Prelude Red Raspberry

The earliest summer harvest, with a bonus harvest in fall. Enjoy easy-to-pick berries fresh from the patch or in desserts and jams. They also freeze well. This sturdy, erect variety is productive and vigorous. Disease-resistant to phytophthora root rot. Cold-hardy. Fall-bearing (everbearing) primocane with a bigger summer crop. Floricane berries ripen in July. Primocane berries ripen in September through frost. Self-pollinating. A licensed variety of Cornell University.

Note: Do not plant Red, Gold or Purple raspberries within 75-100 feet of Black raspberries. Black raspberries may be more susceptible to viral diseases carried by aphids to and from nearby raspberry plants.

After planting, be sure to prune the bare-root canes back to about 2 inches above the ground. (This does not apply to potted raspberry plants.) Do not skip this step! It is a crucial factor in encouraging the roots to send up new growth during the growing season. It is in the nature of raspberry plants to send up new growth as suckers or basal shoots from below the ground. This means the canes that you plant may not be where you find signs of life or new growth. When it’s time to grow, you will see new sprouts emerge from the ground around where you planted the cane, and this growth is coming from the raspberry plant’s root system.