How to pinch raspberries? Very often on garden sites you can find such a statement: “A very important moment in the spring in the garden is a pinch of raspberries. Pinch the young shoots of raspberries - this will increase productivity several times. " At the same time, neither the variety nor its features are indicated. But the pinching method can not be used for all varieties of raspberries. How to pinch raspberries and why? Why pick off the tops of raspberries? What does it mean to pinch a plant? A more competent name for this method is tweezers (translated from German) - removal of the top of a young shoot by pinching with special tweezers, scissors or just fingers.
Pinching is one of the methods of agrotechnical measures for caring for the bushes, their formation, increasing the productivity of raspberries. It is used to stop the growth of the main shoot up, to form a crown, to enhance the growth of the left branches. This method is used to “wake up” part of the buds on the young shoot, forming several lateral branches (laterals).
The first time I learned about this method of increasing raspberry yields from the magazine “Family. Earth. Harvest. " I tried it. It didn’t work out right away. But I can already draw some conclusions. Now I successfully apply the nipping of young shoots. Care for this berry crop consists in timely pruning, watering or fertilizing. A pinch of young shoots perfectly complements them. But you can not use this method on all varieties of raspberries. When to pinch raspberries?
The first pinching is done in the second year after planting, when the bush has at least two young shoots of substitution (Fig. 1.2). If you pinch one (Fig. 1a) and leave the second untouched, then 3 laterals will grow on the pinch shoot (Fig. 1b). It happens 2, even 4. The second shoot (not pinched) does not give laterals. If you pinch both (Fig. 2a), then two or three laterals will grow on both (Fig. 2b). Rarely, but it happens 6, mainly 3-4. It all depends on the raspberry variety, agricultural farming technique.
The second pinch is done in the third year after planting. Figure 3a shows 2 stalks of fruiting + 3 shoots of substitution. The pinch is made on the middle shoot. Two side left without pinching. They will not give lateral branches. On the middle shoot, 3 laterals are shown (Fig. 3b). Maybe two to five.
Fig. 4a also shows the number of fruit-bearing shoots of substitution, but all three were nipped. The number of laterals on average is 3, right - 2, left - no. And maybe for all of 2 or more.
In subsequent years, the number of pinching options may vary. Everything will depend on the number of fruiting stems, shoots of substitution, years of life of the bush. As soon as they began to grow less compared to last year, it means that the life of the bush ends, the nipping stops.
Before proceeding with this operation, you need to know the raspberry variety, its reaction to pinching.
Pinching begins when young shoots of substitution reach growth of more than 1.2 m, that is, they exceed the trellis wire so that they can be tied up. This period begins around May 25, and lasts until mid-June. Sometimes the term is extended to a maximum of June 20-25, if spring is late.
Nipping starts from the second year after planting a standard two-year-old seedling with a good root system, when the bush has at least two strong substitution shoots.
Pinch only tall varieties of raspberries that do not have the ability to branch - Bryansk, Meteor, Sunny, Balsam, Combi, Sputnitsa, Brigantine, Latham, Prussen Berlin, and others. Pinch up to 10 cm the tops of the young shoot of substitution.
All undersized raspberry varieties do not need pinching. Usually these are those that give many shoots of substitution. Specially form a bush, leaving many fruiting stems or replacement branches. Their total number is up to 20, even higher.
How many shoots to leave on raspberries? In any year, pinching should be done in no more than 50% of the shoots of substitution.
A pinch held later - July, for example, gives negative results. Lateral branching literals will grow short, will not have time to get well lignified before the first autumn frosts. That is, the epidermis of the shoots will be frost-resistant, and even if it can withstand the first autumn frost, it can freeze in a cold, long winter.
Do I need to pinch repair raspberries? How many branches to leave in a bush of raspberry remontant? Later pinching in the repairing raspberry varieties sharply reduces the first autumn harvest in fresh shoots. Not all buds will bloom, not all inflorescences will be tied, not all fruits that have begun to ripen, with a cold snap they can hang 10-15 days, even more, and if they ripen, the berries will be small.
After pinching remont raspberries, the period of awakening of the kidneys, growth of lateral branches lasts about 10 days. If not pinching, then during this time the central shoot would grow up by about one meter or more. That is, pinching off the top of the central branch of the remont raspberry, we slow down the development of the plant. This slowdown has a negative effect on the autumn harvest of some repair varieties. Individual fruits do not have time to ripen before the first autumn frost.
Some raspberry varieties of the summer crop are prone to branching without pinching. Up to 3-4 branching laterals are independently formed in them. So a pinch is not needed. This is the Scarlet Sail, Bryansk Cascade, Kokinskaya, Shy woman, Kuzmina News, others.
Of the repair varieties, for example, I pinch only Indian summer. After pinching, he gives up to 15-17 lateral branches-laterals.
You do not need to pinch the repairing Progress variety, since it is of late autumn fruiting. A fruit twig, like a bunch of grapes, grows alone at the top of a young shoot of substitution, with a total number of buds, inflorescences, fruits up to 300, sometimes up to 400. If you make a pinch, then such a bunch will not. 2-3 lateral lateral branches will appear, will bloom, some of the fruits will be tied, and they will not have time to ripen until the first autumn frosts. As a rule, clusters freeze together with branch branches, you have to cut everything. The remaining young shoots are low, the summer raspberry crop is reduced next year.
At Progress, it is recommended to pluck 50% of buds, inflorescences, small fruits in the ovary stage. The remaining 50% of the fruits will be large. One hundred percent yield of marketable fruits before the first autumn frosts is ensured, productivity increases.
For remontant raspberries of non-tree-like groups, in which on young shoots of substitution in autumn the crop is located upstairs in a compact brush (Progress) or the fruit branch has several branches (Tachanka, Lloyd George, Meteor, Zhuravlik, Lesnaya, other varieties), there is no need to pinch.
Now there are many new wonderful varieties of raspberries. Nothing can be said about a single product without practical application, whether or not productivity will increase after pinching young shoots. Everything that is described above is tested experimentally. Some varieties responded well to pinching with a significant increase in yield, while in others it decreased on the contrary.
With my story about caring for raspberries in the spring, the method of pinching young shoots, I can only call you. Challenge your raspberries! Only such tests will let you know if your raspberries need to pinch young shoots. Draw your conclusions, share with us.
A very detailed video on pinching raspberries: