Okay, so, I’ve been growing raspberries in my backyard for a while now, and let me tell you, it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster. I mean, who knew these little red fruits could attract so much drama? I started noticing some weird stuff happening to my plants.
So I grabbed my phone and started snapping pictures of all the problems I could find. I got a whole collection now, let me tell you.
First off, the leaves started looking funky. Some had these weird, light green spots all over them. Like, what’s up with that? Turns out, it might be this thing called mosaic virus. And apparently, the black raspberries are, like, super into catching it. My red ones, though? They might have it, but they’re not showing it. Sneaky, right?
- Yellow leaves and mushy roots – yeah, that happened too. I guess I got a little overexcited with the watering can. Whoops. Lesson learned: raspberries don’t like swimming.
- I found some little beetles munching on my plants. They are so annoying! So I picked them off one by one.
- And then there was this one time I saw some spider mites. They made those tiny webs and were sucking the life out of my leaves! I had to spray them off with water, but they are so stubborn.
Another time, I saw some of the canes turning brown and withering. I think it was some kind of blight. I just pruned those infected canes off and tossed them in the trash. Gotta keep the healthy ones safe, you know?
After doing all of that for a few weeks, my raspberry plants started looking better, and the pests seemed to be under control. I even got a decent harvest this year, which was awesome. But still, you gotta keep an eye out for those sneaky pests and diseases.
I decided to use not one, but two different fungicides to get rid of the diseases! I used this neem oil and a copper spray. I followed what the labels said! Then I removed the old fruiting canes that were affected by the pests and diseases after the harvest and threw them into the trash! I also made sure that there was good airflow around the canes and I stopped watering from above, which might contribute to diseases. One more thing, I give them a bath sometimes. I mixed cold water with lemon juice and a little bit of white vinegar, and soak them in there. It seems to help, I don’t know, maybe it’s just me.
It’s all about taking action, people! You see something weird, you deal with it. Don’t just sit there and watch your raspberry dreams turn into a mushy, bug-infested nightmare.
