So-called columnar raspberries are offered again and again in specialist plant shops. In contrast to many other columnar fruit varieties, however, raspberries have a special characteristic of their growth and fruit yield that needs to be taken into account in terms of pruning and care.

A columnar raspberry needs regular pruning

Column-shaped raspberries - trade gimmick with a short shelf life

A columnar pear or a columnar cherry continues to grow to a certain extent despite their rather squat growth form due to breeding parameters and, even with regular pruning, over time they get an ever thicker trunk and a strong rootstock. Raspberries follow a fundamentally different pattern with their growth, as they renew themselves in their entire plant mass at the latest every two years with the growth of new canes right next to the old canes. So if so-called "pillared raspberries" are offered in the plant trade, you can by no means rely on a stable columnar shape without special care measures. In most cases, the further maintenance of a columnar shape is made easier by a corresponding climbing trellis. However, newly grown canes still need to be straightened and fixed into a columnar shape, while old canes die off and have to be removed.

Train raspberries to form a column yourself

There are certainly differences between the growth parameters of different raspberry varieties, but in principle almost all raspberries can be brought into a columnar shape by cutting and deliberately tying them up. To do this, the newly grown rods are simply attached to a trellis with binding wire, binding bast or special retaining clips and any shoots that are growing laterally or upwards are cut off with sharp pruning shears. This process must be repeated up to twice a year.

Benefits of columnar raspberry bushes

If raspberry bushes are raised into an upright columnar shape, this has advantages:

  • better ventilation and drying of the individual rods
  • improved tanning
  • easier harvest
  • a generally tidier look in the raspberry bed
  • better overview of old and new rods

tips

In order to let a particularly impressive raspberry column grow up, different raspberry varieties (e.g. with different colored fruits) can be combined. In the meantime, in addition to the varieties that fruit on annual and biennial wood, the trade also has raspberry varieties available that enable two harvests per year. The biennial canes can then be removed after the first harvest, giving the annual canes even more light until the second harvest of the year.

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Trees