The dog sled team from Nature’s Kennel Sled Dog Adventures.
By Jack Payne
Between the 100 cars that piled up near my home on a Monday and the polar vortex that arrived on a Friday, we managed a trip to the Upper Peninsula for a day of mushing, or as I called it, dog sledding.
This was a Christmas gift for my daughter and a bucket list item for me.
Reservations were made in late August. We left the morning after the 100-car pileup, and the drive took an extra 45 minutes to get beyond Sand Lake. From there, we enjoyed decent roads.
We arrived in Curtis early afternoon, where we would bunk down for the night. It was cold, darn cold. We walked to the local restaurant and were greeted by the staff, who were all wearing heavy sweatshirts. Excellent, cold outside and cold in the restaurant.
Nature's Kennel Sled Dog Adventures is located north of Curtis and McMillan, eight miles north of the flashing light. Tasha has 100 Alaskan Huskie dogs. These are wonderful, playful dogs that want to run. They are also much smaller than I expected. A 10-mile run without stopping means nothing to these dogs.
We started out with the temperature at 3 degrees. Wonderful. We were layered correctly, and our guides checked our gloves and boots. Mittens are highly recommended, as are Pac-style boots. My old pair of Sorels with the removable liner worked fine.
This is the first winter I've worn alpaca wool socks. They are everything that I was told. Soft, comfortable, extremely warm, and yes, expensive. They are well worth the price, and our feet never got cold.
If you are driving your own team and without a passenger, five dogs will suffice. My daughter elected not to drive her team, but instead be a passenger. In this case, seven dogs are required. As a passenger, you can curl up in the sled and take in the beauty while snapping all the photos you wish.
Driving a team is not that difficult. Basically, the dogs are tethered to a rope. Keeping this rope taut is the driver's number one responsibility. The dogs want to run, but in case something happens to a dog, the driver needs to keep an eye on the rope. If the rope starts to go slack, hit the small drag brake.
The driver stands on two rails. The drag brake looks like a square piece of metal, similar to a metal grate. With the heel of your foot, apply some pressure to create drag and slow the team of dogs.
If you need to stop and stay stopped, there is an additional brake you can push down. Hold this down, and you will not move. This would only be used if you needed to stop the team for any reason. Otherwise, the heel brake will slow the sled.
If you can balance yourself on the two rails and hang on to the main handlebars, you will have no problems. Just remember that if you let go of the main handle for any reason, the team of dogs will continue going without you. This is the reason why your guide leads the group. Runaway dogs will be easier for the guide to catch as they try to pass the guide.
Lean slightly to your side, and the sled will follow suit. Leaning into the curves will keep the dogs and sled centered. It's straightforward if you don't mind standing.
Our trails are groomed and maintained by the owner. They run through the state forest and are well-marked. The snowmobile folks are very courteous, and they stay off them.
Milly, our guide, like the other three female guides, lives on the property in small one-room cabins for five-plus months. Then she goes off to Alaska, working with the dogsled teams there. These types of dogs need to be run year-round.
Each guide has her own little cabin, and the gals like to crochet, knit, and snowshoe during downtime. Speaking of this, Tahquamenon Falls is reasonably close, within 30 minutes, and provides a winter wonderland of its own. Seeing the falls on
snowshoes in the winter is a cool event.
Dog sledding was great and I am putting together a group for next winter. Stop in at Bob’s Gun and Tackle for your winter items
Between the 100 cars that piled up near my home on a Monday and the polar vortex that arrived on a Friday, we managed a trip to the Upper Peninsula for a day of mushing, or as I called it, dog sledding.
This was a Christmas gift for my daughter and a bucket list item for me.
Reservations were made in late August. We left the morning after the 100-car pileup, and the drive took an extra 45 minutes to get beyond Sand Lake. From there, we enjoyed decent roads.
