Berry Pruning Time

We have some red and black raspberries on the farm. They do quite well here as our soil is a bit acidic and the climate must be just right for them. We do nothing for them except fence them because of the deer and prune and pick them. We do not fertilize or spray them, and they produce a ton of berries every year. They also are very easy to propogate. They are basically a crop that costs us nothing but our labor, and that is a good crop. Also the berries you buy in the grocery store cannot compare; I don't want to ruin your store-bought berry experience, but you should plant a few bushes in your backyard to see what you are missing.

Well that was quite a lot for the first paragraph, now on to the real topic, pruning these berry plants. My sons and I pruned a good bit of our red and black raspberry plants today. I am going to go through both of them in a few steps for you.

First you use the same equipment for both types of berries. You want to get bypass pruners. I use a pair of hand-held Corona bypass pruners. I call them spring-loaded, because they have a spring that opens them for you after the cut. I'm not sure what the proper term for that is. I also use pair of Corona Mini Bypass Pruners. To me they should be called mini bypass loppers. They require two hands to use them. The hand held ones are faster, but the loppers are easier on your hands. I use them both depending on the circumstances. I usually end up using the loppers for the red raspberry patches and both types for the black raspberries. If I am in a hurry though, I use the hand-helds.

You can buy whatever brand you like. The only caveat I will offer is that whatever brand you buy make sure the back, non-cutting blade is about a quarter inch wide. If it is thinner it will cut into the plant and make a messy, disease-prone cut, instead of the nice, clean cut that is made when only the blade does the cutting. The Coronas are not at all expensive. Both types that I use cost between 20 and 30 dollars, depending on where you buy them. Also, always clean your pruners before use, and between patches. I just use some rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab. This helps to stop the spread of disease.

Today I did what I call my winter pruning, though it is done in either late winter or early spring. You have to judge the weather so that you get them before their buds start to grow and open. Here in the Allegheny/Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania, I usuallly do them some time in March. Today was a bit earlier than usual, but we have had a warm winter, and it is going to warm up this week, so I wanted to get started in a big way today. Actually, I wanted to do this yesterday, but I did a number on my back yesterday morning tending to the cows, just a freak back attack, but it was good enough today to get back to work. I am afraid next weekend might be too late. It is always best to pick a day when the temperature is going to get a bit above freezing when you prune. I like a nice sunny but a bit chilly day for pruning.

For the red raspberries this is the only pruning you need to do, and pruning them is a lot easier than the black raspberries, because of the simplicity of the cut and the lack of thorns. I just take the bypass loppers and cut every cane so that they are about two and a half feet high. This is a bit below belt height for me so I know about where to hold them and just do it. I never measure them when I am cutting. This all you need to do. You are now done for the year with these berries, except for the picking. We do not spray or fertilize them. The one thing you have to watch with the red raspberries if you are going organic is that you need to pick them every day when they are ripe. If you keep the berries in the patch from getting overripe, you will avoid the bugs that like to share your crop.

The red raspberries will grow new canes in the spring and early summer. Do not top these canes. Just let them grow. You only need to do a winter pruning with the red raspberries. If you want to start another patch just dig up a few of the new canes and transplant them.

The black raspberries require two prunings and the winter pruning is more complicated than the one for the red raspberries. You also will want to wear some thick clothing and gloves unless you enjoy serrating yourself. The time frame and temperature for pruning is the same for the black raspberries as for the red raspberries. However, in the winter pruning you are not topping the black raspberries. You are only cutting the side branches on each main stem. You cut each side branch down to about six inches in length. This is all you need to do in the winter. You do not want to top them, unless you want to cut a few that have gotten way too high, but I wouldn't do too much of that.

In the spring and early summer you will get new canes growing in and around your black raspberry patch. You want to keep these as they are going to give you your berries in the following year. You may thin them out as much as you like, and you may dig some and plant them to start another patch if you like. The ones that you are keeping in place need to be topped when they get to be around one foot in height. This is usually around the beginning of July, depending upon where you live. My plants grow like crazy, and I sometimes end up cutting them a bit earlier and/or a bit higher, but don't let them get too high or cut them too late, or your canes may be a bit thin, and you won't get as many side branches.

Like the red raspberries, it is best to pick your black raspberries every day to avoid bugs, but it is not as critical for the black raspberries, in fact sometimes we skip a day if we have done a good picking the day before. The black raspberries come earlier than the red raspberries and just don't seem to get the bug interest that the reds do. We basically get perfect black raspberries with zero spraying and fertilizing.

Now that I think of it. I have been putting some cow manure around a new patch that I am trying to get established, but they are in a spot where the soil is very dry and rocky, and they are also in a tough wind-blown area. They just did not do much when I transplanted them there, so the cow manure is helping to fix up the spot. The other patches that I have planted in richer soil have grown like crazy with no amendments to the soil. But generally, all we do is prune, and transplant some new plants if we want another patch.

Red and Black Raspberries are a good carefree crop, and they really cost nothing but your labor once established. Our kids pick and eat bowlfulls for most of the summer, and my wife makes some great pies from both types. An all red raspberry pie is a unique taste treat. Pies with both kinds of berries in them are also good, and the black raspberry pie is the taste I grew up with from when I picked these berries wild as a child with my grandmother. We also have plenty for the freezer. I have seriously been considering expanding the berries into a commercial crop. They really do well up here on the mountain.

My daughter filmed these two videos this morning for me. She is getting very good at this, considering the camera I have for her to use, and she was very patient as we did multiple takes on both of them.