Once your summer fruiting raspberry canes have finished fruiting this year, cut back only the old canes that the fruit was on to ground level, leaving the newer canes (maximum 6-8 new stems per plant) to grow for next year’s fruit. The fruited canes and new canes will look quite different: the old stems will be more brittle at the bottom and brown and woody, whereas the new canes will be more supple and a fresher green colour. Cut the old stems from the supports as you cut them away at the base and tie in the new stems in their place. If you have new canes that are growing further away from the supports, dig these out and plant elsewhere or give to friends!
If your raspberry canes haven’t fruited this year, pruning all of the summer fruiting canes either in summer after fruiting or in spring, is probably where your problem lies. You mustn’t prune the newer green canes that grew this year, as these will be the one year old stems that your raspberries will fruit on next year. Hope that makes sense. Don’t prune any canes that grew during this year (and this might be all of your canes if you cut back all of the stems in spring) and you’ll have fruit next year!
Autumn raspberries should be happily supplying fruit right now and up until October or November. These canes can be pruned in February.
[...] time to cut back autumn fruiting raspberries before new shoots appear. Don’t be tempted to cut back summer fruiting raspberry canes though, as they produce fruit on the stems that grew last year. Pruning summer fruiting canes now [...]
Autumn raspberries are the best! I have loads right now and need more recipes to use them!
Hi Andrea, I love my autumn raspberries too. I grew then in pots this year and have had great fruits even in their first year. I also think they’re great for mixing in borders with other plants, to create a potager type of garden. This works really well in small gardens, where space for veg growing is always an issue. I grew Polka and Joan J, newish varieties this year, and they’re whoppers, about twice the size of Autumn Bliss and still delicious!
Thanks for the tip reminding to prune summer fruiting raspberries. And did your acanthus seeds come through for you? I have four fat heads full of seeds about to ripen and wonder should I sow some on the allotment.
Dah I now think it may have been agapanthus that you sowed and since I have three heads of that forming seeds ….. did they come through for you?
Hi Sue, Yes, they were agapanthus! A few of the plants are surviving utter neglect, including rampant bind weed, at my allotment. I may transplant them back at home soon, with the hope they may flower next year. I haven’t tried Acanthus from seed, but I do know that once you have it growing, it’s a tough job to get rid of it if you change your mind about its glossy virtues!
[...] fruited canes of summer raspberries should now be pruned: tie in new canes, too! More infos: http://j.mp/Ua8vFM TwitterFacebook [...]