After the second crop, the canes die. In March or early April, remove all weak, diseased, and damaged canes at ground level. When finished, remaining canes should be spaced about 6 inches apart. Also, prune out the tips of the canes that have died because of winter injury. Cut them back to live tissue.
Red raspberries sucker profusely.
Prune out the tips of the canes that fruited the previous season. The lower will produce the summer crop. Doing so eliminates the summer crop, but often allows the fall crop to mature one to two weeks earlier. While there is only one crop per year, total crop yield is larger utilizing the one crop system versus the two crop system. Black and Purple Raspberries In March or early April, remove all small, weak canes, leaving only four or five of the largest canes per clump or plant.