Cutting Back

[Davyburns]

I have some straws, raspberries, blackcurrants. and goose gogs, all in their first year, all in buckets or troughs. I am not going to get any fruit from them now, but they are being eaten by something I cant find. Is it too early to cut them back?

[rustylady]

Depends on the varieties (raspberries), and how you want to train them (blackcurrants and gooseberries). Link here Gooseberries, red and white currants / RHS Gardening Advice for pruning gooseberries, and here BBC - Gardening - Gardening Guides - Techniques - How to prune soft fruit for pruning blackcurrants.

[Two_Sheds]

What's eating them? It's important you tackle that. I'm getting 100s of slugs & snails with all this rain. Sawfly caterpillars are a terrible pest on gooseberries.

[FB.]

Right now, plants are preparing to transfer all the summer's sunlight energy from the leaves to the roots, building a bigger, stronger root system to power growth and fruiting next year.

Cutting back the leaves of anything now could cripple it for years. Wait until they have dropped all their leaves before pruning.

Plums and cherries are an exception and are best pruned just as they're coming out of winter dormancy.

[phil the shed]

can i poach some advice
i was given a blueberry and duly top dressed it with eric's compost
how much do i cut it back this year

[FB.]

can i poach some advice
i was given a blueberry and duly top dressed it with eric's compost
how much do i cut it back this year

Does it need cutting back?

It is not always necessary to cut plants back - don't cut it just for the sake of it.

Pruning has several objectives, including:

1.
Control of size.
Summer pruning (late July) is the best way to control size, as it takes away all the new growth before the new growth can transfer energy down to grow more roots in the autumn.

2.
Gradual regeneration of wood, so that the branches don't become too old, tatty and generally "worn out".

3.
Removal of poorly positioned branches - preferably by anticipating which young branches might be troublesome and removing them before the required surgery becomes too traumatic.

4.
Encouraging growth of new branches in desirable positions.

5.
Removal of dead and diseased branches, to prevent spread of the disease.

6.
Opening the tree/bush to allow more sunlight into the tree, which improves flowering, fruiting, ripening, colour and size of the fruit.

..................

If your plant doesn't need any of the above, then it doesn't need pruning.

Remember that different types of plants fruit on stems of different ages. In some cases, winter pruning will remove the parts that carry all of the next seasons flower/fruit buds.

.

[Davyburns]

I cant see whats eating them, but there are holes in the leaves. I had a net over them, but I think the mesh was too large

[Davyburns]

Does it need cutting back?

It is not always necessary to cut plants back - don't cut it just for the sake of it.
Pruning has several objectives, including:

Control of size.
Summer pruning (late July) is the best way to control size, as it takes away all the new growth before the new growth can transfer energy down to grow more roots in the autumn.

Gradual regeneration of wood, so that the branches don't become too old, tatty and generally "worn out".

Removal of poorly positioned branches - preferably by anticipating which young branches might be troublesome and removing them before the required surgery becomes too traumatic.

Removal dead and diseased branches, to prevent spread of the disease.

Opening to tree/bush to allow more sunlight into the tree, which improves flowering, fruiting, ripening, colour and size of the fruit.

..................

If your plant doesn't need any of the above, then it doesn't need pruning.

Looks like sound advice! thanks for that!

[FB.]

Looks like sound advice! thanks for that!

typo's now edited and a bit extra added.

[alexkid909]

Hi All,

I've scanned through this thread and couldnt see the answer to my question, so here goes.

Earlier in the year I planted some summer fruiting (Tulameen) raspberry canes. The growth on some is now over 6' tall and some have sent out some new suckers. I've heard that they need to be cut back sometime in the winter and I wanted to know how to go about this in advance. For the canes that have put out suckers, do I cut back the canes that are green and leafy or just the older canes?

Thanks in advance