking cuttings in early fall, my calculation is this: the cuttings won’t have enough time to develop a strong root system until late spring next year, at the earliest. This means they will probably be in this container for about eight to nine months (September to April/May).
That’s why I’m using a pot that’s large enough to host the cuttings for an extended stay.
When it comes to soil, the raspberries are not very picky. But they do need well-draining soil. I use a combination of compost and horticultural sand.
The aged compost is rich enough to provide nutrients, but by itself is too heavy and dense. That’s why I prefer to cut it with a handful of regular potting soil (for outdoor containers) and about a quarter of a material that promotes drainage (either horticultural sand, perlite or aged bark).
Step 2: Cut a length of new canes (primocanes).
When you cut your raspberry cane, try to visually assess how many cuttings you can get out of a single stem.
I count as ‘a cutting’ a length of stem that’s about four nodes tall. That means there are about four sets of leaves on each one. Three sets of leaves is also fine, but I prefer four to make sure I bury at least two sets of leaf nodes under ground.
When choosing a stem, select the one that looks the strongest. All things being equal, I usually pick the cane that is done bearing fruit. Once you cut off the cane, the fruit won’t finish ripening. That’s ok if you’ve had your fill of raspberries for the year, but I’d rather not sacrifice good fruit if I have other choices.
Keep in mind that the leaf nodes at the top are closer in distance to each other than the leaf nodes lower down the cane. In other words, the number of individual cuttings you’ll get from one stem is given by the length of the internodes, not by the length of the cane.
Tip: Always make the cut right below a leaf node.
Step 3: Divide and prepare your cuttings.
If your stem is too tall, that’s perfectly fine. We can divide that long stem into several cuttings. I usually skip the top growth since that section of cane was busy fruiting this year and hasn’t hardened yet.
I was able to get three cuttings out of a single cane, with four sets of leaf nodes on each cutting.
Then I remove the leaves from the nodes that will go underground. The scar tissue left in place is where the new root structure will originate from.
You can remove the leaves from the top too, but you don’t need to. They will generally fall by themselves later in the season, so yes, you will be left with sticks in the ground.
But in the meantime, the leaves will keep collecting energy for the roots for a little bit longer.
Step 4: Plant your cuttings.
Here’s what the cuttings will look like in the end.
Simply insert your cutting into the soil, pushing it all the way to the bottom. Again, make sure your container is tall enough to accommodate the length of at least two leaf nodes.
Gently tap the soil around the stems to make sure there are no pockets of air around the stems.
How many cuttings can you fit in a pot? It depends on how wide the pot is. In a one gallon pot, I plant about four cuttings, evenly spaced.
Not all of them will make it, but that will be pretty evident early on. The stems that don’t root usually start to dry up pretty quickly.
In my experience, raspberry roots not taking is more the exception rather than the rule.
Step 5: Raspberry cuttings aftercare.
I make a big deal out of recommending diligent and proper aftercare whenever I write about taking cuttings. This means baby-ing the new plant and making sure it’s getting enough water (but not too much) and enough light (but not too much direct sunlight).
Luckily, raspberries are not that fussy. Obviously, don’t let the pots dry out.
And perhaps counterintuitively, don’t let them get too warm.
Like most cane fruit, raspberries need a period of cooling in order to start producing roots (about 35-55F, which translates to 2-13C).
So if the weather is still warm in the fall, place your cuttings in part-shade to keep the containers cool.
If you see them start pushing out growth right away – usually within a couple of days to a couple of weeks – I’m afraid that’s not a good sign. This generally happens because they got too much warmth. The canes will likely not have had the time to grow roots. (Roots before shoots, as the saying goes.)
It’s not the end of the world. The roots might still follow, but the process will be a bit stunted. Or they might fail, but you won’t know for quite a while.
Since I’m a rather cautious gardener, this is the point when I take a few extra cuttings, just to make sure I have backups.
It may take a couple of months for the roots to form. So if you see shoots any time after that, that’s a good sign. You can gently tug on the canes to see if there’s resistance. If there is, that means the roots are there. In the beginning, they’re very delicate, so don’t probe around too much. Just let them do their thing until the following spring.
Will I get raspberry fruit from these cuttings next summer?
As much as I like instant gratification, I try to remember that we’re playing the long game here. So yes, the cuttings we’re taking now might bear some fruit next summer. But it will probably be just a few raspberries.
If you’re eager to taste them, go ahead and let them grow. However, a better idea would be to remove the buds and flowers during that first year. This will allow the plant to redirect its energy into growing roots and new stems.
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