You just can’t grow a better small fruit than a raspberry. I won’t say I’ve tried them all, but I have tried planting a LOT of different fruit in my garden beds over the years, and I keep coming back to the raspberry as my favorite. (This of course begs the question of which type of raspberry is best — the black, red, golden or purple — but that’s a topic for another blog post).

My raspberry garden beds have hosted a variety of different red raspberry cultivars over the years, but I keep coming back to the Caroline Red as my ultimate favorite and I dedicate probably 50 feet of row space to them every year. They definitely have their own unique set of problems, but spoiler alert — in my garden, the pros definitely outweigh the cons. I’ve outlined my experiences below, with both the reasons why you should grow Caroline raspberries and the possible pitfalls to be aware of.

PRO: GROWING CAROLINE RED RASPBERRIES MEANS HUGE FRUIT!

Basically every red raspberry on earth tastes awesome. That’s a given.

But the Caroline red raspberry? I was IMMEDIATELY won over by the massive size of the fruit. It’s unbelievable! Expect berries as big as the end of your thumb (well, unless you’re Paul Bunyan. In that case, assume the berries will be as big as your neighbor’s thumb. Be gentle when measuring.). Bigger berries is a huge plus for me because it makes berry picking easier and faster to fill my basket.

(LOL. Lest you are fooled by my choice of words, let me give you a dose of reality: Instagrammers use berry baskets. I use Tupperware. Or a cereal bowl. Or a mason jar. Or whatever happens to be handy.)

If you’re looking for big red raspberries, the Caroline can’t steer you wrong. And if anybody knows of a bigger red raspberry, I’d love to hear about it, so please let me know!

CON: HARVESTING BERRIES IS HAMPERED BY CANE HEIGHT

I don’t care how tall you are. These canes will still be over your head unless you prune them… which (shhh) I haven’t bothered to do most years. (Don’t do like I do, folks. Pruning your raspberry canes helps increase the fruit production… which is the whole point of growing these brambles!)

Without pruning, these canes get enormous. I’m about 5’9” or so (depending on which shoes I wear, haha), and these canes get at least six inches over my head. This makes picking a bit of a bear.

Even with a trellis, the canes are so tall that they tend to lean significantly, and I’m constantly whacking myself in the eye. Could this be user error? Maybe, but let’s just assume that if you’re a clumsy oaf, Carolines are tall enough to increase that problem. It’s no joke getting smacked in the face by one of those things, let me tell you. And please pull your hair back or you’ll regret it.

One thing that’s very helpful is that the canes are very thick and sturdy. They stand as stiffly upright as their weight will allow, instead of straggling all over the ground like some of the spindlier types tend to do. Weight of the berries during harvest season of course affects their sway, but that’s to be expected.

PRO: CAROLINE REDS OFFER DOUBLE HARVEST SEASON

Bear with me here, I’m going to throw some terminology at you. Caroline Reds are fall-bearing raspberry canes, which means they produce on first-year wood: primocanes. Those nostalgic childhood memories of berry-picking in the humid heat of July? Those would have been summer-fruiting raspberries – – floricanes.

What’s the difference? A primocane is new growth — a cane that has only sprung out of the ground during the current growing season. A floricane is a grown-up primocane that survived the winter and is now in its second season of growth. Summer comes too quickly for baby primocanes to fruit — they’re still growing and maturing, so those canes have to wait until next year, and they’ll break dormancy as fully-matured floricanes that are ready to bear fruit.

Autumn is a different story. By that time of year, Caroline Red primocanes have hit their stride, and they’re ready to produce a heavy late-season crop. For many fruit gardeners (like me), this adds fresh soft fruits in a season when most other bushes, canes and brambles have stopped producing. It’s awesome.

An added bonus is that if you decide not to prune/mow at the end of the season, the primocanes that fruited their first fall will sail through the winter and produce a second (albeit smaller) summer crop the next year, just like any other floricane. Not everybody lets their Carolines survive to floricane age (I often don’t — see below under the maintenance section), but gardening is all about choices, and I love that every year I have the option all over again.

If you’re a northern gardener and not sure what type would work best for you, check out this article with more information about the benefits of primocane vs. floricane bramble berries.

