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Japanese raspberry is a relatively new fruit shrub for Russian gardeners. The variety has both strengths and weaknesses, in order to appreciate it, you need to study the characteristics of an unusual raspberry.
Description of Japanese raspberry
Japanese, or purple-fruited raspberry is a small shrub up to 2 m in height with thin reed-type stems. The photo of Japanese raspberry shows that the shoots of the plant are long, strongly curly and covered with small fleecy bristles, the leaves are dark green and feathery, with slight pubescence on the underside.
Japanese raspberries bloom in May with small red-pink flowers. Fruits are formed at the end of summer and ripen unevenly; ripe and developing berries can coexist in one cluster.
Pros and cons of Japanese raspberry variety
Recently, it has become very fashionable to plant Japanese raspberries in summer cottages. But before buying seedlings, you need to learn about the characteristics of the variety and understand that it has both advantages and disadvantages.
According to gardeners, Japanese raspberries have many strengths and demonstrate:
- high unpretentiousness and ability to grow in almost any conditions;
- good resistance to all common garden pests and fungi;
- frost resistance, even without shelter, raspberries calmly endure winters throughout Russia;
- fast growth and rapid recovery after pruning - shrubs can be used to form hedges and artistic compositions.
At the same time, the Japanese raspberry has several serious disadvantages.
- Raspberry purple is a very aggressive garden crop. It grows quickly, actively releases root shoots and does not get along well with neighboring plantings. If left unchecked, raspberries can easily become a dangerous weed that can be very difficult to control.
- The yield of Japanese raspberries is low, and the berries are inferior in size to traditional crop varieties. Sometimes the difficulties posed by the fast-growing and aggressive purple-fruited raspberry simply do not pay off, since the benefits of the shrub are small.
Nevertheless, many gardeners are keenly interested in Japanese raspberries. This variety is able to give the garden originality and improve its decorative effect.
Application of Japanese raspberries
Purple raspberries are distinguished by good preservation of berries - dense fruits perfectly tolerate transportation and retain their shape. Therefore, raspberries are not only eaten fresh, but also actively used for conservation, make wine from them, add them to fillings for pies and cakes, use them with ice cream and as part of cocktails.
Japanese raspberries contain many important vitamins and organic acids. Therefore, they are also used in folk medicine, for the treatment of colds and inflammatory ailments, for eliminating digestive problems. For example, hot tea with Japanese raspberries is an excellent antiviral agent and quickly lowers the temperature, and homemade tincture on the fruits of the plant is suitable for treating the gastrointestinal tract and blood vessels.
You can use fresh berries of Japanese raspberries for cosmetic purposes.When added to face masks, berry pulp has a moisturizing and rejuvenating effect, nourishes and softens the skin. Japanese raspberries contain small seeds, so they are well suited for making gentle homemade scrubs.
Planting and caring for Japanese raspberries
Growing and caring for Japanese raspberries is usually not difficult - the shrub is considered one of the easiest to cultivate in a summer cottage. However, to get good yields from a plant, you need to know the basic rules of growing.
Selection and preparation of the landing site
Japanese raspberries have standard soil and light requirements for berry bushes. It is best to plant the plant on slightly acidic or neutral fertile soil. The site should be well lit by the sun and protected from strong winds, it is also desirable that in the winter months a large amount of snow accumulates at the raspberry planting site, it will serve as a natural insulation for the shrubs.
Japanese raspberry seedlings can be planted both in spring and autumn. About a month before planting, you need to prepare the soil - carefully dig up the area, remove the remnants of other crops and weed out all the weeds. The soil is loosened and complex fertilizers are applied, and the earth can also be mixed with rotted manure.
Landing rules
Planting raspberries in the prepared area is carried out according to the following algorithm:
- a hole is dug for a seedling, which should be approximately twice the size of its root system;
- if fertilizers were introduced into the soil during the preparation of the site, then the raspberries are planted immediately, if not, then organic fertilizing mixed with earth is first added to the hole;
- the seedling is carefully lowered into the hole and its roots are straightened, directing them down;
- the young bush is covered with soil to ground level and the soil is properly tamped, making sure that the root collar is flush with the soil surface.
After planting, the seedling must be properly watered and mulched around the trunk with peat, chopped straw or sawdust.
