Gooseberries

Latest Articles

Gooseberries
Page 1, 2 Next

Downsizer Forum Index -> Grow Your Own

Author

Message

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45434
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 05 1:47 pm Post subject: Gooseberries
My brand new bushes are covered in tiny fruits, should I leave them or do I need to thin out?

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 05 1:53 pm Post subject: Re: Gooseberries

tahir wrote:

My brand new bushes are covered in tiny fruits, should I leave them or do I need to thin out?

I'm going to be controversial.

Keep them. Be very sparing trimming your gooseberries.

A lot of books reccomend cutting back about half of the length of the twigs, but whenever I find gooseberries wild, great big rambling things, I find them to be weighed down under the mass of fruit they bear each year. I think people tend to over-prune their gooseberries, as well as their currants.

But many people would say that you should cut back to about half the length of each shoot.

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 05 2:02 pm Post subject:
I keep mine on, I might prune back next year but I'm paranoid about losing decent fruit. Anyway, they were a good size last year so unless they start to get poor I'll leave them But Cab's post gives me a though, I could just find a quiet corner and re-plant them to go mad on their own

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 05 2:05 pm Post subject:
I never do much to my gooseberries either. The one year I tried doing the "proper" pruning I got ripped to shreds. Now I just leave them to get on with it and tidy up a bit if the look as though they need it.

efiona

Joined: 09 Dec 2004
Posts: 60
Location: manchester

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 05 2:13 pm Post subject:
i was in the same position last year with new plants, i left them, they cropped fairly well, considering, and are coming on a treat this year too, so it doesn't seem to have done them any harm... fiona

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45434
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 05 2:15 pm Post subject:
Leave well alone then, good, I wasn't looking forward to getting spiked.

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 05 2:29 pm Post subject:

What I often find with wild gooseberries is that the weight of fruit can bend the branches right down to the ground, then you get natural layering. The middle of the bush gets nastier and nastier, with more suckers appearing, and the bush tries to spread out by latering to make a really nasty thickett. I've got gooseberries in the garden, they're only a couple of years old, but my sole intention is to stop them getting too out of hand and too damned nasty. That said, they're planted in front of the kitchen window partly for security.

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 05 2:31 pm Post subject:

Bob Flowerdew suggest summer pruning after they've fruited and only to control size, shape form etc. The gooseberries form on last years growth (I think) so if you have the space let them grow, if you don't and need to prune do it after they've fruited while the weather's good, cut them back quite vigorously and then the plant will spend the rest of the sumer growing vigorous new shoots on which you'll get next years fruit. Autumn or winter pruning is counter productive. Never tried this though as mine's only in its second year so this year it gets trimmed. if needed.

I'll try to remember to dig the KG garder arcticle out but don't hold me to it.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45434
Location: Essex

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 05 2:37 pm Post subject:

Behemoth wrote:

don't hold me to it.

It wouldn't be much good for holding you against, you're 6'5"

Bugs

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 10744

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 05 2:48 pm Post subject:
I don't know, holding him against a gooseberry bush would probably get him digging out that magazine pretty sharpish. I honestly don't know what we do to ours. TD's domain. I do know that chickens like sawfly grubs though

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 05 2:53 pm Post subject:
You've enhanced me by three inches! now about that other thing.....

Res

Joined: 07 Apr 2005
Posts: 1172
Location: Allotment Shed, Harlow

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 05 3:07 pm Post subject:

Behemoth wrote:

Autumn or winter pruning is counter productive.

OOps! to late, I pruned mine last weekend and stuck the cutting into a pot to hopefully roots and give me some more plants.

Wish I'd done that with me red gooseberry bush, flipping caterpillers demolished it, then the regrowth. Think it's dead Jim! No sign of life yet

I'll have to remember about the pruning this year then and only prune after they have finished fruiting.

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 05 3:30 pm Post subject:

Behemoth wrote:

You've enhanced me by three inches! now about that other thing.....

That reminds me, Tahir - we had a conversation about caterpillers etc. on our gooseberries (fnar fnar) last year, can you remember where it is? might be something useful on it.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 05 7:21 pm Post subject:

In my experience it depends on the type of soil they grow on as well. We've got a couple of bushes, had 'em about 3 years, and I do a little late summer pruning and a little shape pruning in winter. I try to cut out as little wood as possible as they seem to be quite slow growing.

Other plants I've looked after over the years have been very vigorous so can cope with more pruning.

The wild plants I've seen recently have no visible flowers on them, not sure why.

One thing to also look out for is fozes eating the ripe fruit. Not sure if it's common or if we just have a fruit loving fox.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Thu Apr 21, 05 7:26 pm Post subject:

Jonnyboy wrote:

But Cab's post gives me a though, I could just find a quiet corner and re-plant them to go mad on their own

Over the last few years this has become one of my main aims. I would love to get a piece of woodland and plant fruit bushes and trees of all sorts. Sort of semi-foraging or agro-foraging.

	Downsizer Forum Index -> Grow Your Own	All times are GMT Page 1, 2 Next
Page 1 of 2

View Latest Posts