Prune and Pinch Raspberries The Right Way

Last Updated on January 4, 2022 by Real Men Sow

Raspberries are great. You probably enjoyed some from your garden and look for ways to prune raspberries, am I right? 

Annual raspberry pruning is essential for your raspberry bushes to stay healthy and grow extra fruits. Let’s dive into the important steps of how to prune raspberries like a pro!

Prune Summer-fruiting Raspberries

The best way to prune raspberries is to wait for winter. By then you’ll be able to spot the old canes easily since they’re now grey and lop them out. Removing old canes early in the summer would deprive the plant of growing. This is because the old canes actually support your new canes to grow. 

It’s also important that you thin the new canes, the early ones that have grown, as they come up in spring. By this time, there will be an abundance of canes. So it’s best to thin them out to keep fresh air circulating around the ripening raspberries. This would also invite canes that were allowed to grow husky and cold-hardy. raspberries

Tips to Prune Raspberries

Black Raspberries, the royalty, and the brandywine varieties grow into heavy-bearing bushes if they’re tip-pruned in summer. This would force secondary or lateral branches to grow from nodes. The raspberries that grow from these branches are bigger and easier to pick than plants that receive no discipline until spring. Winter injury is expected when the temperature reaches below -20°C.

Pinching Autumn-Bearing Raspberries

It’s best to let your berries ripen while the weather is still warm. Berries taste better when they’re grown under warm sunshine but they could get scalded by the early summer sun.

Pinch your new canes at eye level will delay the fruiting of fall-bearing raspberries by about three weeks. This is a practice for warm climates that aims to wait out the hottest part of the summer before your berries bloom. In cool climates, fall raspberries should ripen as quickly as possible so it’s best to leave the terminal buds intact.

What to do with Pruned Raspberries? Tea!

Raspberry pruning can result in a raspberry crop that you don’t know about. This is raspberry leaf tea. Because raspberry leaves have more tannins than most other tea herbs, they can add body to herbal teas made from mixed dried herbs from the garden.

Raspberry leaf tea, taken by itself, is highly recommended for its ability to relieve severe cramps and pains associated with childbirth. Although there aren’t many studies that support this, drinking Raspberry leaf tea is a great choice.

Real Men Sow
Real Men Sow

Hello, I’m Pete and I’m currently based in the west of Scotland, in a small place called Rosneath, where I’m exploring my garden adventures. I personally started gardening around 6 years ago and initially, I started out by growing my favorite fruits and berries, such as strawberries, Raspberries & Gooseberries. Since then I’ve added a lot of vegetables and working closely with my neighbor, it’s been a lot of fun.