Cutting down Autumn raspberry canes

littlemoney

My Autumn raspberry canes have finished fruiting. The usual advice is to either cut them down January/February time or leave them to get second early crop next year and cut down then after fruiting.

I have tried leaving some till next year for an early crop and the results were disappoiting so I reverted back to cutting all down in the winter.

Is there any reason why I can't cut them down October/November time or do they need to be left until Jan/Feb to allow any nutrients in the canes to go back to the roots. I am thinking back to the bad weather last winter and want to get as much down as possible as early as possible.

Thanks for reading

Linda32

I can't see any reason why you can't cut them down now. If I had Autumn fruiting raspberries I would have done that without thinking about it.

Mojisola

The only benefit I can see in waiting til February is that the canes may give some protection to the crowns in a hard winter. If you prune early but give the beds a good thick mulch, that should do the same job.

I'd be interested if there is any other reason for waiting until Feb.

malebolge

Mojisola wrote: »

The only benefit I can see in waiting til February is that the canes may give some protection to the crowns in a hard winter. If you prune early but give the beds a good thick mulch, that should do the same job.

I'd be interested if there is any other reason for waiting until Feb.

I always do exactly what you've suggested - cut & mulch. As long as I cut back before February, I've not noticed any difference. It's one of them jobs that I aim to do after they've fruited, but often gets left depending on weather. Mine haven't finished fruiting yet so I've put it on my November 'to do' list (and could end up on my Dec/Jan list, weather dependent )

bella_m

I wouldnt cut them all down. The growth you have had this year is where the fuit will grown next year. Just cut back last years gowth / the growth that gave you the fruit this year.

Mojisola

bella_m wrote: »

I wouldnt cut them all down. The growth you have had this year is where the fuit will grown next year. Just cut back last years gowth / the growth that gave you the fruit this year.

Summer cropping varieties crop on the growth made last year.

Autumn fruiters crop on the new growth.

If you have a big enough bed of Autumn raspberries, you can try double-cropping -
"Instead of pruning all the previous season’s canes to ground level in February, select up to 6-8 of the strongest shoots per one metre (3ft) of row and prune off the upper fruited part of the canes to leave canes around 1m (3ft) high. Prune the rest of the canes to ground level as normal
Canes treated in this way with the half prune should be cut out at ground level immediately after they finished fruiting the following summer
Such canes will produce a modest, but valuable earlier crop
The combined summer and autumn crop is at least five per cent greater than autumn crop alone"
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=148

BB15

I cut mine in February as it is then easy to see which are brown and dead and just cut them off.

JourneyH

I must admit it felt mean cutting mine right down, they weren't very happy with the weather etc to do very well, I am going to recycle some of them to another plot renter and put some early in, I have a very fruit heavy plot from a previous tenant....luckily the allotment chairman told me they were lates when I took it on else I'd have left them as they were in year 1...