[chipmunk]

Hi. Apologies if this has been covered recently - tried to find similar posts but no luck! Anyway, we've just acquired our first allotment which has a raspberry patch i.e. no rows or supports, just lots of random canes! We want to sort it out into something more manageable/accessible and want to know the best way to do this! We sub-letted part of this allotment last year so know the canes are summer fruiting and are reasonably productive. Can we do anything now or is it best to wait until after fruiting this summer before we prune/tackle it?

Ta,

Hannah

[jolly jen]

im in the same boat  as you,just taken on my plot last wek and in the middle is a mass of raspberries canes,all with dead fruits on the end,it has a metal frame work around it ,so i can pull the netting around it,looks like a dead jungle of old canes,but im gonna prune them all back and see what goes  on..might not get fruit till next year ,who knows??

[gobs]

Hi, chipmonk, sub-letting is illegal, as long as you know.

You want to sort them out now, whilst dormant. Put support in place and lose woody stems, manure.

[richyrich7]

Jolly Jen just cut down those you find with old fruit on, leave the rest and you should get a crop this year. They could be either Autumn fruiting which fruit on this years growth or Summer fruiting which fruit on previous years. After this year you will know for sure what you have.

Chipmunk do as Gobs suggested, anything in the way of the paths around them you may be creating, 2 choices: dig up and move back into new rows or just chuck.

[chipmunk]

Thanks, will get cracking with your suggestions. And for the record, we now officially have our own allotment, but sub-letting is not illegal on our site!

Hannah

[richyrich7]

Good luck with it Hannah keep us informed loads of raspberry jam this year then ?