RASPBERRIES AND LOGANBERRIES
Last year I was so pleased to be able to eat raspberries and loganberries straight out of my garden, even though the plants were still quite young and not producing quite as many as they might. This year they are older and already there are hundreds of buds appearing. Would be nice if the weather could permit fruit to completely ripen before the wind comes along and blows them all over the fence for the birds.
By the way, where I have cut down the old Polka canes, there are loads of new canes being thrust out of the ground and the old canes that I left have loads of flower buds growing. :D
The YouTube clip below shows you how to prune raspberry canes.
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| Loganberry buds |
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| Loganberries - fruit on last year's canes. |
Loganberries fruit on last year's canes. The above are canes from last year and already, at the base, it is pushing out new canes which will fruit next year. The trick is, when pruning, not to cut down the wrong ones!
I admit I get confused about when to prune my raspberry, Polka. Polka is a primocane type - often called Everbearing - and primocanes bear their main crop of fruit in late summer on the present year's new canes. You are supposed to cut down the old canes in late autumn, after fruiting, or early in the following year. However, my Polka threw out a heavier crop of fruit early last summer and continued to fruit right through to November at which point, the frost nipped the fruit and spoiled them. Early this spring I didn't know whether to cut down all the old, last-year's canes or not as I saw loads of new growth and some flower buds coming on the old canes. Talk about confused! So, I cut down half of them, hedging my bets. But I wanted to grow Polka, which is a lovely fruit without thorns, in another position and didn't yet have any runner so I chopped up the canes I had cut down and stuck them in the soil elsewhere in the garden. I didn't know if they would take as it was old wood. But you can see by the photo below that there is plenty happening. I don't know whether they will produce fruit at this young stage but they have two choices - they can grow or they can be pulled out and thrown away! I'll let you know.
By the way, where I have cut down the old Polka canes, there are loads of new canes being thrust out of the ground and the old canes that I left have loads of flower buds growing. :D
The YouTube clip below shows you how to prune raspberry canes.