Autumn Raspberry Clarification

[Bigmallly]

My rule is - if its dead, off with its head, if its alive, let it thrive.

That's far too easy..............growing Raspberries is not supposed to be easy.

[Jay-ell]

That's far too easy..............growing Raspberries is not supposed to be easy.

But she's only allowed to do it on a Thursday 17th if the moon is waning and it's a sunny day

[veggiechicken]

Have you noticed that its the men (and gorillas) who try to turn raspberry pruning into some complicated and mysterious ritual?
We ladies (and chickens) approach it far more simply - and it works just as well, if not better

So remember-

When its green, fruit will be seen,
When its brown, cut it down.

[NickG]

I just laughed out loud lol. Nice post VC

[vixylix]

Well said VC! I work on the basis that they all manage perfectly well in nature without our intervention!

[Bigmallly]

There's just no helping some...................

[MarkPelican]

In order to extend the conversation, one thing to remember is that raspberries are shallow rooted and, if you leave the canes uncut during the winter, they may get "rocked" and damaged by the strong winds in exposed places. Summer fruited and unpruned autumn fruited therefore have to be supported by fixing them to wires to hold them stable. Autumn fruited canes pruned in late autumn/early winter don't need any support as there's nothing to catch the wind.

[1Bee]

*insert swearing* I think raspberries must be my new 'SLR camera settings'. No matter how many times someone explains them, or how to handle them, I DON'T GET IT.

When I manage to excavate my poor baby rasps from their sleeping-beauty-like thicket, I will take photos, post them, and then see if someone can tell me what to do with them. In steps. With nice, easy words.

And wine.

[Jay-ell]

OK, if you harvest the raspberries in the summer cut the cane off right at the bottom next to the soil but only the canes you've just harvested.

If you harvest during autumn then cut those canes off at 3 foot.

If at the end of autumn you have canes which haven’t fruited then leave them alone (or tie them to wires if it's a windy spot)

If at any time you have dead canes cut them off at the ground

[Bigmallly]

Why dint you say that at the beginning Jas?.........................

[The Griff]

And then you get this variety, which complicates things even more, I have the yellow and the red varieties.
Gelbe Sugana

[Bigmallly]

Yes it is confusing. It's classed as a Summer Rasp yet crops on current years growth...........

[sparrow100]

And my Joan J rasps, which I cut to the ground in Jan/Feb are 45cm high and have flower buds already, in mid-April. Mine tend to flower both summer and autumn. They get to 5ft high and I'm stake&wiring them this year to stop them drooping into pigeon-reach.

Do people tend to thin them much when the shoots are all up? I saw them doing it on Beechgrove last year, but didn't catch how many they left per clump on average.

[Bigmallly]

Apart from removing any canes that encroach onto paths, I don't do any thinning.

[Jay-ell]

My Joan J's have flowers as well and I cut them down also. I think that the flowering stems are growing from a bud at the base of last years cane rather than a brand new cane from the root - at least it looks that way on one of them.