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New old Red Currants bush advice.

ian thenutian thenut Posts: 55
in Fruit & veg
Hi, I've just acquired a red currant bush.

New had red currants before.

It looks quite old and I was told it hasn't been pruned.

I'm currently looking up how to best prune it, my understanding is that it fruits on last year's growth so anything older than 3 years needs cutting at the base and that generally the older the darker the branch?? 

Is it too late to prune now?



Posts

  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    edited February 2021
    No, it's still winter despite the current warm spell, so I would cut out at least two or three of the oldest stems, which are darker as you say.  You are trying to create an open centre to allow light and air in, so remove those oldest branches which are currently growing in the centre.
    Edit: The other reason to do this is that the bush need to establish new roots and the current roots (see what I did there!) will be struggling to support all of those stems when the leaves start growing.  Hard pruning will also stimulate vigorous new growth of both roots and stems, so is a 'good thing' when moving any kind of established bush. :)
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    Because it's bare rooted at the moment I would cut almost everything off, you don't want it fruiting this year, and the flowers are already there ready to go so it will try.
    In this and my last garden I have 30 year old+ currents that have rarely if ever been pruned the thickest branches are a good couple of inches and they still fruit well on them so I believe they are very forgiving in how and even if you bother to prune.
  • starfish3865starfish3865 Posts: 10
    I bought this redcurrant with two main branches.  I've since read somewhere that a redcurrant bush should be a goblet shape on a main branch, like a stemmed glass.  Should I bother trying to make this one into such a shape?  I can see from the pictures above that it seems to be doing very well with lots of stems growing out of the ground in a bunch.
  • Cambridgerose12Cambridgerose12 Posts: 1,134
    I confess that in one of the gardens I had, there were gigantic craggy redcurrants that were absolutely never pruned and which bore masses of fruit every year regardless. It may be more a matter of whether you are trying to end up with a managed postage or (as in our case) simply inherit a large rambly informal garden.
  • SkandiSkandi Posts: 1,723
    I've had two houses now with massive and ancient redcurrents they're old enough that it's impossible to see where they were originally planted, they've spread and rooted all over the area. They produce tons of fruit despite being at least 30 years old and unloved, so I don't think it really matters how or even if you prune it.
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