Pruning Fruit Bushes

[MarkHackwell]

I have some Blackcurrants, Redcurrants, Gooseberries, Loganberries and Raspberries. Could someone give me some advice on pruning them and when to prune them please?

[starloc]

It depends how long they have been planted , or if just planted

Raspberries, it depends on summer or autumn fruiting as well as how long they have been planted

[Kristen]

Raspberries

Cut down any cane that bore fruit last year - hopefully you can still see the little cone-shaped core, from the fruit, attached to the canes?

If Autumn fruiting variety that will be 100% of the canes (in which case go ahead and cut the lot down!), if Summer fruiting variety then it will be 50% of them.

[starloc]

And if you leave autumn fruiting ones that fruited last year the canes will fruit before the summer fruiting ones this year

[Speed Gardener]

Black currants - take out the oldest third of the wood, right down to ground level. These will be the darkest coloured wood.
Red/White/Pink currants - remove half of the last year's growth from the tips, this will be light in colour.
Gooseberries - same as R/W/P currants, plus take out any that are touching the ground or crossing.
The idea is to leave an open goblet shape to allow air circulation.
Logan berries - remove anything that bore fruit last year, down to gound level.

Remember, pruning isn't just about reducing size, you're also maintaining vigour by removing old or damaged wood, so your bushes should keep fruiting for many years. I have several that are over 20 years old and still going strong.

[ldw]

pruning fruits

Organiclea do excellent 1 day training for pruning and you get hands on on their bushes and trees. well worth attending

[Bigmallly]

Hello ldw & welcome to the Jungle, I hope your 2nd post doesn't take 7 Years.....................

[planetologist]

And if you leave autumn fruiting ones that fruited last year the canes will fruit before the summer fruiting ones this year

..., so autumn raspberries are best pruned in summer after they've fruited the second time. The old growth will be brown and the new growth green (the old growth will also have the remains of the trusses, but at ground level where you're pruning the color difference is a more useful guide). I've also read that blackcurrants are best pruned right after the harvest. Don't know about the best times for the others.

[Martin H]

..., so autumn raspberries are best pruned in summer after they've fruited the second time. .

OK, but I prefer to remove a lot of the canes in the winter, reducing that early summer crop but stimulating stronger growth of new canes for the main Autumn crop.

[Kristen]

I prefer to remove a lot of the canes in the winter, reducing that early summer crop but stimulating stronger growth of new canes for the main Autumn crop.

Me too (plus some filler to keep the message minimum length police happy!)

[Alison]

..., so autumn raspberries are best pruned in summer after they've fruited the second time. The old growth will be brown and the new growth green (the old growth will also have the remains of the trusses, but at ground level where you're pruning the color difference is a more useful guide). I've also read that blackcurrants are best pruned right after the harvest. Don't know about the best times for the others.

I do my autumn raspberries in winter too, find it works well and I've a bit more time then.

You are right about the black currants though, I usually do mine as I harvest, cut off the branch then sit down and pick the fruit. Brill be doing the red / white currants and gooseberries in the next week or so when I do the apple trees too.

[BUFFS]

OK, but I prefer to remove a lot of the canes in the winter, reducing that early summer crop but stimulating stronger growth of new canes for the main Autumn crop.

I remove all the fruited canes and tie in the unfruited ones that will give an earlier crop the following year followed by the "proper" autumn crop at the correct time so I get fruit from July to the last picked(14th dec last year) and we have loads frozen whole in the freezer for fresh pudds through the winter..

[Noosner]

With redcurrants, I remove old wood in winter (now-ish) by cutting right down to the base. Then I prune to reduce the remaining stems in Spring. No idea whether this two stage approach is necessary but its what the RHS recommend.

[Kitchen Gardener]

So trying to get to grips with soft fruit growing. I have some Summer fruiting raspberries and some Autumn ones. Last year I made the mistake of cutting them all back to the ground because I didn't know which wass which. Anyway due the way they fruited, I got a small amount on the ones I thought were 'summer ones' so I have just clipped off the wood which gave me fruit and (summerleft the new growth. The others I have cut right back (I got very little amount of fruit from those last year). I have now purchased new soft fruit stock (summer and autumn raspberries) red, black and white currants and blackberries. These new ones I intend to plant down my fence edge on my allotment. We cleared all the weeds from here today and plan to plant through weed fabric. Do I need to add manure or soil improver?I had thought I might add a bit of Growmore in each planting hole.

[Kristen]

Do I need to add manure or soil improver?

proper preparation prevents piss poor performance ... probably!

The plants are going to be in that soil for years, as much as feeding the plants it helps to feed the soil. I would mix in as much organic matter (manure, compost [from your compost heap], mushroom compost, spent hops, anything along those lines. Dig / mix into the length of the bed you are going to plant.

I had thought I might add a bit of Growmore in each planting hole.

I wouldn't bother. Early in the season for the plant to benefit from fertiliser. I would add some to the surface (and maybe how/mix in to incorporate it into the top inch or two of soil) once the plants are showing signs of growth.

I don't think it is worthwhile for Raspberries, but you could consider it , the one additive that might be worthwhile is Rootgrow - its some beneficial fungi that will help the roots establish. Note that it must be in contact with the roots, not just chucked in the planting hole (dunk the roots in water, and sprinkle on the Rootgrow so it sticks to the wet roots, and then plant). I say not to bother for Raspberries because I think that they are naturally vigorous, and I think Rootgrow is expensive - but Me=Scrooge!!