Raspberry Black Beauty
Notify MeA black-fruited raspberry is worth growing for the flavour as much as the novelty. The fruit is smaller and denser than a red raspberry, deep purple-black when fully ripe, with a richer and less acid taste that shows best eaten fresh or cooked into a sauce. Canes are upright and vigorous, carrying white flowers in spring before the fruit sets. Foliage is deciduous.
Berries take up very little ground for what they return, so a short row along a fence or against a wire frame will keep a household in fruit. Grow it in a dedicated berry bed, along a boundary, or in a large container with a stake. The canes need supporting either way, on wires or a simple post-and-rail frame.
Plant in full sun in free-draining soil enriched with compost, sheltered from strong wind. Raspberries want cool winters to crop properly and do best in the cooler half of the country, though they will fruit in warmer districts. Keep the ground weed free and mulched, and allow around 50 cm between canes with 1.5 m between rows.
Canes reach around 1.5 to 2 m, held on a support frame.
Trimming: Prune according to type: summer-fruiting raspberries fruit on last season's canes, so cut the canes that have fruited right out after harvest and tie in the new ones. Autumn-fruiting types are cut to the ground in winter. Confirm which this is before pruning.
Fertilising: Feed in early spring with a balanced fertiliser and mulch heavily with compost. Raspberries are shallow rooted and respond well to steady feeding and a thick mulch rather than cultivation around them.
Watering: Water consistently from flowering through to harvest, as this is when fruit size is decided. Mulch to hold moisture, since the roots sit close to the surface and dry out quickly.
Pest Control: Birds are the main competition and netting is the only reliable answer. Watch for aphids on the growing tips and passion vine hopper on the canes in warmer districts.
Disease Management: Botrytis rots fruit in a wet spell, so pick regularly and keep the rows open. Cane spot and root rot both follow poor airflow and wet ground. Remove old fruited canes promptly and do not compost diseased material.
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