Mold on bare-root raspberries

May 12, 2021 3:40 PM

I ordered 12 bare-root raspberries from Gurney’s and three of them (all the ones of a certain variety) have fuzzy mold on the roots. Plant and hope or contact them for a replacement that they probably can’t provide this late in the year? Will I be introducing something terrible to my soil if I plant?
posted by HotToddy to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

Not always a problem. There's a fungal condition called root rot, but that doesn't cause a fuzzy growth, so it's not going to be that. Might just be some mycorrhizal fungi, which are very beneficial symbiotes. I'd just wash it off, if that's possible.
posted by pipeski at 4:29 PM on May 12, 2021 [2 favorites]

Contact them -- even if they can't replace the plants outright this season, they can advise you/add a discount on a future order to your account/etc.
posted by Iris Gambol at 5:15 PM on May 12, 2021 [1 favorite]

I've never planted raspberries but have had mold on apple, asparagus and strawberry roots at planting time. I usually rinse them and if an area is really bad, trim off that part of the root (assuming there is more root available). Our asparagus supplier recommends a 2% bleach solution to rinse them in to kill the mold but I have never done that.

I don't think there is any risk of introducing this to your soil because it has to do with the fridge environment that they are stored in and is not likely to be a soil fungus. So the question is if the mold is so aggressive it has irretrievably damaged the plant. I would guess not, but second the suggestion to contact the supplier in case you can get a discount or if they do not grow, you may be able to get some kind of restitution later.

Good luck!
posted by Emmy Rae at 6:31 AM on May 13, 2021

Response by poster: Thanks all. I washed them off and it didn't seem slimy, so I went ahead and planted them.
posted by HotToddy at 1:03 PM on May 13, 2021