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Fruit trees

We have a number of blackcurrant, raspberry and gooseberry bushes. The raspberries have been OK ish, not great but the others are new so no fruit this year. We ideally want to move them for next season.

Firstly, can we prune them back now as we have no fruit?

Secondly, can we move them once cut back?

Thirdly, if we move them, will we face the same problems with lack of fruit next year?

Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,617

    How old are they?

    what sort of aspect do they have?. I have blackcurrants in quite shady position, but they also do well in sun.

    This is the time for pruning old wood out of blackcurrants, but if they are new then they shouldn't need much.

    I would move any of them in the dormant season, after the leaves have dropped.

  • emma louemma lou Posts: 170

    Thanks for the replies. They are in full sun. The raspberries are 2 years, some were planted last year as were the blackcurrants and gooseberries. I should leave them all be until next year then but can I prune back the raspberries? If I leave them as they are (and not prune) is there a problem transplanting them all elsewhere in the garden in the Winter or will I lose next years feuit by doing so? Is it just the pruning that affects the fruit?

    Last edited: 04 August 2016 12:37:02

  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328

    Presumably you have summer-fruiting raspberries if they produced a little fruit this year.  You should prune to the ground all shoots which produced fruit this year, in late Autumn; this will leave you with some longish growth which the plant produced during this growing season, which if you were leaving the raspberries where they currently are, would produce lots of fruit next summer.  I'd shorten these long growths a lot before moving your plants in the winter, to make the plants more stable in their new position.  This will reduce the amount of fruit you get next year, but the raspberries will grow better and in future years you'll get more!

    It's not just the pruning which affects the amount & quality of soft fruit - watering, feeding, the weather and the plant's position in the garden will also affect it.  However, if you don't prune - say - gooseberries, you'll get a very congested plant which rips your hands when you try to pick the fruit.  A correctly pruned bush will give better quality fruit too.  As Pansy says, blackcurrants produce their fruit on 2-year-old wood, so if you don't prune them you get a massive bush with a lot of old stems in, which don't produce fruit.  Pruning gives you a more manageable bush, again with better quality fruit.

    You can find descriptions, photos & videos on the Internet which take the mystique out of fruit pruning.  When you've done it once, it makes a lot more sense the next time!  image

    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328

    I meant to say - if your gooseberry & blackcurrant bushes are only a year or two old, pruning them this year isn't that important.  They're still pretty small, I'd guess.  But you'll still need to prune the raspberries...

    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • emma louemma lou Posts: 170

    Many thanks. We will probably leave em where they are and make thatinto a fruit garden and recreate a veg garden. The fruit garden is full sun. There isn't much to prune on the gooseberries as you said but will prune back the raspberries and maybe leave the blackcurrants.

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