We arrived in Curtis early afternoon, where we would bunk down for the night. It was cold, darn cold. We walked to the local restaurant and were greeted by the staff, who were all wearing heavy sweatshirts. Excellent, cold outside and cold in the restaurant.
Nature's Kennel Sled Dog Adventures is located north of Curtis and McMillan, eight miles north of the flashing light. Tasha has 100 Alaskan Huskie dogs. These are wonderful, playful dogs that want to run. They are also much smaller than I expected. A 10-mile run without stopping means nothing to these dogs.
We started out with the temperature at 3 degrees. Wonderful. We were layered correctly, and our guides checked our gloves and boots. Mittens are highly recommended, as are Pac-style boots. My old pair of Sorels with the removable liner worked fine.
This is the first winter I've worn alpaca wool socks. They are everything that I was told. Soft, comfortable, extremely warm, and yes, expensive. They are well worth the price, and our feet never got cold.
If you are driving your own team and without a passenger, five dogs will suffice. My daughter elected not to drive her team, but instead be a passenger. In this case, seven dogs are required. As a passenger, you can curl up in the sled and take in the beauty while snapping all the photos you wish.
Driving a team is not that difficult. Basically, the dogs are tethered to a rope. Keeping this rope taut is the driver's number one responsibility. The dogs want to run, but in case something happens to a dog, the driver needs to keep an eye on the rope. If the rope starts to go slack, hit the small drag brake.
The driver stands on two rails. The drag brake looks like a square piece of metal, similar to a metal grate. With the heel of your foot, apply some pressure to create drag and slow the team of dogs.
If you need to stop and stay stopped, there is an additional brake you can push down. Hold this down, and you will not move. This would only be used if you needed to stop the team for any reason. Otherwise, the heel brake will slow the sled.
If you can balance yourself on the two rails and hang on to the main handlebars, you will have no problems. Just remember that if you let go of the main handle for any reason, the team of dogs will continue going without you. This is the reason why your guide leads the group. Runaway dogs will be easier for the guide to catch as they try to pass the guide.
Lean slightly to your side, and the sled will follow suit. Leaning into the curves will keep the dogs and sled centered. It's straightforward if you don't mind standing.
Our trails are groomed and maintained by the owner. They run through the state forest and are well-marked. The snowmobile folks are very courteous, and they stay off them.
Milly, our guide, like the other three female guides, lives on the property in small one-room cabins for five-plus months. Then she goes off to Alaska, working with the dogsled teams there. These types of dogs need to be run year-round.
Each guide has her own little cabin, and the gals like to crochet, knit, and snowshoe during downtime. Speaking of this, Tahquamenon Falls is reasonably close, within 30 minutes, and provides a winter wonderland of its own. Seeing the falls on
snowshoes in the winter is a cool event.
Dog sledding was great and I am putting together a group for next winter. Stop in at Bob’s Gun and Tackle for your winter items
Scientists Trying to Solve Mystery of ‘Rock Snot’ in Michigan Streams
By Grace Lahti
University of Michigan
(Ed. Note: This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: bridgemi.com.)
In the summer of 2021, fly-fishing guide Brian “Koz” Kozminski headed to his homewaters of the Upper Manistee River for a typical day of fishing alongside Sam Day, a fellow angler and an aquatic biologist for the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians.
When the two arrived at the stream, however, they were met with a strange sight. What was usually a cold, babbling trout river was now a waterway filled a mysterious white algae.
“It literally looked like someone flushed a toilet,” Kozminski said.
Didymosphenia geminata — otherwise known as “didymo” or “rock snot,” because of its snotty appearance — is a microscopic, single-celled algae, or “diatom,” that clings to the rocks lining riverbeds and lakebeds.
It is unknown when didymo first arrived in Michigan, or whether it’s invasive at all. The organism is something of an enigma scientists are working hard to understand because rock snot can quickly overtake a stream, occupying habitat used by the insects on which fish feed, meaning hungry fish and anglers who strike less often.
