Steve Harris wrote:
: In article ,
: VETHIScom (Mark) wrote:

: Q. When to prune now or the spring plus how much should I leave above
: ground?
:

: The standard advice seems to be to cut them to the ground in February.
: There is a theory that any canes that didn't fruit can be left and may
: produce an early crop.

Not a theory - I do it regularly. Also if a cane only threw 1 or 2 fruit
trusses at the very top of the cane in autumn, I leave it and trim the
cane below the bottom truss (not directly below but just above the next
bud down). They tend to fruit pretty early, before the main season ones.
I have Autumn Bliss and Fall Gold.

Given I don't stake or support (they are pretty good at being
self-supporting) they are a bit prone to rocking in the wind causing root
disturbance so I reduce the height of the canes as soon as all leaves have
dropped and we've had a decent frost so they are pretty well dormant. Last
2 years that was Jan (Dec being the first frosts), but we've had a couple
of hard frosts, and I think I could do it any time now.

: I certainly don't intend pruning mine yet while there's still a lot of
: leaves on them.