The basic rules for feeding raspberries: when, how, what

If raspberries grow on your site, then telling about it, of course, you use the epithets: tasty, juicy, sweet, fragrant, healthy. And can you always add: high-yield, large? Such a berry grows among those who know and follow the basic rules for caring for raspberries, including properly feeding this wonderful culture.

When can raspberries be fertilized

Take a close look at the raspberry bushes growing in your area. Their appearance is always ready to tell you about which chemical elements are missing and which are present in overabundance. Here are the signs that you need to focus on:

• dark green glossy leaves, gradually acquiring a burgundy-purple color, indicate a deficiency of phosphorus;
• the yellowness of the leaves and the presence of green veins on them indicates a lack of iron;
• leaves turn yellow from the middle to the edge - a sign of a lack of magnesium;
• small, stunted, yellowed leaves on the shrub - raspberries lack nitrogen;
• the edges of the leaves turn brown - this is a deficiency of potassium;
• deep green foliage of saturated color and excessive shoot formation indicate an excess of nitrogen.

Photo Gallery: Signs of Raspberry Nutrition Shortage

By pinpointing the problem, you can correct the unfavorable situation in time, help the plant not only increase the quantity, but also improve the quality of the crop.

Feeding raspberries in the spring

A careful examination of raspberry bushes is carried out in early spring during pruning and first loosening. Then you can carry out the first top dressing. Superphosphate containing a complex of raspberry-essential elements is ideal for her. You can apply ammonium nitrate, urea, wood ash.

These fertilizers are used both separately and in combination with each other. It is useful to add organic matter to mineral mixtures.

Feeding raspberries during flowering and fruiting

If early spring dressing was not carried out on time or it was insufficient, experts advise to correct the situation during the flowering period. At this time, you need to make organic with bone meal under raspberry bushes, which not only contains the necessary nutrients, but also serves as a mulch for the bush.

Fertilizing with diluted slurry in a ratio of 1: 4 at the beginning of flowering will make it more plentiful, but such feeding should be done no later than mid-June, otherwise flowering will be protracted, which will adversely affect the ripening of the fruit. To increase productivity, they fertilize in July - August with a mixture of superphosphate (1 cup), ash (1 cup), urea (2 tbsp. Tablespoons) per 10 liters of water. The solution is added to the grooves dug at a distance of 30 cm from the plants.

Summer raspberry top dressing can be carried out with a solution of superphosphate (1 glass), ash (1 glass), urea (2 tbsp.) In a bucket of water

During fruiting, raspberries are especially in need of potash and nitrogen fertilizers. Nitrogen is introduced before the formation of berries. Fertilizers such as urea and ammonium nitrate are scattered between rows and buried in the soil. Potassium sulfate is suitable for potassium top dressing: 40 g of a substance are dissolved in water (10 liters) and watered with it about one meter of plantings.

Important! You can not use fertilizers containing chlorine for raspberries.

Raspberry top dressing in the fall

Autumn top dressing is very important. The bush used up a lot of nutrients for growth and fruiting, and in the autumn fruit buds are formed. If the lack of nutrition is not filled, then a good harvest next year can not be expected. A shrub with a lack of potassium will not be ready for winter frosts. The basis of autumn top dressing is phosphorus and potash fertilizers.

Note! It is not recommended to apply nitrogen-containing fertilizers in autumn, since they have a bad effect on frost resistance of raspberry.

Before applying fertilizer around the raspberry bushes, weeds are removed and shallow cultivation is carried out. In autumn, under raspberries, it is recommended to make:

• rotted manure at the rate of half a bucket per 1 meter of landings;
• compost - it contains less nutrients, but favorably affects the structure of the soil;
• fermented and diluted bird droppings;
• potassium salt (40 g) and superphosphate (60 g) per 1 sq. km. meter. Fertilizer scatters around the bushes and penetrates the soil.

What and how to feed raspberries

To feed raspberries, organic, mineral fertilizers, and improvised products are used. The main thing is to understand when and how to fertilize the plant in order to bring it maximum benefit.

Mineral fertilizers

The most important elements for raspberries are potassium and nitrogen, a slightly lower need for phosphorus. If during the planting of the bush a sufficient amount of fertilizer was introduced, then experts recommend feeding the crop with only nitrogen in the first three years. With further growth, annually a raspberry bush will require 3-4 kg of organics, 30-40 grams of superphosphate and half as much potassium salt.

On light soils, the amount of mineral fertilizers is increased by about a third, since potassium is quickly washed out into the lower layers of the soil, and phosphorus may not be absorbed by the plant due to the formation of hard-to-reach compounds. This problem can be solved by adding mineral fertilizers along with organic fertilizers or using slowly soluble mineral complexes (phosphate rock, cement dust).

Nitrogen fertilizers

Without nitrogen, leaf mass cannot be formed. It helps to strengthen the root system, prevents the development of diseases, has a beneficial effect on the duration of raspberry flowering. But when using nitrogen-containing fertilizers, the following application features must be considered:

• nitrogen acidifies the soil, therefore, it is recommended immediately after feeding to sprinkle about a glass of wood ash around the bushes;
• nitrogen-containing fertilizers are recommended only until the fruiting period, then their application has a negative effect on the crop.

