My berries looked bad last year when I planted them (April) with peeling bark and everything. Lost 2 out of 10 (1 each Killarney and Encore), but look fine now and lots of new shoots - I'm waiting for them to bear (both are starting now) so I can prune, separate them and transplant new ones.

When did you plant them? How has your weather been?

Planted them around May 10th and the weather has been typical colorado weather. Some cool days some hot. Recently though it's been in the upper 60's to upper 70's since I planted them with lows never dipping below 40.

I'd have to dig for my emails to Nourse but it seems like it took a long time to see any kind of buds on those sticks. Try searching this forum and I'll check my emails, get back to you if I find anything helpful.

OK, found it pretty quickly. Bought the plants 4/20/12 but had 2" of rain on 4/22 and then 3 freezes so I put them in a 5 gal pot with dirt over them and planted early May (no date). But June 12 I had leaf buds on all but 1 Encore (I have to go out and count my Killarneys now, maybe I didn't lose 1). Never did get that one to grow (I remember it was at the end of the row) and I have a dead stick poking out in the middle of that row so maybe I lost another one later. But here's what Nourse told me:

"Sometimes plants develop leaves on the canes or stems. Most often (having been dug up and stored and then shipped and transplanted), they have been through too much for the canes to leaf out. We say that the dormant plants generally need about 6-7 weeks, at least, to show signs of life from their roots. If nights are still cool/cold, also when the weather is cloudy and there is cool/cold rain seeping into the soil, plant development will be supressed or delayed. If the weather is cooler the plants may need 7-8 weeks to come up."

I'd give them another couple of weeks before contacting Nourse but they'll probably tell you to wait til the end of June.

Have you cut off the tops of the canes? Do you see green inside?

Awesome. Thanks! I had emailed nourse but hadn't heard anything back yet. Glad it's not time to be concerned yet. Haven't cut the tops. Didn't want to distress them any more if i didn't need to.

I don't know how long your canes are, but try cutting an inch or two off the tops. I read somewhere (this forum?) last year that it stimulates growth. Anyway, I can't remember where, but this link from Oregon State says to cut them to 6" when you plant (doesn't explain why). So if you didn't do that, I'd do it now.

Here is a link that might be useful: OSU raspberry info

They're a little over a foot so i'll go chop some off. Thanks again!

I got anne, caroline and polka from nourse this spring. Mine are just starting to show signs of life on a few of them. T caroline I buried completely, the others I just planted as normal. You can see if you look closely, the middle row is completely burried.
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Often when I've purchased bare root canes I've found that the new growth will come from the roots, not on the stem that is visible. Be patient and keep them moist and unstressed.

Finally had a hot day and a few more shot out growth, and surprisingly, about 4 of them were showing growth on stems. Apparently they just needed a little warm weather. Thanks all.