Many gardeners complain: raspberries are growing by leaps and bounds, the stems are thick, the leaves are juicy, but the berries are few and small and sour. It seems as if the bush is just growing and has no plans to bear fruit. In fact, the problem is not the variety, but the nutrition.
You can water, loosen and prune raspberries for years, but if there is too much nitrogen in the soil and almost no potassium, the plant will grow shoots but not berries. Nitrogen is responsible for the leaves and shoots, and potassium is responsible for the sweetness, size and strength of the berries. Without it, the ovaries either do not form or fall off.
You can understand that raspberries lack potassium by the following signs:
- The first is abundant greenery, but poor or uneven fruiting.
- Secondly, the berries become smaller towards the end of the season and lose their aroma.
- Third – the edges of the leaves dry out and turn down, as if they were scorched.
- Fourth – young shoots are thin and weak, although the old ones are still powerful.
If two or three signs coincide, then the raspberry is starved of potassium and suffers from nitrogen overfeeding.
November is the perfect time to get things right. The bush is already at rest, the sap flow is slowed down, and the feeding will go not to the leaves, but to the roots.
First, carefully remove all old foliage and broken shoots, they can be a source of disease. Then sprinkle the ash infusion evenly around the tree trunk:
- 300 g wood ash
- fill with 3 liters of warm water
- leave for a day, strain
- dilute to 10 liters and pour under the root.
Ash is an ideal source of potassium and phosphorus without nitrogen. It does not burn the roots and gently improves the soil structure. 5-7 days after feeding, mulch the ground under the bushes with a layer of grass clippings or compost.
Already in the spring you will notice that the shoots will become stronger. And in summer the berries will be large, fragrant and stick tightly to the brush.
Question and answer:
Why do raspberries produce a lot of leaves but few berries?
Most likely, there is an excess of nitrogen in the soil and a lack of potassium.
Why do the edges of raspberry leaves dry out?
This is a classic sign of potassium deficiency. The plant cannot regulate water balance, and the tissues at the edges of the leaves die.