The most effective nitrogenous fertilizer for raspberries is urea (urea). Rules for its use:

• urea can be introduced by simple scattering around the bush or in a diluted form. When applying in bulk fertilizer must be sprinkled with earth. Without this, part of the nitrogen will be lost to the plants. After applying urea, the bush must be watered;
• Recommended application rate: 20 g of fertilizer per 10 liters of water;
• urea promotes acidification of the soil. Therefore, it can be neutralized with limestone: 0.8 kg of ground limestone per 1 kg of urea;
• carbamide is less traumatic for leaves than ammonium nitrate, so it can be used for foliar dressing: spray raspberry in the morning or evening hours with a solution of urea (30 g per 10 liters of water).

Urea solution is used for foliar feeding raspberries

Excess nitrogen is also harmful to the plant. Excess green mass badly affects the formation and ripening of fruits.

Dual superphosphate

To increase the productivity of raspberries, accelerate its development, increase resistance to diseases, apply superphosphate top dressing. This is a nitrogen-phosphorus complex containing not only the basic elements, but also other useful substances. The use of fertilizer in soluble form is recommended according to the instructions. Superphosphate top dressing can be carried out comprehensively by combining it with other mineral fertilizers: 60 g of superphosphate, 40 g of potassium salt, 30 g of ammonium nitrate per bucket of water.

Important! On acidic soils, superphosphate is difficult to access for plants.

Chicken droppings

Bird droppings are the most effective organic fertilizer for raspberries. Experienced gardeners recommend using it in liquid form for autumn top dressing. But since it contains a high concentration of active substances, it must be introduced with caution and skill:

• under the berry bush make a solution of fermented chicken droppings;
• breed it in a ratio of 1:20. A larger percentage of manure in the fertilizer can burn the root system of raspberries.

Video: raspberry dressing with chicken droppings

Overripe chicken droppings can be applied in dry form. In autumn, they can sprinkle soil around raspberry bushes.

Fertilizers that are always at hand

As a fertilizer for raspberries, you can use miraculous remedies, which are often simply thrown away: potato waste, ash, as well as tree bark. This is not only environmentally friendly, because we return vital products to nature, but it is also economically profitable.

Ash

Ash is used as one of the cheapest fertilizers for raspberries. It successfully replaces the introduction of the phosphorus-potassium complex, affects the improvement of the soil structure. For raspberries, it is especially useful, because it lacks chlorine. You can apply the ash in dissolved and dry form:

• dry top dressing: sprinkle a glass of ash into 1 square. m raspberry. Dry ash can be added to special grooves made around the plant. Sprinkle fertilizer on top of the ground or dry leaves;
• liquid top dressing: a glass of ash is diluted in 10 liters of water, insisted for 7 days. The consumption rate is half a bucket per bush.

Ashes are scattered in a thin layer near raspberry bushes

Important! Ash obtained from the combustion of household waste contains hazardous substances that can be absorbed by plants. For feeding, the use of such ashes is unacceptable!

Potato peelings

Potato peeling can be effectively applied as a fertilizer for raspberries. She responds to their introduction of abundant flowering and sweet berries. Potato waste raspberries deliver a large number of essential trace elements. Potato peeling can be added to the compost pile, it can be harvested by drying or freezing.

Potato peelings can be used both in dried and overcooked form

Dry potato waste can be dripped under raspberry bushes. Gradually decomposing, they give their useful components to the bush throughout the year. Cleaning can be poured with boiling water, hold for several days and water the bush with the resulting infusion. You will receive a free top dressing, which will be an alternative to chemical preparations.

Yeast

Gardeners often practice raspberry yeast supplementation. Yeast contributes to the rapid decomposition of organic fertilizers, which means enhanced nutrition of plants. Top dressing can be carried out with both dry and fresh yeast:

• top dressing from dry yeast: 10 g of dry yeast and 5 tbsp. l dilute sugar in 10 liters of warm water, insist for 2 hours, dilute with water in a ratio of 1: 5;
• top dressing from fresh yeast: 1 kg of yeast diluted in 10 l of water at room temperature. Add 0.5 liter of solution to a bucket of water.

Features and rules of yeast dressing:

• yeast is introduced into well-warmed soil;
• the prepared yeast solution is used immediately after preparation;
• application is advisable only on well-seasoned organic soil;
• during fermentation, potassium and calcium are absorbed, therefore it is necessary to combine yeast top dressing with the introduction of ash into the soil.

Bark

Another natural and cheap fertilizer for raspberries is bark, as well as rotten branches and sticks. In autumn, under the raspberry bush, they lay pieces of tree bark, cut old trunks, mulch planting raspberries with the bark of coniferous trees. Products obtained by decay will nourish raspberries with environmentally friendly substances.

Autumn raspberry bushes useful to mulch the bark of trees

Experts recommend when feeding raspberries, primarily focus on the appearance of the plants, on the crop that you received. A plentiful harvest and a healthy appearance of raspberries indicate that top dressing was carried out balanced, correctly. Low yield and signs of starvation are a signal to increase the dose of fertilizers and more frequent top-dressing of raspberries. At the same time, remember that fertilizers must be applied within a reasonable amount and within the appropriate time frame.