Pruning black currants and red currants

a lot of my gardening knowledge comes from my father, working alongside him, or on my own in the garden he created, during my childhood. So I'm fairly confident with most veggies, and fruit trees, but we didn't grow soft fruit.

I've taken the easy option with autumn raspberries , but am at a loss with my currants. I know you prune red and black currants at different times, but that's as fars as I go!!

This is my very precious black currant plant - about 8 years old, the last plant my dad bought before he died. I know I need to prune it, but need help!




This is a red currant. I think you take out stems that are more than 4 years old? This is a 3 year old plant....

 

Hi Sian

as you can see I have had a go at most plants over the years , what I have always done is take out a 1/3 of the growth from each plant and do this when I harvesting the crop so I look for old gnarly stems and cut them out close to the base of the plant with the fruit on.

I would also remove more of the grass and top dress with a thick mulch and give a dressing with a granular rose fertiliser

Its a easy plant to take hardwood cutting from just to double your chances that you dont lose it.

On the red currant the long whippy branches, those are the ones to remove but same again do that when you are harvesting the fruit so you wont lose any crop .

Spruce

 

Hello again! (Hubby is in awe at the speed of response!!)

You can't easily see, but both bushes have a "planting area" about 12-18" across, that is kept clear of grass and weeds all year round, and kept mulched 3-4 times a year (hence the surround looks like soil, not sand - but the grass creeps back in very quickly, because it's hungry too!). I also fed with a generous handful of pelleted chicken manure under the last mulch, about a month ago.

Great - so actually treat the same, taking out older stems (easy to age by the amount of lichen growth!!) when harvesting, I think I can manage that. Do I need to worry about an "open habit"to let the air through, or just rely on the windswept nature of the garden?!

 

tell hubby I am so quick coz I aint doing what I should be and having a relaxing cuppa instead.

Sian your fruit bushes are out in a very open spot so I wouldn't worry about getting air and light circulation, but with others that haven't I would suggest the "brandy glass" shape to let air and light in so removing a couple of branches in the center of the plant, .... but not you

I think most go wrong when they remove branches too early in the season the ones that would fruit , and as you know the new growth starts early in the spring

Plus side you can have a glass of wine sitting on your patio picking fruit from a sensible height now that aint bad ....

 

I think I'm mastering the hardwood cuttings
I have 3 young "siblings" - cuttings I took from "Dad", one of which has set fruit for the first time this year. Also, this morning, when I went to plant what I thought was the last of these black currant cuttings, I was delighted to find at I actually have a cutting from the very vigorous red currant bush from our last rented house. Great news, as it fruited about a month earlier than normal!

 

Hi,
I love blackcurrants but can't stand redcurrants so can only half help. Last autumn I butchered my seven blackcurrants bushes which were getting a bit scraggly. Maybe, 30cm trimming all over the plants - they did look WELL chopped when I finished. This is them this afternoon.

These are some of the trimmings I took last year and planted - aka stuck in the ground. I reckon 75% have taken. Mind the proof of the pudding will be in the eating as last year I got over 3 kilos of fruit from my bushes.