Caning Out a 20-Foot Summer-Bearing Raspberry Row With a 32-Inch Bypass Lopper: Crown-Level Cuts on Every Spent Floricane, a 6- to 12-Inch Hedgerow, and Canes 6 Inches Apart by Spring
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. After a summer-bearing red raspberry row finishes fruiting, every cane that bore fruit dies. Cut those spent floricanes at the crown with a 32-inch bypass lopper , trim the row back to a 6- to 12-inch strip, and haul the cuttings away. In spring, thin what's left to the thickest canes about 6 inches apart. When should spent raspberry floricanes be cut out of a summer-bearing row? Cut them any time after harvest ends, through late winter. Each floricane dies after it fruits, so removing it at the crown loses nothing and opens the row to air and light. Oregon State suggests doing it right after harvest when disease is present, and Iowa State lists fall after the first frost. The Oregon State University Extension guide Growing Raspberries in Your Home Garden calls this "caning out." It removes floricanes that fruited at the crown...