Dana: What were the forces that impelled you to plant 10 different raspberry varieties at the same time? Are you planning to run variety trials? If you are a beginner, and it does sound that way, it would have been better to start with one or two carefully chosen varieties. Red and yellow raspberry varieties propagate and spread by underground rhizomes, while black raspberries reproduce and spread by tiprooting. If you planted 10 varieties, I hope you have a lot of space, since you will want to keep them planted well apart from each other, defined as roughly 6 feet. Otherwise, they will quickly grow together, and you will lose track of which variety is which, to your great regret. The yellow variety Fallgold is a particularly aggressive spreader, and after about 3 years in the ground is easily capable of spreading 6 feet or more from the original planting. Out of these 10 varieties, some will no doubt be successful for you, but others will be failures or the quality of the fruit may not meet your expectations. At that point, you will want to be able to completely remove the losers, and keep the winners, but you can't do that if they are all mixed up. TCStoehr is correct that the original canes on your plants are 2nd year canes, or floricanes, that will normally leaf out and may bloom and set a few berries. Meanwhile, the new canes for this season will emerge from underground. Many "everbearing" varieties, such as the Fallgold and Heritage that you named, are capable of growing up and producing on primocanes in late summer of the first season. The black variety Cumberland, however, will not bear on floricanes until next season, defined as 2010. Whether you remove the original canes from your plants or leave them is nearly irrelevant. It just won't make much difference. If your raspberry purchases also included some summerbearing varieties (i.e. Latham, Taylor), these will not bear the first season, but will also bear in 2010. You really should have done some prior investigation about raspberries before jumping into this 10-variety situation, since there are, as you can see, significant differences in the growth and production habits of the various varieties. To make the best of the situation now, about all you can do is to ensure that the varieties are carefully kept separate, so that when they grow up you are able to make the decisions on what stays and what goes. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Tammy: The word "limited" has little meaning unless accompanied by an estimate of the size of the planting in feet or inches. Sometimes the word limited is applied to really tiny areas, that will barely support 2 or 3 berry plants. When space is truly tight, it is better to plant less stuff. Most red raspberry varieties will spread by underground shoots, some very aggressively. If planted close to another berry type, they will move right in unless you control them by frequent digging. Some blackberry varieties will also spread underground, though the tall, trailing thornless types generally will not. Black raspberries tend to grow a large bush, with canes that bend down to the ground and often tiproot. If you plant all of these berries in one bed, you will want to ensure they are separated from one another by at least 4 feet, and preferably 6. If not, they may grow together and you will end up with a big mess. It might be best to select just one of these berry types that you like the best, and plant just that for starters. There will always be opportunities to plant more. If you post again, please indicate what specific varieties of berry you intend to plant, and, if possible, the source of your plants. It might make it easier for others to advise you, based on their own experiences. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I have several varieties of Autumn bearing raspberries which are just ripening the last few floricane berries. I plan to prune out the floricanes as soon as I pick off the last berries. The already-fruited canes just look weary and used up and I suspect that they are an attractive host for disease and insect pests. They also crowd the patch inhibiting air circulation. Their thorns are also the hardest and most brittle. The primocanes are growing very vigorously and I can't imagine the roots would miss the floricanes at all. Once the primocanes fruit on their tops I'll cut off the top fruiting portion, again as soon as I've harvested the last berry. I'll leave the lower portion to fruit early next year again. I love raspberries too much to "mow" everything down and forgo the floricane crop, however small. They are my first ripe fruits in the garden.

bigalmo: If you plant a Concord grape vine every six feet along the fence, you are not going to have any trouble hiding the posts. Within 3-4 years you may not be able to see the fence at all. You sure wouldn't be able to see any poor little berry plants under them. I wouldn't plant any other berries under the Concords, and in fact would keep the other berries separate from one another as well. Blackberries and raspberries are not bushes, but caneberries, which can spread quite a bit on their own, especially raspberries. You don't want them to become mixed together. Blueberries are a special case, with specific low Ph soil requirements, and should be planted in their own specially prepared soil area. In Iowa, if you are in an area of limestone soils, your natural Ph may be close to 7, but blueberries like a Ph of 5 or slightly below. With that many Concord vines, you could eventually have one heck of a Concord crop. Unless you make juice or a whole lot of jelly, you might follow the Fruitnut's suggestion and check out some other varieties to mix in. Jupiter, particularly, seems to be a real favorite of grape growers here. Gooseberries are not my particular favorite, since I could never figure out very good uses for them, especially when compared with other berries I grow, but I would also assign them their own private bed. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA