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Pruning blackcurrant plants - wait for dormancy first?

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  • Pruning blackcurrant plants - wait for dormancy first?

    Should I wait for my newly planted blackcurrant plants to become dormant before I prune them right back. Everything I've read, including the instruction card that came with them, says that they should be pruned to about 4 inches above the soil after planting. But is there an assumption that you'd wait for the plant to become dormant in the colder months first? Or can I go ahead now and prune them back?

  • #2
    When I planted mine I didn't prune at all, I was too frightened! Although if you are going to prune them, just to be on the safe side I'd wait until November. I'm a bit braver now, I just prune when I pick the berries even though I know it's not the done thing they are tough as old boots!

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    • #3
      Thanks, Scarlet. I reckon I'm probably just over-thinking the whole thing, but I think that if I'm going to go to all the trouble in preparing the growing sites, researching the varieties to plant etc. etc., I don't want to screw things up once they're in. You're advice of waiting until November seems sound; as you say, to be on the safe side.
      Last edited by TeaMonsta; 02-10-2015, 07:36 PM.

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      • #4
        I prune my blackcurrants within a month of them finishing fruiting, cutting back around one third of the stems right back to the base. For established bushes, the books say that the best fruit is produced on one-year old wood, with good crops also on two and three year old wood. So, if you prune all your shoots right down to the base you will not get any fruit next year. However, I guess the 'total cut back' guidance for newly planted bushes is designed to produce the growth of many new shoots from the base giving a good structure for the future.

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        • #5
          I prune my blackcurrants in order to pick the fruit. Cut off fruity branches and take them somewhere to sit down and take the fruit off.

          Where did you buy them from? And what do they look like?

          I'd leave them as is. But that is me in the lazy school of gardening.

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          • #6
            I too wasn't brave enough to prune mine when I first planted them, but now they get done at Christmad - a nice excuse to escape the house and kitchen
            Le Sarramea https://jgsgardening.blogspot.com/

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            • #7
              Have a good look and decide if the existing branches are suitable for the intended shape, if they are then leave them. You may as well utilise what is there.

              Identify ones that you do not want to continue growing as they are and remove them or prune so that the growth from the pruned branch will be as required. If the present items appear that they will be the correct shape leave them. Can you guarantee that what grows after a heavy prune will be as required.

              As a blackcurrant produces on "old" wood if you chop back now then next year is all "new" wood so no fruit until the year after. Equally if the bits now are small they will not produce a great amount anyway.

              Mentioned previously and I have read it somewhere the "normal" approach seems to be to prune about 1/3 of a bush annually although that would seem to mean the whole lot gets pruned in 3 years so only 2 years production per section. Which I will be honest appears low. So I take the approach that I prune when a branch looks like it needs rejuvinating which is likely every 4 or 5 years (if then).

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              • #8
                My mom has just lifted a load of fruit bushes from my plot. She basically cut any old dead wood out but left the fruit producing branches and new wood.
                Also a lot of the bushes hadn't been touched in years so she was quite hard on them cutting them back and reshaping them.
                How old are the plants you have?
                sigpic

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                • #9
                  Thanks for your replies, everyone. I bought 5 plants in all. 3 have obviously been cut back already to about a foot, not to 4 inches above the ground and it is the instructions that came with these that mention the pruning. The others are a couple of feet tall and came with no care instructions (just a variety label). Maybe I'll prune these ones only. Is the pruning (at this stage) just for root development to establish the plants in their new home?

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                  • #10
                    I think the pruning guide is to ensure that the plant puts all it energy in producing new stems/root growth rather than producing fruit. Pot grown plants often have a much bigger root system than bare root varieties so will probably manage a little better if not pruned down.

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                    • #11
                      prune them as you want to but don't throw the prunings away as shoved into a sheltered border/bed at 3/4 depth when summer comes they will be rooted and can be grown on. I started out with one stick and now have 9 bushes in the back garden and 5 in the front, giving us all the blackcurrants we need, all for the £1 from a poundshop...

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                      • #12
                        Thanks, Buffs. Top thrifty tip!

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