How to Divide Raspberry Plants

Available in a variety of colors including red, yellow, purple and even black, raspberries are grouped according to color and growth habits. You may sometimes hear raspberries referred to as brambles. Brambles are thorny members of the rose family, which includes blackberries and loganberries. These bushy perennials produce runners, or stolons, that develop suckers that are identical to the parent. Division of suckering plants such as raspberries involves the separation of the sucker from the parent.

Spade
Pruning shears
Garden hose
Fertilizer

Instructions

- 1
  Begin the division in early spring, after the final thaw of winter. Choose a sucker or side shoot to separate from the parent plant.
- 2
  Press a spade into the ground just a few inches from the main stem of the sucker. Dig up just enough root and attached dirt to separate the sucker from the parent raspberry plant.
- 3
  Cut any runners extending from the raspberry sucker to other plants using a pair of pruning shears. Remove one-third of the foliage from the sucker using the pruning shears.
- 4
  Transplant the raspberry plant in a new location that receives plenty of sunlight. Maintain moist soil with daily waterings using a garden hose during the first growing season after the transplant.
- 5
  Feed the transplant a 10-10-10 fertilizer following label instructions. Discontinue feedings in early fall to prepare the raspberry transplant for the winter frost.

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