Raspberries out of control....!!

[mygardenpots]

Hi everyone
I'm in need of some advice please. I have a large patch of raspberries that really are getting out of control!! They've been in the garden for years and I've no idea what type they are. Get masses of fruit but l could do with getting them back under control and neatening them up somehow. Would also like to eventually move them to the other side of the garden.
Any advice will be very much appreciated

Many thanks in anticipation
J

[rustylady]

Got any photos of how they are at the moment?

When do they fruit (early summer or late summer/autumn)?

[Aberdeenplotter]

if you intend moving them to another part of the garden, good time to start the process now.

Raspberries propagate by sending runners/new canes up from the root. For summer fruiting varieties, collect the number of runners/new canes that you want by digging them up with a fork. Plant in their new quarters 2ft apart in prepared stations , 5ft between the rows. Prune the new canes down to about 9" and leave. They should throw up new runners/canes which will give you fruit next year.

To tidy up the remaining canes. Cut out all of last years fruited canes. They will be brittle and dead.
thin down last years growth to clumps of 6 to 8 canes per clump 2ft apart if possible in rows 5 ft apart. That is the ideal. Improvise otherwise. Raspberries are very forgiving.

[mygardenpots]

Hi
Many thanks for your very swift replies

Don't have any photos at the moment I'm afraid but I will try and take some later this week. They tend to start fruiting about the beginning of August and then carry on right into the autumn.

So pleased to hear that now is right time to start moving them. I've got 4 days off work starting Friday so hoping to spend it all in the garden.
When I thin the canes will it be ok to prune them back a bit too? At the moment many of them are over 6 ft high!!

Many thanks again for your help
Best wishes
J

[Two_Sheds]

They sound like autumn fruiting then: summer ones start in June, I think.

You should cut them all to the ground by the end of Feb. Ish.

[BUFFS]

if yoy get them into some order then you could cut half to the ground as i do and trim the other half to5-6ft,they will fruit earlier and the cut down ones will fruit afterwards,so you get a crop from july to november,i have been doing this now for a good few years,no apparent problems,still have some in tubs in the freezer,they really freeze well.i dug up over 30 runners last week,potted on ,they will be planted at a sheltered housing site to let the folks be able to pick their own fresh fruit....on the tall ones cut out the old stems after flowering and tie in the new,lighter coloured stems for next year..

[alldigging]

Mine are moving themselves across the lawn...
They are in the front border of the front garden too. I suspect the pavement is too wide for them to go further but you never know...

[Two_Sheds]

,so you get a crop from july ...

I don't do this because of maggot infestation, which drops away after August

[BUFFS]

I don't do this because of maggot infestation, which drops away after August

we havent had any maggots,probably as this is scotland and the home growing is not as favoured as in england,i can only think of one or two other growers of fruit and veg locally,i still have to lift the suckers from the remaining 10ft by the raspberry row,looks like another 15/20 suckers,no shortage of new growth for the new season...