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When they have finished fruiting what do I do? Do I cut them right down or just leave them to do their thing?
Thanks
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Bex
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Depends what they are, if they're blackcurrants, prune out about a third of the older wood (darker in colour) either after or at the point of picking the fruit.
With red, white or pink currants, you can prune back some of the green growth from this year after picking and then do your shaping/thinning when the bush is dormant.
Remember that all currants fruit on wood that is one year old or more, and you can plant the woody cuttings you take in the autumn to get new plants. -
I don't know what they are yet as they were inherited from previous plot holder. I've at least one blackcurrant so I'll prune this as you suggest. I'll wait with bated breath to see what the others are.
Thanks for your advice.BexComment
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In my experience, if you cut all the leafy growth off any plant, there's a good chance you'll kill it because the plant won't have anything to store in reserve over the winter to kickstart growth the next year. At the very least, next year's growth and cropping will be severely affected.
Leaves turn yellow in autumn because the plant is removing useful nutrients from them and storing them in the roots; those nutrients will be used to start growth next year - or not, if you cut off the shoots before the leaves have gone yellow and fallen.
If you must cut off leafy shoots in summer (everyone likes gardening in summer and can't resist 'tidying-up' before autumn) don't remove more than half and ideally not more than one-third of the leaves. I've seen so many beautiful mature old trees killed by this..Comment
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