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.
Out of my shed 
[…] 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 […]
Hi everyone, I have a big problem with my summer fruiting raspberries. I know to cut back the ones that have fruited once they have finished and did so but none of my plants has produced new canes this year so I won’t have any raspberries next year.. Why are there no new canes though.. Has the plant died? Thank you very much for your help Nadine
Hi Nadine, This is a really good question, but I don’t know the answer to it! Will ask around and get back to you. V.best Naomi
Hi Nadine, I called the RHS on this one. It could be down to a root rotting disease called Phytophthora which is a fungal disease, but it could also be that the roots have been sitting in heavy wet soil (which they hate) and the plants are struggling to perform at their best. We did have a hugely wet winter last year and a vey cold start this year, so if you have heavy soil, this may be the reason. If you do have heavy soil, they recommend building a raised bed (a good few inches high) so that the shallow roots don’t sit in the wet soil. This will really improve their chances of growing well. If the plants have been weakened, you could try and replant in raised beds, but it might be worth buying new canes to plant in new beds for healthier crops in the future. Also, if there has been disease, then it’s best not to plant Raspberries in the same area (or any other plant that is in the Rubus species such as Blackberries or Japanese wineberries) or at least remove the soil and replace with new soil before replacing with new plants. Hope that helps. V.best Naomi
Hi, thank you very much and thank you for going through all the hassle of phoning around.
They are already in a raised bed so I guess it’s a disease then..
Thank you very much Nadine
Hi Nadine, if you are a member of the RHS, as well as a helpline, you can also send in your roots to be tested for diseases.
Sounds like you might be buying some new canes this year though. Hope they grow well and it may be worth planting some autumn canes too (if you’re not growing some already)-Polka are a fab variety. V.best Naomi