To obtain maximum yields, raspberries must be pruned properly. Appropriate pruning procedures are based on the growth and fruiting characteristics of the plants.
Raspberries have unique growth and fruiting characteristics.
The plant's roots and crown are perennial, while the stems or canes are biennial. A raspberry plant may survive and produce fruit for many years. However, the individual canes live only two growing seasons and then die. The shoots of purple, black, and summer-bearing red raspberries are strictly vegetative during the first growing season. The following year, these same canes flower, produce fruit, and then die.