Confused over raspberries

I'm really confused over the pruning of raspberries and would welcome some advice.

I've an area which has, in the last 3 years, been 'colonised' by some raspberry canes. I've no idea where they came from, I certainly didn't plant them and didn't expect much fruit and consequently, did nothing to them. Last year I was surprised at the amount of fruit they produced, this year looks as though it will be even better (I've already picked over a pound with much more to come) and there's a large amount of new growth too, so I'm thinking maybe I should give them a bit of TLC, but I'm totally confused as to the pruning.

As I understand it, summer fruiting raspberries - which I assume mine to be - should be pruned by ' ... cutting the canes which held fruit, right back to the ground during the autumn'. That's pretty straightforward, but my raspberries are fruiting on shoots, spurs, stems (not sure of the correct term) which have sprouted on the original, i.e. the 3 year old wood; the wood which grew last year and therefore which I would expect to bear this years' fruit has done nothing except produce a lot of leaf.

My question therefore is - since I have a choice of this years' growth, last years' which has only produced leaves or 3 year old wood which actually produces the fruit, which should I prune?

 

A very simple rule of thumb is, if the MAIN stalks have a silvery tint them then cut them out. You want canes which grow from the ground this year, for your fruit next year.:gnthb:

 

Seems simple enough - thank you Dai. I'm guessing then that last years' canes have only produced leaves this year because of my lack of correct (or indeed any) pruning. I know it's what you should do and I will, but I always get a slightly uneasy feeling when the words '.. cut back to the ground ..' appear! :cry:

 

Thanks from me also. I have my first raspberry cane this year and it looks more like a shrub than the 'canes' I remember from my granddad's allotment.