Hi all, i have gooseberries, rasp, black current and blackberry in planted last year. Hardly touched them last year so they would put good roots down. Just wondered when i should be pruning them. especially the gooseberry as i am training it against a fence for easier harvest. i'm in montreal so ground is still frozen at moment with night temps around - 6c I'm pretty confident its safe to start pruning back but wanted a second opinion thanks
Gooseberries. I prune my gooseberries in winter Dan. Cut out dead or diseased stems and any crossing in the centre and take them back to a young shoot. You can also thin out overcrowded areas and prune drooping stems to an upright sideshoot. I shorten new growth by half to maintain an acceptable size. Blackberries. I prune mine back in late autumn before frosts hit and after fruiting. Prune the plants and cut out the fruited canes at ground level and replace them with the new ones if you are growing them on wires. If there are not enough of these new canes to cover the whole area, retain the best of the old canes, shortening any sideshoots to one leaf. Blackcurrants. Every year I remove about one third of the oldest stems where the bark is very dark (almost to the point of being black) and any that are weak or very low. I always prune right to ground level or to a strong new shoot. You can combine pruning with picking the fruit or wait until winter. Hope this helps. :-D
thanks eileen thats a real help The black current looks ok this year as its new, so will keep an eye on it in year 3 gooseberry looks a lot tidier now. and hopefully will put all its energy growing up the fence now. Forgot how spiny they are though Raspberrys and blackberys I tidied up as you suggested. But I'm hoping for some good shoots to come from the bottom this year.
No problem Dan - just glad to be of help. Let me know how those bushes grow for you this year won't you?
Sure will, Didn't get anything off them last year as it was the first year and I wanted all the effort to go into roots. So looking forward to a good harvest this year thanks for the help
