Guess I Made A Mistake With My Raspberries...

I bought them at Lowes---red ones and gold ones. I didn't realize the tremendous importance of buying plants that are VIRUS and WILT FREE.

The red ones have gotten blight or wilt or virus, whatever it is, both last season and this season. The plants are three years old now, and nice and large and thick, but the wilt is a pain. I am wondering if I ought to just harvest what I can this season and then burn and tear out and plow over the canes and start afresh with good stock.

The goldens have the wilt so bad that they appear to be a total loss. Looks like with them there is nothing else to do but remove them and return them to Lowes for a refund.

Suggestions and answers, please, as to what to do with the red raspberries, which are yielding pretty nicely, actually, but that do have wilt on maybe 5 percent of the canes. It's a shame to see those dead, brown canes and shriveled up berries. Will the wilt get worse over time? Should I destroy the patch and start over?

Where is a good, dependable place to buy virus-free, wilt-free, blight-free stock?

Thanks!

Nourse Farms. The are on DG and I've always rec'd great stock from them!

Thanks, hostamomma.

Stark Bros does not appear to be totally dependable, do they???

Do you think I ought to tear out the ones with virus and start all over?

Also, do you know anything about Heritage raspberries, which you supposedly cut to the ground each season because the berries come on new canes?

I second the recommendation for Nourse. Very helpful staff as well. They are done shipping for the year but you should get a a catalog and be prepared to order next January.

Still looking for answers about tearing out the ones I have and starting over. Should I do that?

Also, does anyone know about Heritage raspberries, that you cut to the ground each year and then they make berries on the new canes?

Thanks for any answers.

Goob

I think Heritage is the one that will fruit on both new and old wood... If you cut to the ground, you'll get one (probably larger) crop in fall, otherwise they will fruit in early summer also.

I would pull out any diseased and put the new patch in an ENTIRELY new area (or if you can wait let it grow a "cleansing" cover crop....thinking something like alfalfa might to the trick).

I have never heard about the Heritage - let me know if they work out for you I have APPALLING success with rasberries not sure why we had a huge patch back in Alberta but here in Utah I can not seem to make them survive let alone thrive - might try again down the road, but I have delicious blackberries that get to be invasive so I am thinking I am done pushing the envelope for now...

I agree with the cover-crop idea or new bed. I had Heritage. Cut them back and get a good crop late in the year. The spring/summer crop for the ones not cut back is supposedly small and not worth it if you also have normal raspberries. I didn't keep my Heritage long as I had them too close to my other regular summer bearing raspberries and didn't want them to mix (don't make the same mistake I did). I second the Nourse farm source.

I would agree with the Nourse recomendation. When you take out your old beds don't make the mistake of composting or tilling them under, you'll chance just spreading the problems. I just got a raspberry cutter from Lee Valley that makes thinning so much easier