[Bluebell007]

HI. I'm hoping someone can advise me on prunning summer fruiting raspberries, Last autumn i planted the bare root canes, I understand from books i have read that i need to prune after they stop fruiting, and prune last years stems leaving this years growth for next years fruit! this has confused me, As all of the growth i have is this years. Should i prune all stems or leave them all this year. Um. Thanks.   

[Yorkie]

Here's the RHS guide for general advice, hopefully someone who's grown raspberries will be able to answer your specific question if it's not in the RHS stuff 

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=148

[gillie]

If the stems have not fruited (and you should be able to see the remains of the fruit if they did) leave them to fruit next year.

Gillie

[Goosegirl]

As Gillie says - cut down to about 1" all canes that have fruited this year. You should have a new growth of canes ready for next year - their stems are green rather than brown. If you aren't sure about some, leave them - they can always be cut down next year. I tie in my canes with different coloured twine each year - one year brown for the fruiting ones, green for the new ones - then the following year, the new ones are tied in with brown, and so on.

[Bluebell007]

A big thank you for my replies,  I feel more confident now,

[kermit]

I also planted summer fruiting o er the winter. Planted ten but only one has any growth. Really worried they have carped it. What's more the one with growth had two Rasps on it, which I obviously savoured! Not sure whether to cut it back. Oh dear...

[SG6]

If all the growth is this years then leave them.

They will bear fruit next year, they MAY have had a little fruit this year but they will bear the majority next year.

It is not difficult to tell the difference between old and new canes, so don't worry too much.

One option I found (being very lazy) was to leave the canes for 3 years, after that the canes simply died off so were very dead looking. Then I pruned them out. 

[Grubbypaws]

Can I ask 2 questions?

When exactly do you prune raspberries? Since the leaves are still all green isnt it best to leave so the plant can photosynthesize ?

The new canes from this year are trying to escape through the top of my 7' fruit cage! Should I trim them back or will this cause me to loose fruit next year?

This is my first year growing raspberries as well. I guess it will get easier when I have done all the pruning once.

[SG6]

Would say that he "best" time is Autumn/Mid Autumn.
Let them fruit on the 2 years old canes then remove them a bit later in the year.

What the confusion is (possibly) that you are not pruning the raspberry for it's sake but for yours. You want more fruit. So you prune to induce more growth on which more fruit is bourne.

It is easier when you actually do it. There is a noticeable difference between the "new" growth and the 2 years old growth.

The other factor being we say they fruit in the second years but they can fruit a little in the first then in a third year, just the majority is in the second. If you keep the second year canes around for another year then the raspberry isn't induced to create so many new canes. So your crop goes down.

[dno71]

I have about 10-15 canes which have appeared this year which i havent planted (last years fruit dropped and grown i guess!) when is the best time to dig them up to move them from the garden over to the lotty and on to friends etc!

[DD.]

Have they appeared near to established canes? If so they will be suckers thrown up by them.

October/November is a good time to move them.

[dno71]

close ish about 3 feet away? what do i do just dig them out will they be attached to the main plant like strawberries would be?

[DD.]

Yep, they're suckers, just chop them free of the main plant with your spade.

[dno71]

great thanks