One of the first plants I started growing when I moved to this property were Raspberry bushes. I started with one container of brambles and over ten years ive divided them into about twenty feet of bushes along a wall. Every year I could stick a shovel between a large cluster and undig half of it. And move it a few feet to the left or the right to grow more of them in a less dense method than just letting the clusters grow. They multiplied like crazy and I was running out of room, I built a structure for them to rest on using wire and 4x4s and 2x4s. It helped the tall brambles not touch the ground.
I usually leave the brambles alone in the winter, as fresh growth appears where the leaves fell of the previous year. Though I decided cut it back last fall because of a virus. Its known to cause leaf roll and the fruits not to form correctly. People suggest cutting back the plant to the ground and see if new growth does any better. So over the winter the ground sat bare and by spring new saplings were rising up. Only leaves at the moment but maybe we will get one fruiting out of them. Usually they produce twice a year but with the illness the bushes have they may not be such good producers anymore. I may replace them with some other berry plant, Maybe just Blackberries or Tayberry. If I was to plant new Raspberry plants the virus in the sick plants can spread to it. This happens when Aphids (Aphis rubicola) feed on the green parts of the plant and cause a transmittable disease to another Raspberry plant.
So ill keep a close eye on how the new growth does, and hope it does better. Otherwise it may be time for something less prone to disease. The Tayberry is a cross between a Raspberry and Blackberry and does not suffer from the virus that kills Raspberry plants.
LBRY Video Link