Raspberries are a fairly easy-to-grow crop, but to get the sweetest and largest berries, you need to know a few tricks, one of them being a garter. The operation solves the problem of shading, humidity, insufficient ventilation and even acts as a prevention of infections. Let’s consider the advice of farmers on how to tie raspberries correctly.
Why tie a raspberry
Let’s start with the fact that young raspberry stems, hung with large, appetizing berries, may simply not withstand strong gusts of wind and break, leaving the summer resident without the harvest he was counting on. Long rains further increase the probability of such an outcome. This is especially relevant for raspberry varieties that grow to a great height – two meters, and sometimes even higher.
How does the garter affect the size and sweetness of the berries? A tall bush bends under its own weight, the result is that the berries are shaded by thick leaves. Because of this, the fruits do not fully ripen.
Finally, if you tie up the raspberries in a timely manner so that they do not fall and do not bend, then the collection of berries is greatly simplified. You don’t need to lift each stem in search of berries – it’s enough to walk along the tied rows and easily collect the fruits.
Do all varieties need a garter? It turns out not. There are several varieties of red and yellow raspberries that do well without such care:
- prude;
- balm;
- coral;
- white spirin;
- Bulgarian ruby.
These varieties are characterized by shoots of small height – rarely more than one and a half meters. At the same time, the trunks are quite hard, which makes it easy to do without a garter.
Ways of garter
There are several proven ways to tie raspberries correctly.
Circular method
The method got its name from the two-meter circle, which plays the role of support. The garter is quick and easy:
- A 2-meter pole is stuck in the middle of a group of six or seven stems.
- Raspberries are tied to the support at a height of about 1.5 meters.
- If the shoots are very high, but not woody, then the tops can be bent in an arc, also fixed on a support – so that the berries receive the maximum amount of light and are not shaded by leaves.
It is preferable to carry out the garter procedure in the spring, before the beginning of flowering. This method, as the simplest, is also the most common among novice gardeners, especially when it comes to small raspberry bushes.
Advice !
- A support made of an iron pipe or a reinforced concrete pillar will last longer.
- To prevent the wooden peg from rotting in the first two years, first paint its bottom or cover it with tar.
However, the circular method has certain disadvantages:
- uneven lighting of shoots;
- little protection of branches from physical stress and, as a result, damage;
- the ovary on the shoots located inside the bush develops more slowly;
- due to the dense planting, the risk of pests and diseases increases.
Fan method
This method has a different binding system. It also uses high – about two meters – koli. But about half of the shoots from one bush are tied to each of them – on the left and the same amount – on the right. As a result, each bush is split in half.
After finishing, the tied shoots become like a fan, which is why this method got such an unusual name.
The main advantage of the method is that in the summer the stems receive the maximum amount of light and air even with a fairly dense planting.
Wallpaper method
Here, as a support, not a wooden peg is used, but several posts, between which a wire, synthetic rope or rope with a plastic casing and a metal core is stretched.
This method of garter has gained the most popularity in recent years. It is not surprising, because if the wallpaper garter is made correctly, it looks very beautiful and provides protection from the wind, excellent illumination of plants, and free air circulation. And the result is abundant harvests. And picking berries with this approach is much easier.
Various options for wallpaper garter have been developed, but all of them are done with your own hands, without special materials and specific tools.
Single garter
The simplest type of garter on the wallpaper. It will be a good solution for small raspberry bushes, in which the bushes are planted in even rows. How to tie:
- At a distance of about 4-5 m from each other, supports are dug in (metal pipes, wooden pegs or concrete pillars). The main thing is that the length should not be less than two meters.
- Each column is deepened by 40 cm.
- A wire is stretched between the supports – in three rows, at a height of 60, 100 and 160 cm.
- Now you just need to not miss the moment when the young raspberry grows to the appropriate height and tie it up in a timely manner – it is best to use narrow strips of rags (any old clothes will do), bandages or soft synthetic rope for this.
Importantly! Threads and wires are absolutely not suitable for tying – they will cut into the stems and injure them.
The narrow landing strip provides particularly good air ventilation, and there will be practically no shaded areas here. Harvesting turns into pure pleasure – there is no need to climb into a suffocating raspberry bush, risking breaking shoots and scratching yourself on thorns.
Double garter
If you want to get a particularly rich harvest, it is better to make a double garter. It is similar to a single one, but only partially – the wallpaper in this case has a different scheme and dimensions:
- First, two-meter poles are also dug in.
- However, the wire is not tied to them – instead, transverse rails are fixed on the posts. The optimal length is half a meter. The lower one is located at a height of 90 centimeters, and the upper one is about one and a half meters above the ground.
- A wire is already attached to them. As a result, a small fence is formed, behind which quite a lot of raspberry bushes can be placed. Accordingly, the yield increases significantly.
However, there are some downsides here. All the same, due to denser planting, the illumination worsens, and harvesting becomes somewhat more difficult.
Scandinavian garter
The Scandinavian garter almost does not differ from the double garter. True, not two, but four supports are used here.
- Two supports are dug in at a distance of four to five meters from each other, and next to them, just half a meter away, one more support is added.
- The near ones are connected by a wooden crossbar, and a wire or rope is stretched between the far ones – in one row, at a height of about a meter.
It turns out a kind of fence that supports raspberry bushes.
Raspberry garter is a prerequisite for a good harvest and ease of harvesting. You can use one of the popular methods or come up with your own way to support the raspberry stems so that they do not break and shade each other and the berries.