Pruning Redcurrants

I hate pruning. I get really nervous when I’m about to cut something off and get obsessed with reading how to prune the same bush in as many different books as possible before I make my first cut.

As I mentioned in an earlier post I had no Redcurrants this year. Unlike last year when I had tons of them. I think there’s a couple of reasons for this (fixable, hopefully). Firstly, the bush is a new one. I planted it in the Spring when the garden was finished so I wasn’t really expecting a bumper crop. Secondly, I didn’t prune the bush when I put it in the ground (too scared to) – hence there is a lot of growth around the edges and none in the middle. So, after consulting the RHS book of Fruit and Vegetable Gardening, I decided to take the plunge and summer prune my bush to five leaves on each branch. 

Redcurrants fruit at the base of old wood and on spurs so I left all the spurs I could find and cut back each branch. Hopefully this will mean a more stocky, well-proportioned bush next season and each of my existing stems will fruit. Fingers-crossed.

Category: Growing Fruit     Tagged:

7 Comments on “Pruning Redcurrants”

  1. I hate pruning too. It doesn’t matter how many times I read up about it I can never remember from one year to the next. I did manage to have some unexpected success with my new raspberry canes though. I didn’t cut them back when Iplanted them and got a bonus crop of summer fruit this year – they’re meant to be autumn-fruiting. The planting leaflet assures me that I will still get fruit this autumn but I’ll just have to wait and see. Good luck with your redcurrants for next year.

  2. hi, great blog, I’m looking forward to reading from the beginning to see how your vegetable years have compared to mine.

    I have just been given a blackcurrant plant, is the pruning the same do you think??

  3. I like pruning (once I’ve checked what to do, which is important). It’s very satisfying but you can’t afford to dither particularly with fruit – be ruthless :-)

  4. I bought a young bush at a nursery only weeks ago. The birds then decided to eat all the fruit the week we were on vacation, so we never tasted any of it this year ;-)
    I know I’ll have to prune too, so I’m watching closely here…

  5. I planted one each of red, white and black currants this year. The red currant did worst. But it’s in the poorest soil, so I’m looking to beef that up this winter. Pruning it may help too. Thanks for the reminder!

  6. First year bumper crop of redcurrants. Pruned late, February – hardly any.
    This year pruned after flowering, August.
    Hoping for bumper crop again next year.

  7. What I found in the books was that red currants produces the most fruit on 2 and 3 year old shoots. My guess is that there will always be some fruit produced, but pruning at ground level will be necessary when the sun can’t reach enough of these particular shoots.