How to Care for Everbearing Raspberries

On top of ice cream, in a pie or straight from the garden, raspberries spell succulence like no other summer fruit. Why not grow everbearing raspberry varieties (Rubus idaeus), so you can enjoy them all summer long?

The primary task when growing raspberries is knowing when and how to prune them, which depends on the variety. Raspberries grow in USDA plant hardiness zones 4 to 8.

Everbearing Raspberry Varieties

While many everbearing raspberry cultivars exist, some are tried and true — proven over the years to be dependable, delicious and hardy, depending on your location. For the Mid-Atlantic area, the Old Farmer's Almanac recommends 'Heritage,' a red variety that, unlike many raspberries, can produce a crop in the first year.

If you live at higher altitudes, such as the Rockies and the High Plains, try 'Plainsman,' which is hardy down to zone 2. In colder climates such as the Upper Midwest and Canada, try the yellow cultivar 'Fallgold,' which thrives in either full sun or part shade. Another yellow cultivar 'Double Gold' — its color is more of a soft champagne — thrives in warmer locations and boasts a later fall crop than many other everbearing cultivars.

Planting and Basic Care

After selecting your raspberry plants, usually those with 1-year-old bare root canes, plant them in your garden in early spring after the ground has thawed — although if you find a deal on raspberries later in the season, you can still plant them in the summer, according to Fine Gardening. Spring, however, is preferred, as they'll have more time to get established before the hot weather hits.

Many home gardeners plant their raspberries in rows, but if you have just a few plants, you can space them any way that works for you. Dig a 1-foot-deep, 1-foot-wide hole and add rotted manure and some organic fertilizer. Fine Gardening recommends a mix of 4-20-20. Space the plants 3 feet apart. When placing the cane into the hole, spread the roots out and cover with soil. Mulch, but not too deeply — 3 inches max.

Raspberries produce long canes and need a trellis or similar support so they don't fall over, especially once they are laden with a heavy crop of berries. Most raspberries are pest-resistant, but they can be susceptible to nematodes, root or bud weevils, aphids, crown borers and fruit worms. Diseases include spur blight, fruit rot and root rot. Many diseases are discouraged by pruning to maintain sufficient airflow.

Pruning Everbearing Raspberries

The first thing to know about pruning raspberries is the difference between the two types of canes: a primocane and a floricane. The primocane is the new cane produced each year; you can recognize it because it's green. After the growing season, it develops brown bark, becomes dormant and is then called a floricane its second season.

While non-everbearing varieties produce fruit in the summer only on floricanes, everbearing varieties can produce a second fall crop on their primocanes. New primocanes are produced each year. So, the main job of pruning everbearing raspberries is to remove the dead canes, i.e., the floricanes that have just fruited.

To ensure that you get both a summer and a fall crop, allow the primocanes that produced the fall crop to remain on the bush. You don't need to retain the full length of the cane; instead, prune them back to the last node that had fruit. Then, completely remove the floricanes that produced the summer crop. These shortened canes will fruit in July. In the meantime, the new primocanes are putting on growth and preparing to fruit in late summer or fall.