Raspberry is one of the earliest and most fruitful berry crops. Today, experts have developed many different varieties of shrubs that allow you to get crops almost all year round.
The raspberry tree of the Taurus cultivar is the most common. It differs in large-fruited and standard type of shoots. Sprouts have increased rigidity and are very thickened, so the shrub in appearance resembles a tree. It is not for nothing that this variety is called “raspberry tree”.
The plant reaches two meters in height, the bushes do not branch and are interlinked. Raspberry tree shoots during flowering have a bright green color, and during dormancy they are brown. Leaves on the tops of the bush are pubescent, covered with felt coating, have the shape of a rosette. A healthy raspberry tree is covered with saturated dark green leaves with jagged edges and a corrugated surface.
Due to the fact that fruit branches are located close to each other, the effect of the crown is created, which borders ordinary trees. On each branch of medium length, with 2-3 branches, more than 20 berries grow.
The main advantage of the raspberry tree is its unpretentiousness to planting. Due to the fact that the Tarusa variety is standard, plants can be planted without the use of stakes and trellises. Of course, if desired, the bushes are also planted using a support.
New raspberry varieties have few seeds. The berries of the plants are large, some specimens reach 12 grams of weight. Raspberry fruits are very tasty, characterized by a pleasant aroma and juiciness, outwardly acquire an elongated beautiful shape. During flowering, a raspberry tree pleases the eye with a bright red saturated color.
The nice thing is that you don’t have to put much effort into picking berries. Fortunately, they grow at the level of one meter from the ground. From solid dense raspberry fruit, you can make various homemade preparations: preserves, compotes, jams, and also just freeze them.
After fruiting, experienced gardeners recommend pinching the tops of young shoots, thereby inducing lateral dormant processes to grow.
Variety Taurus is very popular among gardeners because of its excellent fruiting. It turns out that you can get more than 3.5 kg of crop from one raspberry bush. And if the plant is intensively fertilized and give it more attention, then productivity can increase. Even diseased trees continue to produce crops, although plant shoots are highly resistant to pests and diseases.
For good growth of the raspberry tree, shrub care and the soil on which the shoots grow are of great importance. Shrub should be watered in a timely manner, fertilize and spray with special compounds against pests. Manure should be introduced into the soil, having a meter strip along the row, or urea (100 g per linear meter). Mineral fertilizers are best applied in mid-October, they should be evenly sprinkled and sealed with a rake.
Thanks to frost resistance and high productivity, raspberry tree is widely used in the central regions of the country. The plant is able to withstand thirty-degree frosts, at lower temperatures the shoots should be hidden or hidden under the snow cover. In the northern regions of Russia, with severe winters, gardeners need to prepare trees in advance and bend the shoots in early October, until they break and bend well enough.
In spring, after bending the shoots, no more than 7 shoots must be left on each bush. In the raspberry row, bushes must be planted at a distance of 70 cm from each other. With this arrangement, the plants practically do not get sick, and sweet and juicy berries do not rot.