Do you do routine pruning of your stand? Numerous weak, spindly canes often occur when your hills or the crown of that rootstock gets crowded. Weak canes of course need to be pruned out in early spring, but sometimes you may need to occasionally prune out a crown severely, and leave only the strongest dozen or so canes per plant. Think of a clump of crowded iris or daffodils..........the stand can get so thick there is too much competition for space and nourishment.

I do prune my rows every spring . It's this year for some reason there 's spaces of like 10 feet long with nothing but week spinndly canes growing on the ground . hardly any strong shoots . And then you walk that ten feet and evrything looks normal again .I have that problem in about 3 spots in my rows . I'll get a good crop of raspberries but don't want that problem to get worse over the coming years .