My black raspberries are finishing up here, so my mind is turning to pruning spent floricanes. I have never been able to figure out when the best time to prune is. Should I do it at the end of the season when the canes are dead, or should I do when they are finished fruiting? I have read both and I’m not sure what the best course of action is. I am intending on waiting until the canes are totally dead so that they may continue to provide energy to the crown.
It doesn’t matter at least not here. Mine grow back like weeds and don’t need spent floricanes for energy. I prune at end of harvest before the new canes get any bigger or thicker. In fact this yr I pruned out all new canes until after harvest when everything was down to ground level. The growth of new canes is still too much.
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Here in the NE, If I don’t prune out the spent canes right after harvest, I have difficult time getting light into the patch, and end up with spindly primocanes.
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Maybe I’ll cut them out instead, they are shooting up primocanes like crazy now. Thanks for the input, guys!