My raspberries are in sandy soil and I didn't water them at all until the big heat waves of the past ~5 weeks, and they've done splendidly. Once the drought and heat hit for a while, I've been watering them about twice a week and they are still healthy. So I wonder if you've been watering just way too much. They don't need a ton of water. They're much more robust than, say, pumpkins or peas, which start looking really bad if you don't water them at least once a day if not twice a day.

No. Do not shorten the floricanes, 'second year canes'. Rather thin out about 1/2 of the hills and leave the strongest canes. Best fruit, like on peach wood will be the strongest canes. You must be on valley 'alluvial soil'. Raspberries prefer sandy loam soils and are quite vigorous on such soils. Ten feet is not too wierd for the puyallup valley raspberry farms. Again, do not cut them back or head the canes. Rather take about 50% of the primocanes out to the ground and then weave what is left along the trellis wire. You do have a trellis wire? And yes, what sort of calibration do you use to determine fertilizer rates/ row / 100 ft 2 ?

We've had a patch of everbearing red raspberries for 10 years or so, maybe closer to 15 years. I have lost a few canes to cane borers most years, but because it was only a few canes, I have never bothered to do anything other than cut out the affected canes and compost them. This year, we have had no cane borers, not a one. My guess is that the firefly larvae in the soil are eating the cane borer larvae, but that's only a guess. I mulch our raspberry patch heavily, in the fall, with shredded maple leaves. The leaves always disappear by the following November, I think they are consumed by worms. Since the worms are also food for the firefly larvae, that would explain why I see fireflies in the raspberry patch every summer. Based on my experience, you might be able to discourage the cane borers simply by mulching the raspberry patch in the fall, with 8 inches or so of shredded tree leaves.

I have been noticing dying and wilting raspberry stalks all spring. Individual stalks were dying one at a time. They set berries and then just "dry up". At first I thought it was some kind of bug, or voles digging tunnels in my garden causing the water to run straight past the raspberry roots. Lol, I thought they weren't getting enough water. Turns out, the opposite may be the answer. After finding this forum, I think root rot may be my problem caused by too much water. When I cut out a newly dying stalk, it was so soft that my snipers could barely cut through it.(the picture someone else posted looks just like what was happening to my stalks) Upon reading this forum, I realized the Caroline raspberries that were dying were next to my fountain and would get gallons more water when I would clean the fountain than the other stand of Caroline that are doing fine. Also, I laid pine needles around the raspberries last fall and this spring. It keeps the weeds back, forms a soft, clean walking path for picking, and they smell amazing in the sun. I didn't think that too much water could be a problem because on a sunny day, those plants get about 18 hours of southern sun. Also, our house is a deep blue which causes that area to get very hot. The ground dries to concrete very quickly in my "berry patch". But raspberries are tough and I may have been pampering them too much. I picked up the pine needles from around the raspberries and I will direct the water the other direction when I clean the fountain from now on. I just want to tell my experience and what I am trying. I will update in late summer. Photo below: on the left is the wilting patch of Caroline just after clearing out the bad stuff. On the right are the healthy Caroline. The fountain is about 3 ft to the left of the wilting patch. You can just barely make out the edge of the fountain.