Scientists remain stumped over the question of where didymo came from or if it has been here all along. Further, if it has been here all along, why has it suddenly started blooming in some Michigan rivers only to disappear once more into its microscopic form?
“We’re worried about it because, even if it was here all along, it sure is acting differently than it was before,” said Jo Latimore, aquatic ecologist, outreach specialist and director for Michigan State University’s Extension Center for Lakes and Streams. “Even if it is a native species, it may be an indicator that something is out of whack in these waterways.”
The first Michigan bloom was found in the St. Mary’s River in 2015, and later the Upper Manistee River in 2021.
Cells have been found in the Au Sable River and Jordan River, though full blooms have not occurred at either spot. Because didymo can reproduce asexually, a colony can begin from a single microscopic cell.
Billy Keiper, an aquatic biologist for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s Water Resources Division, explained that, if didymo is native, it would have existed in its typical microscopic form in Michigan lakes and streams well before it was first found as a more obvious bloom in 2015.
Likewise, since the blooms died down in the past few years, didymo has lurked in its microscopic form, forgotten but not gone.
“When Koz and I went out in 2021, it was a huge concern, because that was the first time we had found it in the Lower Peninsula,” Day said. “With the Manistee being one of the top trout fishing destinations in Michigan, even across the US, it was definitely a real major concern.”
Some scientists wonder if it is in fact native to Michigan streams but just requires a new set of conditions to bloom.
It’s thought by Keiper that didymo thrives in rivers with low nutrients — particularly low levels of phosphorus and nitrogen — and in cold water with stable flow.
Michigan’s streams hit all those conditions, particularly in tailwaters where didymo has thrived in past blooms.
Michigan river and fishing guide Ed McCoy said that, as invasive species like zebra mussels and quagga mussels have increased in the Great Lakes, phosphorous levels in Michigan’s waterways have decreased. The mussels’ consumption of nutrients could be impacting the odd behavior of didymo.
“Sulfate is a really important nutrient parameter, as well,” Day said.
That is because, in didymo blooms, the visible filament or stalks of algae aren’t living cells but rather carbohydrate excrement called sulfated polysaccharides. Sulfur is a crucial building block of those stalks. Therefore, water rich with sulfate can further support didymo growth.
The element is introduced to rivers when rocks with sulfide minerals go through weathering and sulfate ions dissolve into the water. Scientists think didymo forms those longer stalks in low-nutrient waters as a last-ditch attempt at life, as opposed to its usual existence as microscopic cells.
However, those are still only theorized reasons for the rapid growth of didymo in blooms.
“What’s the magic, the soup that makes it happen?” said Kozminski.
“We have a lot more questions with didymo than we have answers,” Keiper said.
Keiper is a lead on a joint team of scientists from EGLE and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources researching didymo and its impacts. Michigan’s DNR also works closely with the Native American tribes across Michigan.
One of the primary questions all those scientists are working to answer is why — if didymo is indeed native — it is suddenly exhibiting different behavior than normal.
“I was fishing regularly on a lot of our rivers by the late 80s, 90s … I don’t think there was ever a chance of that stuff growing back then,” said McCoy, the fishing guide. “Fast-forward 30 years of zebra and quagga mussel invasion … what else can you attribute it to? If it’s been here, and it’s conditions-based, why the sudden change?”
As Lake Superior faces an increasing abundance of invasive species that gobble up nutrients, it raises the question of how that decrease in dissolved phosphorus impacts the flourishing of flora and fauna downstream.
When rock snot blooms, it takes up crucial real estate on rocks and logs in the water that aquatic insects would otherwise use for their hatches.
“It covered everything but sand,” McCoy said of the 2021 bloom. “Wood, vegetation … anything it could attach to. It was like a blanket.”
Because of that algae-induced habitat loss, anglers reported a decrease in the number of insects in the water when the blooms took over, and, similarly, a decrease in their catch rates.
