Pruning Blackberry and Raspberry Bushes
by John Yazo
Pruning raspberries will result is a better production of fruit the next year. With a little basic maintenance you can grow a healthy, thriving crop in your home garden to enjoy for years to come, it is well worth the time it takes.
The proper pruning, and at the right time of the year are very important. The results can be very rewarding and noticeable the following year. Soon after you have harvested your last raspberry, the canes that produced the berries need to be removed by simply cutting them back to ground level. This will encourage the growth of new shoots for the following year, and it will also help in the prevention plant disease and insect problems that can harbor in or on the old canes. It is very important that you only remove the canes that produced fruit, new shoots that grew that season and haven't produced any fruit are the ones that will produce next years crop.
One thing that should be watched for is the new growth that starts to flower or even produces fruit, this usually happens due to weather conditions. The flowering or development of fruit will occur toward the tip of the new canes and ripen late season. This late crop development will seldom ripen properly and usually becomes covered with a disease called "gray mold". This mold is a disease that needs to be controlled, if not it can be easily carried over to the next seasons fruit crop. To prevent this from happening, simply remove the late fruits or flowers as they develop by picking or pruning them from the plant as soon as you notice them.
Two other common maintenance practice that needs attention is when the new canes grow too tall and become weighted down by there own weight, this can cause serious damage to the plant during a simple thing as a wind storm. To prevent this from happening, cut off the tip growth in the fall to remove the excess weight. Foliage on the plant tips that hasn't fallen off the plant in the late fall like the lower leaves have, should be removed by hand picking them from the plant, they can easily become a place for diseases and insects to harbor over the winter months and become a problem the next season.
Once your fall maintenance has been completed you are finished until early spring when you do some trimming as soon as yo see the buds on the canes start to develop. Cut the canes back to the live buds.
If this is the first pruning of the bush, make
sure that you leave enough cane to keep the plants root system alive.
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