[sallal]

I inherited some raspberries when I got my allotment in April but the fruits were small, seedy and not very nice.  My neighbour told me that raspberries have a limited life before they need replacing and said the canes on my plot were old ones.  Does this sound right?  Do you think I need to replace my canes with new ones?  thanks Amanda

[Sparkyrog]

I would try a good mulch of fym first 

[Madame Cholet]

I would try a good mulch of fym first 

Sound a bit dry to me they like damp roots.

[Kristen]

My neighbour told me that raspberries have a limited life before they need replacing and said the canes on my plot were old ones.  Does this sound right?  Do you think I need to replace my canes with new ones?

They can get virused, which will render them not-much-cop.  If that is the case I would expect the leaves to be yellow-y and not looking very healthy.

Now is a good time to buy & plant bare rooted, but you won't get much/any crop in the first year (for Autumn fruited you will, but there is a school of thought not to let them fruit in the first year so the concentrate on producing strong roots for the greater benefit of future seasons)

I would recommend a minimum of 5 plants of each variety, 10 if you have space (so you can harvest at least a couple of punnet once or twice a week, otherwise you'll only have a handful which, although nice, ain't going to feed a whole table of people you want to impress

I have several varieties, 10 plants of each, from first super early to well into the Autumn.

[devonbarmygardener]

They can deteriorate with age and not produce such good quality roots.
When I replaced mine they were 10 years old at least.

There is myth/bit of gardening wotsit which says raspberries won't grow in the same place until 7 years have passed - to do with soil viruses.
According to what I've read about it, this is mentioned a lot and to get around it you need to dig them out and replace about a foot depth if soil where the new raspberries should go.

I have tried to put a couple of raspberries where they had grown previously and failed so there could be some truth in it

[gobs]

I inherited some raspberries when I got my allotment in April but the fruits were small, seedy and not very nice.  My neighbour told me that raspberries have a limited life before they need replacing and said the canes on my plot were old ones.  Does this sound right?  Do you think I need to replace my canes with new ones?  thanks Amanda

There are no old raspberries as such, since they always produce from young canes only. So they need replacing yearly by new ones, which they themselves produce.

Thin them, mulch them with manure.  One stick a foot apart. It might not be a good variety, next year will tell.

[AnneB]

We had some old unproductive raspberries at the top end of our allotment, which in the 2 years they were there produced little crop and small fruit.  When we built our fruit bed at the bottom (it's a fruit cage awaiting the netting at present!) we bought new canes, but moved some of the existing ones to make up the numbers.  Hey presto, they have sprung into life giving us a great crop of full sized fruit.

The soil is similar at the top, so it seems just moving them gave them a boost.

[mumofstig]

I think they just use up the soil nutrients and root space - sometimes just thinning them out and giving them some manure works 

[Kristen]

I think they just use up the soil nutrients and root space - sometimes just thinning them out and giving them some manure works 

I remember reading somewhere something along the lines of it being important to feed the soil, rather than the plants, for Raspberry beds.

I chuck a generous layer of muck on mine each Autumn - easier to do for the Autumn fruiting varieties as they have all been cut to the grown by then

[Growster...]

Our autumn rasps aren't anything like as good as last year, which is probably down to the dry weather.

Next year, they're all coming out, as they're completely choked with couch grass, and anyway, they're at least eight years old, probably older. Unwins do a good deal on replacements at the moment, and we're putting them in a new well-manured bed.

[sallal]

Thanks all for the advice all.  I think Ill try moving, thinning and feeding them next year then and see if that helps before I shell out on new ones.

[3759allen]

i've put some bare root canes in this spring and had a surprisingly good crop already. also produced at least 3 fresh canes per plant for next year. and the soil is lacking in goodness as hasn't been used for years.

anyway back to your question. think i would take out half and plant new fresh canes in there place. if you plant now you should at least get a reasonable but better quality crop in case the existing canes have had it.

i'm not a fan of putting all my eggs in one basket.

[3 allotments]

hello gardeners could anyone tell if its allright to dig up and replant early rasps around now or wait till leaves to drop off  :blink:.thanks in adv. darren

[Sparkyrog]

hello gardeners could anyone tell if its allright to dig up and replant early rasps around now or wait till leaves to drop off  :blink:.thanks in adv. darren

If I were you I would dig suckers from the outside of the row to form a new one ! take the old ones out a year later ,that way you should have no interruption in the supply 

[JohnB47]

I would try a good mulch of fym first 

I've nothing useful to add to this thread but I'm curious. What does this post actually mean? Am I bring a bit thick (again)?