Are there bad companion plants for raspberries? Yes, and if you’re looking for a way to maximize the yield of your raspberries, there are some plants you’d want to avoid!
Planting companions is a technique that uses different plants to help your raspberry plants flourish, but not all will benefit the growth of your berries.
In this article, we’ll discuss the eight dangerous species that can destroy your raspberries and how to use companion planting for pest control.
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Bad Raspberry Companion Plants List
Companion planting is a technique that has been around for centuries. It involves growing different plants together to create a mutually beneficial environment. For example, some plants may help to repel harmful insects while others may give shade or nutrients to the soil. It’s important to note that companion plants have been used for both vegetables and fruits.
When it comes to raspberries, companion planting can be especially beneficial. Raspberries are perennial plants meaning they will come back year after year. But, without the right companions or, worse yet, poor companions, your raspberries may not thrive. Let’s see some plants you should avoid!
1. Potatoes
| Growing Season | April to June |
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The potato plant is a staple crop for humans and has been grown for centuries. Potatoes are a cold-season vegetable used in many different cuisines worldwide and in many different ways! They are grown for their nutritious and starchy tubers.
There are a plethora of varieties of potatoes developed from their early discovery and going to international stardom! But why are they such a bad side crop for raspberries?
Both raspberries and potatoes have respective long good companion lists, but these two just don’t settle with each other. Raspberries are particularly vulnerable to verticillium wilt, which the potatoes can get them infected with. In turn, raspberries can transfer blight onto your potato, making this couple one of the most unwanted on the list.
2. Tomatoes
| Growing Season | April to July |
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The second on our no-go list is the tomato plant. These are beautiful garden perennials grown all over the world. Tomatoes are prolific growers, which will accentuate any herb border and adorn every garden with their beautiful red fruits!
There is a huge number of tomato varieties you can grow in your garden. However, none of these will aid in your raspberry growth!
Like potatoes, tomato plants will hurt your raspberries with their tendency to share verticillium wilt and blight. Although some people have planted raspberries next to tomatoes successfully, some say tomatoes carry root rot with them, and you shouldn’t plant them in a crop rotation manner. Also, tomatoes can provide more shade than you intend and can deprive your raspberries of that precious sunlight!
3. Eggplants
| Growing Season | Late summer and fall |
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This delicious and ornamental plant is a tender perennial grown for its’ glossy and exotic-like fruits. These are incredibly easy to grow and come in various shapes and sizes. Eggplants are used in cuisines worldwide for a plethora of dishes.
Eggplants belong to the nightshade family of plants and are, in this manner, closely related to tomatoes, potatoes, and even tobacco.
Similar to tomato and potato, eggplant is a nightshade plant, and planting raspberries next to it may cause more harm than good. Raspberries are highly susceptible to verticillium wilt and blight. Eggplants can also attract various pests, such as armyworms, melon thrips, and whiteflies, all of which will gladly migrate to the raspberry bush.
4. Squash Plants
| Growing Season | Late spring and early summer |
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Squash plant boasts large, green, and hairy leaves. These leaves almost always have toothed edges and wrinkles around veins. The squash plant blossoms are yellow and orange and are fused near the base, appearing soft and pretty big!
There are many types of squash, and they can be considered a cucurbit family of plants. As such, they are always round with a hard exterior and juicy insides. Every squash interior is almost the same as those of a pumpkin filled with seeds.
Squash is very much similar to pumpkins. And in the variety of diseases and pests, they bring with them, which are especially harmful to your raspberries. Avoid planting squash with raspberries, as they can exchange mildew, blight, and whole swarms of unwanted insects.
5. Peppers
| Growing Season | Late Spring to Autumn |
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Peppers are everyone’s garden favorite. These tender perennials are grown for their sweet and hot fruits. Incredibly easy to grow and native to South America, these are the source of sweet and hot chilies. Peppers perform best in fertile, acidic, and moist soils with full sun, ideal for raised garden beds, containers, and greenhouses.
These may pose a viable option to some, as peppers will attract beneficial insects for pollination. Peppers are considered nightshade plants and, as such, immediately get on our no-no list for raspberries.
In addition to that, peppers are susceptible to a few pests, including aphids, whiteflies, maggots, and potato beetles. And even some diseases such as Verticillium wilt and mosaic virus make it an unwanted plant for our raspberry. Peppers also shouldn’t be planted where you’ve previously grown potatoes, eggplants, and tomatoes.
6. Cucumbers
| Growing Season | Summer to Fall |
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Cucumbers are annual vining plants grown for their juicy and watery fruits, typically eaten when pickled or fresh on salads. Cucumbers are fairly easy and prolific growers and are a pleasant site in any garden!
