How to Prune Black Allen Raspberries

The hybrid Allen variety of black raspberries is hardy and known for being vigorous as well as heavily productive. It makes large, full berries that are firm and glossy. The key to keeping your Allen raspberries thriving and forming new canes and setting fruit is regular and careful pruning. Unlike many perennial shrubs that you prune once for shape or height, you prune black Allen raspberries in summer to keep growth lush and in winter to remove excess lengths of branches to enhance fruit size and quality.

Gloves
Hand pruners

Instructions

- 1
  Look for new growth to appear over the summer months. While wearing gloves, use hand pruners to clip the end 4 inches from the new, canes just above a bud only after the canes have reached 2 feet tall.
- 2
  Continue to prune the tips from new canes as they reach this height to encourage side branching, called lateral branching.
- 3
  Leave the Allen raspberries to grow otherwise undisturbed through the season. Harvest raspberries as they ripen and allow the plants to go dormant in the fall as temperatures drop.
- 4
  Prune the dormant canes in late winter to early spring to decrease the length of the lateral branches. Cut each branch back to only 8 inches long by clipping a portion along the branch immediately after a bud or node.

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