Pruning raspberries

[Southern Softie]

Last year I planted some Summer and Autumn raspberries in my garden in a netted area.

The Summer ones are the sort that fruit on last years canes so I let them grow and rigged up some wires for them to grow along this Spring (better late than never). They now look nicely set and I await my first crop.

The Autumn ones were the type that didn't need staking, just a but of support from some canes. I got a fair crop from them last year, which was rather unexpected. I then cut them to ground level in the Spring and now have a mass of new shoots merily reaching for the sky. However, when I say a mass of shoots I mean at least 30 of them. I am wondering if I need to thin them out to stop the crop being overcrowded.

Hopefully there are some expert raspberry growers out there.

[Geoff]

Be interesting to see what others say. I've often wondered about thinning Autumn Raspberries but have never done it apart from removing a few strays - mine are confined between two concrete paths. They seem to crop very well with a high density of shoots.

[PLUMPUDDING]

I usually just take out strays and any really weedy shoots and just let the rest get on with it. They made really large fruits last year after being mulched with well rotted horse manure.

[glallotments]

We have grown these for several years now and I haven't thinned them yet. I have just removed canes that stray too far from the main plant.

I would cut out any weak straggly looking canes though