Autumn fruiting raspberries

[petefj]

My autumn fruiting raspberries are in their 3rd year.  And this year, again, they're useless.  Very little fruit on them and hardly any sign of any fruiting bodies.

I cut them down every February and top dress them with compost, give them a dressing of chicken manure later in the year, prune them back to six canes per plant in early summer and they produce little or no fruit.  Last year we had no more than 10 raspberries off 8 canes.

Any one else had experiences like this with raspberries.  I'm at my wits end with them and I'm thinking of digging them up and replacing them.

Peter

[petefj]

[Ellen K]

Please don't be insulted but ...... are you sure they are autumn fruiters?

I would give them one more chance.  Don't cut them down next February and see if the one year old canes produce anything.

I did just this on my non fruiting autumn fruiters (they were on the plot when I took it on) and finally got a crop.

[Digeroo]

I think I would cut my loses.  I can recommend JoanJ they have just started lovely big fruits nice flavour.  Bought from a good supplier they should go into action in their first year.  Though they are starting to go on a take over bid now.

I give things a yellow card if they are poor and the following year if they do not pull their socks up they get sent off.

[Tora]

Hi Peter. I had similar experience with my Autum Bliss. Bought bare rooted canes from T&M, planted them immediately but they looked dead. They weren't dead but did very little in the first year. They were barely alive. In the second year, they looked a bit better but hardly any fruits on them. Same again in the third year. Then, finally, in the fourth year they started to look much healthier and gave me a small crop. They were extremely slow to establish but now, in their sixth year, are giving  us lovely raspberries. They started cropping as soon as strawberries finished and will crop again in autumn (lots of flower buds on them).
I think bare rooted plants can take ages to take off. I have All Gold as well, which was bought as a pot plants and it started cropping heavily from the second year.
I cut about half of the canes down to the ground level and leave about 1 foot of the remaining canes. This way of pruning seems to give me more than 1 crop a year.

[Chrispy]

I am with Ellen, give them another year without cutting them down.

It is possible that you or the supplier has made a mistake and they are summer fruiting, but even if they are are autumn raspberries that are just not fruiting, by not cutting them down you are giving them a chance to fruit next year.

Basic rule of all raspberries, cut out any that have fruited, leave the ones that have not.

[lottie lou]

I think I would cut my loses.  I can recommend JoanJ they have just started lovely big fruits nice flavour.  Bought from a good supplier they should go into action in their first year.  Though they are starting to go on a take over bid now.

Can your recommend a supplier Digeroo?  thinking of removing my summer raspberries as I have never had a decent crop from them and they have been in 6 or 7 yrs.  Don't know variety as my friend gave them to me.

[Digeroo]

I bought some raspberries from Blackmoor and they had huge root systems
http://www.blackmoor.co.uk/

Somewhat cheaper I have also been pleased by Bunker hill, no experience of their mail order but have good results from those I have bought.

http://www.bunkershillgardenshop.co.uk/

[Robert_Brenchley]

Either they're not autumn raspberries and you're pruning them wrongly, or they've got virus.