Just wondering if anyone could tell me if I should cut back my raspberry canes. They are all producing huge amounts of budsand new growth, and it seems a real shame to chop them all down. I have heard it said they should be cut back at the beginning of the year, but then a gentleman I spoke to across the way told me after cutting his canes right back, they didn't fruit last year!
Any advice gatefully recieved!!!
Depends if they are summer or autumn fruiting.
Summer fruiting produces fruit on canes that where produced the year before, so only the canes that produced fruit should be cut down and the new canes tied in.
Autumn types produce fruit on canes that are produced in the same year and are cut down each year.
Now how do you tell which is which on a cold March day........dunno........let them grow this year and note when they produce fruit and prune accordingly.
HTH
Thanks SMP. I think I will have to do as you suggest, as these canes came with the allotment, and to be honest I can't remember when they fruited last year!
I have also had some canes given to me last week, in exchange for some borlotti beans and a cup of tea! I have planted them up, but can anybody tell me if they'll fruit this year? Or, like my last question, will it depend on whether they are summer or autumn variety? Unfortunately the gentleman who so kindly gave them to me has no idea what variety they are, as they were given to him!
'Summer-fruiting' and 'autumn-fruiting' are confusing terms re rasps. For instance, my Autumn Bliss rasps start in high summer and carry right on into autumn.
As SMP says, the difference between the two kinds is that summer-fruiting rasps fruit on branches grown the previous year while autumn-fruiting varieties fruit on new wood. So, in the case of the canes you've just been given, you'll only be ID them once we reach summer. If they bear fruit on the branches yet to grow, they're autumn-fruiters. If there's no fruit on the branches they grow this spring, they're summer-fruiters and you get your payback in 2008!
Is that any clearer than mud? ;)
Agree with not cutting them all down until you are sure what they are, but it wouldn't hurt to cut down a quarter of the canes to the ground and note the difference between these and the ones you've left as they are.
Thnks guys. All sounds like excellent, logical advice. I'm glad there isn't a clear ut answer, as for a while there I thought I was just being dumb!
I've taken the opposite approach with canes that were already at the kitchen garden I have started to restore, as it was impossible to determine which were Autumn or Summer fruiting canes I have cut them all down and fed them well as they have been neglected for a few years, this will encourage strong new growth and although I will lose this Summer's fruit I will get a good crop in the Autumn and get good strong canes for next Summer's fruit, also it will enable me to see if any of the canes are weak and need replacing, regards Steve.
http://www.myallotments.com
Glad you said that Steve, we have done the same thing and was starting to have second thoughts!
We are pretty sure that our inherited ones are autumn but after the long summer, not 100% !! :)