The full extent of didymo’s effects on Michigan’s rivers is still a topic of research for the DNR and of curiosity for fly-fishers.
Beyond ecological impacts on insect hatches, didymo impacts water tourism — a $2 billion industry in Michigan, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service — because of its unsightly appearance and interference with the fishing experience.
When the blooms were peaking, fly-fishing guides had to find new waters for clients to have a successful day on the water as didymo severely limited potential stomping grounds.
While fishers are the people most greatly affected by didymo, they are also believed to be the primary mode of transit for the microorganism. Didymo spreads by clinging onto recreationalists’ gear, particularly the felt-soled waders of anglers, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s National Invasive Species Information Center.
The Michigan DNR recommends cleaning gear with the common household cleaning product Formula 409 between uses and before moving from one waterway to the next to help prevent the spread of both didymo and New Zealand snails, an invasive species.
Anglers have been the most vocal reporters of didymo to Michigan’s DNR because of its effects on their activity.
“The places where you find didymo tend to be in really great trout streams,” said Day.
For fishing guides who rely heavily on the health of trout and insect populations in these rivers, any effect on catch rates can be detrimental to livelihoods. Scientists and fly-fishing guides alike agree that the primary way to prevent damage from didymo to Michigan’s aquatic ecosystems is to prevent the initial spread of the algae.
However, on the same day that a fly-fisher launches his sterilized boat into the Au Sable and trods along the waterbed in his deep-cleaned waders, a crew of casual recreationalists could decide to enjoy the river with inflatable tubes that have never seen a drop of Formula 409.
Rock snot will not discriminate against any gear it wants to latch onto. “It’s so easy to transfer didymo,” Kozminski said. “We’ve just got to get the message across to everybody who uses the river.”
University of Michigan
(Ed. Note: This story was originally published by Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. Visit the newsroom online: bridgemi.com.)
In the summer of 2021, fly-fishing guide Brian “Koz” Kozminski headed to his homewaters of the Upper Manistee River for a typical day of fishing alongside Sam Day, a fellow angler and an aquatic biologist for the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians.
When the two arrived at the stream, however, they were met with a strange sight. What was usually a cold, babbling trout river was now a waterway filled a mysterious white algae.
“It literally looked like someone flushed a toilet,” Kozminski said.
Didymosphenia geminata — otherwise known as “didymo” or “rock snot,” because of its snotty appearance — is a microscopic, single-celled algae, or “diatom,” that clings to the rocks lining riverbeds and lakebeds.
It is unknown when didymo first arrived in Michigan, or whether it’s invasive at all. The organism is something of an enigma scientists are working hard to understand because rock snot can quickly overtake a stream, occupying habitat used by the insects on which fish feed, meaning hungry fish and anglers who strike less often.
Scientists remain stumped over the question of where didymo came from or if it has been here all along. Further, if it has been here all along, why has it suddenly started blooming in some Michigan rivers only to disappear once more into its microscopic form?
“We’re worried about it because, even if it was here all along, it sure is acting differently than it was before,” said Jo Latimore, aquatic ecologist, outreach specialist and director for Michigan State University’s Extension Center for Lakes and Streams. “Even if it is a native species, it may be an indicator that something is out of whack in these waterways.”
The first Michigan bloom was found in the St. Mary’s River in 2015, and later the Upper Manistee River in 2021.
Cells have been found in the Au Sable River and Jordan River, though full blooms have not occurred at either spot. Because didymo can reproduce asexually, a colony can begin from a single microscopic cell.
Billy Keiper, an aquatic biologist for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s Water Resources Division, explained that, if didymo is native, it would have existed in its typical microscopic form in Michigan lakes and streams well before it was first found as a more obvious bloom in 2015.
Likewise, since the blooms died down in the past few years, didymo has lurked in its microscopic form, forgotten but not gone.
“When Koz and I went out in 2021, it was a huge concern, because that was the first time we had found it in the Lower Peninsula,” Day said. “With the Manistee being one of the top trout fishing destinations in Michigan, even across the US, it was definitely a real major concern.”
