The pruning of remontant and non-remontant raspberries is essential each year because it allows the shrubs to be kept in healthy et promotes fruiting. The raspberry harvest will therefore be all the more abundant. But pruning is also essential to prevent raspberries from invading the garden. Here’s how to prune single and double raspberries and at what time of year to prune.
Fruiting in non-remontant and remontant raspberries
It is important to distinguish raspberries that do not remontant from remontant raspberries.
In uniferous or non-remontant varieties, each cane of the previous year produce only once in June-July then dies.
In biferous raspberries, i.e. everbearing raspberries, the canes bear fruit twice, first between July and October and then the following year at the beginning of summer. Depending on the variety, the second fruiting may last until the first fall frosts. When a cane has fruited twice, it withers and dies.
Prune non-remontant raspberries
It is from the month of August that we can prune the single raspberries, their canes of the previous year having fructified, they will no longer produce any fruit. They begin to take greyish color. These are the ones that need to be removed by cutting them down to ground level. It is advisable to keep about ten vigorous canes of the year to benefit, the following year, from an abundant harvest.
Prune everbearing raspberries
The beer raspberries, as we have seen, are those which make it possible to profit from two harvests, the same stem producing twice before drying up. Two sizes should be made, namely:
- At the beginning of summer. Only the old stems (canes) that have produced raspberries twice are removed because they will no longer bear fruit, as well as the less vigorous branches.
- In late fall, when the harvest is complete. The size consists of:
- to cut at ground level dead wood, dry stems, weak or diseased canes,
- to cut back the branches that have produced in autumn. Their pruning should therefore not be too severe,
- to eliminate the excess branches if necessary.
We take advantage of a pruning session to pull out suckers or suckers which grow over a wide area, digging about twenty centimeters deep, because raspberries can quickly become invasive. As for the dead branches that have been removed, they can be cut into small stretches. These can then be used as mulch. It is a good solution to limit the proliferation of weeds. This therefore avoids having to weed at the foot of raspberries because it is not an easy task.
In addition to allowing raspberries to produce more, pruning is essential, whether it is remontant or biferous varieties, and is not particularly complicated. It can therefore be carried out even by novice gardeners. Of course, care must be taken to use tools size well sharpened but also previously disinfected to avoid any risk of contamination. Flame disinfection of the blades is also necessary once the raspberry bushes have been pruned.