Watering and feeding
Japanese raspberries have moderate moisture requirements. If a prolonged drought does not happen in the region, then it is not necessary to additionally water the shrub, it will cost natural precipitation. In dry periods, raspberries can be moistened as the soil dries up, but you should not get carried away too much - the plant is bad for boggy.
As for fertilizers, Japanese raspberries are fed once a year in the spring. About 30 g of urea is introduced under the bush, which promotes the active growth of the plant, 50 g of superphosphate diluted with water, and about 30 g of potassium.
Pruning
In the description of the Japanese raspberry variety, it is emphasized that the shrub is prone to very rapid and active growth. Therefore, it is necessary to prune the plant annually without fail.
Usually, pruning is done immediately after harvest. In the course of it, all two-year-old shoots are removed, as well as diseased, broken and weakened branches. The shoots that thicken the bush also need to be cut, they interfere with the healthy growth of raspberries and take away nutrients from the bush.
To improve fruiting, it is recommended to annually shorten annual shoots by about 20-30 cm. This stimulates the development of lateral shoots, on which buds are formed for the next fruiting, and the yield doubles.In addition, short raspberry branches are easier to care for and easier to pick.
Preparing for winter
Japanese raspberries are highly frost-resistant and tolerate cold temperatures down to -30 ° C. Therefore, shrubs need to be insulated only in northern regions with extremely low winter temperatures. In other cases, natural snow cover will provide sufficient cover.
For additional warming of raspberries, the branches of the bush are tied in bunches, bent to the ground and fixed, and then covered with spruce branches or special material. If the winter is expected to be snowy, then the bush can simply be covered with snow - this will protect the shoots and roots of the bush from freezing.
Harvesting
Fruits on Japanese raspberries ripen in late August or early September. On the shoots of the bush, numerous edible polystyrene of a slightly oblong shape appear - they reach up to 1 cm in length. At first, the raspberries are filled with a red tint, but upon reaching full ripeness they become dark cherry, purple.
For convenient harvesting, the fruiting branches of the shrub are recommended to be cut to a length of no more than 1.5-2 m and fixed on trellises. Raspberries ripen gradually and unevenly - completely ripe and unripe berries can hang on the same brush. Therefore, harvesting is most often carried out several times throughout the fall.
Reproduction
As a rule, there are no problems with reproduction and transplantation of the Japanese raspberry wine berry. The shrub reproduces successfully in all existing ways.
- It is most convenient to propagate raspberries with green cuttings, they are cut from an adult plant in spring, 3-4 internodes are left on each. Cuttings do not need to be grown in a home container, they can be rooted immediately in wet sand in a temporary bed, or even planted in a permanent place. Rooting of shoots takes about a month - during this time, the raspberries must be watered abundantly. After the cuttings give new green leaves, watering will need to be reduced and additional moisture added to the garden bed no more than once every 10 days.
- Another convenient and easy way to propagate purple raspberries is to use cuttings. Young shoots, located closest to the surface of the soil, are tilted and fixed in a small trench with a wire, and then sprinkled with earth. In this case, the top of the shoot should remain above the ground surface. The layers are watered properly, and in the fall they can be separated from the main bush and transplanted to a permanent place.
Root shoots are often taken as breeding material for Japanese raspberries - the shrub releases it in huge quantities, and such shoots are ideal for rooting. The gardener has to make an effort not to multiply the growth, but to tame its exuberant and extensive growth.
Diseases and pests
The bush is rarely affected by diseases, since it is highly resistant to fungal diseases. The only danger to raspberries is the purple spot. If the plant is weakened, this fungus can infect the stems and cause brown or purple spots where the leaves attach. As it develops, the purple spot provokes drying out of the shrub and impairs its fruiting.
You can cure purple spotting with 1% Bordeaux liquid - spraying is carried out in the spring and after harvest.
Of the pests for Japanese raspberries, gall midges, spider mites and common aphids are dangerous. To prevent infection of the shrub or to eliminate the insects that have appeared, raspberries are treated annually with Actellik and Karbofos solutions.
Conclusion
Japanese raspberry is an extremely convenient plant for growing, it requires almost no special care, has high frost resistance and is not susceptible to fungal ailments. But when breeding shrubs on the site, you need to pay attention to regular pruning, otherwise the raspberries will grow too abundantly.
Reviews of the Japanese purple-fruited raspberry
