Help a newbie with raspberry bush question please

Hello!
I have some raspberry bushes but I don’t know if they are summer or autumn fruiting and I don’t know how to prune them. The long stems all look like they have old fruit stalks on them. But the stems are also starting to create new buds. I have uploaded a photo. Should I leave them as they are or cut them right down to the ground? I see some suggestions saying to leave them a foot long so I’m very confused.

Many thanks,

 

Hi @Milly Berry I thought someone more expert might respond, but as they haven't...
If you haven't seen them fruit, so you don't know which they are, I'd just tidy them up a bit by trimming off the fruited bits. I have summer fruiting ones, which fruit on previous year's stems. If I forget to take out the really old ones, it's no problem, it just looks a bit messy and even the much older growths try to produce something. Autumn ones should theoretically be hard pruned (cut short enough that the ends don't catch you unawares) as they'd fruit on the new growth from this spring. But even for those, leaving old growths just makes it messier and a little harder to pick.
So don't worry - just try to weed and feed a bit, tidy up the ends, and see when they actually produce so you'll know for next time!

 

It doesn't matter if they are summer or autumn fruiting raspberries when you can see the remains of fruit on the stems. If the cane has fruited then you remove it. If all the stems have fruit remnants then they will be autumn fruiting, as summer fruiting send up the next seasons canes, which won't have fruit, in the previous year.
Autumn fruiting varieties can still produce a few berries on last years stems but you get a better crop if you cut them back, so the energy goes into new fruiting canes.

As the raspberries are budding up now and if they have fruit remnants on the stems then they will, 90% sure, be autumn fruiting. I think I'm correct in saying and it is my experience with growing both, that summer fruiting canes die off after fruiting in the same way that blackberries do.

 

some varieties of autumn fruiting will fruit well again on last years canes but its normal to cut them down anyway for management reasons. if you know the variety name you can look it up.

 

Thanks everyone for the replies!