Raspberries (summer) which didn't do anything last year - leave them be or start again?
January Man
Posts: 212
Hi all
I planted some bare root raspberries last year (summer type) and they didn't really do much. In fact, they did nothing! As spring approaches, a couple of them have now started to show a little sign of life but the others are still showing nothing. I've planted them in two separate areas. So here are some photos showing the plant with a bit of life and the ones with nothing...
Area ONE:
Are TWO:
I'm a berry beginner so please excuse my questions if they have obvious answers 
But what I wanted to know is whether I should leave them all to see what happens this year **OR** take out just the ones that have done nothing **OR** take them all out and start again. I've no idea how they should look after a year. I know they do not fruit in year one, but should they have at least done something (or something more than the ones that have done "something")? Any opinions and advice would be most appreciated.
Ta
Max
Posts
Keep the ones which start growing leaves but you may as well pull the other ones up and replace them as they are almost certainly dead. Bare-root raspberries can be a bit hit-and miss but those which survive will rapidly spread once they are established. The dead ones will likely pull out easily whereas any which have grown roots will not, so a gentle pull is an easy way to tell which are alive and which aren't. If you replace any, consider getting 'Polka', an autumn fruiting type which many on the forum grow and we always have super crops. Keep summer and autumn fuiting types in different areas though, so if you do go for it you could move the live ones you have to the same area and use the other for the autumn fruiting ones. Polka are easy to prune - just cut the lot down to the ground in Feb each year. For summer fruiting types, you cut down only the canes which have fruited after harvesting them and leave the new canes which have grown from the base alone, as those will provide next year's fruit.
Last edited: 02 March 2017 18:54:15