Need a BEST Way to Brace Raspberry Briars!

[retiredwith4acres]

I went out this morning to pick raspberries for my cereal. Just put them out last fall and this spring. How is the best way to support them that makes it easy to pick, or easier? We just have a few tomato cages now knowing we have to find something permanent but not sure what is best. I always miss some good berries under all those briars. We have about 10 briars and they are in a single row.

 

[jojo54]

My DH put up a post at each end of the row and then nailed crosspieces onto it. He then strung several strands of NON-barbed wire and the canes grow up between them.

 

[vfem]

My husband and I made 'T' or cross shaped bars out of bamboo (wood works of course, bamboo was free). Then we ran string from bar to the other with the canes in between and it keeps all the canes upright in the middle. Last year we didn't have them and the canes would whip us as we drove by on the lawn mower! lol

 

[CarolynF]

Hi,
Raspberry canes definitely need support. A common practice is to build a very sturdy T with 2 cross bars for each end of your row. The T can be metal or wood, it doesn't matter. The lower cross bar should be about 30 in. off the ground, and the upper one about 50-60 in. Then put eye bolts, or something similar on the cross bars, one near each end, and string heavy wire between them. This makes something like a giant rectangular cage. The wires on the bottom catch the short canes, and the wires up above hold the tall canes. The raspberries will get heavy and multiply over the years, so you want the posts to be very well "planted" and the wires to be very tight because they will begin to droop over time and become pretty useless. You don't want to be forced to do this twice! There's a technique for securing the wire so it can be tightened, but I don't know what it is.

I wasn't allowed to post a pic here, but if you click "view my page" on the left you'll see it. The raspberries are on the left edge of the pic. You don't see the eye bolts because they are screwed into the inner side of the 2x4s.

 

[retiredwith4acres]

Thanks everyone!