[MAK]

Heritage Raspberries.
Help please.
We bought 2 good plants ( not canes) last spring and had plenty of fruit last autumn - december. This year we have had so much growth and the old wood is already giving us ripe fruit - all be it small. Last years follage looks poor and the fruit small.
Should I be cutting back on this years new growth ( most is really tall and swamping the old wood) to allow last years growth to produce better fruit?.
Maybe the plants are fruiting too early after the odd weather we have had and that we may get btter fruit in a few months time.
 Dr D G Hessayon does not help  ( The Fruit expert),
any suggestions?

[Factotum]

I'd never heard of Heritage Raspberries, so had a look on the web.

I got lots of hits on US sites -

Unlike summer-bearing raspberry cultivars that bear fruit on second-year shoots called floricanes, Heritage is an erect, "everbearing" red raspberry cultivar that produces fruit on the upper third of first-year canes, or primocanes, in late summer and early fall. If these canes are overwintered, they become floricanes and will bear a second crop on the lower two-thirds of the canes in early summer.

Consider cultivating Heritage for a single late-season crop, because the best quality fruits are produced on the primocanes. In addition, trellising will not be required and harvesting will be much easier. In early spring before new growth begins, cut the old canes as low to the ground as possible to encourage buds to break from below the soil surface. Remove and discard the canes. Obviously, this approach cannot be performed with summer-bearing red raspberry cultivars that bear fruit on second-year canes.

There are a number of sites that discuss primocanes and floricanes and using selective pruning to produce the crop. See:

https://utextension.tennessee.edu/publications/documents/SP284-G.pdf

Hope this helps, or gives you ideas for more research.

Regards

Sue

[MAK]

Sue - thank you so much for your research and the correct explanation. The growth on this years ( primocanes) is very vigouous very tall canes and as the article says I should top head now.
I must say that of all the raspberries I have bought or inherited on allotements these ones are exceptionally vigourous and the autumn fruit yield very good. I bought them as plants rather than canes and although they seemed expensive at 6 Euros each they paid for themselves with their first Autumn crop. I have a full bed of new growth already.
Again it was very kind of you to do the research for me and I will crack on and remove any poor floricanes and head the tall primocanes.
Thanks Martin