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Gigantic raspberry canes

caroline.lewiscaroline.lewis Posts: 2
in Fruit & veg
My summer raspberries are on their second year. They're in a fairly shady spot next to a wall. They fruited this year but the new canes have grown about 12 foot high! I'm just pruning them now - have taken out all the fruited growth but I'm not sure what to do with these monsters. The stems are too thick and brittle to bend them back down to the wires. Should I chop them off at a reasonable height or will the beheading cause them a grizzly death?

Posts

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    I would chop them down to as high as you can reach when picking time comes along.  At 12ft they'll get damaged by storms whatever you do.  The pruned canes should produce sideshoots which will bear fruit.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    Thanks Bob, I’m going to do that as well, mine are too tall.
    thanks to your very useful info and help last year I had a marvellous crop. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • caroline.lewiscaroline.lewis Posts: 2
    Thanks Bob - they're summer raspberries so they have all been picked now. I'll give them a hair cut and a prayer :-)
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