There is nothing nicer than fresh raspberries for breakfast and I always look forward to the late summer months when my fruit is ready to harvest as mine are a summer bearing late season variety.

Raspberry plants if you let them will spread out very quickly but this is not a good thing as it will mean they might become invasive and your fruit yield will be lower than if you keep the plant in check. Raspberries are very prone to disease so this is another very good reason why they need to be kept under control, as it will stop them from spreading any disease anywhere else on your patch.

I always prune out any suckers that come up anywhere within a distance of 12” of the plant which means that the top of the bush will be that much larger and therefore give more fruit. When I do any pruning I make sure that I am wearing strong, protective gloves because raspberry thorns can be quite vicious.

Pruning should be done in the late winter and early spring before the buds start to appear. If a cane bore fruit that year then prune this as it will not fruit again. Make sure you remove any weak canes and any that have grown away from the plant, using as a rule a 12” or so guideline. I always leave around 5 of the healthiest and thickest canes in every foot of my row and then tie these securely to the fencing.

During the summer I prune any broken canes or ones which are diseased and I make sure that my rows are neat and tidy with no canes being left outside of the row that I have set up. It goes without saying that removing diseased and broken canes should be done immediately, no matter what time of the year it is because the sooner a diseased cane is removed the better to ensure that the rest of the canes stay healthy.

If you keep your raspberry canes under control and stop them from spreading, you will have a much better harvest as well as keeping the canes looking nice, healthy and strong.