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Your Raspberry Harvest with Proper Pruning
By Melinda Myers
[January 31, 2026]
Break out the leather gloves, heavy long sleeve shirt or coat,
pruners and head out to your raspberry patch. Proper routine pruning
can help reduce the risk of disease, manage insect pests and boost
productivity.
When and how to prune raspberries is based on the type of
raspberries you are growing and how you prefer to manage them.
Summer and everbearing raspberries form fruit on two-year-old canes.
Start pruning once the worst of winter
weather has passed and before growth begins in spring. Remove any
canes that bore fruit last summer back to the ground. These canes
are done producing and when left in place, they increase the risk of
insect and disease problems and make harvesting more difficult.
Leave the one-year-old canes intact, including those that bore fruit
on everbearing plants last fall. These one-year-old stems will
produce berries this coming summer. |
Now thin the plantings to three to four canes per foot or six to
eight stems per hill. This will allow for better light penetration
and air circulation, helping reduce disease problems and increase
productivity.
Slightly trim back side branches and remove no more than one fourth
the total height of the remaining stems. Avoid more severe pruning
that can greatly reduce the harvest.
Fall raspberries can be cut to the ground. Pruning back all the
stems eliminates the summer crop, but results in an earlier and
larger fall harvest.
Provide plants with a bit of support, if needed. Training is best
done and easiest at planting, but if you skipped this step you may
want to consider implementing a narrow-hedge row system. Training
raspberry plants keeps the berries off the ground, increases light
penetration, boosts productivity and makes harvesting much easier.
You can either install sturdy posts two feet into the ground at the
end of each row or every 20 feet. Secure heavy gauge wire to the
posts at 40” above the ground to help keep the plants upright. You
can use a second wire surrounding the planting and secured a bit
lower on the posts.
Another option is to use single or double T trellises. Run wires
between the arms to help hold the plants upright. Consult your local
extension service’s raspberry publications for more details on these
and other training methods.
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Enlist summer pruning to help keep your raspberries healthy and
productive. Once you have finished the summer harvest, remove any
canes that bore fruit along with insect-infested and diseased stems.
Destroy these to further reduce future pest problems.
Make raspberry pruning a regular part of garden care. Your efforts
will be rewarded with fewer pest problems and bigger harvests.
Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books,
including the Midwest Gardener’s Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small
Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses “How to Grow Anything”
instant video and DVD series and the nationally syndicated Melinda’s
Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and
contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned
by Summit for her expertise to write this article. Myers’ website is www.MelindaMyers.com.
[Photo courtesy of MelindaMyers.com]
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