In order for the bushes to bear fruit for a long time, bringing a high yield, it is necessary to regularly trim the crown. Gooseberries and currants are not an exception, which grow strongly and become dense every year. For what purpose it is necessary to prune the branches of these plants, at what time it is better to conduct such events, what schemes should be guided by, we will consider further in the review.

Benefits of Spring Pruning of Fruit Shrubs

You can cut gooseberry and currant bushes in spring, summer, autumn and even winter.

• The advantages of carrying out manipulations in the spring include:
• removal of dry, sick and damaged branches after wintering;
• providing sufficient light and air to the fruit;
• prevention of infection with fungal diseases and the harmful effects of insects;
• rejuvenation of bushes;
• creating a beautiful appearance;
• you can do any pruning (sanitary, shaping, rejuvenating, etc.);
• yield increase.

Important! The process of pruning shrubs in early spring should begin before budding. Therefore, you need to do everything very quickly, avoiding frost.

Toolkit Preparation

Garden tools used to trim bushes play a very important role in the further growth and development of plants.

To ensure quick recovery of gooseberries and currants after the measures taken, the necessary tools must meet the following requirements:

• for pruning shrubs, you need to take a pruner, garden shears, a garden saw, a delimbers, etc .;
• Before starting work, the tools must be decontaminated so that the plants do not get fungal infections;
• all instruments must be well sharpened to make even cuts;
• each slice should be covered with garden varnish to avoid the allocation of juice.

Proper pruning and currant bush formation

Like all shrubs, currants need pruning and crown formation. Depending on the variety of berry culture, there are some differences in pruning shrubs of black, red and white currants. Did you know? The most delicious and healthy is the currant that grows in the northern regions. The main condition for this should be a warm summer.

Black

The blackcurrant pruning scheme has the following features:

1. In the 1st year of life, you need to shorten all branches, leaving 2-3 buds on each.
2. Next year, leave 3-5 of the strongest last year's shoots, cut the rest to the root.
3. Repeat the procedure for 3-4 years: do not touch last year's branches, leave 3-5 shoots from the young growth.
4. In the 5th year of the bush’s life, crown formation is no longer necessary. All subsequent years, it is necessary to carry out sanitary pruning, cutting out all dry, diseased, damaged, branches growing inside the crown or down.

White

Due to the fact that the shape of the bush of white currant has a slightly different shape than that of black, the pruning scheme consists in the following actions:

1. In the 1st year of life of a young plant on each shoot, leave 3-4 buds, cutting off the top.
2. For 2-3 years, do not touch the most developed shoots, cut the rest without leaving stumps.
3. Each subsequent year, add 3-4 strong shoots from new branches, removing the remaining ones.
4. When 16–20 main branches of different ages appear on the bush, the formation can be stopped.
5. Then you need to carry out only sanitary and anti-aging pruning.

Fig. 1. Currant pruning: a - annual seedling; b - a biennial bush; c, d - shortening of shoots. Fig. 2. Currant bush before anti-aging pruning (a), after it (b) and pruning of a neglected bush (c).

Red

To trim the bush of red currant, you need to adhere to the following scheme:

1. On a young seedling, shorten all the branches by half, and need to be shortened to the external bud.
2. In subsequent years, the events are the same (approximately 5-6 years). Due to this, a spherical crown will form.
3. Starting from the age of 7, when the bush will have 15–20 strong branches of different ages, you can perform anti-aging and sanitary pruning.
4. To resume the bush, leave the strongest and upward growths.
5. When cutting, the top of the branch, on which the bulk of the crop is formed, cannot be shortened.

Pruning principles and the formation of gooseberry bushes

Most often, gardeners prefer to trim and correctly form gooseberries according to the classical pattern, standard or trellis. Important! When doing anti-aging pruning of old bushes, it is recommended not to shorten the ends of healthy branches much.

Classic cropping

The most common, classic pruning allows you to form a gooseberry crown in the form of a bush.

It can be done this way:

1. Cut all shoots at the level of 4-5 buds. Choose the 3-4 most powerful escape. Cut off all diseased, improperly growing, poorly developed branches.
2. Next year, shorten last year's branches by 1/3. From them, select 3-4 more shoots. As a result, up to 8 main branches should be formed.
3. For 3-4 years, pruning is carried out similarly to previous years.
4. By the 5th year, the number of main shoots reaches 20. You need to rejuvenate the plants, replacing several old branches with young ones.

Stamp

With the help of standard pruning, you can form a gooseberry in the form of a tree. This type of shrub looks original and does not take up much space in the garden.

The scheme is as follows:

1. Of all the branches, you need to choose the most powerful and growing vertically.
2. On it, form a boom with a height of 1 m.
3. All other branches and lateral processes need to be cut off.
4. For reliability, the shtamb can be attached to a support.
5. Next year, it is necessary to leave 5 strong branches, last year to shorten to half.
6. Cut incorrectly growing shoots and the resulting growth around the trunk.
7. To prevent the emergence of new shoots, the trunk area must be covered with mulch.

The disadvantages of this form of cutting include poor frost resistance of the bushes and their short lifespan.

Trellis

Another common way to cut gooseberries is to grow it on trellises.

Thanks to him, the berries receive enough light, heat, air and on such bushes it is easier to harvest. To do this, you must adhere to such conditions:

1. Install 2 supports vertically near the bush.
2. Between the supports, pull 3 wires at a height of 50, 80, 100 cm from the ground.
3. Between the bushes there should be a distance of about 1 m, between the rows - 1.5 m.
4. Then on the bush select 3-5 of the strongest shoots, shorten them a little, tie them to the wire.
5. Cut the remaining branches.
6. Tie shoots to a trellis in the form of a fan, shortening the central ones more than horizontal ones.
7. Zero shoots cut.
8. At year 6, you need to start rejuvenating the bushes, replacing the old branches with new ones.

Care for pruned bushes

After pruning the fruit bushes of gooseberries and currants in early spring, it is necessary to provide proper care to the plants. Thanks to such actions, the bushes will be able to recover faster, and also bring a high yield. Did you know? The amount of vitamin C in unripe berries of blackcurrant is several times greater than in ripened ones.

Care consists of the following manipulations:

• to close up all places of cuts with a garden var;
• to make mineral (superphosphate, urea, potassium chloride, ammofoska, etc.) and organic (humus, manure) fertilizers under plants, following the instructions for use;
• carry out shallow loosening of the soil around the bushes in order to provide oxygen access to the roots and not damage them;
• if necessary, pour warm water with a calculation of 1-2 buckets for each bush;
• to retain moisture in the ground, cover the trunk area with mulch.

In order for the gooseberry and currant shrubs to bear fruit and give a high yield of quality and sweet berries annually, it is necessary to regularly prune them in the autumn or spring, taking into account all the recommendations of experienced gardeners. Thanks to this, plants will live long, not get sick and delight their owners with abundant fruiting.