raspberries - dead or dormant?!

[pops]

hi there ishers, i've been on a rekkie to my 'new' plot and found a coiple of currant bushes and a gooseberry and the stalky dead looking things pictured below!
i believe they are raspberrries, can you tell?! do they look properly dead or is there something (besides green shoots in spring) i should look out for? many thanks

[battybird]

They look like our raspberries do at the moment...I think you can scratch at base and find out if its green and alive! Someone should come soon and gic=ve you a better answer! Sounds like you will be having fun finding out what comes up! Good luck!

[pops]

thanks battybird, i'll pull a fingernail over the stems and see what i see - good idea :)

[oldjerry]

They're having their winter kip,normally I'd say it'd nearly time to prune/thin them out(and personally I'd tie them in to some wires),but,and this might sound a bit crazy as you've just got your plot,but I'd think about planting a dozen or so new ones on the other side of the plot(check out LIDLS in a week or two,dead cheap,good quality).Leave your old ones for this coming year (in the hope you'll get a bit of fruit),then next backend when your new ones are established rip the present ones up,and if you can,burn them.
Raspberries are prone to dodgy old viruses etc,and as they're cheap enough ,it's well worth replacing them regularly(from cuttings of your own plants when you know they're 'clean'),but these are new to you so let them have this year to have a last bash,then replace.
When you get to Lidls(they go quick so keep your eyes open and ask when they're coming in)check out the other soft fruit. Best Wishes.

[Millymollymandy]

Tried to reply earlier but the forum went down anyway thanks to decent photos that you can zoom in on, I can tell you that your raspberries are very much alive and kicking. The live stems are the reddy brown ones and the grey coloured ones are last year's fruiting canes which are now dead and can be cut off. However some of them look a bit of a mixture of colours so if in doubt just leave a month or so then cut off anything that doesn't have leaves/shoots on the canes (OK if nothing has any shoots or leaves don't cut , I mean once they are all shooting away like crazy you will see what's dead and what's alive!).

I wouldn't necessarily replace like Oldjerry is suggesting as you will not be able to just 'dig' them out, they will leave roots behind which will continue to shoot and grow and you will spend years trying to get rid of them.

[boboff]

Personnally I would cut them all down to about 6 inches and stick a decent mulch off Well Rotted Horse manure on the bed.

They will come back good and strong, and fruit nearer the same time, which makes picking easier on an allotment ( if not last years wood will fruit about a month earlier than this years)

If they don't come back the you have a mulched bed with poo in ready for what ever you want.

[pops]

ooh, thanks all!
so the advice as stands is, trim them back a bit, mulch and get some new!
and if we end up with masses, well - i never met a 5yr old who got bored of raspberries! :P

[Millymollymandy]

Noooooo don't cut them back!!! You don't know if these are summer or autumn fruiting ones and you won't know if you cut them all back and you'll have to wait until next year then to get any fruit if they are summer ones!!!!!!!

They look like summer fruiting ones (because there are last year's dead canes amongst them). Just cut out the dead stalks and leave them be. If they are summer fruiting they will fruit once, in the summer. If they are autumn fruiting they will have two crops, a light one in summer then a full one in autumn. Normally one cuts back fully autumn fruiting ones in the spring because it is easier and better just to have one proper crop in the autumn - and it's best to have both so you get raspberries twice in one season.

[pops]

*puts down the secateurs*

thanks milly, just the dead stalks, got it :)
this forum is fast!

[boboff]

I have cut down summer ones, and still got them in the autumn.........

If you leave autumn ones they will fruit the next year, it's the trimming which sets the season of fruit I think, not the variety.

Based on my experience, prune or don't prune at your own risk!

Have fun!

[Millymollymandy]

Boboff, I too have sometimes got rasps in the autumn from the current year's canes on summer ones - however they are not 'supposed' to do that so it is best just to leave be and see what happens, in any event pops will be assured of raspberries this year at some point, and will have a better understanding of what kind they are and if they are any good and can then decide whether it is worth investing in some new varieties. For all we know there may be golden ones or white ones or any of these new fangled raspberry colours, and there's a huge difference between diff. varieties of raspbs in size and flavour etc.

[Millymollymandy]

Boboff, I too have sometimes got rasps in the autumn from the current year's canes on summer ones - however they are not 'supposed' to do that so it is best just to leave be and see what happens, in any event pops will be assured of raspberries this year at some point, and will have a better understanding of what kind they are and if they are any good and can then decide whether it is worth investing in some new varieties. For all we know there may be golden ones or white ones or any of these new fangled raspberry colours, and there's a huge difference between diff. varieties of raspbs in size and flavour etc.

[oldjerry]

All good advice,trouble is,if they dont fruit that brill you don't know wether they are just a poor variety or if they're virused.Hence I'd still p[lant some more to grow on as replacements.(but that's more prejudice than anything else) but this IS important,before you take out the pruners on anything(specially in a new plot)keep a rag dipped in white spirit or similar,and clean the secateur blades between each plant. Best Wishes.

[pops]

oldjerry, is that becasue of germs? from the plants to my tools? or between canes?

(sorry, i really am that wet behind the ears!)

[Millymollymandy]

It's both really pops. It's good practice if you are pruning fruit trees to clean your tools before moving on to the next tree just in case there are any diseases that you might inadvertently spread to another tree through the cut from your secateurs/loppers/saws etc.

I don't bother for non fruiting native trees and must say I've never bothered when cutting back raspberry canes. But then I know mine are healthy and they are 5 years old - and it's a lot easier to propagate a rasp cane and start afresh than replant an expensive apple tree and wait years for a good crop again!

Would be a good idea if you do this your first year whilst getting to 'know' your canes!