I have seen this problem too. I suspect maybe raspberries do not do the best on the West coast (at least not in open places with full sun) because of the hot dry summers.

A large percentage of my raspberries were the same as yours this year (I am on the east coast BTW). Crumbly and not well developed. I suspect poor pollination was the main problem this year, it seemed like they bloomed too early before the bees were out in force (I also discovered anthracnose on a lot of the canes which I am sure does not help). So far as weeding goes I would recommend using weed blocking material as much as possible with a thin layer of mulch on top, this will help reduce the areas you will need to weed by hand.

How old are the raspberries? Old canes can be infected with viruses which cause crumbly fruit. Commercial growers replace their canes every few years. This Link outlines various possible explanations.

Hi...like most i hear, everyone is having a very weak / low harvests this year......i got 1/4 of the berries i got last year....lottsa floricanes did nothing....Taylor which for me is a heavy producer and long was next to nothing this year.

Even my Primocanes are smaller and less all around and less fruit...but it's into the 2nd Crop now and Prime Ark Freedom Blackberry is growing like a beast pumping out some huge berries now on 2nd Crop, more huge berries to come.

Will keep ya updated here in New York

Well, I'm hoping that it's just this year...since it seems others are having problems on the east coast too (I'm inMD).

Floral, the raspberries are 4 years old.

Glad you're having a second wind, Greenhorn...nothing yet on my end. Although even a few berries to eat out of hand are a nice treat.

Raspberries in open field experimental patch that was not irrigated were doing OK in July at a West Coast agricultural research station. The irrigated patch was doing better.

my autumn britten, jaclyn and polka primocanes are producing a decent crop right now for only their second year in. my heritages are a little later than last yr. but are full of flowers and unripe berries right now. i planted prime ark freedom blackberries this spring and they are about 6ft. throwing up new canes like crazy and even have a doz. berries growing so far with another doz. flowers opening! nourse farms told me they didn't think the prime ark blackberries would have time to grow primocanes and grow a fall crop in my zone 4 but this is only their 1st year and they're doing it now! we don't have a problem with direct sun damaging raspberries up here and i mulch hardwood sawdust about 4in. thick and i get very few weeds. try coarse sawdust instead of chips. you will get less weeds. just don't tamp it down or water will have a hard time entering. i use fresh sawdust also. if you compost it first the weeds will grow on it. just don't mix into the soil and you won't have a nitrogen deficiency. i just fertilize and top dress fresh sawdust every spring. breaks down into nice soil!

when it gets above 80f here i water daily early morning or evening. they don't get affected by the sun as much as if you don't water them. good luck!

I don't think too much heat or sun could be a problem… they do quite well here in NM, even this year for me, after a month of dry weather in the 90's every day. There's a large operation in the Rio Grande Valley south of Albuquerque where it was around 100 every day during that period, and they still have berries to harvest. This summer was unusual for the length of time with above average heat, but we get at least some very hot and dry weather every year.

it all depends on the variety you grow. the varieties i mentioned are affected greatly by heat were as cultivars grown in your area are very tolerant of heat. if you tried to grow any of my cultivars, sun scald and crispy leaves would be a big issue! but someone growing in say zone5-6 with a more humid climate has a harder time finding the right variety as they're in the middle of the extremes and some varieties favor more the heat where as the others the cooler temps. can be a trial and error thing sometimes. thats why its good to grow several rows of different cultivars. extreme weather doesn't affect them the same ensuring a crop from at least some of them. picking good disease resistant varieties for the diseases common to your area is important also.