Help with Raspberries

Lynn142

This plant is about this 18 months old and we got no real growth last year. However, as you can see, the plant has grown, albeit it’s still small, and there are a few raspberries but the leaves look to have been eaten by something. Can anyone please advise on what could be the cause and whether I need to prune these poor looking leaves in the meantime.

BobTheGardener

Looks like you have Raspberry Sawfly (Monophadnoides geniculatus.):

https://www.gardenfocused.co.uk/fruitarticles/raspberries/raspberry-pest-disease.php

Not much you can do at this stage other than carefully examine the underside of every leaf and pick them off (because you probably won't want to spray chemicals onto something you are going to eat!)  As they are flowering now, they are an 'autumn fruiting' variety, so all you need to do as far as pruning goes is to cut all the canes right down to the ground next February.  To reduce the chances of getting sawfly again next year, remove and burn (or put in black bin) all leaves from beneath the canes when they have all fallen then gently handfork over the area to expose overwintering larvae to the birds and weather.  After a few days mulch the area with a 3" layer of well-rotted manure or garden compost which will both feed the raspberries and kill some more of the overwintering sawfly larvae.

Lynn142

Thanks Bob, that information is really useful and having checked the link you included, it clearly shows the reason for our lace-effect leaves. Thanks for taking the time to reply!

Lynn142

I am just digging over thesoil around our raspberry  bush which, as you can see, is very dry & full of clay too before I add our domestic compost. Do you think the new growth on the left & right are new raspberry plants - not sure about the one nearest to the fence as the leaf looks different - and should I cut down the wooden stems?