Raspberry

Raspberries belong to a number of species within the genus Rubus, in the rose family. The fruit ripen in mid summer, but these days people can get them whenever they want because the new harvesting innovations. The color of raspberries are red, and they taste sweet, but also tart. Commercially available types of raspberries include summer-bearing plants, which produce fruit in summer, and ever-bearing plants, which produce fruit in the fall as well as summer. Since raspberries are tasty and good for your health, these usually are used for food like tea, cake, juice, and lots of other stuffs.

Planting and cultivation of raspberries


It will be the best idea to plant raspberries in rich soil with a pH 6.0 to 6.5. You should avoid places other plants have been grown for 3 years such as eggplants, peppers, potatoes or tomatoes since they are susceptible to verticillium wilt which is associated with those plants. You should also remember that these plants can't be to dry out during flowering and fruiting.

The plants should be planted with the soil about 2 inches deeper. And they should be planted during the late fall or beginning of spring. After the planting raspberries, cut the canes back to about 4 inches. If the plant planted newly, in the first year the plant will be left alone, and when the buds begin to appear in the spring, cut about 3-5 canes per each plant. After these plants produce fruits, canes get cut back. And the second crop is produced in the spring, and until the fruits produced, these canes won't cut back. And remember that don't cut off the new canes that haven't produced, because they will produce the crop for the next years. 

Uses
Raspberries can be used in many ways. You can make wine or juice by liquid from raspberries. Also you can make food by raspberries like cake, jams, pies, or just by itself. And you can make fresh or dried herbal teas by leaves from raspberries. And not only you can make tea by raspberry leaves, but also it is helpful for the sore throat, and many kinds of stomach ailments. Beside those, these raspberries are good for pregnancy, too. Also tea made with these leaves has been used from long time ago to make a speedy childbirth. Also xylitol, which is sweetener, made by extracting from raspberries. Lots of people drink one glass of raspberry juice every day, since it is good for their health. 

Ecology
Raspberries grow in fields or forest. In U.S., you can find these raspberries in the following states: AR, AZ, CO, CT, IA, ID, IL, IN, MA, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, ND, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SD, TN, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, and WY. Raspberries can grown for fresh market and for the commercial processing. And the seeds of raspberries usually spread by birds or people. These raspberries are usually started in the season of winter by planting 3 feet apart. All the flowers removed so that it can build up reserves in the first year after planting. And in the spring of the second year, the plants will flower and in the summer, the fruits of the raspberries will ripen. To make raspberry grow up well, it needs adequate amount of water and fertilizer in the seasons of spring and summer whereas the amount have to be decreased in the season of autumn so that it can harden the canes for the season of winter. And because of the ground level, the old flowered canes pruned in the winter season. To tell how the fruit is ripe and ready to pick is when the color of raspberries turned to deep red color and it falls off easily from the stem when it got touched.