Follow the same pruning procedures as described for the summer-bearing red raspberries. This helps side shoot development and nets a higher fruit yield. Note: in order to keep your raspberry patch manageable, after your plants are around 3 to 4 years old, it is best to leave only about 10 of the strongest canes and remove the rest. How to grow raspberries – soaking bare roots of raspberry canes before planting. Do not prune back new canes that have emerged during the summer. (Or gifted to friends, family or others in your local community.) Cut back the side branches to 12 inches in length for black raspberries, and 18 inches for purple raspberries. Each spring, purple, black, and red raspberries produce new canes from buds located at the base of the previous year's growth. The following year, a summer crop is produced on the lower portions of these same canes. Cut back to live tissue. Double cropping can be useful for those with smaller gardens, who do not have space to grow both summer and fall varieties. Too-tall raspberry canes will lean over once leaves and fruit grow. Cut all canes off at ground level. How to plant raspberries . What is more, pruning raspberries can help to keep your garden looking neat and tidy. All common varieties fall into two different categories. Dead and damaged canes are pruned out, which removes unsightly elements from the garden scheme. Sometimes, pruning may seem brutal. They can also be more susceptible to pests and disease, and overcrowding can weaken the plants and reduce the yield of berries. You can cut back Summer raspberries once they've finished fruiting. What is the proper way to prune black raspberries in late winter/early spring. Red raspberries also produce new shoots from buds located on their roots. Pruning can also allow you to reduce the height of your canes. In late winter, or early spring, you can also manage the height of your canes and trim them back to a manageable height of around 4 feet tall. Take the strongest of the green primocanes and, if growing your raspberries within a support structure, tie them into your supports. "Mark, you can tip prune your raspberries anytime, but do not cut back this year's new growth, with green stems, more than is necessary. If you already grow these fruit canes, you will know that learning how to prune raspberries is one of the key skills to learn. Red Raspberry Bush Pruning Prune summer fruiting raspberries in the late summer or fall, after the berries have been harvested. Raspberry plants grow in two different types: fall-fruiting (which bear fruit on both primocanes and floricanes) and summer-fruiting (which only bear fruit on floricanes). Links to this article are strongly encouraged, and this article may be republished without further permission if published as written and if credit is given to the author, Horticulture and Home Pest News, and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. It’s also a … She has created booklets and aided in the design of Food Kits to help gardeners to cool and warm climates to grow their own food, for example. As with summer fruiting raspberries, you may also wish to reduce overcrowding in your patch. She graduated from allotment gardening to organically managing 1/3 of an acre of land, including a mature fruit orchard,which she has turned into a productive forest garden. Do this by thinning out excess canes in the summer. Thinning Your Late-Summer/ Fall Raspberry Patch A raspberry patch in need of pruning. If this article is to be used in any other manner, permission from the author is required. To remove these from the parent plant, cut straight down into the soil between the parent and the sucker with a spade or trowel. Fall-bearing types produce on first year’s canes and are thus pruned back after the late fall harvest when dormant. Remove the small, weak canes, leaving only four or five of the largest, most vigorous canes per clump or plant. Any new growth will contain next year's fruit and should be left alone. If they are Summer raspberries you only cut off the old canes. Maintain the plants in a 1- to 2-foot-wide hedgerow. With the exception of fruit color, the growth and fruiting characteristics of yellow raspberries are identical to red raspberries. It is also a good idea to look out for any weedy, damaged or diseased canes and to remove these as soon as possible to prevent the spread of any problems. Also, prune out the tips of the canes which have died due to winter injury. All raspberries should be pruned in March or early April. Raspberries that are not pruned will tend to reduce their fruit bearing capacity over time. If they’re spreading too far, use a fork to lift them out and keep the rows tidy and under control. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. These will turn into floricanes and fruit next year. Since these canes bear berries on second year growth, the aim is to prune out only those canes which have fruited this year (floricanes).