How to properly grow raspberries from seeds for seedlings at home
If a raspberry bush appears on the site, which bears fruit with large berries, tasty, sweet, then you want to expand the crop plantation with this variety. It is not always possible to get offspring from the desired bush. Therefore, you need to know how to grow raspberries from seeds for seedlings at home. Planting a berry culture with seeds is a laborious but interesting process.
Growing raspberries from seeds: advantages and disadvantages
For experienced gardeners, growing raspberries at home is easy. More vegetative propagation methods are chosen. But the seed method also cannot be discounted. It has many advantages:
- No need to mess around with cuttings, shoots. It is difficult to find strong offspring in some varieties, which would become the basis for breeding raspberries.
- It is interesting to do breeding work. Indeed, more often another plant is obtained from the seeds, not similar to the mother.
- Material and time costs will be less if you collect seeds from berries yourself.
The disadvantage of this method is that the result is completely opposite to the purpose of growing. And raspberry seedlings, obtained from seeds, require agronomic skills, careful care. The need to create conditions for the germination of seeds is daunting.
The best varieties for germination
Before starting work, you will need to be sure whether it is possible to grow raspberries from a berry. This breeding option is not suitable for every variety. Among the best varieties can be recommended for:
- Middle lane, southern regions hybrids Polka, Hercules, Krasa Rossii;
- Siberia and the Urals - Bryansk tree, Red Ruby;
- Central Areas - Yellow Giant, Orange Wonder.
These hybrids can be grown from seed as the seed is easily separated from the pulp. All varieties take root well in the climate where they are zoned. And raspberries feel comfortable when cultivated at home from seed.
How raspberry seeds are harvested
To select a seed for planting from the berries of your garden, you need to approach the process competently. The requirements for the material are such that they are harvested from fully ripe fruits. You can not take rotten, damaged copies.
The berry is rubbed through a sieve or squeezed through cheesecloth. Seeds remain in the cake, which are separated from part of the pulp. To do this, place the mass in a cup, fill it with water. A day later, when the grains are swollen, the water is drained. You need to collect those seeds that have fallen to the bottom of the container.
Another way to extract raspberry seeds is to dry the cake. The pieces are laid out on the fabric in a thin layer. Send the tray to a bright room with good air circulation. After drying, the seeds are easily separated from the dried pulp. Before planting them, it is necessary to reject low-quality material.
Sowing time of seeds
Sowing dates are important for planting raspberries with seeds. After all, it is not recommended to store seed for a long time. Seed germination will be successful throughout the year. It is necessary to determine when to carry out the necessary procedure, in the spring or in the fall.
Spring sowing
Raspberry seeds are usually harvested in the summer when the berry is ripe. We must keep them until spring. And the readiness of the seeds will be high when the optimum air temperature and humidity are created for them.
You can put the grains in wet moss, cotton wool, making sure that the seeds do not dry out. Mold must be eliminated. Therefore, it is necessary to put a container with planting material in a refrigerator or cellar, where the temperature will be within 2 degrees Celsius. Too high humidity will cause raspberry pits to rot.
In February or March, seed germination begins, sowing them for seedlings.
Autumn sowing
Experienced gardeners believe that autumn is more suitable for sowing berry crops. You can immediately place the seeds in the ground, and then the sprouts do not need to be transferred to another area. Adaptation of plant seedlings is faster and more successful.
The only thing is that when planting you need to use a large amount of seed. Some of them do not emerge or are eaten by pests. It is necessary to organize sowing in time so that the sprouts do not freeze.
What is needed for planting work
Planting raspberry seeds requires preparation for the procedure. First of all, containers are selected. Seedlings develop well in individual cups or containers with recesses. Since the root system of a garden plant lies on the surface, a shallow container, but wide in diameter, will do. It is also advised to sow in peat tablets.
Berry seedlings should develop in a comfortable environment. Therefore, a nutritious soil mixture is prepared, a moderately lit windowsill. Seedlings will develop best on the western and eastern windowsills.
If they are planted immediately in the garden in the fall, then it is necessary to prepare the garden bed, protecting it from direct sunlight. They arrange it where there is fertile land, and the groundwater is at a depth of 1.5 meters from the surface.
Preparing for landing
To plant raspberries with seeds, you need:
- Fill a peat cup or pot with a nutrient mixture from garden soil, peat, taken in equal amounts. Sand is taken less than 2 times.
- The soil is shed 2 weeks before planting with boiling water or potassium permanganate solution.
- The seeds are germinated by wrapping them in layers of wet toilet paper and placing them in a warm place.
- When planting, a plot is dug into the garden immediately, organic and mineral fertilizers are applied.
- The seeds should not be highly moistened, otherwise they will not sprout well.
In order for the raspberry seed to sprout, it must have plenty of moisture and nutrition.
Sowing technology and schemes
The cultivation of raspberries from seeds is successful if the site for the culture is chosen correctly. It should be moderately lit with some shade during the day.
The finished seedling must have a strong root system no shorter than 10 centimeters. If its length is more than 20 centimeters, then it is cut off before planting.
Growing such seedlings requires compliance with certain rules:
- It is necessary to sow sprouted seeds directly into the ground, placing them in the holes at a distance of 0.5 meters.
- It is better to put 2-3 seeds in the nest, given their low germination.
- The landings are covered with a film.
- In winter, shove snow onto the site.So the planting material will survive low temperatures well.
The first shoots appear in late spring.
Germination of sprouts
The first shoots in the garden or in the container require careful maintenance. It includes:
- regular watering;
- fertilization;
- loosening the soil;
- weeding.
It is necessary to water the seedlings when the soil is dry on top. Young plantings can be mulched on the garden bed. For mulch, manure, humus, compost are used. If part of the plants dies in the fall, then they are replaced with young shoots. A pot with raspberry sprouts during spring sowing can be kept in a greenhouse by replanting seedlings in a permanent place in the fall.
Care and growing tips
When doubts about whether it is possible to grow raspberries from seeds disappear, the planting procedure has been mastered, then it remains to take care of the seedlings.
It is important to form the bushes of the garden plant correctly. In the 3-4th year of life, the raspberry plantation leaves up to 10-12 annual shoots, cutting out the rest. Thinning plantings in June, before flowering. It is important to keep strong root suckers, trying to keep the distance between the bushes 15-20 centimeters.
The repaired raspberry will bear fruit twice. It is worth increasing its yield by cutting off annual shoots in the spring.
Raspberry shoots are best tied to stakes or wire stretched along the rows.
The berries on the bushes will be larger if the plantation is irrigated in a timely manner and fed with mineral and organic fertilizers. Every year, ammonium nitrate is added in the spring. 10 days before ripening, raspberries are watered with slurry diluted with water.
After planting with seeds, raspberries will begin to bear fruit in the 3-4th year.
