Trimming or cutting back branches on fruit plants that bear canes, such as raspberries, blackberries, and currants.
Chopping Down Old Fruit-Laden Canes:
Welcome to the land of juicy summer berries! To maintain a flourishing patch of cane fruits - like raspberries, blackberries, hybrid berries (loganberries and tayberries), and even the exotic loganberries - it's crucial to give them a proper summer pruning. Here's an easy guide to help you keep your garden bursting with berries.
Spotting the Old Timers
Identify the old canes by their rust-colored remains from the fruit stalks. They are distinguished from the fresh, green and white new canes. Snip off these spent canes all the way down to their roots using your handy-dandy secateurs.
Off with the Unwanted
After selecting your star canes for the next season's crop, chop off any unwanted canes at ground level. From the bunch, remove any that are too thin, too close together, or that popped up too far from the row.
A Little Tie-Up
Once you've removed the old canes and the ones that missed the mark, tie in the strongest new canes to their support wires. Ideally, space them out approximately 20cm apart along the row.
Autumn-Ripened Raspberries
Autumn-fruiting raspberries vary in pruning techniques. Head to our video guide for the complete rundown on pruning these berry beauties. Autumn raspberries produce their harvest on the current year's canes. In late winter, reap the rewards by cutting all the canes down to the ground. During the summer, trim overcrowded canes and those that have surprised everyone by popping up away from the row.
The Lowdown on Pruning:
- Summer-fruiting cane fruits produce fruit on two-year-old canes called floricanes.
- After the summer harvest, remove spent fruiting canes completely and keep the remaining, healthy canes for the next year.
- Autumn-fruiting raspberries produce fruit on the current season's growth, and should have all canes cut to the ground after the autumn harvest to encourage new growth.
Happy pruning, berry gardeners!
Make your home-and-garden lifestyle more berry-potent by ensuring a proper pruning of cane fruits. After removing old and unwanted canes, consider introducing the new growth into your home-and-garden landscape by incorporating them into the home-and-garden gardening design with support wires and spacing them out appropriately.
