Are my raspberry/blackberry plants dead?

[bigbad]

Hi, I'm completely new to gardening.

Recently, I bought 5 berry plants from the internet. They were not in a pot. 4 of the raspberry plants came bundled up in wet newspaper strippings, and the blackberry plant was saran wrapped in some kinda wood shaving.

Overview of what I bought...

- 2 Caroline raspberry plants
- 2 Anne raspberry plants
- 1 Apache blackberry plant

I planted them about two weeks ago.

A few days later, one of the Caroline raspberry plants, started sprouting leaves, so I was pretty excited.

However, one week has passed, since the Caroline sprouted leaves, and none of the other plants show any signs of developing leaves.

The 2 Annes, 1 Caroline, and 1 Apache both look exactly the way they looked from Day 1. They're literally twigs.

I've been watering them every other day, hoping I'll wake up the next morning to some leaves, but alas, nothing. Just the one Caroline plant that's getting bigger.

So from your experience, are my plants dead? At what point should I call the company and ask them for another set of plants?

Thanks, everyone!

 

[journey11]

How warm is it where you are? My raspberries and blackberries haven't woke up from winter yet.

At only two weeks, it is possibly still too soon to tell. Most of those catalog nurseries will give you quite a long time to call in for a refund. Double check their policy so you'll know how long you have.

 

[beavis]

Did you plant the canes right away? Very important not to let them dry out before planting.

In what type of growing medium did you plant them?

And it would be helpful to know what growing zone you are in, because as already mentioned, they may still be in a dormant stage. The first leaves you saw may have come from the canes being warmed during shipping.

 

[bigbad]

Did you plant the canes right away? Very important not to let them dry out before planting.

In what type of growing medium did you plant them?

And it would be helpful to know what growing zone you are in, because as already mentioned, they may still be in a dormant stage. The first leaves you saw may have come from the canes being warmed during shipping.

I waited one day, before planting them, but the roots remained moist. They were in plastic bags, and the newspaper strips were still very much wet.

I don't know what a "growing medium" is?

Also, I'm pretty sure the "first leaves" aren't just a result of the canes being warmed during shipping. If that was the case, why is it just one of the Carolines? What about the other Caroline, and the Annes?

The 2 Carolines and 2 Annes, all came in the same plastic bag. I had to untangle the roots from each other. I can't see how the shipping process warmed up 1 Caroline, yet not the other three...

Has this ever happened to anyone? You plant a couple raspberry/blackberry canes and one of them sprouts way before the rest? Or is this a surefire sign that the others are as good as dead?

As for the zone, it's 22. I live in Los Angeles.

ZONE 22: Cold-winter portions of Southern Californias coastal climate

Areas falling in Zone 22 have a coastal climate (they are influenced by the ocean approximately 85 percent of the time). When temperatures drop in winter, these cold-air basins or hilltops above the air-drained slopes have lower winter temperatures than those in neighboring Zone 23. Actually, the winters are so mild here that lows seldom fall below freezing. Extreme winter lows (the coldest temperature you can expect in 20 years) average 28 to 25F (2 to 4C). Gardeners who plant under overhangs or tree canopies can grow subtropical plants that would otherwise be burned by a rare frost. Such plants include bananas, tree ferns, and the like. The lack of a pronounced chilling period during the winter limits the use of such deciduous woody plants as flowering cherry and lilac. Many herbaceous perennials from colder regions fail here because the winters are too warm for them to go dormant.

 

[bigbad]

How warm is it where you are? My raspberries and blackberries haven't woke up from winter yet.

At only two weeks, it is possibly still too soon to tell. Most of those catalog nurseries will give you quite a long time to call in for a refund. Double check their policy so you'll know how long you have.

I live in Los Angeles, CA, so it's pretty warm here, you can say. The time I planted them, we were hitting high 70s/low 80s. Lately, the temperature's been lingering in the mid 70s.

If they're dormant, how long can I expect, before they show signs of development?

And also, why is it one of my Carolines, is sprouting more and more leaves everyday?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Don't be impatient. It is extremely possible the others will grow. I agree you should check the policy of where you got them from, but nurseries should have a claim period in months if not seaons.

Why would one show life and the others not? What you planted was a small section of the stem and some roots. That stem section on them could easily be dead. Instead of one year old it could be two years old. Or maybe when they trimmed it back so they could harvest the roots that stem dried out. If either is the case, it will probably never show life. But the roots will send up new canes after they get established. They will first use the energy stored in that pencil thick root you planted to grow some small roots and start to take in nutrients and water. Then they will send sprouts up to find the sun.

You are in a totally different climate than mine. My herbaceous perennials have absolutely no problem going dormant but I would have huge problems growing bananas. I can't give you a deadline of when you need to start worrying, but I think you are way to early to start.

Good luck! I think you are probably OK.

 

[bigbad]

Don't be impatient. It is extremely possible the others will grow. I agree you should check the policy of where you got them from, but nurseries should have a claim period in months if not seaons.

Why would one show life and the others not? What you planted was a small section of the stem and some roots. That stem section on them could easily be dead. Instead of one year old it could be two years old. Or maybe when they trimmed it back so they could harvest the roots that stem dried out. If either is the case, it will probably never show life. But the roots will send up new canes after they get established. They will first use the energy stored in that pencil thick root you planted to grow some small roots and start to take in nutrients and water. Then they will send sprouts up to find the sun.

You are in a totally different climate than mine. My herbaceous perennials have absolutely no problem going dormant but I would have huge problems growing bananas. I can't give you a deadline of when you need to start worrying, but I think you are way to early to start.

Good luck! I think you are probably OK.

If the roots send up new canes, what will happen to the current twigs? Are they just gonna decay? Thanks for the informative reply, BTW.

 

[lesa]

When and if you see new growth, it will be obvious those original canes are dead. You can trim them out at that time. We gardeners are good at so many things- most of us aren't too blessed with patience though!!

 

[vfem]

When and if you see new growth, it will be obvious those original canes are dead. You can trim them out at that time. We gardeners are good at so many things- most of us aren't too blessed with patience though!!

Agreed!

Only half of my raspberries have shown new growth thus far, and 1/2 have not. (The new plantings I have moved are being very slow with good reason, I stressed them!)

I would wait another week or 2. But check with the place you bought them from on their policy. Its also not uncommon to lose 1 or 2 of them because of the shipping and replanting. I've lost probably 1 tree to every 3 trees I've bought bare root... but they were always replaced!

 

[bigbad]

When and if you see new growth, it will be obvious those original canes are dead. You can trim them out at that time. We gardeners are good at so many things- most of us aren't too blessed with patience though!!

Agreed!

Only half of my raspberries have shown new growth thus far, and 1/2 have not. (The new plantings I have moved are being very slow with good reason, I stressed them!)

I would wait another week or 2. But check with the place you bought them from on their policy. Its also not uncommon to lose 1 or 2 of them because of the shipping and replanting. I've lost probably 1 tree to every 3 trees I've bought bare root... but they were always replaced!

Thanks a lot to everybody who responded!

I just noticed today, that two of the Annes have something sprouting from the twig. It's just green and thick... they could turn out to be leaves, or maybe shoots. I'm extremely relieved.

That said, one of the Carolines and the Apache blackberry are still MIA.

I'm more worried about the Caroline, because that particular plant had extremely long roots. I don't know what the deal with that one was... all the roots on the raspberry plants were around a few inches long. That particular Caroline had roots a foot or more long... kinda concerned about it, 'cause I probably could've dug a deeper hole to accomodate, but the sun was setting fast so I sorta rushed it.