Care for young Raspberry plants

Question

Last fall I planted 4 raspberry plants from Burpee. They grew a little and then it got cold and they went dormant. Now that it is spring they have been growing again. They are still very small and I was wondering if and how I should prune them to promote proper growth. Here are a couple pictures. The two on the left are a variety that produce raspberries on first year vines, and the 2 on the right produce raspberries on the second year vines.

Here is a close up of the smallest one. This is a new vine. You can see no foilege grew on the one from last year (just visible to the left of it).

Here is a close up of the largest. The vine on the left is the one from last year, and the one on the right is a new one.

Answer 1

Cool. I like raspberries and those brambles tend to grow pretty well if they are watered well and the soil pH is right and they get enough sunlight. I'd have probably planted them a bit farther out from the house but that's a nit, really. Their roots get pretty long - a few feet or more and they do well if they are in soil that drains well. As long as they get lots of sun and stay watered, they'll thrive. I've got wild ones on the front of my farm and they they've survived my hacking at them with the string trimmer and the mower.

Honestly, I think right now there's no pruning to do yet because those plants are still small. Before you get new growth on the canes next spring you'll want to cut them back a bit to get rid of any of the old, dead cane and anything that looks weak and unlikely to flourish.

Are they black/purple or red? June-bearing or Ever-bearing?

I believe you'll want to cut back the 2nd year cane in years to come. That encourages new growth on the newer, first year cane. I'm not an expert, for sure, but that's about what I know about them. I suspect others may be able to add to this or clarify/contradict some of this based on their experiences.