Some scientists wonder if it is in fact native to Michigan streams but just requires a new set of conditions to bloom.
It’s thought by Keiper that didymo thrives in rivers with low nutrients — particularly low levels of phosphorus and nitrogen — and in cold water with stable flow.
Michigan’s streams hit all those conditions, particularly in tailwaters where didymo has thrived in past blooms.
Michigan river and fishing guide Ed McCoy said that, as invasive species like zebra mussels and quagga mussels have increased in the Great Lakes, phosphorous levels in Michigan’s waterways have decreased. The mussels’ consumption of nutrients could be impacting the odd behavior of didymo.
“Sulfate is a really important nutrient parameter, as well,” Day said.
That is because, in didymo blooms, the visible filament or stalks of algae aren’t living cells but rather carbohydrate excrement called sulfated polysaccharides. Sulfur is a crucial building block of those stalks. Therefore, water rich with sulfate can further support didymo growth.
The element is introduced to rivers when rocks with sulfide minerals go through weathering and sulfate ions dissolve into the water. Scientists think didymo forms those longer stalks in low-nutrient waters as a last-ditch attempt at life, as opposed to its usual existence as microscopic cells.
However, those are still only theorized reasons for the rapid growth of didymo in blooms.
“What’s the magic, the soup that makes it happen?” said Kozminski.
“We have a lot more questions with didymo than we have answers,” Keiper said.
Keiper is a lead on a joint team of scientists from EGLE and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources researching didymo and its impacts. Michigan’s DNR also works closely with the Native American tribes across Michigan.
One of the primary questions all those scientists are working to answer is why — if didymo is indeed native — it is suddenly exhibiting different behavior than normal.
“I was fishing regularly on a lot of our rivers by the late 80s, 90s … I don’t think there was ever a chance of that stuff growing back then,” said McCoy, the fishing guide. “Fast-forward 30 years of zebra and quagga mussel invasion … what else can you attribute it to? If it’s been here, and it’s conditions-based, why the sudden change?”
As Lake Superior faces an increasing abundance of invasive species that gobble up nutrients, it raises the question of how that decrease in dissolved phosphorus impacts the flourishing of flora and fauna downstream.
When rock snot blooms, it takes up crucial real estate on rocks and logs in the water that aquatic insects would otherwise use for their hatches.
“It covered everything but sand,” McCoy said of the 2021 bloom. “Wood, vegetation … anything it could attach to. It was like a blanket.”
Because of that algae-induced habitat loss, anglers reported a decrease in the number of insects in the water when the blooms took over, and, similarly, a decrease in their catch rates.
The full extent of didymo’s effects on Michigan’s rivers is still a topic of research for the DNR and of curiosity for fly-fishers.
Beyond ecological impacts on insect hatches, didymo impacts water tourism — a $2 billion industry in Michigan, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service — because of its unsightly appearance and interference with the fishing experience.
When the blooms were peaking, fly-fishing guides had to find new waters for clients to have a successful day on the water as didymo severely limited potential stomping grounds.
While fishers are the people most greatly affected by didymo, they are also believed to be the primary mode of transit for the microorganism. Didymo spreads by clinging onto recreationalists’ gear, particularly the felt-soled waders of anglers, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s National Invasive Species Information Center.
The Michigan DNR recommends cleaning gear with the common household cleaning product Formula 409 between uses and before moving from one waterway to the next to help prevent the spread of both didymo and New Zealand snails, an invasive species.
Anglers have been the most vocal reporters of didymo to Michigan’s DNR because of its effects on their activity.
“The places where you find didymo tend to be in really great trout streams,” said Day.
For fishing guides who rely heavily on the health of trout and insect populations in these rivers, any effect on catch rates can be detrimental to livelihoods. Scientists and fly-fishing guides alike agree that the primary way to prevent damage from didymo to Michigan’s aquatic ecosystems is to prevent the initial spread of the algae.
