raspberry pruning

I moved into a house that has a very old raspberry trellis with around 10 varieties of raspberries. Last fall, I pruned out all the canes that had fruited (I don't think that had been done in a really long time!), and left a few canes per foot. Today I pruned back the tops to about eye level (some of them were at least 10 ft tall!).

Some of the varieties had already thrown out some long lateral shoots (even though no leaves are out yet and it's still freezing here). I was wondering if I should prune these side shoots back or do I let them go?
Thanks for the help,
Mara

Mara, our climates are pretty much the same. I haven't pruned my raspberries yet. Will do so very soon. I have 2 varieties of red raspberries. One was given to me by a friend who didn't know the name, so I don't know. it is a long berry rather than a round one, single crop as opposed to everbearing or spring and fall crops. The other red one is Sept. a spring and fall crop type. Both are very good. I prune the September var. after I see new bud growth as it is easier to see dead and live wood. I had cut the spring bearing stalks off to the ground in late summer. So the canes that are there now are the ones that will produce fruit this early summer, then will be cut to the ground. I leave about 3 or 4 canes in each foot of ground. I am a widow so don't need a lot of berries.

The one that I don't know the name of grows quite tall and I wind the canes around the baling twine that is fastened to posts at end of row. I cut those canes back now to about 4 to 5 feet cutting off the extra from the cane ends wound around the twin. Guess that is not too clear. Maybe if it gets light enough soon I can go take a photo.

I also grow several Blackcaps (black raspberries) which are planted more than 50 feet distance from the other raspberries to prevent contamination with any disease from one to the other. Also have one small clump, 5 or 6 canes of Fall Gold raspberries. I just planted 3 canes of Kiwigold everbearing raspberries.

Good luck with your raspberries. DonnaS

Here is a photo of my unknown single crop raspberry trellis, taken this morning on a rare cloudy day. DonnaS