Pruning cane fruit
Find out how to prune cane fruits such as summer-fruiting raspberries, blackberries, loganberries and tayberries, in our expert guide.
Summer-fruiting raspberries, blackberries, hybrid berries, loganberries and tayberries need to be pruned in summer, after they have finished fruiting.
Discover cane fruits to grow.
They produce their fruits on stems that are one year old, and send up new canes from their roots each year. To ensure good cropping, it's important to prune out the old, fruited canes - here's how.
Remove the old fruited canes
Look for canes that are still carrying the remains of the fruit stalks. They will be russet-brown in colour, unlike the fresh green and white of the new canes. Cut back the old canes right to base of the plant, using secateurs.
Cut out any unwanted canes
Having selected the best canes for next year's crop, cut out the rest at ground level. Remove any that are thinner than a pencil, are too close together or have popped up too far from the row.
Tie in the strongest new canes
Once you've cut down the old fruited canes and unwanted new canes, tie in the strongest new canes to their supporting wires. Ideally you should aim for evenly space canes, about 20cm apart, along the row.
Pruning autumn-fruiting raspberries
Autumn-fruiting raspberries are pruned differently to summer-fruiting varieties. Watch how to prune autumn-fruiting raspberries, in the video guide above. Autumn raspberries carry their crop on canes produced the same year. Wait until late winter, then cut all the canes to the ground. In summer, cut out overcrowded canes and any that have appeared away from the row.
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