Raspberries - how to make them happy ??

[didireallysaythat]

At my allotment I have a patch of raspberries. I think they are a mix and muddle of summer and autumn. The guy next to me told me to cut them a down in the late autumn (November I think) which is what you do for autumn ones I think. I wasn't sure but did it and the next year had great raspberries (kilos and kilos!). So I did the same this year and the plants are now only 3-4 inches tall while my definitely autumn ones in our garden are 2-3 foot.

Do you think I've stressed them by pruning incorrectly or maybe they are all, in one go, past it ? (Seems unlikely). I'm in East cambs so don't have rain, it hasn't been cold but the soil is rock hard and grey with the very low organic content (working on that!)

Don't they need acidic soil with lots of organic content?

Not sure - the soul hasn't changed in the last 3 years so I assumed it was my pruning. I've never watered or mulched them (I don't have anything to mulch them with - I'll be getting more manure soon I hope but it will need to rot down - although it doesn't really rot down, it just dries out!)

No they don't need acidic soil.

Summer and Autumn fruiting raspberries have different pruning regimes but I also had a mixed patch and I got away with hard pruning after fruiting with no ill effects.

It's worth knowing that raspberries should be replaced after 7 years as they usually succumb to viruses after this.

My raspberries were fine for ten years and then they all died off in the central patch, with canes popping up in the borders here and there.