Extra bonus raspberries?

[busylizzie]

I have some raspberry canes I was given but I don't know what variety they are. They are the type that fruit on old wood (is that autumn-fruiting? I get confused!). They have finished fruiting now so I was cutting back the old canes yesterday and spotted on one of the new shoots there are lots of flowerbuds! It's only a smallish shoot, about 18" tall so far.

Is this common? Could it be down to the odd weather we've had this summer? Should I leave them to flower, or should I remove them?

[Kristen]

"They are the type that fruit on old wood (is that autumn-fruiting?)"

That should be Summer fruiting. They throw up suckers during Summer (should now be 4 or 5 feet tall) and it is those that bear the fruit next year.
I'd let them flower, and fruit, and then let them fruit some more next year.

If they were planted SINCE Last Autumn then I would remove the fruit so that the plants spend their effort getting established, in their first year. (takes some will-power though!)

[busylizzie]

They were all planted in spring and have fruited quite well, but on the old canes. This one is flowering on the new shoot which has just grown in the last couple of weeks

I've been thinking about it and wonder whether I've actually got two varieties of raspberry mixed together, and this one with new flowers is an autumn fruiting one (thanks for clarifying!)

[Kristen]

"They were all planted in spring and have fruited quite well, but on the old canes"

The conventional advice is, I believe, to cut them down after planting so that they don't fruit but produce plenty of suckers for next year instead.

I don't know whether it really makes a difference, or not