How to Grow Raspberries on Lattice

Install your lattice system behind your raspberry canes using the lattice material, plastic or wood, you prefer. For best yard or field results, use a lattice system that can be mounted up to 2 feet deep and rises 4 to 5 feet high. Your lattice can be installed against a building if your canes are planted in front of it.

Inspect your raspberry canes in the late winter to early spring to note the fresh green canes that just grew in the last year and the darker, reddish brown or silvery canes that grew two years earlier and fruited last year.

Clip the reddish brown or silvery canes back as close to the ground as possible with clean pruners while wearing gloves. The brown canes will no longer produce fruit and will compete for water and nutrients if left to grow. Continue until all the brown canes are gone.

Imagine the area in front of the lattice to be a wide but narrow row. Trim out any canes that stand 12 to 18 inches or farther in front of the lattice. Cut away any canes that appear diseased, discolored or infested from around the lattice no matter where they're growing in the row.

Thin the remaining green canes down to only four to five canes for every square foot of space in front of the lattice. Select the best canes by leaving the tallest canes with the widest diameters at their base intact. Cut away the smaller, weaker canes at their base.

Stand the strongest green canes upright one at a time, working gently while wearing gloves. Secure the green canes to the lattice with plant ties or twine about 3 feet off the ground. Use more than one tie if any canes are particularly resistant to staying upright.

Leave the new green canes that sprout up during the growing season to grow unattached to the lattice. Clip away any that extend beyond the 12-to-18-inch range in front of the lattice.

Harvest ripe raspberries in the summer to fall, depending on the variety, from the canes which are attached to the lattice. Everbearing varieties may also produce berries on the new, unattached canes in late spring.

Repeat the procedure each year to maintain your raspberry plants and maximize their health and productivity. For repeated annual care, the older, reddish brown or silvery canes will be the ones attached to the lattice, making the appropriate canes to trim distinguishable.