Thinning autumn raspberries

[sparrow100]

Do you do it? How many do you tend to take out?

I have Joan J canes, which did really well last year and have quite frankly gone bonkers this year. 6 canes has turned into a solid wall of stems. Some of them have yellowing leaves at the bottom and look a bit like they are struggling.

I dimly remember the moustachioed man from Beechgrove thinning out a few canes at this time of year to get bigger berries.

Any experience very welcome - am a bit nervous of going in secateurs-blazing!

[Martin H]

Personally I thin them to the 5 strongest canes per plant, cutting the others off at ground level with secateurs.

Raspberries will take over your entire plot if you let them, so it's a good idea to tackle them every year.

I also deal with the stray ones growing too far from the row. I learnt last week from Monty that it's best to pull these up rather than cut them, it makes them less likely to come back.

[MarkPelican]

I haven't done anything this year and, like you, my 10 canes have become a wall of plants this year. They are confined so they're not going to spread across the allotment. I'm going to wait and see whether the fact that there are lots of them reduces the crop and if so I'll think about thinning them next year.

[FlowerpotGirl]

As someone who has just taken on a plot of overgrown raspberries I have thinned them. I've removed all the old dead looking stuff and all the weeds. Because they aren't fighting so hard against each other they look healthier. I will be cutting them back really hard in the Autumn. They really do take over given half the chance

[sparrow100]

I've already removed 36 runners, most of which I gave away. I think I'll take out the skinniest stems from the middle then and give them a bit more breathing room.

They are, with padron peppers, the most anticipated crop I grow!

Thanks for the pointers.

[BUFFS]

I haven't done anything this year and, like you, my 10 canes have become a wall of plants this year. They are confined so they're not going to spread across the allotment. I'm going to wait and see whether the fact that there are lots of them reduces the crop and if so I'll think about thinning them next year.

I have the same but each autumn I cut out all the fruited stems and tie in the unfruited ones, (they are the ones still fresh and green) to the canes, and trim them to 5ft, so I get an earlier crop from these then the fresh canes carry on the fruiting, so I get raspberries from the end of june to the frosts this way and after about 7/8yrs of this method I know it works and doesn't seem to weaken the plants noticeably..we are just finishing last years as this years are starting to swell..

[sparrow100]

Do you have summer rasps then Buffs?

I only have autumn ones so everything is cut down in January/Feb.

[Baldy]

^^^^

Think that's how you get a long crop from Autumn ones sparra' - by tying in the unfruited green canes you'll hopefully get an early crop from them - then the rest come on as per usual from the areas that were cut right back.
I could be wrong / I could be right (off to see P.I.L. tonight )

[cptncrackoff]

I've been told I need to thin mine to get more, better quality fruit!
There's very little advice online.. I'm guessing it's a fine line between removing to improve and removing so many you end up with less...
Confused....

[Martin H]

^^^^

Think that's how you get a long crop from Autumn ones sparra' - by tying in the unfruited green canes you'll hopefully get an early crop from them

I don't get any unfruited green canes on Autumn rasps, everything fruits the same year. Cutting everything down in the winter is definitely the easy way! Then remove weak growth as necessary in early Summer to give the strong ones room to grow a big crop of large berries the same year.

It's the summer rasps that are the fiddly ones!

[sparrow100]

I don't get any unfruited green canes on Autumn rasps, everything fruits the same year. Cutting everything down in the winter is definitely the easy way! Then remove weak growth as necessary in early Summer to give the strong ones room to grow a big crop of large berries the same year.

It's the summer rasps that are the fiddly ones!

I had the same thing Martin, but have only grown raspberries for one year so I don't have much experience. On looking closer today, lots of my stems are flowering already. I was wondering whether they need to be removed for a better autumn crop?

[Martin H]

I had the same thing Martin, but have only grown raspberries for one year so I don't have much experience. On looking closer today, lots of my stems are flowering already. I was wondering whether they need to be removed for a better autumn crop?

Sparrow, I would let your Autumn raspberries do their own thing this year, enjoy all the fruit you get and cut everything to the ground in the winter. Expect them to start behaving more "normally" next season.

[happyhumph]

Pretty much as MartinH says. Prune almost to the ground in late winter. Thin out DDD - dead, diseased or dying. Then if overcrowded any spindly ones can go - keep 5 or 6 strongest with a bit of space around them & pull up suckers. Be careful with weeding as rasps v shallow rooted. I never have any unfruited canes on autumn rasps either, but if you want a bit of an extra earlier crop can leave some a bit longer for that.

Mine of course are overcrowded & full of weeds

[MarkPelican]

I think the way it works is like this. If you prune autumn fruited canes down to the ground in the autumn, you will get one crop on the new growth the following year.

If you don't prune them to the ground but just take off the tops, then you will get an earlier crop on new growth on last years canes and a later crop on new growth this year.

However, you need to make sure you cut down the two year growth after its fruited and the crop of fruit on the first year growth isn't as big, and the crop on the second year growth isn't as nice as the crop on the first year growth and you have to support the canes over the winter otherwise they will be rocked by the wind and might be blown out.

All in all IMO it easier to grow autumn fruited raspberries for one crop on the new years growth and freeze excess to use when there isn't any fruit. I find raspberries are one of the most successful fruits to freeze.

See here http://www.rhsplants.co.uk/plants/_/...id.2000011104/.

[Scarlet]

I do the same as Buffs. I also grow summer rasps but the Autumn rasps are bigger fruit. I chop three quarters down to ground in feb and the remainder thicker stems get the tops pruned off lightly. The pruned ones fruit early, these get cut down as soon as ive harvested. You can't muddle them up though as in February if Ive missed some they are dead sticks.
I don't bother to tie mine in