Pruning currant and berry plants

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Kariana	Pruning currant and berry plants In the garden we have now there is a tangle of various thorns which turned out to be blackcurrant, redcurrant, raspberry and blackberry plants. I have already cut them back somewhat but really they all need taking back to ground level as it's impossible to tell whats what since they are so tangled. The crop of fruit off each was very small. I know that cutting the raspberry back is fine but if I cut the others back will they come back or die? Also is now the right time to do it? I'm not worried if they don't fruit next year. On a similar note I have a black currant bush in a pot that I bought last year. It's very leggy with about 7 spindly branches going pretty much straight upwards. The top third of the branches had about 20 leaves which have gradually fallen off since we picked its crop of fruit in July. Now the branches are bare except for 3 leaves and lots of tiny buds all up the branches. When should I prune it and what is the best way to do it? Thanks.
oldish chris	Your tangle - I presume that you inherited a "jungle" and that you have no idea what the plants are, the raspberries and blackcurrants could easily be "feral" types that have grown from bird droppings and will, in all probability, amount to nothing. This winter get rid of them. The currants could be many years old and due for renewal, they could also be old varieties that are, compared to some of the newer ones, low yielding. So you might as well get rid of them as well. Now the leggy pot-grown blackcurrant: that's a very different kettle of fish. Assuming that is it a young plant and a modern variety I'd wait until November, then cup it down to a few inches tall, plant it, about 1 inch deeper than it is at present, and the prunings, push them 6" into the soil in a cool shady area and get three of four new plants.
pollyanna	If the pot-grown blackcurrant fruited this year I'm not sure it is correct to cut it down to a few inches or all next year's fruit will be pruned away. The usual advice is to cut out the oldest branches to leave room for new, young, vigorous branches from the base. But this bush is too young to have old branches yet, so leave well alone, except to improve the shape of the bush if that seems necessary. The advice about taking cuttings is spot-on. Blackcurrant must be the easiest cuttings to strike, but perhaps I would leave it until pruning after harvest next year.
oldish chris	If the pot-grown blackcurrant fruited this year I'm not sure it is correct to cut it down to a few inches or all next year's fruit will be pruned away.

Depends on what you want to achieve. Where we have a problem is that we can't actually see the plant. Hence, we don't know how "leggy" the bush actually is, nor can we estimate the quantity of the next season's harvest.

I based my advise on what I learnt working in a nursery. If, at the end of the season I saw a neglected blackcurrant that no-one in their right mind would buy, I'd pot it on, chop it down, put it round the back, wait a year and put it back on sale at an increased price.

And some words of wisdom from an actual expert: http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/Grow-Your-Own/Fruit-A-to-Z/Blackcurrants

Kariana

Thanks for the advice. The blackcurrant in the pot is young and every other blackcurrant plant at the centre we bought it from looked the same so I think it is probably how it's meant to look based on what you've said. I'll leave it. Unfortunately the garden is small and shady so I won't be planting any cuttings.

I probably gave the wrong impression with the tangle of bushes. In fact they were planted and the fruit we got off them this year was very delicious (best blackberries I've ever tasted). Unfortunately they were planted by the previous occupants who just stuck stuff anywhere (they are in the darkest part of the garden) and then let them grow. They haven't been pruned and were planted all within a patch of ground about a metre square that is surrounded by mature bushes. It's definitely not the best place for them but it's certainly the only place for them in the tiny garden. They have all just intertwined with each other though I would say they probably only have two or three very long, winding 'branches' each so less like a jungle and more like a weird knot of branches that with some effort you can trace to the point of origin. I plan on hacking back the surrounding bushes to open out the space. Since they have survived so far and given fruit, and since there is no where to relocate them too, I'm going to leave them in place. So long as they survive being chopped back to the ground I'm hoping they will go on to recover.

bibbster

My blackcurrant bushes were chopped back to the ground 2 years ago when my son got too enthusiastic...I said cut the raspberry canes to the ground and he did both raspberries AND blackcurrants Shocked

Having said that, it did them the world of good, and just lost one years fruiting, they are better than ever now, and still producing good shoots for cuttings as well. Smile

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