Blackcurrants

[Habanero]

Hi everybody,

Last March I bought about 6 blackcurrant bushes (various varieties) and planted them without pruning. They gave me a small handful of fruit each last summer and since then I have not pruned them at all. The bushes were quite well established in quite big pots and I bought them from a Nursery. Should I expect to get a decent crop this year assuming I feed them properly in the spring? Should I have pruned them by now? I understand that fruit forms on last years wood and they have certainly grown a few inches since planting so there is new wood. I reckon the bushes are at least 2 feet tall and surprisingly the buds still smell very fragrant this time of year. Is that normal?!

My neighbour has 2 huge blackcurrant bushes (maybe 4-5 foot) and last year he got an unbelievable crop of huge berries from them.

Thanks for any tips on getting some decent fruit in the coming years :-)

[Birdie Wife]

Hi Habanero,

I'm not really an expert on blackcurrants but personally I think you should only prune them if there are any damaged branches, and leave them to become established a bit. Next year, look at how they are growing and prune to maintain a good open goblet shape, and then each year after that prune out the old wood that is becoming unproductive. Are they still in pots? If so, you'll need to fertilise them quite well to get a good crop. Hope this helps!

[Nicos]

I'm with Birdie Wife on that!

And yes- the plants always smell lovely if you gently rub them . ( Ribena!!)

(Just fancy a hot drink of that now I'm on that subject!)

[Dobby]

Thanks Birdie Wife would you do the same with blue berry bushes we got 4 last year and only got about 20 berrys very tasty but hope to get more this year

[Birdie Wife]

Yes, I think so - if I remember rightly, blueberries fruit on last years growth - I've had my blueberry bushes for about four years and never got a single thing off them, but last year was the first year that the sheep hadn't broken in and eated the tasty new shoots!! So leave them unpruned, put on ericaceous fertiliser in the spring and potash when they flower. Let's hope we both get some berries next year

[SimonCole]

I tend to differ. As a rule I cut out half the wood each year to encourage new canes to develop. These then mature to fruit the following year. If you end up with canes 2 years plus, then they hardly fruit.
I tagret the old, weak and diseased canes first.

[Nicos]

My blueberries have been utter rubbish..and I grow on acidic peat!!!

Next lottie has superb bushes- no idea what he does- but he leaves the fruit for the birds, so I can't imagine he does much with his plants.

Nice to hear from you again Simon!!
Hope you have a good Xmas and New Year!!

[Habanero]

thanks guys :-)

From what I have read in my Fruit Expert book and magazines (Grow your own for example) is to leave the Blackcurrant bushes alone for the first couple of years and then start pruning the oldest wood first.

After feeding in the spring (any recommendations for feed?) I will just see what they do this coming summer (I have netted them). May be last year my crop was not so good as the bushes were not so well established in their new home as they is plenty of wood on the bushes in my opinion.

I have 3 decent size Blueberry bushes in pots and they have done pretty well up till last summer. however, I cannot remember if this was due to more birds eating them than usual or the crap summer....

[SimonCole]

Hi Nicos, thanks for the warm welcome... Merry Christmas

I find the majority of books tell you to cut down to 3" on the first year.
As for feeding, I use any cheap liquid fertiliser and whatever rotted biomass comes to hand.