How To Prune Heritage Raspberries

Knowing how to prune heritage raspberries is the single most important skill for keeping your patch healthy and productive for years to come. These old-fashioned, often called “heirloom” varieties, have a unique growth habit that demands a specific approach, and getting it right means the difference between a sparse harvest and an abundant one.

Heritage raspberries are summer-bearing, meaning they fruit on canes that grew the previous year. They are also called “floricane-fruiting.” This cycle is the key to pruning them correctly. If you treat them like their everbearing cousins, you’ll cut off your entire next summer’s crop. Let’s get your shears ready and learn the simple, annual routine.

This main pruning session happens in late winter or early spring, while the plants are still dormant. The goal is to remove the canes that have already fruited and thin out the new ones that will bear this year’s crop.

Step 1: Identify the Canes

First, you need to tell the old canes from the new. The canes that fruited last summer are the “floricanes.” You’ll recognize them because they:

Look grayish-brown and woody.
Have peeling, papery bark.
May still have old, dried fruit stems attached.

The new canes, called “primocanes,” grew last summer but did not fruit. They will bear this year’s berries. They look different:

They are fresh, green, or reddish-brown in color.
Their bark is smooth and flexible.
They are generally more upright and vigorous-looking.

Step 2: Remove All Spent Floricanes

Using sharp, clean bypass pruners, cut every single old, fruited floricane down to the ground. Don’t leave a stub, as this can invite disease. Remove these canes from the area and compost or dispose of them. This step is non-negotiable—it clears space, reduces disease pressure, and lets sunlight and air into the patch.

Step 3: Thin the Remaining Primocanes

Now, look at the primocanes that are left. You don’t want to keep them all. Overcrowding leads to small berries and fungal issues. For a healthy, productive patch:

Select the strongest, healthiest-looking primocanes. They should be about the diameter of a pencil or thicker.
Space them out, keeping about 4 to 6 inches between canes.
Aim for 4 to 6 of the best canes per linear foot of row, or about 6 to 8 per hill if you grow them in clumps.

Cut the weaker, thinner, or damaged canes, and any that are growing far outside your desired row, down to the ground.

Step 4: Tip the Canes (Optional but Recommended)

Finally, look at the top of each remaining primocane. If it suffered winter die-back, the tip may be brown and brittle. Even if it looks healthy, tipping it back by a few inches encourages branching lower down, which can lead to more fruit clusters. Simply cut the cane back to a healthy, plump bud, usually to a height of about 4 to 5 feet. This makes the plant sturdier and easier to manage.

What You’ll Need

Bypass hand pruners (sharp and clean)
Sturdy gloves (raspberry thorns are tough)
Long sleeves and pants for protection

Summer Maintenance: The Clean-Up Cut

Pruning isn’t just a spring job. Right after your summer harvest finishes, do a quick clean-up. As soon as you notice a cane has finished producing, you can cut it out. This gets it out of the way and immediately improves air circulation for the new primocanes growing up. It’s a simple habit that makes the big spring prune much easier.

Dealing with Suckers

Raspberries spread by underground runners called suckers. They will pop up everywhere if you let them. During the growing season, you can simply mow or cut down any suckers that appear outside your designated raspberry bed. If you want to propagate new plants, you can carefully dig these up in early spring with some roots attached and transplant them.

Common Pruning Mistakes to Avoid

Even experienced gardeners can slip up. Here are the big ones to watch for:

Pruning at the Wrong Time: The worst mistake is pruning all canes down in fall. This eliminates next year’s crop entirely.
Not Thinning Enough: Leaving too many canes creates a crowded, unhealthy thicket. Be ruthless in your selection for the best fruit.
Using Dull or Dirty Tools: This makes ragged cuts that heal slowly and can spread disease from plant to plant. Wipe your blades with rubbing alcohol between plants if you see any signs of illness.
Leaving Stubs: Always cut flush to the ground or to a healthy bud. Stubs rot and attract pests.

Why Pruning is So Essential

Proper pruning isn’t just about neatness. It’s vital for the plants health. It prevents diseases like anthracnose and spur blight by allowing sunlight and air to penetrate the canopy, drying the leaves and canes. It also directs the plants energy into producing large, sweet berries on strong canes, rather than wasting it on weak, spindly growth. A well-pruned patch is also much easier to harvest from and manage throughout the season.

If you follow these steps each year, your heritage raspberries will reward you with reliable, bountiful harvests for a long time. The rhythm of the seasons—enjoying the summer fruit, cutting out the old, and tending the new—becomes a satisfying part of the gardening year. Remember, the best time to start is late winter, so mark your calender.

FAQ: Heritage Raspberry Pruning

When is the absolutly best time to prune heritage raspberries?

Late winter or very early spring, while dormant but before new growth starts, is ideal. You can see the cane structure clearly and the plants are ready to put energy into new buds once the weather warms.

Can I prune heritage raspberries in the fall?

No. Pruning all canes in fall removes the primocanes that are meant to fruit the following summer. You can remove spent floricanes after they fruit in summer, but the main structural prune should wait until spring.

How short should I cut the canes?

When removing old floricanes, cut them flush to the ground. When tipping the new primocanes, cut them back to about 4-5 feet tall, or just above a healthy, outward-facing bud.

What if my patch is completely overgrown and I haven’t pruned it in years?

Don’t panic. In late winter, cut the entire patch down to the ground. You will sacrifice one season’s fruit, but it will reset the plants. The following spring, thin the new primocanes that emerge according to the guidelines above.

How can I tell a heritage variety from an everbearing one?

Heritage varieties fruit once, in mid-summer, on last year’s canes. Everbearing (or fall-bearing) types fruit in fall on new canes, and can also be managed for a summer crop. If you inherited the plants, observe the fruiting time. A single summer crop indicates a heritage type.

Do I need to fertilize after pruning?

Yes, a light application of a balanced fertilizer or compost around the base of the plants in early spring after pruning supports the new growth that will become next year’s fruiting canes.