Raspberries and Tayberry are sick

Dustykitten

I'm really gutted. I lost all my raspberries several years ago so started a fresh in a new bed and now these have been affected too.

I'm not sure what the problem is. The new canes look healthy and then in the fruiting year they grow fruit and just as it starts to ripen the whole cane shrivels and dies. At the bottom of the cane are scales on the canes like the bodies of insects but when I pick them off they are dead. Same is happening to the Tayberry in the same bed.

I've spent ages googling and looking in my books. I'm sure it is not Raspberry beetle (that seems to affect the fruit) or spur blight. It could be cane blight but I don't know what the scaly bits are.

Any ideas of what it is and if it can be treated gratefully received. I've cut out the worst stems for now and disposed of them.

Kay_Peel

Bad news, I'm afraid. I think this is Verticillium Wilt - a fungus that grows from diseased soil. Raspberries and Tayberries are prone to it - as are many other fruit trees and shrubs.

Here's what the RHS has to say about this disease.

I hope it's not VW, for your sake!

westiea

Sounds like Cane Blight or Cane Spot

It starts as small purple spots
on the canes in May or June. They
gradually increase in size to form
cankers which look like shallow
white pits with a purple edge.

perhaps this is your 'insects'?

The link will tell you more.

Dustykitten

Thanks to both of you. Kay I don't think it is Verticillium Wilt from the description.

Westiea thanks for the link. I had already read it before posting and it doesn't quite fit either of those but I'll take a closer look and see if I can post a picture.

Dustykitten

I've had another good look at them this morning and it is cane blight.

Two questions therefore;

Do I have to burn the canes, can I just cut them up and put them in the household waste?
Can I move my Goosegogs to that bed in the autumn or will they be affected in the same way.

Gutted about the Tayberry as that was just starting to do well. I now need to think of a new climber for there to go again a very hot and sunny wall - preferably something which will provide fruit.