How to Prune Taylor Raspberries

A late season, summer-bearing variety of raspberry, the "Taylor" raspberry is a large, red, cone-shaped berry known for such sweetness that it is often described as candy-like. The "Taylor" is a vigorous variety, cold-hardy as far north as U.S. Department of Agriculture aone 4. Through regular, annual pruning in the fall, "Taylor" raspberries can be kept consistently productive and disease-free year after year, producing more and more berries each season as the plant spreads larger.

Gloves
Hand pruners

Instructions

- 1
  Look over your "Taylor" raspberry bushes in mid- to late fall, after all berries have been harvested for the season. Note the colors of the existing canes from fresh and green first-year growth to the thickened, red productive growth of this year and, finally, gray or brown canes of weak or dead growth.
- 2
  Trace the dead or diseased canes, which are brown or gray and woody in appearance, back to their base at the ground. Wearing gloves, cut the canes free horizontally at ground level. Remove the dead or diseased canes from the area and discard.
- 3
  Trace the red canes, which were productive this year, back to their base and clip at ground level. These canes are done producing berries and can be burned or discarded.
- 4
  Leave any green, tender canes which just grew this year intact; do not prune them at all. These canes should produce fruit the following year.
- 5
  Prune your "Taylor" raspberries in subsequent years during the fall, regularly clipping away the spent, red and woody growth at ground level and only leaving behind fresh, green canes.

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