Very interesting my step father has red raspberrys that seem to be doing the same thing. There were at the house he bought last year and they never seemed to do anything. He's talking about transplanting them because he thinks they might be to close to the blackberry plants. He said he's just going to dig them up this fall and split them and re plant them. He's going to give me one or two after he splits them. We live just outside of St. Louis, MO on the Illinois side.

Berryman
By "shoots', do you mean the original cane or this year's offspring? Do you have summer or ever-bearing plants? Have you routinely pruned your plants?
Some suggestions which are general in nature. First mulch your plants preferrably with 4 to 6 inches of horse manure or wood chips etc. Provide mimimun of 1 inch water per week. Definitely prune in accordance with your type.
In the spring I've simply dug the new shoots and replanted them elsewhere. Hope this helps.
Jim B

Berryman08-

Normally, I say raspberries are like weeds but apparently not in your case.

2' tall canes is very odd. Can you tell us how much sun your berries are getting? Full day sun? 1/2 day? I've got a couple beds which only get 1/4 day sun and they still grow tall and produce berries. As for mulch, I put down an Inch or two of compost first thing in the spring.

I too am curious about the variety and whether they're summer or fall-everbearing berries.

As for keeping the reds, blacks, & blackberries separate, IÂve seen that advice too. But, in my case, itÂs just not practical. Although I have a decent sized yard, I have an even bigger appetite for the berries. I even have a lot of wild blackberries close-by, and so far, knock on wood, it hasnÂt been a problem for me. Perhaps someone else here on the forum can speak from experience about a disease jumping from bed to bed to bed of different varieties.

As for transplanting them... Just dig 'em up when they're dormant and put them to a new location. But, if you're current location (sun, soil, not too wet, etc) is already very good, then I might not bother trying to transplant them. Go to your local nursery and see what they're recommending. A lot of people on the forum recommend "Caroline". My "Kiwi GoldÂs" are my most vigorous. Or go www.NourseFarms.com and order some which are known to be extremely vigorous.

Good luck and donÂt give up.

-Glenn

I'm not sure what variety they are. They bear their fruit in very late summer to fall. They get 1/2 to full day sun. The only canes I have pruned in the past are the dead ones. Do I need to prune the others as well? I'm not sure if it's the original or this years canes. I
m guessing they are not the original since I've had them for about 6 years now. How do I tell the diffance?

BerryMan08-

It sounds like youÂre not mowing your raspberry patch down in the dormant season, so if thatÂs the case:

If you have a "Summer" variety of raspberries, then you will only get one summer crop. With a summer variety, the berries grow on last year canes (called Floricanes). So, if you only get one crop of berries on the previous yearÂs canes only, then you likely have a summer variety.

If you have a "Fall" (also called "Everbearing") variety, then you will get two crops: a smaller crop of berries on the bottoms of last years canes(floricanes) earlier in mid summer, and then you get another later crop of berries on the top of this yearÂs canes (primocanes). Note: With fall/everbearing varieties, you could mow them to the ground in the dormant season, but, then youÂd only get one fall (larger) crop of berries instead of two.

By pruning only the dead canes, you are safe for either the summer or fall variety. YouÂd only want to go the mowing route if you were sure you had fall/everbearing varieties (and if you were willing to accept 1, albeit larger, crop instead of 2).

I still donÂt know why youÂre getting such small canes though. YouÂre not overwatering them by chance are you? Perhaps a pic of your patch would help?
-Glenn