However, on the same day that a fly-fisher launches his sterilized boat into the Au Sable and trods along the waterbed in his deep-cleaned waders, a crew of casual recreationalists could decide to enjoy the river with inflatable tubes that have never seen a drop of Formula 409.
Rock snot will not discriminate against any gear it wants to latch onto. “It’s so easy to transfer didymo,” Kozminski said. “We’ve just got to get the message across to everybody who uses the river.”
Outdoor Truths: The Real Purpose
By Gary Miller
My hunting season is over. I have scheduled a couple of fishing trips, but they are a few weeks away. Until then, I am surrounded by everything manmade.
I don’t mind this too much after a season of God-made stuff, but I need to return to the God-made stuff quickly. But not for the hunting or fishing, but for the God of the stuff.
You see, most of the time when I go to the woods I am going for the purpose of pursuit – whether that is for the purpose of scouting or hunting. When I’m in the woods, I’m thinking about deer or turkey. When I’m on the water, it’s usually with a fishing rod.
The point is that while I’m surrounded by the very handiwork of God when I am outside, I am focused on a more mundane activity. And sometimes (not all the time) my purpose doesn’t line up with my place. Let me explain.
What I need right now, more than anything, is to be surrounded by creation for the purpose of being with and hearing from the Creator. My purpose needs to line up with my place. And yours does too.
As you know because you hear it from me all the time, creation is the first way God spoke to his people, and it is still the first way He does it. Sure, the Bible is what we as Christians look to more than anything. But creation is how God speaks to believers and unbelievers all over the world. It is God confronting us head-on with something so great that we must contemplate His desire to include us. And those of us who are Christians need to lean into hearing God through creation as well as through the scriptures. But to do that, we have to get in creation for this specific purpose.
So, here’s what I’m going to do and maybe it’s something that you might want to do. Go to the woods or get in your boat and go to the lake, for the express purpose of hearing what God might want to say to you through His many
masterpieces.
When you get there simply ask God, “What do you want to say to me while I’m here?” And then, shut up, look at all the wonders around you, and listen. And then be able to answer this question should someone ask, and your life depended on it. “What was the one thing God wanted you to know from your time in the woods or on the water?” Be able to answer that question.
If you and I do this, we will have perfectly used creation for the primary purpose it was meant. And I can’t help to believe the manmade world we are returning to will be filled with a greater joy as well.
Gary Miller has written Outdoor Truths articles for 23 years. He has also written five books which include compilations of his articles and a father-son devotional. He also speaks at wild-game dinners and men’s events for churches and associations. Write to him at gary@outdoortruths.org.
My hunting season is over. I have scheduled a couple of fishing trips, but they are a few weeks away. Until then, I am surrounded by everything manmade.
I don’t mind this too much after a season of God-made stuff, but I need to return to the God-made stuff quickly. But not for the hunting or fishing, but for the God of the stuff.
You see, most of the time when I go to the woods I am going for the purpose of pursuit – whether that is for the purpose of scouting or hunting. When I’m in the woods, I’m thinking about deer or turkey. When I’m on the water, it’s usually with a fishing rod.
The point is that while I’m surrounded by the very handiwork of God when I am outside, I am focused on a more mundane activity. And sometimes (not all the time) my purpose doesn’t line up with my place. Let me explain.
What I need right now, more than anything, is to be surrounded by creation for the purpose of being with and hearing from the Creator. My purpose needs to line up with my place. And yours does too.
As you know because you hear it from me all the time, creation is the first way God spoke to his people, and it is still the first way He does it. Sure, the Bible is what we as Christians look to more than anything. But creation is how God speaks to believers and unbelievers all over the world. It is God confronting us head-on with something so great that we must contemplate His desire to include us. And those of us who are Christians need to lean into hearing God through creation as well as through the scriptures. But to do that, we have to get in creation for this specific purpose.