CON: CAROLINES *MAY* NOT FRUIT WELL IN NORTHERN ZONES

So here’s the thing. We just talked about how awesome it is that Carolines extend the harvest season, right? Red raspberries that have ripened in the cool autumn air?

Well, unfortunately I’ve discovered that this also comes with a bit of a risk. If you live in a northern zone that is prone to early hard frosts, you might lose your entire crop. There’s a balance to this, of course; a light frost will hardly touch the fruit and you won’t have a problem. But a multi-day cold snap of consistently below-freezing temperatures? You’re going to lose the entire harvest. (This, sadly, was me in 2020.)

However, this is pretty rare — at least in my area. Most years I still get a very respectable harvest well into the autumn, and so does my cousin who grows Caroline Reds a full zone farther north than I am.

You’re going to have to keep an eye on the average temperatures in your specific area, and consider testing a couple of canes before you go all out and spend your life savings making this your only crop. (Because everybody does that when it comes to raspberries, right?) Keep in mind that you’re looking for the effect of an average year on the canes; it’s not fair to judge them based on the coldest year since Scrat caused the meltdown.

PRO: GARDEN MAINTENANCE IS AS EASY AS MOWING ONCE A YEAR

I admit it. I am a total lazy slob. Pruning — especially pruning thorny bush & bramble fruits — is not my favorite thing, and I’d just as soon take a weed whacker to the place. The beauty of the Caroline raspberry is that because they fruit on first-year / primocane wood, you can mow the entire bed without endangering a new crop, IF you make sure you do it in late fall after harvest or early spring before the new canes begin to crop up.

(Don’t mow in winter unless you have no snow. In my zone, the snow is high enough that a weed whacker would miss the lower foot or two of the canes, which can cause a whole host of problems in the spring.)

I’ve gone both routes; allowing second-year canes to live and bear a small summer crop, and I’ve also chopped down the whole stand. The biggest issue here is disease. Raspberry canes are living disasters waiting to happen, and seem to catch every bug there is. Cut the cane, and you’ve cut your chances of contracting disease by that much. Consider it social distancing, raspberry garden style.

I like to mow (AND burn the debris afterwards) because then I don’t have to worry about the old wood infecting my new spring growth. Just make sure you don’t get confused and mow down any non-Caroline, summer-bearing raspberry varieties! If you are looking for some highly detailed, expert advice on pruning the Caroline, check out Iowa State University’s article on pruning fall-bearing red raspberries!

CON: FRUIT HARVEST COINCIDES WITH YELLOW JACKET SEASON

I don’t know what life is like in southern zones, because I’ve only ever lived in zone 4-ish climates, but up here the hornets and wasps go CRAZY for sweet, sugary foods every fall. Whatever you call them — yellow jackets, wasps, I’ve even seen bald-faced hornets on my plants — Caroline red raspberries ripen just about the time of year that these nasty little stinging menaces zip into their annual sugar craze.

Bottom line? They will love your raspberry patch. You’re going to have to keep an eye out. I’ve found that keeping ahead of the harvest with regular picking can help keep pest traffic down. If you have fruit rotting on the canes, they’re going to attract hornets (and other insects) from miles around, so trust me, even if you don’t want the berries, pick them and give them away.

Once yellow jackets find your raspberry patch, you’re going to have to share the space. And trust me, sharing is WAY more annoying than the teachers make it sound in kindergarten. Keep your distance and pray that the stingers keep theirs.

GROWING RED RASPBERRIES IN NORTHERN ZONES

I know, I know. There’s no such thing as a bad berry. I’ve grown Carolines for a very long time and I can’t help but be biased in their favor, but I did try to give an honest rundown of the cons along with the pros in this post. And if we’re being realistic, there are some significant downsides to growing Caroline Red Raspberries in northern zones, most notably the risk that you might lose an entire crop to an early frost.

And yet, these berries are so versatile and it’s so unusual to lose a crop that I keep coming back to them. After all, they regenerate amazingly fast — and there’s always next year. 

(And if yours aren’t expanding fast enough, propagating by layering is a breeze for this raspberry. You can double your berry patch without even trying.)

I’m always on a quest for the ultimate red raspberry. Until a better one appears, the Caroline is my go-to.

This post was originally published in 2021. The post has since been updated to keep information and links current.