Hello,
I planted a bed of overbearing raspberry canes this Spring. Everything went well until the pests attacked. I think it's Japanese beetle, but I'm not sure because I never was able to find the pests. The result was lacy leaves. Terrible, almost every single leaf was attacked. However, I did get some fruit, so I'm not sure how disastrous this is. My question is the following: during my fall cleanup this week, it a fit of despair, I cut down all the canes, including shoots (daughters?) that were coming up everywhere. Essentially, I cut everything down to the soil in the entire bed hoping to avoid/prevent infection for next year. Did I do the right thing? Was it a mistake? I also mulched with shredded pine bark. Thank you in advance for any and all comments and suggestions as I have never grown berries before. As an additional comment, I also planted blackberries, but they were not affected.