A hard late-winter thinning is the secret to healthier plants and bigger
Left unpruned, red raspberries are their own worst weed. When canes get overcrowded, they compete for sunlight, causing the shaded leaves and buds on the lower half of the plant to die. Without those buds, you’ll have fewer fruiting branches and a much smaller crop. Crowded canes also compete for nutrients and water, which leads to small, poor-tasting fruit. And the shady, moist conditions around a dense thicket are a magnet for fungal diseases, such as gray mold, spur blight, and anthracnose. Pruning is the most effective way to avoid these headaches. A yearly thinning allows plenty of sunlight and air to penetrate the bramble, which means you’ll have bigger, healthier crops and a much easier time picking those sweet red berries. o prune any plant properly, you need to understand its growth cycle. In the case of red raspberry, the roots and crown are perennial but the canes are biennial (they live for only two years). The first year, they emerge as green primocan...