However, to have a good crop in your garden, you should also thin the 1st year canes. And those shoots should be pruned down to ground level. Here’s a gray floricane (middle) surrounded by browner primocanes in my patch.Īfter harvesting, all of the summer-bearing shoots with fruits (berries), are called 2nd-year shoots or floricanes. First-year canes are a healthy brownish color.It is easy to tell the 1st from the 2nd year canes after the last summer harvest. How you prune them depends on the variety. Most red raspberry bushes are either summer-bearing or fall-bearing varieties. To prune raspberry bushes, you need to know that pruning or trimming techniques for raspberry bushes depend on what kind of raspberry you are pruning. Mowing the whole patch down would mean a year without berries, so don’t do that unless you’re willing to wait for a year to get another harvest. However, fall is usually better, as mowing it then mulches and protects the roots for winter.įor summer-bearing varieties, you’ll need to prune back individual canes on a yearly basis. You could also mow the patch down in early spring before the canes have begun to grow. This means that ever-bearing berries can be pruned back (or completely mowed over) every fall after harvest finishes. Usually, ever-bearing berries, sometimes called fall-bearing, bear on primocanes (1st-year canes), while summer crops or summer-bearing grow berries on 2nd-year canes (floricanes). When pruning or trimming raspberry bushes, prune back canes that are spent or done bearing fruit. If you wish to know more about how to prune your own berries and other questions you might want to ask, then I suggest you continue reading this article to know more about the complete guide on how to prune raspberries. Sometimes, it also changes the quantity of the berries being harvested. Pruning or trimming raspberry bushes enhances the health of the plant, makes the plants more manageable, and enhances the harvested berries’ quality and size. But the question is, why do we prune our raspberry plants? Furthermore, it makes you feel more confident that you have the freshest berries you have ever planted in your backyard. They are so much more delicious than anything you buy at the store.

One of the most satisfying moments you can ever experience is when you are harvesting berries you grow in your backyard.

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