dying rasperry plants! Help please?

Hello all,
I've got a problem with my rasberry canes. They're living in a couple of large pots and started the year well, with lots of flowers / fruit on existing canes ( those that grew last year) and several new shoots coming up.

But now several of the canes are dying off, and I can't see why. It looks for all the world like they're too dry, as the leaves go yellow then brown and the nearly ready fruit shrivels up. It started initially on just the 2nd year (fruiting) canes, but not all of them - some are ok and have produced ripe fruit, even though they're in the same pot as the dying ones. But it now looks as though they're all starting to look unwell.

Having tried some research it isn't orange rust, and I'm not sure what's going on. Too much rain? Disease? Pest? I will try to put a picture up tomorrow, but any advice you may have would be great.

Thanks,

TT

Check that there is not an ants nest in the pot. We are plagued with ants and this sometimes happens to flowers in pots.

Thanks for the advice.. will go check first thing in the morning..

Given the weather at the moment I'd also consider that they could be drowning (is the compost in the pot dry, damp or soaking wet?)  or that all this rain is washing through nutrients and they need a feed and some temporary shelter from the rain.

When you check the pot for ants/vine weavil you'll get a good idea what the compost is like.  If I had to bet blind, I'd probably go with vine weevil asthe most likely and drowning as next most likely.

I've had a peek at the RHS website - http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?PID=148  Scroll down to the bottom to the problems section and click on the links.  They might be a little more helpful as it is all guess work at the moment.  It might even be something as simple as pot bound although it does sound more serious

As for vine weevil larvae, they can do a lot of damage deep inside the root mass (you'd have to take the entire plant out of the pot to investigate further to be sure) and basically it would be a case of start over again if plants are already succumbing to serious die back.  However, if you have had vine weevil, then the chances are your replacements will be at serious risk too.  As far as I know there isn't a lot you can do other than use something like a systemic pesticide which is only useful with potted ornamental plants and not recommended for eating crops.

I must admit that I've never heard of raspberries growing well in any sized pot. They much prefer the ground where it's cooler and damper, more to their liking. They send out loads of runners and if the runners have nowhere to go then the whole plant can be stressed and subject to various grubs. True, you can cut off the top of a runner, but getting out the root part is very tricky.