Ruby Beauty dwarf raspberry

[keble]

At the end of last summer I bought a Ruby Beauty dwarf raspberry which is described as suitable for containers. It has put on lots of green growth this year but hasn't flowered or fruited. My question regards pruning. It is an early summer bearer and ordinarily I'd prune after fruiting. But given the lack of fruit, what am I meant to do? Many thanks for any advice.

[Mark_Riga]

Well normally, you would prune out fruited canes and allow the new ones to grow on. It could be, this year, there are no old canes to prune out. If they are not overcrowed, I would see what happens next year otherwise, I would cut out any weak canes. You could check with your supplier if you should have got any fruit this year.

[ameno]

That new growth will fruit next year.
If it is newly planted then it is likely that the growth that would have fruited this year was cut off by the nursery, and new growth has only come up from the roots this year.

[keble]

Thank you, both. The supplier claim was that there would be fruit the first year - fairly dubious claim perhaps. When I took delivery at the end of last summer, there was some new growth which I left, hoping it would fruit this year. This year there is a lot of new growth - anyone would think I'd been feeding it nothing but nitrogen (I haven't). I think I will take the advice to thin it out as there is a lot of weak growth. I think this qualifies as one of those 'novelty plants' and I probably shouldn't have succumbed to the hype. Hope I am back to report fruit next summer! Thank you again, Mark Riga and ameno.

[Babru]

My friend has one and she got quite a bit of fruit from it this year, so not too much of a novelty. I think she has had her a couple of years. Maybe next year it will do better.

[keble]

Good to know. I wonder if it fruited the first year. Today I cut out last year’s stems, leaving this year’s (abundant) growth.