What Are the Types of Red Raspberry Bushes?

Standard Raspberries

• Each spring perennial raspberry plants grow suckers from spreading underground stems called rhizomes and from buds on the crown or base of the plant. The suckers develop into canes. The canes of standard varieties produce raspberries early in the summer of every other year.

  After standard canes produce raspberries, they die back to the ground during the winter. You have to train standard raspberry canes to a support or trellis and prune dead canes to leave more space for canes to produce raspberries. Primocanes are those raspberry canes that grow during the first year; floricanes grow in the second year.

Everbearing Raspberries

• Everbearing raspberries grow new canes during the spring and summer and yield berries the same fall. Prune everbearing raspberry canes to within 1 to 2 inches from the ground in the late fall. The plants will grow back the next spring, avoiding freeze damage in the winter. Everbearing raspberries that ripen in the fall are redder and sweeter than the summertime berries of standard varieties, and they are free of sunburn. You do not have to train the canes to a trellis as you have to do with standard varieties.

Hybrid Varieties

• There are numerous hybrid varieties of both standard and everbearing raspberries developed for growing conditions in different climates. For best growing results, research and select a hybrid red raspberry variety that will grow best in your area. Your local agricultural extension service may have a list of suitable varieties.

Nursery Types

• You can buy dormant red raspberry canes that are one year old. Plant these in late April to mid May after the last danger of severe frost. Your canes should be disease-free and virus-indexed, meaning they are certified to be free of plant viruses. Plants grown from tissue cultures are usually more expensive, but they are also less likely to carry diseases.