Cucumbers will attract various pests, which will bug your raspberries. The most notable diseases that come with cucumbers include leaf rot and mildew, which will surely transfer to your raspberries. Also, cucumbers often have issues with various beetles, aphids, and mites, all of which will love to take a nibble at your raspberry leaves!
7. Sunflowers
| Growing season | Summer to Fall |
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Sunflowers are semi-dwarf annuals that bear a profusion of large bicolor flowers adorned with gold and orange petals with a chocolaty center. Blooming in summer, these are perfect ornamental plants for your sunny borders. Sunflowers will sometimes require support in their mature phase.
Sunflowers are tall growers in comparison to raspberries and may take away the sunlight of your berry plants, but some gardeners still use them to attract beneficial insects. However, raspberries will struggle next to them as sunflowers will attract pests too!
Some of the pests that will gladly jump from the sunflower onto the raspberry include wireworms, scarab beetles, and crickets. These flowers can also come with raspberry-compatible diseases such as rot, mildew, and leaf spot.
8. Bush And Poled Beans
| Growing Season | Spring to early Summer |
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Pole beans are annuals known and grown for their edible bean pods. The leaves of the beans are often used as a salad vegetable, too, and almost all parts of the plants are edible.
Bush Beans are very similar to pole ones, except they will grow shorter and bushier. The bush variety won’t grow more than two feet tall, and some even use them as desirable companion plant options for many cultures. But you shouldn’t use them with your raspberries.
Beans can cast a shadow over your ground layer plants and prevent the sunlight from reaching them. This especially goes for raspberries which can get screened off, especially if you’re growing your beans on trellises.
Furthermore, beans tend to attract dangerous pests, such as aphids which will attack your raspberry and cause serious harm.
9. Cabbage
| Growing season | Summer, fall |
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Cabbage comes from a strong family of vegetables that include kale, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflowers, and other green, leafy sprouts. These cool-season vegetables are grown for their nutritious and edible leaves. The cabbage comes in various shapes and sizes for around-the-year harvesting regimes and growing purposes. This vegetable has a wide range of culinary uses, too, and some claim it to have healing properties.
Cabbage plants grow anywhere up to 24 inches tall and will be 30 inches wide at maximum. These plants perform best in rich soils that need to be watered often, and it loves the full sun. Cabbages enjoy slightly acidic soils with pH levels of 6.0 to 6.8, which is ideal for growing them. Depending on the variety, these plants will take around 100 to 120 days to be harvest-ready from the day of sowing.
These plants are generally considered to be heavy feeders and will fight with others for nutrients. Therefore, they shouldn’t be planted next to other plants to avoid nutrient wars in the garden! Your raspberries are no exception here.
Brassicas act like decoys to berry plants, and growing these together can only cause harm to both! Cabbages have plenty of nutrient requirements which means they will compete with your raspberry plant for valuable minerals and other compounds in the soil.
The Brassica family is also susceptible to a variety of pests, such as cabbage worms, aphids, loopers, maggots, flies, snails, and nematodes. There are also quite a few diseases such as root rot, leaf spot, and blisters — all of these will attack and hurt your raspberries too, so don’t them next to these leafy greens!
10. Beets
| Growing Season | Summer and Fall |
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Beets are easy to grow and incredibly delicious annuals grown for their sweet roots, and green parts for salads. They are a cool-season crop that is fun, quick, and easy to grow from the seeds. These plants are believed to originate from the Mediterranean and were originally cultivated for their edible leaves, but recent times have seen the entire plants being used for culinary purposes.
Beets will grow up to three feet tall and six feet wide when they are in full bloom. These plants perform best in full sun and light shade and should be planted in alkaline soil.
Beets are excellent companions for radishes, beans, garlic, onions, lettuce, catnips, and aromatic herbs. But you don’t want to see them near blueberries or your raspberries!
Beets should be avoided as neighbors for raspberries as they can stunt each other’s growth by competing for nutrients. Also, beets love a slightly alkaline soil, which is not fit for the acid-loving raspberry.
Beets also bring some pests and diseases to the garden. Some of the peskiest include aphids, flea beetles, spider mites, as well as beetroot heart rot, black leg, and leaf spot!
Conclusion
In conclusion, companion planting can be a great way to maximize the yield of your raspberries. However, not all companion plants are created equal.
Some companion plants can be beneficial, while others can be dangerous:
- Raspberries don’t like the companionship of nightshade species, and you should stay away from potatoes, squashes, peppers, and sunflowers
- On a positive note, raspberries will benefit from the presence of conifers which will provide mulch and essential oils in the air to repel bugs
- Raspberries will benefit from your allium plants and herbs — you can go ballistic with the use of onions, garlic, chive, basil mint and others around your raspberry plants.
So, if you’re looking to maximize the yield of your raspberries, be sure to stay away from these eight dangerous companion plants.
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