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Old April 7, 2019   #3
clkeiper
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Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: ohio
Posts: 4,350
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We grow raspberries for a farmers market. But I don't think that a 5 or 6 feet space between your rows is out of line. 3 -4 feet really is too close. they need to be on a wire too. put fence posts on the end of the row and run a couple strands of wire to keep the canes either clipped or tied to the wires. otherwise you will have an arching tangled mess. we plant at about 5' apart and if you have room go 6. we also put ground cover between the rows but this is a personal choice. it keeps the rows relatively dry between them and it keeps the grass non existant so my feet are dry when picking berries. we do tend to get tunneling varmits underneath the cover though and that drives me nuts. so ladt Fall I pulled all the cover up for the Winter. it needs to be put back down now.

we have beds going both directions but the one is new and we haven't picked anything off of it yet. the other is going e and w. I think you really want them planted e and w though for the greatest amount of sun and exposure and for airflow.

and last but not least even though you didn't ask about it... PESTS! the worst is the SWD or spotted wing drosophila fly. it is your enemy! you will find yourself going crazy over it if you don't spray for it. I don't know of anyplace that doesn't now have it in the US. you usually can get your first crop off with not too much damage but the here it shows up about August and wreaks havoc on the patch. they are the size of fruit flys but insert their eggs into perfectly good berries just as they are starting to ripen. within a day or two just as the berries are ready to pick they are mush and filled with little maggoty larvae. it is very disheartening to find it arrive in your patch. Spiders do a great job but you may not like spiders either. I don't know of any other predator for the fly. check with your local extension office for information pertinent to your location.
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