So, here’s what I’m going to do and maybe it’s something that you might want to do. Go to the woods or get in your boat and go to the lake, for the express purpose of hearing what God might want to say to you through His many
masterpieces.
When you get there simply ask God, “What do you want to say to me while I’m here?” And then, shut up, look at all the wonders around you, and listen. And then be able to answer this question should someone ask, and your life depended on it. “What was the one thing God wanted you to know from your time in the woods or on the water?” Be able to answer that question.
If you and I do this, we will have perfectly used creation for the primary purpose it was meant. And I can’t help to believe the manmade world we are returning to will be filled with a greater joy as well.
Gary Miller has written Outdoor Truths articles for 23 years. He has also written five books which include compilations of his articles and a father-son devotional. He also speaks at wild-game dinners and men’s events for churches and associations. Write to him at gary@outdoortruths.org.
Boost Your Raspberry Harvest with Proper Pruning
Routine raspberry pruning results in fewer pest problems and bigger harvests.
Photo courtesy of MelindaMyers.com
By Melinda Myers
Break out the leather gloves, heavy long sleeve shirt or coat, pruners and head out to your raspberry patch. Proper routine pruning can help reduce the risk of disease, manage insect pests and boost productivity.
When and how to prune raspberries is based on the type of raspberries you are growing and how you prefer to manage them. Summer and everbearing raspberries form fruit on two-year-old canes.
Start pruning once the worst of winter weather has passed and before growth begins in spring. Remove any canes that bore fruit last summer back to the ground. These canes are done producing and when left in place, they increase the risk of insect and disease problems and make harvesting more difficult. Leave the one-year-old canes intact, including those that bore fruit on everbearing plants last fall. These one-year-old stems will produce berries this coming summer.
Now thin the plantings to three to four canes per foot or six to eight stems per hill. This will allow for better light penetration and air circulation, helping reduce disease problems and increase productivity.
Slightly trim back side branches and remove no more than one fourth the total height of the remaining stems. Avoid more severe pruning that can greatly reduce the harvest.
Fall raspberries can be cut to the ground. Pruning back all the stems eliminates the summer crop, but results in an earlier and larger fall harvest.
Provide plants with a bit of support, if needed. Training is best done and easiest at planting, but if you skipped this step you may want to consider implementing a narrow-hedge row system. Training raspberry plants keeps the berries off the ground, increases light penetration, boosts productivity and makes harvesting much easier.
You can either install sturdy posts two feet into the ground at the end of each row or every 20 feet. Secure heavy gauge wire to the posts at 40 inches above the ground to help keep the plants upright. You can use a second wire surrounding the planting and secured a bit lower on the posts.
Another option is to use single or double T trellises. Run wires between the arms to help hold the plants upright. Consult your local extension service’s raspberry publications for more details on these and other training methods.
Enlist summer pruning to help keep your raspberries healthy and productive. Once you have finished the summer harvest, remove any canes that bore fruit along with insect-infested and diseased stems. Destroy these to further reduce future pest problems.
Make raspberry pruning a regular part of garden care. Your efforts will be rewarded with fewer pest problems and bigger harvests.
Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including the Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” streaming courses and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and her website is MelindaMyers.com.
Break out the leather gloves, heavy long sleeve shirt or coat, pruners and head out to your raspberry patch. Proper routine pruning can help reduce the risk of disease, manage insect pests and boost productivity.
When and how to prune raspberries is based on the type of raspberries you are growing and how you prefer to manage them. Summer and everbearing raspberries form fruit on two-year-old canes.
Start pruning once the worst of winter weather has passed and before growth begins in spring. Remove any canes that bore fruit last summer back to the ground. These canes are done producing and when left in place, they increase the risk of insect and disease problems and make harvesting more difficult. Leave the one-year-old canes intact, including those that bore fruit on everbearing plants last fall. These one-year-old stems will produce berries this coming summer.
