How Many Times a Year Can You Grow Raspberries?

Everbearing Raspberries

• Everbearing raspberries produce primocanes that are able to flower and fruit the same year that they are produced by the plant. After primocanes reach a certain number of nodes, usually in the mid-summer, the tip of the cane will begin fruiting. Everbearing raspberries typically begin maturing in August. Over the course of the season, buds will form progressively lower on the primocanes. If the canes are not mowed down during the winter, which is a fairly common practice among raspberry growers, non-producing fall canes will become fruit-producing floricanes in the spring.

Establishment and Growth

• Raspberries produce new canes each year from the plant's subterranean buds and spreading suckers. New plantings should be established in the spring after all danger of hard frost has passed. Tender new growth is readily damaged by late frosts, so plantings usually occur no sooner than May. Immediately following planting, insulate plants with a layer of straw mulch. Canes will begin to bud once they reach at least 35 nodes in height. Early fruit production is associated with early growth and flowering.

Pruning

• Everbearing raspberries will produce crops either once or twice a year, depending on pruning practices. If two crops per year are desired, prune plants twice a year -- once in the spring and again following harvest. In the spring, cut off all weak canes and cut back any very tall canes to a height that does not exceed 5 feet. Following harvest, eliminate all canes that have already produced fruit. To encourage once a year fruiting, some growers will chose to mow down all canes to the ground during the winter or early spring. Everbearing raspberries pruned in this manner will produce only one crop annually during the fall.

Considerations

• Despite the reduction in total fruit yields, pruning of everbearing raspberries to encourage single-season harvests has advantages. Non-pruned canes may suffer freeze damage during winter months, which will severely limit the harvest of the next season. In addition, extra pruning will result in higher labor requirements. Hot temperatures can soften and scald fruit in the southern end of the raspberry growing range. This will effectively reduce the fruit's potential shelf life. Most significantly, growers agree that everbearing raspberries trained as a fall crop tend to produce better tasting and more vibrantly colored fruit.