Fruit bushes & canes

[julian91]

Hi all,

have not been on here for a while as it's been a long, nine months wait for my plot! (I know it sounds like birth! Hehe :-)) I finally got my keys yesterday and went home and grabbed my fork and dug it! Weeded it Etc.Could not wait to get my hands on my plot and make this blog/magazine more followable and enjoyable!:-)

My question is, and I'm sure some of you have had this before or came across it, sorry for covering old ground complete novice here and would be gutted if I lost them all! I have all my fruit bushes and canes, all over wintering them in my cold green house as they have all been reported up in large pots back in November these all was purchased in Easter this year and been waiting very patiently to go in, to give them more room. my fruit brush are gooseberries, (green, red, yellow), currents (red, black, white), raspberries (summer and winter) and black currents. Can all these go in straight away or do I need to harden them off? Before they go in? The only soft fruit I have pruned down my raspberry to the ground and left new, I did a thread not so long ago about the summer raspberries cane but that's now in a large pot too to go in. I moved them all in the green house as it was totally empty as my tomatoes and peppers came to a end and the wind kept blowing them over in fall to give them shelter most of them are budding nicely will this affect them when they go out? Birds etc, I have not pruned the currents currents and gooseberries as I know they would be in allotment soon and did not want to stress them out? I know they really hardy but still moving from pot to pot is bad enough.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Regards Julian

[boundtothesoil]

Given that it's a cold greenhouse you've been storing these in, I'd get them out into the real world now, provided your soil isn't waterlogged. After all they've got to face up to life outside sometime. It's been a pretty mild start to the winter so far and the forecast for the next week doesn't look too cold and frosty, so they shouldn't be too shocked. There's also a chance you'll get a bit of root growth on them before the temperatures really drop.

[julian91]

Hi, thanks ever so much for getting back to me,

The soil is well fertile, as I was digging Thursday, I could smell manure has just finished on rotting? What the previous owner has most likely layed. No sign of waterlogged, I assume, I'm fit to go
I suppose I will just have to take the plunge and get them out! All though, silly as it sounds! I'm getting attached to them and don't want to depart with them now! Haha "Is like the young leaving the nest" silly how we get attached! :-)

[Paulieb]

They'll be best to go out asap. They need a cold spell so that when it warms in spring they know when to start growing.

Also in general its good to give them a prune when you plant them to change the balance of roots to above ground growth.

Having said that try to research each group as they all need different care:
A: gooseberries, red currants, white currants
B: black currants
C: summer rasps
D: autumn rasps

[julian91]

Hi thanks for the feed back and reassurance.

They will be going in tomorrow and a prune for sure, hopefully I get them all in if I beat the sunset before 4ish.

Thanks guys.

[Two_Sheds]

What are the roots like? If they have a good root structure already, then I wouldn't prune them, not this year, except the autumn rasps: prune those down to the ground in late Feb

That's what I'd do: other people will have different ideas

[julian91]

They all have developed a really good root system, and yes I was going to leave the hard pruning this side of Christmas, I really don't wanna stress them even more! Than I have too but may do a bit of pruning on some as some brunch's have grown oddly and not in the "goblet shape" like. I have jotted down to prune autumn raspberries in Feb as they are only small ich plants so I will give them some time to a establish a bit longer....

Cheers guys much appreciated :-)

[Two_Sheds]

pruning isn't stressful, except maybe for the gardener

Depending on the plant, of course, eg. plums can't be winter pruned because of silver leaf disease.