I'm not sure? I never saw it before.

I have some doing that too. My location is about 15-20 degrees above normal temperatures right now and the plants are in a bit of shock. It also has been a bit dry here too. You may want to provide a little extra water to see if that helps. If the canes were larger, I might also suggest raspberry cane borer infections but probably not on the suckers.

I have had problems elsewhere but so far my raspberries seem pretty normal. It is warmer than normal here too, but was below normal the week before, and going back to the 60's next week.
JT and others, you may want to try wilt stop on your blackberries next year, mine all survived well, and the year before were dead to the ground, and it was colder this last winter.

drew - shoot me a link to the wilt stop and I'll give it a try next winter.

Dig out a couple canes and inspect their lower regions, both above and below the soil line. Look for insect boring into cane, in particular the Raspberry Cane Borer. If you find it, problem identified. If not... oh well.

A small dark line encircling the cane will indicate the presence of this pest. The cane wilts above the line, remains normal below the line.

This is the product, buy at your favorite store or site
http://www.amazon.com/Bonide-102-32-Ounce-Concentrate-Protector/dp/B000OP4E5S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1431057800&sr=8-2&keywords=wilt+stop

I sprayed canes twice. We had a warm day in December, and I put a 2nd coat on. I can't say for sure this did it, but I think it did. Next year I will just try this. I covered in burlap, but it was open in many spots, yet canes look good all over.

Chester a few days ago, today it's really leafed out. Some ends have some dieback, but less than a foot. The brown leaves are from last year.

Just a note this is the same pine extract used in Nu Film sticker. So any leftover you can use as a sticker. 1tbs per gallon should due. Nu Film or pinene is one of the very best stickers made. Everybody should be using this sticker. It could rain for a week and this stuff will keep product on plant.

Hi Gang...i gues i was misunderstood in my description, as i know what Crown Borers do, and what Cane Borers do ( Red Necked Too ).....these tender young shoots are new growth that are anywhere from 3 to 8 inches tall now, generally rings and puncture bite wounds appear on new shoots around July/August when those Primocanes are averaging about 2-4 feet in height....they don't attack these little suckers not since iv'e been checking.......Red Necked cane borer showed up yesterday on my Apache Blackberry as i found frass on the top of a
2 foot cane i had just planted last spring, i did see a small gall appear about 3 inches above the soil line and decided to leave in since it was a Primocane and i wanted the Fruit off that, only one cane from that plant so it's hard to prune out these canes when you have only one virtually elimination a summer harvest with a one year wait time on traditional blackberries

these are very difficult to deal with, i was thinking of designing a trap to apply to tip of cane
so when the borer tunnels up to escape they crawl in instead of dropping to the soil and going wherever, i think catching them in the larvae cycle is critical in order to stop the life cycle....will take some thinking here 4 sure.