This document provides information on growing soft fruits including raspberries, blackcurrants, and strawberries. It describes factors to consider when selecting varieties and sites, as well as planting, care, pest and disease issues for each crop. Certified stock is recommended as it is virus-free and ensures high quality. The learning objectives cover choosing cultivars and sites, requirements for specific varieties, and how practices like planting, fertilizing, pruning, and pest control impact yield and quality.

1. RHS Level 2 Certificate
Week 23 – soft fruit

2. Learning Objectives
 Describe the factors to be considered when selecting suitable
cultivars of soft fruits.
 Describe the factors in choosing a suitable site for growing soft fruit
 For named varieties of each of raspberry, blackcurrant and
strawberry state in each case
 planting, feeding and pruning requirements;
 care and cultivation requirements;
 describe 1 pest and 1 disease for each and their symptoms and
controls
 describe harvesting and storage requirements for each
 State the advantages of purchasing certified stock.
 Describe how quality and yield can be determined by the following:
planting; base and top dressings; mulching; weed control;
irrigation; training systems; appropriate pruning; and pest and
disease control.

3. Choice of site
 Sheltered – soft fruit is less dependent on
bees than top fruit for pollination but
windbreaks will still improve fruit set.
 Sunny- south facing aspect for best ripening
 Good depth of top soil – 30 – 45cm
 pH 6.5-7.0 ideally. Lime if below 5.8.
 Frost protection – avoid frost pockets

4. Choice of species and cultivars
 Personal taste – grow what you like.
 Proposed use – to eat fresh, make jam etc.
 Space available – redcurrants can be grown as
cordons but blackcurrants need space for the bush
to develop. If space is limited grow what is
expensive or rare in the shops.
 Certification scheme – DEFRA monitored schemes
that guarantee plants are virus free and grown to
prescribed standards. Buy certified plants if they are
available e.g. Strawberries.

5. Raspberries – varieties
 Summer fruiting – Early ‘Glen Cova’; Mid-
season ‘Malling Jewel’; Late: ‘Leo’
 Autumn fruiting- ‘September’ (red fruit);
‘Fallgold’ (Yellow fruit).
 Buy certified plants.

6. Raspberries – cultivation
 Plant in Autumn – need good soil preparation,
permanent planting.
 Construct support – three strands galvanised wire
50cm apart between stout posts about 2m tall.
Posts 3-5m apart.
 Plant bare rooted certified canes when dormant
(November to March). Shallow rooted so only
plant 7-8cm deep. 40cm apart in rows 1.5m apart.
Cut canes to 30cm immediately after planting to
encourage new canes to develop.

7. Raspberries - care
 Pruning – summer fruiting types fruit on previous
years canes; autumn fruiting on this years. After
fruiting cut out fruited canes.
 Watering – shallow rooted so need regular
watering in dry weather.
 Feeding – sulphate of potash in January;
superphosphate every third year; sulphate of
ammonia in late March, then mulch.
 Net to protect the crop from birds.

8. Raspberries – pests and diseases
 Raspberry beetle – the grubs tunnel the fruit and
make it inedible. Spray at pink fruit stage and then
two weeks later.
 Birds – net or cage the crop.
 Grey mould (Botrytis cinerea) – grey fluffy mould on
leaves and fruit. No approved chemical control –
improve air circulation and remove and destroy
infected canes (or individual leaves etc if mild
problem)
 Cane blight - Serious fungal disease that enters
through damage to canes. Canes wilt and die.
Remove and burn affected canes; control by copper
fungicide spray.

9. Strawberries - varieties
 Early: ‘Pantagruella’; Mid-season: ‘Grandee’;
Late: ‘Cambridge Late Pine’.
 Using the Early, Mid-season and Late
varieties enables strawberries to be picked
from June until late July.
 Perpetual: ‘Aromel’

10. Strawberries - planting
 Buy virus certified plants. Prepare the soil by
single digging and incorporating well rotted
manure and adding balanced fertilizer.
 Need good drainage.
 Plant in July or early August 40-50cm apart,
rows 75cm apart.
 Strawberry beds build up pests and diseases so
will need to be moved and the plants replaced
every 3-4 years.

11. Strawberries – aftercare.
 Water well until established and then as the berries
are swelling in dry weather. Do not splash the
berries or foliage as this will encourage botrytis.
 Feeding – not likely to be needed unless growth is
poor. Balanced fertilizer in early Spring if needed.
 Strawing down – when berries start to swell put
straw beneath the trusses (over a scatter of slug
pellets) and between the rows.
 After harvest, cut off leaves to about 10cm and burn,
collect the straw and compost or burn.
 Cover plants using cloches in January if an early
(May) crop is required. Use an early variety for this.

12. Strawberries – pests and diseases
 Stem and root nematodes (eelworm) – tunnel
the roots and weaken the plants, leading to
low yields. No chemical control, rotate the
crop.
 Aphids – spread virus and distort young
growth. Fatty acid spray when first seen.
 Slugs and snails – pick or pellets.

13. Blackcurrants - Varieties
 Early: ‘Blackdown’ (Good resistance to
American Gooseberry Mildew).
 Mid- Season: Ben Lomond (Relatively late
flowering so some frost resistance)
 Late: ‘Jet’ (Very late flowering, some
mildew resistance)

14. Blackcurrants - cultivation
 Slightly acidic soil preferred; can stand partial shade;
must have moist soil in summer that is rich in organic
matter.
 Plant 5cm or so deeper than the nursery mark –
encourages new shoots from the base.
 Plant bare root when dormant in Autumn; prune all
shoots to 10cm immediately after planting.
 From year three, remove 1/3 of oldest wood each
year

15. Blackcurrants – pests and diseases
 Big Bud Mite – swollen buds
containing mites that damage
and weaken the plant and
spread Reversion disease.
 American Gooseberry Mildew –
thick white fungal growth on
leaves, stems and fruit.
Weakens the plant, fruit
destroyed.

16. Learning outcomes
 Describe the factors to be considered when selecting suitable
cultivars of soft fruits.
 Describe the factors in choosing a suitable site for growing soft fruit
 For named varieties of each of raspberry, blackcurrant and
strawberry state in each case
 planting, feeding and pruning requirements;
 care and cultivation requirements;
 describe 1 pest and 1 disease for each and their symptoms and
controls
 describe harvesting and storage requirements for each
 State the advantages of purchasing certified stock.
 Describe how quality and yield can be determined by the following:
planting; base and top dressings; mulching; weed control; irrigation;
training systems; appropriate pruning; and pest and disease control.