Q: What is wrong with my ‘Heritage’ raspberries? About 25% are healthy green but the rest look like this.

A: It sure looks like raspberry virus. Raspberries and blackberries are susceptible to several virus diseases, including raspberry mosaic, raspberry leaf curl and tobacco ringspot virus.

Symptoms include odd-looking, stunted canes or yellow, mottled, curled or puckered leaves. Viruses are tricky to diagnose and may easily be confused with herbicide damage, particularly glyphosate (Roundup) damage.

There is no spray to cure a virus. The disease is spread by insects that suck sap from one plant and transmit it to other plants.

If you think a virus is the problem, remove all raspberry plants exhibiting symptoms, roots and all.

See also:
Raspberry Diseases