My Tiny PlotTime to Prune Autumn Raspberries
It’s time to prune your Autumn-fruiting Raspberries, among other jobs for February. Autumn raspberries fruit on this year’s growth so now is the time to cut them back down to ground level in order to encourage new shoots for the Spring growth. It’s a great way to neaten up the garden too at this time of year when everything is looking a bit straggly and worn down.
I grow Autumn Bliss and also at the allotment I used to grow a gold variety which tasted just as amazing as the normal ones. I think I prefer Autumn Raspberries to Summer Raspberries. They fruit at a time when other fruits have mostly finished and (I think) are simpler to look after and more robust than Summer varieties. But that’s just me – what do you grow?
Oh and I don’t normally garden with my leather gloves on. My usual gardening gloves were left in the potting shed and were waaaay too cold to wear!
I think I agree about prefering autumn fruiting rasps. We have planted 6 canes of ‘Joan J’ back in December, and you have reminded me to snip them off at ground level now.
We also planted 3 canes of ‘Tulameen’ and 3 of ‘Glen Cova’, summer fruitng varieties. These are amongst all the outher fruit trees and bushes we have been trying to get planted and established since we started our allotment last April- should be an exciting year for fruit ahead on our plot (I hope!)
I planted Autumn and Summer fruiting canes together in the same area last year not realising they needed different treatment. I hope I can tell them apart. I think I can. Oh dear.
I grow Autumn raspberries too altho I have no idea what they are as they were given to me. I was told one of the advantages of Autumn ones is that the birds don’t eat them which I’ve found to be true – well, certainly last year, my first year.
We only have Summer raspberries, but you’ve made me think Autmn ones could be a good idea. We’ll have to find somewhere to put them, though. We really need to design more productive areas into our garden.
I love rasps but if I put in a few plants the deer will completely eat them down to the ground. Last year I put in a couple dozen that I was given to see if they will leave me one or two…heh heh! We’ll see…pRUning…are you kidding!
I agree about the autumn raspberries – there are several advantages: they don’t get bird damage, they don’t get forgotten because the peas and beans and strawberries all need harvesting so the poor raspberries rot on the cane (which seems to happen a lot with summer raspberries) and, if you’re like me and freeze half your crop, they hold their shape better for freezing than the summer varieties. There’s nothing like taking a kilo bag of raspberries from the freezer in February and making a nice raspberry fool – especially when they cost several quid for 250g in the shops.
I’m pretty sure it’s Autumn Bliss I grow too. I think the label from the nursery is still out there so I’ll have to check it. Thanks for the reminder!
I inherited my canes down on the allotment from the previous plot holder, as they fruited in the summer and were still going strong into the autumn I’m wondering what I’ve got and is it a mixture of varieties.. hmm I’ll have to think about it and decide whether to cut some more back as I have done some already thinking they were summer ones.
Adds “raspberry pruning” onto To Do list (Mind you, I have only just pruned the summer ones – oops)
I’m with you on the Autumn raspberries. And thanks for the reminder about pruning them. I think we have some nice days due early next week and I have scheduled 3 days at the plot to get started on the years work.
Managed to dodge the rain, ice, and wind that we’ve been plagued with this week to prune my raspberries. While I was on the allotment a neighbour wandered over and told me that he’d planted 4 early potatoes today “if I lose them I do, but if they do well I’ll be eating mine before you!” he said. Mmmm. Guess what I’ll be doing tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it goes, but I think I’m just gullible.
I used to grow summer and autumn varieties but found, as you say, that the later ones are best. Now I only grow Autumn Bliss and Tulameen in the same bed, another autumn variety which come out very well in RHS tasting trials. I mulched mine with manure when I cut them down a week ago – it helps to feed them and keep weeds down.
this will be the year I plant raspberries! good luck with yours.
I’m in a quandary about my raspberries. I haved just planted them as I bought them about 5/6 canes together – I thought as I bought them in pots rather that bare-rooted that was ok? I called Wisley as I wasn’t totally sure and they say I should split them up. This means I have about 6 times too many canes now!! can I plant them a few together? or have I got to give them away? I’m haven’t finished clearing all of my allotment yet.
Your wisdom would be gratefully received.
Hi Tash,
They’re right you should break them up and plant each cane separately. But all is not lost. I would leave them be for this year and then around November time dig them up, split them and replant.
Raspberries are tough little things. Most of my time is taken up with trying to get them ‘not’ to take over the fruit patch (they pop up everywhere). So you can treat them quite harshly, so long as you don’t hoe over their roots, they don’t like that much.
Hope that helps
I have just bought some bare rooted canes of Autumn Bliss and would like to know how far apart to plant them, bearing in mind I only have half an allotment.
Look forward to replies
Hi Stephanie – sorry I didn’t reply earlier. About 30 cms is fine. Over time the plants will fill the gaps anyway.
Hi, I have what I thought were summer fruiting raspberries as they say July on the fruiting info but two of them are still fruiting now in late October so I’m confused how to prune them! They are Tulameen, Glen cova and Malling jewel..I think it’s Tulameen and Glen Cova still fruiting..Thanks for any help! Erm and am I too late to prune as summer ones if they are? Thanks.
Cutting from a magazine I have kept tells me that autumn fruiting raspberries can fruit from June to November given appropriate pruning. I’m not sure I understand exactly what they mean but it says: Planted in early spring, new canes grow and crop from August onwards. Once their leaves fall in winter the canes are cut back by !/3 rather than to the ground – this removes the top piece of stem that carried fruit. New fruiting spurs forming on the lower 2/3 of the old cane will appear the following summer to crop in June/July. Once these are finished the old canes are pruned right out and the new season canes taking their place will fruit from August until the frosts. (five months continuous cropping)
HELP, I HAVE SUMMER & AUTUMN RASPBERRIES WHICH I CUT DOWN TO THE GROUND LAST FEBRUARY, BECAUSE I DIDN’T KNOW WHICH WERE WHICH. I NOW KNOW WHICH ARE SUMMER AND WHICH ARE AUTUMN, SO WHAT IS THE PLAN OF ACTION NOW? DO I PRUNE THEM OR LEAVE THEM?
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very helpful advice never grown autumn raspberries before, and now look forward to eating some later in the year fingers crossed.
I always cut back my autumn raspberries as soon as they have finished giving fruit and then mulch them. They look very untidy left until February and the results are good every time. One year I cut half back as I usually do and left the other half until later. There was no difference at all.