raspberries, to cut back or not to cut back!

[miffy]

I bought some raspberry canes in October. Put them in as they were, one set were summer fruiting other set were autumn fruiting.
Question is this, how much do i chop off or do i leave both until they sprout new growth? The canes are about a foot long and starting to show new leaves.
Totally clueless please help. Thanks

[sarraceniac]

Hi Miffy. I'm only putting this on because I am in the same position and I want notifying when someone answers. I bought mine in December and apart from the fact that I am told that the summer fruiters won't fruit this year but the late ones probably will, I can find advice on treatment in subsequent years but not in their first year. Needless to say mine are not yet showing any signs of life.

[coomber]

Not sure if I did it the right way but for the first year I just planted and left them - tying in new shoots as they grew.

[miffy]

Thanks guys, think i'll just leave them as you suggest and see what happens, abit trigger happy i guess as i have been given some wicked ass pruners for Christmas and have the urge to chop things off in their prime!!

[coomber]

abit trigger happy i guess as i have been given some wicked ass pruners for Christmas and have the urge to chop things off in their prime!!

Hehehe, I know how you feel

[Farmer_Gyles]

you cut back canes after they've fruited - yours don't need cutting back yet
this year the canes will grow - tie them in as they grow - you'll get fruit too - when the old canes have finished fruiting, cut them back - any new canes that don't fruit should be tied in

[burnie]

If there's a risk of frost I wouldn't prune anything just now.

[sarraceniac]

Thanks Farmer Gyles. It's nice to have it confirmed. Do you mean that the earlier ones will fruit also? Or do they fruit on previous seasons growth?

[Denise in York]

Hi Guys - As I understand it ( and am new relatively new to growing veg' - so apols if not correct !) Floricane raspberry types fruit on old wood - developed on the previous growing season and Primocane raspberry bushes grow on the new wood (first year canes). So,Primocane varieties need pruning back quite hard in order to put their energy into growing new canes through Spring and Summer.
I have tried to make a note of the varieties and planting position of plants I am buying and planting so that I can keep researching how to best care for them as I go on. Learnt the hard way after last years fun of guessing what and where everything was !
Had great sucess with Joan J ( Quite a coincidence as Joan Jett and the Blackhearts was the first 7" I bought years ago )Planted them early summer time 2008 and still had a few in November- v tasty ! I did prune them back at the weekend - hope haven't done wrong as I note that someone has posted not to pune when frost is about

Planted some "Autumn Bliss" raspberrys a couple of months ago and plan to get some early cropping varieties in when the ground has thawed out !

I guess by waiting to see when they fruit and start cropping you will be able to work out which type they are ?
Good luck ..

[Farmer_Gyles]

as regard pruning and frosts .... i *think* we're supposed to cut back when we've picked the fruit, ie, autumn .... ???? everything i've read says to cut back after fruiting, but not seen dates or comments like "before frost" etc ... ???

[burnie]

The reference to frosts,may be old gardeners tales,but I've always thought it stops "burn" on fresh cut wood/plant material that's not calloused over.I was told you could get die back if frost got into the structure,indeed you are told to "paint" large wounds in case disease gets in,irrespective of frost or not.

[sarraceniac]

I'm confused. Anybody want to buy 2 dozen raspberry canes?

[Denise in York]

He he He Well Sarraceniac the rassers pretty much looked after themselves through the summer / winter so heres to hoping my bumbling hasn't killed 'em off.... yet .
May need to get back to you in Spring about buying yours if it proves fatal though ...

[Jenny22Cumbria]

I've just put mine in and I've been trying to work all this out too! I've got 9 canes - 3 of Autumn Bliss and 3 of 2 different sorts of Summer fruiting canes.

As far as I can work out I could prune my Autumn friuting ones back to the soil in Feb if I could be bothered (all still a single dead-looking cane at the mo) because Autumn fruiters flower from new growth, so in the spring they'll produce shoots and I should get some fruit from those this year. According to the instructions I should do that to every cane every year in Feb to encourage "new cane development".

The summer ones fruit from last year's growth so I won't get any fruit from the spring growth this year and I won't cut those new canes back until they've fruited next year. The instructions that came with them say "Cut out the fruited canes to soil level during late Autumn and carefully tie in the new shooting canes to the wires...and aim to have 6-8 fruiting canes per plant."

Does that sound right?! I'm fairly sure I've got it now but I'm not sure I'll feel as confident when the time comes to prune!

[starloc]

I planted mine in pots a couple of weeks ago, i had forgotton about them, they were bone dry, freezing cold, but the canes were still green, i planted them in 5L pots after soaking for a hour to wet them

My problem , i bought 5 types, 20-30 of each from ebay,yellow ones red ones, purple ones, summer ones autumn ones.... from a few suppliers, none had labels when delivered and i cant remeber who sent what, they all look the same.....

Ive got each type seperated out from the other types, but no idea which is which!

How am i going to prune them, no idea, im just leaving them at 2 foot long till they grow and see what happens,

i now have tiny buds formed on them, even with the frosty weather, so at least there not dead