RASPBERRY TROUBLESHOOTER

Q Should I leave the suckers on plants? A Raspberries spread by sending out new shoots from their roots called suckers. These may pop up at some

distance from parent plants. Leave those that appear close enough to the parent plant to be part of the row, but chop off (or move to fill gaps) the long-distance travellers, unless you want your entire garden to become a raspberry patch! Q What’s eating the nearly ripe fruit? A Look to your feathered garden friends. A ripe (or not quite ripe) raspberry is irresistible to blackbirds. Either net your plants or grow enough not to worry about sharing. Autumn-fruiting raspberries seem to be less popular than summer-fruiting ones

– suggesting that there are other berries for the birds to eat in autumn. Q How can I stop little white larvae burrowing into the berries? A These ‘maggots’ are the larvae of the raspberry beetle. Few people want to spray an insecticide on their raspberries, so try another tactic. Autumnfruiting cultivars are mostly late enough to avoid egg-laying time altogether. If you’re growing summer cultivars, buy a lure that attracts and traps the adult beetles (£17.95 from Harrod Horticultural).