Pruning Raspberries

I took advantage of an exceptionally nice day to clean up my raspberry bed. We’ve been growing the same everbearing (also known as fall-bearing) raspberries since before we moved to Wisconsin in 1986. A neighbor from our Minnesota residence brought us a few plants when she came to visit us our first spring here. We have moved them several times, but our current bed is from that initial planting.

This bed has been in place since 2017. It is suggested you move raspberry plants every 3 to 5 years. I’ve never moved them that often, and I don’t think plant health or yields have suffered much.

Cutting back the plants and removing dead vines is something I do every year. There are two main schools of pruning. Some cut the canes back all the way to the ground, while others cut the canes back to about 18 to 24 inches. I’ve opted for the latter and cut the canes back to about 18 inches.

While I’m cutting back the canes, I remove all the dead canes. The dead canes are easy to identify. They discolor and become hollow, and don’t have new buds like the live canes.

Here’s the bed, trimmed back and dead canes removed. I try to do my pruning in late February, so I’m a little behind, but like many rules in the garden, you can often cheat a little bit and usually get away with it.

**Please note that the raspberries shown here are everbearing raspberries, also called "fall-bearing" or "primocane-fruiting" raspberries. These pruning techniques do not apply to other commonly grown berries. Here is a helpful link from the University of Minnesota Extension to walk you through the various raspberry types and pruning tips: https://extension.umn.edu/fruit/growing-raspberries-home-garden