North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["victoria l. caron" <vicaron@gis.net>]

Ginda,
Primocanes are pruned out in the spring when it's easier to see which ones are
stronger. After they have finished bearing and the floricanes are out of the
way, I top them off between four to five feet [eye level for me : )]. Some red
raspberries, even in the wild, will produce on the terminals of the primocanes
in the fall, but because the season is so short here, I prune them back 
anyway.
You should have a long enough season in your part of Massachusetts, as I did 
in
Nashua, NH years ago, to leave some for late fall picking if they will do 
this.
It's more of a bonus than a crop though.
vic NH zone 3.

Ginda Fisher wrote:

> What time of year do you thin the primocanes?  My red raspberries have
> taken off this year, and where I used to have a sloppy row of stems
> about 5 ft high, I now have an impenetrable hedge about 8 ft high.  It's
> nearly time to prune out the floricanes, and I'm wondering if I should
> thin the primocanes while I'm at it.
>
> Ginda
> eastern Mass, zone 6
>
> "victoria l. caron" wrote:
> >
> > Several years ago I rooted two cuttings of red raspberry from a local
> > wild strain that acquaintances had dug up in a clear cut. The berries
> > are large (penny to nickel size) and mostly round though it is not
> > unusual for some at the top of the cane to be longer and somewhat
> > pointed. Flavor is more tart than some of the named cultivars making
> > them great for jelly and pies.
> > The spring after the cuttings were rooted I dug up all the new shoots
> > (35) and planted them 15" apart in the row. I keep them pruned to 5-7
> > primocanes per foot and try to keep the spent canes cut out.
> > I am trying to figure out why some stretches of row are productive,
> > while others are barren. I think I have taken all the obvious into
> > consideration.
> > My theories include:
> > -I know the soil was too rich at first and this could still be true in
> > some spots which could be one reason for the lack of productivity. In
> > the wild, raspberries and blackberries seem to do best in well drained
> > soils with awesome size where there is an accumulation of bark mulch on
> > the fringes of logging yards.
> > -Then there is always virus which shows up in wild varieties, but can a
> > virus cause a total lack of production?
> > -I have cane borer and either that or a virus just turns the whole cane
> > dead in no time. This can be seen throughout the row. I haven't worried
> > too much about it since I have to prune out so much new growth to keep
> > within the guidelines for red raspberries anyway.
> > -Another clue maybe is that the more productive areas in fruit are also
> > the ones that are sending out many more new canes to the side than other
> > parts of the row.
> > Does anyone want to toss this problem around? I'm just trying to decide
> > if I should dig up the plants I'm wasting my time on.
> > vic NH zone 3
> >
> >
> >
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>
>
>
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