What to Do With Raspberry Plants in June for the Best Yields of Delicious Summer Fruits
Raspberries are low-maintenance but not zero-maintenance – here are some jobs to add to this month’s to-do list
Raspberries are super-popular, easy to grow, and come in different varieties that can extend the harvesting season. Whether you grow summer or fall-fruiting raspberries, June is a pivotal month for the plants.
Early varieties of summer-fruiting raspberries are ready for picking towards the second half of the month. On the other hand, later varieties are still actively growing and developing fruits. Both need nurturing to produce the best crop, and a gardener may easily find themselves watering, feeding, and weeding this month to keep the canes healthy and productive.
I am a huge fan of growing raspberries, and have cultivated a wide variety over the years, from a single dwarf cultivar in a pot to rows of canes in a productive walled garden. I find that a few key early summer tasks can help you protect your harvest. Here’s a guide to what to do with raspberry plants in June.
Harvest Early Varieties
Summer-fruiting raspberries start ripening in June, depending on the variety. Any gardener fortunate enough to have these types can enjoy harvesting regularly later in the month.
If you pick the berries every few days as they ripen, you should be able to keep harvesting for 3-4 weeks.
A ripe raspberry has a deep color – you can get yellow, purple, and black raspberries as well as the typical red ones – and should come off the cane easily with a gentle tug, though the core will remain.
Don’t make the harvesting mistake of yanking the berries. If they don’t detach easily, they are simply not ripe – come back and try again in a few days.
Water Canes in Dry Spells
As raspberry canes develop fruits, keeping them well-watered is crucial. True, it is important to provide them with moisture throughout the growing season for strong growth, but the period from flowering to picking fruits is a pivotal time. Here, watering can make a big difference between a good and a bad harvest.
Raspberry canes have shallow roots, which puts them at more risk when the soil dries out. A lack of moisture while fruits are forming and developing leads to smaller or brittle berries, rather than the plump, juicy raspberries you aspire for.
To avert this crisis, water plants at least every week during dry periods. Ideally, raspberries want 1-2 inches of water per week, either from natural rainfall or thanks to a gardener watering them.
The best way to water plants is to direct the water towards the base of the plants, so it soaks into the soil. Overhead watering risks fungal diseases, plus there is little guarantee of how much water reaches the soil through the dense canopy of foliage.
Drip irrigation or soaker hoses are efficient ways to water raspberries and ensure all the water reaches the roots, where it is needed most. You can get a soaker hose from Amazon made of 100% recycled vinyl to gently seep water at the soil level to water raspberries efficiently.
Feed Plants to Encourage Strong Fruiting
The core time to fertilize raspberries is in early spring, but there is a window to feed plants again in June. Fertilizing at this point in the season with a high-potassium feed, such as a tomato feed, provides the canes with a fast-acting dose of essential nutrients that encourages fruiting.
You can feed raspberries in the ground with tomato fertilizer, though often they can give you a good crop without it. It does become more vital if you grow raspberries in pots, as these plants always need a monthly feed with a high-potassium fertilizer to thrive.
A spring fertilizer for raspberries should be balanced and contain an equal mix of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. In June, though, the right feed should be high in potassium, as this nutrient encourages flowering and fruiting.
Tomato feed is the best option, like this tomato booster fertilizer at Amazon, but there are natural alternatives, such as making a homemade comfrey fertilizer or using seaweed feeds.
Weed Around the Canes
Early summer is notoriously a time when weeds are rampant. Warm, moist soils and rising summer temperatures combine to create the ideal environment for weeds to germinate and grow quickly.
Every weed steals water and nutrients away from other plants. As every drop of moisture and morsel of nutrients is essential to get a raspberry plant to fruit, taking time to get rid of weeds growing around the patch is time well spent.
Small weeds can be quickly removed by running a garden hoe around the plants, but take care not to accidentally damage the raspberries' roots, which sit in the upper zone of the soil. I like to use a stirrup (or scuffle) hoe as it is quick and easy, and you can get a steel scuffle hoe at Ace Hardware for your yard.
Hoeing is an efficient way to weed a garden quickly, though larger, more established weeds will need to be removed roots-and-all with a fork or garden weeding tool.
Support Raspberry Canes as Needed
Raspberries need support as they grow. As most varieties are capable of growing 6-8 feet tall (though you can get dwarf raspberries, such as the Bushel and Berry Raspberry Shortcake Bush at Fast Growing Trees), you can use poles, fences, trellises, or wires to keep them upright.
Most canes should be trained in place or tied in by now. However, in early summer, some may flop under the weight of fruits or be at risk of snapping in high winds. Keep a close eye on the canes and tie any stragglers into place with soft ties, such as these reusable velcro plant ties at Walmart.
If any shoots appear outside of the designated space or row, these suckers can be removed to keep the patch neat and productive.
Do Not Prune Unless for a Specific Reason
June is unlikely to be the time to prune raspberries for most gardeners, unless you have a really early crop. Summer-fruiting raspberries are ready as early as June, and you can prune the canes once they have finished fruiting, as these types fruit on one-year-old wood.
It is, however, unlikely that canes will start and finish cropping by the end of June, but if this does happen, it is one of only two scenarios in which you should head out with the pruning tools. The other is when any canes are dead, diseased, or damaged, and you remove them to keep the rest of the patch healthy.
As for when to prune fall-bearing raspberries, the answer is in late winter. These types produce fruit on the current season's wood and just need cutting to the ground once a year.
What to Shop
This soil moisture meter can help you avoid over- or underwatering plants. Insert the probe into the soil, and it will reveal how wet it is on an easy-to-read dial.
This granular organic plant food has a balanced NPK of 4-4-4 and can feed plants for up to three months. It can be an ideal spring fertilizer for raspberries.
These steel Felco pruning shears are designed for reliability and no-nonsense everyday pruning. They can comfortably cut stems or branches up to 25mm wide.
Summer is a time to nurture and examine your raspberry plants, but not to do anything rash. If you want to transplant raspberry canes to start a new patch, or move an existing one if the plants are not in the ideal position, make a note in summer and wait until fall.
When the plants go dormant in the fall makes a great time to lift and plant raspberries, or you can wait until spring.
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