Old raspberry canes 15/20yrs

[veritymay]

Hi! First post here. We have recently moved into a house that has been in the family for about 50 years. The garden has been a little neglected over the past ten or so, and the soft fruit my great aunt used to grow is fighting off an army of nettles, brambles, and bindweed.

We have raspberry canes, redcurrants, blackcurrants, and gooseberries. The raspberries are my main concern as the nettles outnumber canes about 25:1.

Is a well-established raspberry plant worth saving? At least 20 yrs old but suspect older. Obv there are sentimental reasons but is the fruit better etc?
Or should I just raze, spray, cover, and start again next year with new plants?

Thanks in advance

[Westi]

Welcome to the forum verity may!

The raspberry plants won't be all the same age as they pop up fresh stems each year. If it is a summer fruiting one just cut out all the brown canes & leave any that are green. By the age of this plant the newer ones should be toward the outside edge.

If you can remember if it is an Autumn fruiting one then leave them for now & take what harvest appears, mine are in flower just now so that will also help you id them as autumn as the summer ones have basically finished. Then in Jan/Feb you cut the whole lot down.

They take real well to transplanting if you want to clear the lot, so you could also dig the summer ones all out to clear the beds of weeds, but then replant any that look sturdy with some roots on them. They will crop at the expected time for the variety next year with a bit of a water & mulch.