Most gardeners I know, myself included, tend to be pretty lax with their raspberry patches. This laxity works because raspberries tend to spread naturally (sometimes more than you'd like) and come back year after year without much effort. But with a little thought about your soil, careful about the varieties you plant, and regular pruning, you can maximize the quality and yield of your raspberry patch.
Raspberries are one of my favorite berries, fresh or frozen. American red raspberries (Rubus idaeus L.) grow wild throughout Alaska, but they are small, buggy, and a real pain, although their strong flavor somewhat compensates for these shortcomings. But I'd like to grow a larger, more productive raspberry cultivar in my backyard.
Raspberries also meet most of the criteria I use when choosing what to grow: high price, best when fresh, perishable, can be eaten without cooking, can be harvested continuously, and will feed my family for as long as I can grow them. As with strawberries, there is a lot to learn about maximizing production.
Choosing which raspberry variety to grow
Depending on where you live in Alaska and the growing conditions there, consider these important factors when choosing which varieties to grow when starting a raspberry patch.
The roots and crowns of raspberries are perennial, usually living for 10-15 years. The stems, however, are biennial. The first-year stems are called primocane and the second-year stems are called floricane. Raspberries are divided into two main categories: those that bear fruit in the summer (floricane fruiting) or fall (primocane or perennial).
It's important to know what type of raspberry you're growing, how you're pruning it, and which variety will set fruit early enough to be harvested before the first frost. Cultivar seedling descriptions are helpful but are not specific to Alaska growing conditions. Summer and fall in the lower 48 states can be very different from summer and fall in Alaska.
Oregon State University's Pacific Northwest Raspberry Cultivars publication provides a comprehensive and unbiased description of the widely available raspberry cultivars. I especially like that they are listed in order of fruiting. In Alaska, summer-fruiting cultivars are grown most often because many of the fall-fruiting cultivars do not fruit until the first frost. Season extension and greenhouse techniques can help delay the season, but I'm not sure it's worth the effort, given that many cultivars will fruit eventually.
In the Arctic and Interior regions of Alaska, cold hardiness is one of the most important considerations when choosing a variety. Consider the cold hardiness of both the canopy and overwintering branches. Many raspberry cultivars are rated as cold hardy in zones 3 through 8.
According to Alaska Garden Helper hardiness zones, Fairbanks may move from zone 2b (1980-2009) to zone 4a (2010-2039), which could expand the varieties that can be grown. For summer-bearing plants, the crown and flowers need to survive winter temperatures. For fall-bearing plants, only the crown needs to be cold hardy if pruned to the ground annually.
In coastal Alaska, root rot resistance will likely be a major consideration, and resistance to other diseases is always a good trait to consider.
I've eaten raspberries that were really tasteless. If possible, sample different varieties at your local pick-your-own farm or botanical garden. You may need to ask what varieties are grown, and most botanical gardens will require you to ask permission to sample. Also, buy several varieties before you set up a field to see which you like best and which grow well. If you experiment with multiple varieties, you may need to separate your field to keep track of what's growing where. If you experiment, you can grow them in containers for several years, but you may need to bury the containers in winter to protect the berries from the cold.
Availability is also a consideration. Some varieties recommended in the past may no longer be available. Kiska was developed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in the 1970s and is no longer readily available. Some cultivars are patented and may be difficult to obtain for home gardeners, expensive, or impossible to propagate. Local greenhouses may have a limited selection of cultivars.
There are several ways to order raspberry plants online. The following companies sell raspberries and ship to Alaska: Nourse Farms, One Green World, Raintree Nursery, and Indiana Berry Company. Some varieties are patented and can be more expensive than heirloom varieties.
Boyne and Latham are time-tested varieties that have been staples in Alaska for many years. They have been recommended for many years by agricultural researchers, agricultural extension services and farmers and are available in local greenhouses throughout Alaska. Fall Gold is a fall-fruiting variety, but appears to be commonly grown and available in greenhouses throughout Alaska.
Extension recommends Canby for Southcentral in its Alaska Sustainable Gardening Handbook, and it is also recommended by Southcentral Alaska grower Dwight Bradley, a member of the Alaska Pioneer Fruit Growers Association.
Red Mammoth is recommended for Interior Alaska by Extension, and although it's not widely available, I've seen it at Food Forest Nursery.
I would like to try growing Prelude, Nova, and Encore in Fairbanks. Nova is rated up to Zone 3. The other two are rated for Zones 4-8, where the winters are milder, so these cultivars have a good chance of success. Prelude is the earliest summer fruiting on this list; who doesn't want raspberries as early in the summer as possible? However, these cultivars will be experimental, as I am not aware of any recommendations or testing on these cultivars in Interior Alaska.
The Oregon State University Extension publication, “Growing Raspberries in the Home Garden,” provides detailed instructions for successfully growing raspberries, including ideal soil and nutrient requirements, proper spacing, pruning techniques and trellis systems.
They recommend planting raspberries in well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter and mulch, and a soil pH of 5.6 to 6.5. Fertilize based on a soil test, and when establishing a new field, they recommend 2 to 3 ounces of nitrogen per 10 feet of row per year. Prune summer-bearing flowers when the plants are dormant (late fall or early spring).
Raspberries should be planted in 8-10 foot rows 2-2.5 feet apart for summer fruit, with the row width kept about 6-12 inches. This width makes it easier to care for the raspberry patch and helps limit the spread of disease. For support, some sort of trellis, such as T-posts or 12-gauge wire, works well. I've seen fences used in the past that make it difficult to harvest the berries.
How to eat and cook with raspberries
Most of the raspberries we grow are eaten fresh right away. We freeze the excess to eat with granola, blueberries, or yogurt. When we get a larger harvest, we'll make raspberry scones. My favorite are Fire Island raspberry scones.
Finally, if I had more, I would (and will) make this raspberry pomegranate roll from Yasmin Khan's cookbook, Ripe Figs: Recipes and Stories from the Eastern Mediterranean. If I'm lucky enough to get some cloudberries, I'll add those in too. And if I have more raspberries, I'll consider making jams, preserves, and even more delicious foods using recipes tested by the UAF Cooperative Extension Service.
Heidi Rader is professor and project director for the Alaska Tribal Extension Project. This work is supported by Federally Recognized Tribal Extension Program Project 2022-41580-37957, a partnership with the Tanana Chiefs Conference. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