Now thin the plantings to three to four canes per foot or six to eight stems per hill. This will allow for better light penetration and air circulation, helping reduce disease problems and increase productivity.
Slightly trim back side branches and remove no more than one fourth the total height of the remaining stems. Avoid more severe pruning that can greatly reduce the harvest.
Fall raspberries can be cut to the ground. Pruning back all the stems eliminates the summer crop, but results in an earlier and larger fall harvest.
Provide plants with a bit of support, if needed. Training is best done and easiest at planting, but if you skipped this step you may want to consider implementing a narrow-hedge row system. Training raspberry plants keeps the berries off the ground, increases light penetration, boosts productivity and makes harvesting much easier.
You can either install sturdy posts two feet into the ground at the end of each row or every 20 feet. Secure heavy gauge wire to the posts at 40 inches above the ground to help keep the plants upright. You can use a second wire surrounding the planting and secured a bit lower on the posts.
Another option is to use single or double T trellises. Run wires between the arms to help hold the plants upright. Consult your local extension service’s raspberry publications for more details on these and other training methods.
Enlist summer pruning to help keep your raspberries healthy and productive. Once you have finished the summer harvest, remove any canes that bore fruit along with insect-infested and diseased stems. Destroy these to further reduce future pest problems.
Make raspberry pruning a regular part of garden care. Your efforts will be rewarded with fewer pest problems and bigger harvests.
Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including the Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” streaming courses and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and her website is MelindaMyers.com.
Applications Open Now Through March 2 for GALS Program at Kellogg Biological Station
The Girls on Outdoor Adventure for Leadership and Science, or GALS, program is returning to the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station this summer.
GALS is a free summer science program for high school students to learn science hands-on while overnight camping and backpacking through the wilderness.
The inaugural program, which took place in July 2025, took participants from KBS along some 20 miles of the North Country Trail, and back again.
During and outside of the hiking, participants learned about the many different paths one can take to becoming a scientist, got hands-on experience in a lab, and developed their own independent research projects. They shared those projects at the end of the two-week program during a reception at KBS.
A previous participant in the program said of their experience, “GALS was an experience literally like no other. I expected this program to be a camping trip that incorporated science topics, but my expectations were far exceeded.”
“My favorite part of the GALS program was reaching and hiking along the bluffs of Lake Superior,” said a member of the 2025 program.
The Michigan GALS program will begin and end at the Kellogg Biological Station, located at 3700 East Gull Lake Dr., Hickory Corners, and will run from July 25 to Aug. 8.
GALS was created to increase opportunities for Michigan high school students who identify as female or gender-nonconforming, students of color, students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, and other groups historically excluded from STEM fields. However, all are welcome to apply.
Applications are open now through March 2.
Contact Misty Klotz with questions at GALS@kbs.msu.edu.
GALS is a free summer science program for high school students to learn science hands-on while overnight camping and backpacking through the wilderness.
The inaugural program, which took place in July 2025, took participants from KBS along some 20 miles of the North Country Trail, and back again.
During and outside of the hiking, participants learned about the many different paths one can take to becoming a scientist, got hands-on experience in a lab, and developed their own independent research projects. They shared those projects at the end of the two-week program during a reception at KBS.
A previous participant in the program said of their experience, “GALS was an experience literally like no other. I expected this program to be a camping trip that incorporated science topics, but my expectations were far exceeded.”
“My favorite part of the GALS program was reaching and hiking along the bluffs of Lake Superior,” said a member of the 2025 program.
The Michigan GALS program will begin and end at the Kellogg Biological Station, located at 3700 East Gull Lake Dr., Hickory Corners, and will run from July 25 to Aug. 8.
GALS was created to increase opportunities for Michigan high school students who identify as female or gender-nonconforming, students of color, students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, and other groups historically excluded from STEM fields. However, all are welcome to apply.
Applications are open now through March 2.
Contact Misty Klotz with questions at GALS@kbs.msu.edu.
