Question How to maintain Raspberry and Blue Berry in a cold climate?

Jake Bak

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Feb 24, 2020
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Cold, Cool, Mountains, or Artic
G'day, I come to ask for tips about raspberry and blueberry growing in central Victoria. It is a cold climate and the first frosts are mere weeks away. I would like to know how to maintain my raspberry and blueberry plants. The raspberry has not produced yet and the blueberry has produced some very small and unpleasant fruit. I will attach some images of the plants to show the current condition. All the best in quarantine!
Blueberryimage1 28april2020.PNG
Raspberry1 28april2020.PNG
 

ClissAT

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If you purchased your blueberry plant locally you will have got the correct variety for your region.
It will be able to handle the local conditions of frost. Blueberries have been created to handle all conditions from tropical to snow. The high berries are the ones you need because they come from the 'high country' of USA. where it is colder.
If your variety is a 'low berry' it is from the tropical regions of USA, so it is designed for warmer climates.

Same should go for the raspberry variety you have.
They will loose all leaves until spring.
Just google growing blueberries or growing raspberries and you will have a months worth of reading and viewing.
Much of it is seriously good information.
I have put links on here for some of the better videos and grower sites.
If you search this site for those words you should find my posts.
 

Jake Bak

Member
Premium Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2020
Messages
5
Climate
Cold, Cool, Mountains, or Artic
If you purchased your blueberry plant locally you will have got the correct variety for your region.
It will be able to handle the local conditions of frost. Blueberries have been created to handle all conditions from tropical to snow. The high berries are the ones you need because they come from the 'high country' of USA. where it is colder.
If your variety is a 'low berry' it is from the tropical regions of USA, so it is designed for warmer climates.

Same should go for the raspberry variety you have.
They will loose all leaves until spring.
Just google growing blueberries or growing raspberries and you will have a months worth of reading and viewing.
Much of it is seriously good information.
I have put links on here for some of the better videos and grower sites.
If you search this site for those words you should find my posts.

Thanks for the help! I will look into it further.
 

DThille

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Blueberries are native to the boreal forest of Canada...compared to that, I don’t think any of Australia is cold. Blueberries need acidic soil...from where I grew up, we picked wild ones north of us in clearings in coniferous forests...so if you have access to something like pine needles to mulch with, that can help a blueberry.

As for raspberries, ours haven’t done that well, but they come back year after year and we regularly get some -30C weather in the winter, perhaps a few degrees colder. I remember as a child my great aunt had a huge raspberry patch (probably bigger from the perspective of a child) that we would pick in...it was established and I’m certain she did nothing special with it. One thing to keep in mind is whether or not it is primal cane or not...it’s not coming to me at the moment what the other version is called. One produces on new canes, the other produces on older canes. The ones that produce on new wood can be cut down a few inches above the ground in fall and will produce the next year. The ones that produce on old canes are the ones that need to be left...if you cut them down you’ll never get any fruit.

As per the earlier comment, I find it reliable to purchase from a reputable local garden centre...the bigger ones here do their own nursery work, so you can be confident it is right for the local climate.

Good luck.

Derek
 
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