[The Hungry Slug]

I was doing some reading last night about raspberries but must admit I didn't undertsand half of what was going on!  Thought you lot may be better at explaining things in plain English!  

I have some raspberry canes that I only planted in April.  They are summer fruiting varieties (I think).  As they won't be ready this year what do I need to do?  Some books suggest just leaving them, but one book was talking about chopping them down to ground level which sounded a bit drastic at this stage!  They have all got leaves if that makes a difference...  If I leave them, do I need to prune them back once they start developing shoots?  Help - I love raspberries and want to get as many as I can from my plot!

[simond9383]

Assuming that they were bought from the garden centre or nursery as one foot canes with maybe some limited growth, you would normally wait until they are shooting from the base and then cut the canes down to ground level so that the new basal growth can take over.  If they were more established canes, say from a friend, then I would probably leave the growth to do what it wants this year. The overiding principle for Summer fruiting rasbos is that this year's growth is what they will fruit on next year so leave it to grow.
One warning from experience, if they were bare rooted and you were late planting, they may take a while before they spring into life.

[gobs]

yes, if the roots dry out before they establish, can even loose them, would advise to mulch them, whilst soil is still wet down below.

And as said leave alone, you cut the old woody canes to ground levelish, end of season, when they finished fruiting.

[Dominic]

Bit of an in depth question, but why?

Regarding cut down already fruited wood/

I've read do it loads of times, but why?
Does it not still leaf up next year and strengthen the plant, or is it just metaphorical, and literal, deadwood

[gobs]

It's dead wood. You can break it if you wish.