Here are some tips and basics to watch over for when trying to grow your own bush and cane fruits.

  • Make sure to prune black currants immediately after harvest. Cut out as many of the oldest branches as possible, removing about a third of all growth to make way for the new, more fruitful stems.
  • Prune summer raspberry canes as soon as the remaining fruit has been harvested. Undo the ties attaching the exhausted canes to their training wires and cut them off at ground level. Remove weak, spindly, damaged or overcrowded new canes (distinguished by their fresh green color) to leave four to six of the strongest. Tie these to the wires with individual twists or a continuous string looped and knotted over the wires. Space canes evenly about 4 inches (10 cm) apart. Pull up any suckers growing away from the row and clear any weeds and plant debris.
  • Finally tie in autumn-fruiting raspberry stems once they reach the top wire. Make sure to water well in dry weather as plants come into flower and mulch with grass cuttings. Birds are seldom attracted to late varieties, so netting is unnecessary.
  • Loganberries and other hybrid berries need to have their old fruited canes cut out; do this also for the earliest blackberries immediately after harvest. Trim them at ground level or just above a strong sideshoot if new growth is sparse. Tie the new green canes in place, evenly arranging them on the wires according to the training system used. If your garden is very cold, bundle the canes together for protection and tie them to the lowest wire.
Raspberry plant
Martynas Vidzbelis/iStockphoto
Make sure to prune the raspberry canes as soon as the remaining fruit has been harvested.