Pull the raspberries so they don't harbor disease. Cut the canes back at the proper time, according to type.

Prune grape vines when dormant to foster growth in the direction you want. Grapes want to be pruned.

Pull strawberries so they don't harbor disease and to produce more fruit.

Food gardens are a great hobby, need knowledge to produce well, and some work. But they repay your efforts many, many, many times over. Congratulations on the foresight to purchase a home with an established garden.

Dan

Thanks Dan! So, what you are saying is that at the end of the season, I should cut the raspberry bushes down to near the soil?

For the strawberries, do I pull the plants out of the soil at the end of the season, or just pull any remaining fruit off and then leave the plant as it is thru the winter?

Thanks again Dan!

The canes are cut according to type; I recommend a cane cutter, esp if you have anything over a 15-ft row. The fruits of strawberries should be removed definitely, the plants if they are exhausted.

I miss my raspberries in WA state, and am doing a raised bed for them in the fall...yum!

Dan

Thanks Dan for the great info and links...much appreciated!

Welcome ParkerDad!

Dan, I have raspberries and strawberries too but have no idea what type or any of that. I just want to be sure, pull all the fruits off the strawberry plants at season end or pull out the plants??

I'd really like it if the raspberries would stop growing into the strawberries too...

Thanks!

J

Strawberry plants only produce well for a couple years, Jennifer, and then they go downhill. If you keep starting new ones, and pulling the old ones out after a couple years, youÂll keep your production optimized. If you have a variety that runs, you can just keep planting new runners to replace the older plants, but you need to keep track of which plants are the older ones if theyÂre all planted together. My brother in Illinois has two separate strawberry areas, and every couple years he tills one of the areas under and replants it. That way he always has "new" plants in one of the areas. ThatÂs the easiest way to keep track of how old the plants are.

And I agree that if there are any fruit stems left on the plant at the end of the season, they should be snipped off. Last year I "planted" the few small berries I found on my few plants at the end of the year, hoping some of the seeds might germinateÂbut I donÂt think they did!

Can't help you with the spreading raspberries! I don't think anything will stop them from spreading!

Welcome to RMG, ParkerDad. WeÂre glad youÂre here!
Skybird

Thanks, Skybird!!

I read somewhere about the massive commercial California strawberry growers, and they bring in new plants every year that come from a different climate/altitude. The climatic shock, it seems, spurs higher production.

Interesting, I guess it works out for them financially. My problems with strawberries have hooves or busy tails. We tried for years to grow 50 plants and probably ate less than a pint.