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Raspberry Summer Harvest and Care

High in fiber and Vitamin C, raspberries make a healthy snack as well as delicious jams, jellies and desserts.

Raspberries are ready to pick when the fruit is firm but soft, deeply colored, and easily slides off the hard core.  Place berries in shallow containers when harvesting and storing to avoid crushing the delicate fruit.

Chill the berries within 2 hours of harvest to preserve freshness and flavor. And wait to wash the berries until right before use.

And when the summer harvest is complete, it is time to do a bit of pruning. Remove the canes that bore the summer fruit back to ground level. These canes are done fruiting and will soon die. Removing them now gives new canes room to grow and reduces the risk of disease. This is also a good time to thin the remaining canes on summer bearing raspberries back to 6 or 8 stems per foot.

A bit more information: Summer pruning is often enough to manage fungal diseases such as cane blight and anthracnose.  Remove any infected canes to reduce the risk of further infection.