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You prune everbearing raspberry bushes by removing spent floricanes after their summer harvest and then thinning the primocanes to encourage a strong fall crop.
If you’ve been wondering how to prune everbearing raspberry bushes without sacrificing either of their two annual harvests, you’re in the right place.
Everbearing raspberries, also known as fall-bearing or primocane-fruiting raspberries, produce fruit twice a year, which makes their pruning schedule a bit different from summer-only varieties.
Getting the timing right is the secret to maximizing both your early summer berries and your late-season bounty.
In this post, we’ll break down exactly how to prune everbearing raspberry bushes step by step, when to make each cut, and common mistakes to avoid.
Let’s dig into the fundamentals so your raspberry patch stays productive for years to come.
Understanding How To Prune Everbearing Raspberry Bushes
Before you grab your pruners, it helps to know how everbearing raspberry bushes grow and why their pruning needs differ from other types.
Everbearing raspberries produce fruit on both first-year canes (primocanes) and second-year canes (floricanes).
The primocanes grow from the ground in spring and will bear fruit at their tips in early fall of that same year.
Those same canes then overwinter and produce a second, lower crop on the remaining sections of the cane the following summer.
So when you learn how to prune everbearing raspberry bushes, you’re really managing two different fruiting zones on the same plant.
1. Know Your Two Harvests
The first harvest comes in late summer or early fall on the top portions of primocanes.
The second harvest arrives the following June or July on the lower parts of those same canes, which are now floricanes.
Because of this dual fruiting habit, your pruning strategy depends entirely on whether you want one big crop or two smaller ones.
Many home gardeners prefer the simple route of mowing everything down for a single fall harvest, which we’ll cover shortly.
2. Tools You’ll Need
Sharp bypass pruners are perfect for cutting canes up to half an inch thick.
For thicker, older canes, a pair of loppers will give you more leverage and a cleaner cut.
Don’t forget thick gardening gloves because raspberry canes are covered in tiny thorns that love to grab skin.
Clean your tools with rubbing alcohol before you start to avoid spreading any diseases between your everbearing raspberry bushes.
Two Simple Methods For Pruning Everbearing Raspberries
There are two main ways to prune everbearing raspberries, and the one you choose really comes down to how much fruit you want at one time.
Method 1: The One-Crop System (Easiest)
If you want a single, large fall harvest, you’ll prune everbearing raspberry bushes by cutting all canes down to ground level in late winter or early spring.
This means you sacrifice the summer crop entirely, but you get a much bigger and cleaner fall harvest.
In late winter, while the plants are still dormant, simply cut every cane down to about two inches above the soil.
New primocanes will sprout in spring, grow all summer, and produce a heavy crop of berries on their tips in September or October.
This method is so easy because you don’t have to figure out which cane is which, you just mow them all down.
Method 2: The Two-Crop System (For Maximum Yield)
If you love having fresh raspberries from early summer through fall, you’ll want to prune everbearing raspberry bushes using the two-crop method.
Here’s how it works: in late winter, identify the floricanes, which are the canes that produced fruit last fall and are now brown and woody.
Cut those floricanes completely down to the ground because they won’t produce again.
Then, take the primocanes from last year, which are greener and more flexible, and cut them back by about one-quarter to one-third of their height.
This removes the dead tips that already fruited and encourages side branches lower down.
Those side branches will bear your summer crop in June and July, and the new primocanes that appear this spring will produce the fall crop.
It sounds complicated, but once you see the two types of canes side by side, it becomes second nature.
When To Prune Everbearing Raspberry Bushes
Timing your cuts is just as important as the cuts themselves when you’re figuring out how to prune everbearing raspberry bushes.
1. Late Winter Or Early Spring (Dormant Season)
This is your main pruning window for both methods.
Prune everbearing raspberry bushes while they’re still dormant, before new growth begins, to avoid stressing the plant.
Late February or early March works well in most climates, but adjust based on your local frost dates.
A good rule of thumb is to wait until the harshest cold has passed but before buds start swelling.
2. Mid-Summer Touch-Ups
You don’t need to do heavy pruning in summer, but you can thin out any overcrowded primocanes.
Remove any thin, spindly canes and keep about four to six of the sturdiest canes per foot of row.
This improves airflow, which reduces fungal diseases, and ensures the remaining canes get more sunlight and nutrients.
3. After The Fall Harvest
If you’re using the two-crop system, you can remove the spent fruiting tips right after the fall harvest.
Just snip off the top few inches of each primocane that bore fruit, leaving the rest of the cane intact for next summer.
This tidies up the plant and prevents the dead tips from becoming a hiding spot for pests.
Common Mistakes When Pruning Everbearing Raspberries
Even seasoned gardeners mess up now and then, so let’s cover the biggest pitfalls so you don’t repeat them.
1. Cutting Everything Down In Fall
If you prune everbearing raspberry bushes in the fall with the two-crop method in mind, you’ll accidentally remove next year’s summer crop.
Only cut floricanes after they finish fruiting, and wait until winter to do the big prune.
2. Leaving Dead Canes In Place
Dead floricanes are not only ugly, but they also harbor cane borers and fungal spores.
Always remove them completely and dispose of them away from your garden, don’t compost them.
3. Pruning Too Late In Spring
If you wait until the canes have leafed out, you’ll remove a lot of productive growth and confuse the plant.
Prune everbearing raspberry bushes before you see significant green growth, otherwise you’ll reduce your yield.
4. Not Thinning Your Canes
Crowded canes compete for light and air, leading to smaller berries and more disease pressure.
Thinning is a vital part of how to prune everbearing raspberry bushes, so don’t skip it.
So, How To Prune Everbearing Raspberry Bushes?
To prune everbearing raspberry bushes correctly, you either cut everything to the ground for one fall crop, or you selectively remove floricanes and tip primocanes for two crops.
The one-crop method is perfect if you want simplicity and a massive fall harvest.
The two-crop method rewards you with fresh berries all season but requires a bit more attention in late winter.
Either way, do your main pruning in late winter or early spring, keep your tools clean, and don’t be afraid to thin aggressively.
Prune everbearing raspberry bushes every single year without fail, because skipping a year leads to tangled, unproductive thickets.
Follow these steps and your everbearing raspberries will reward you with sweet, juicy berries for many seasons to come.
Happy pruning, and enjoy those homegrown raspberries!