Raspberry Advice

[Samurailord]

Hi all

Last night we had our first meeting of the year on the Community Garden that we are looking after, and we noticed that some of the raspberry canes have now reached over 10' in length.

I say long rather than tall as they are mostly sprawled everywhere.

Anyway, my question is - should we do any pruning on these now, or should we wait until they have fruited first?

When we took the garden on last summer every bed had been chopped down in the spring by contractors, and although the raspberries grew well and had loads of foliage we didnt get a single flower or piece of fruit from them all year, so we don't even know if they are summer or autumn fruiters.

I thought that the lack of fruit may have been because they had been cut back at the wrong time, and so we have decided to wait to see if anything happens this season - or should we give them a trim?

I know very little about soft fruits so any advice is welcome

Andy

[Kristen]

They might be that long because they have fruited in previous years and not then been cut down.

If you can still see the remainents of any fruit from last year (the little stalk and the core of the fruit) then you can cut those canes (i.e. the ones that have fruited) right down to the ground.

Doesn't matter if they are Autumn or Summer fruiting if you cut canes down to the ground, after they have finished fruiing, then the pruning is the same for both types.

If you can't see any core from the fruit (and 6 months after fruiting I doubt you will be able to ) then either leave them be for this year, or cut them off at a reasonable picking height - say 6' tall

[Fleurisa]

They sound like summer fruiting which is why they didn't fruit last year. You need to support summer fruiting raspberries to stop them sprawling.

[Samurailord]

They might be that long because they have fruited in previous years and not then been cut down.

They had definitely been cut down in the spring, and when we took over in June there was no sign at all of flowers or fruit

They sound like summer fruiting which is why they didn't fruit last year. You need to support summer fruiting raspberries to stop them sprawling.

We have some supports in the main bed that holds the canes, but there are a few in a second bed that need some help.

Hopefully we will get loads of fruit this summer.

Andy

[alldigging]

Mm raspberry jam

[Kristen]

Sorry, read the O/P more carefully now.

If Raspberries were cut to-the-ground last Spring, and were Summer fruiters, then they would not have fruited the same year, as Fleurisa said. For Summer Fruiters "This year's new canes = next year's fruiting canes". 10' is an impressive size for Raspberry canes and hopefully means that your soil is really good

[Samurailord]

Mm raspberry jam

mmm Raspberry wine

[alldigging]

mmm Raspberry wine

Oh actually you're right. The raspberry wine I made was very nice. Not as good as the blackcurrant but still very nice.

I probably don't need to make jam this year.

[Samurailord]

You need to mix your fruit, put some blackcurrants with your raspberries (about 1:5 ratio) for a deeper, fuller flavour, and add a banana that has been frozen and gone black for some body too.

Andy

[alldigging]

You need to mix your fruit, put some blackcurrants with your raspberries (about 1:5 ratio) for a deeper, fuller flavour, and add a banana that has been frozen and gone black for some body too.

Andy

It had bananananananas in!

[fishpond]

So why isn't it called Raspberry wine with a subtle hint of Blackcurrants and Banana?

[Samurailord]

So why isn't it called Raspberry wine with a subtle hint of Blackcurrants and Banana?

Because the blackcurrants and banana dont add much to the flavour apart from making it taste more 'raspberry'y'.

You might get a subtile hint, but not enough to be able to distinguish.

And it wouldn't fit on the label either, which is probably closer to the truth.

Andy

[fishpond]

"And it wouldn't fit on the label either, which is probably closer to the truth".
I thought that may be the case,
Thank You.