When is the best time to cut back and prune my small planting of black raspberries?
Black raspberries should be summer-topped during the growing season when the young shoots are about 2 feet tall in order to stimulate side shoot development during the remainder of the season. Any time after harvest (including now if you can tell what’s dead), the canes that fruited this past summer should be pruned out; cane death after fruiting is normal. Next, will be the dormant pruning, which should be done in mid- to late winter after severe weather is over but before the buds begin to swell with spring growth. Prune out crowded, unneeded canes so that only 4 or 5 of the best-looking canes of each black raspberry plant will remain.
