For a harvest it is necessary to cut the gooseberry regularly. We'll show you what you need to consider.
Gooseberries belong in every snack garden. Not only are they a real delicacy straight from the bush, they also give jams or cakes a special taste. If you want to bring in a rich harvest in summer, you must not forget to cut back. Spring pruning until March is particularly important, as it primarily serves to rejuvenate the shrubs.
We also recommend a summer pruning so that the ripening berries get as much light as possible and you get sweeter and larger fruits yourself. So that nothing goes wrong when pruning, we would like to explain the exact procedure to you here.
Good to know: Which shoots of the gooseberry bear fruit?
The shoots of gooseberry bushes grow from the base of the root and can therefore be easily assigned to individual years.
- This year's shoots are not yet bearing fruit.
- The second and third year is the golden period of maximum fruit yield.
- In the fourth year, the gooseberries on the shoot are already getting smaller and rarer.
- From the fifth year, the shoots can hardly be used for harvesting.
For a better overview: label shoots by year
How can you tell the age of the shoots? Basically: The older the wood, the darker the shoot. It is possible to make the cut simply by visual assessment. However, a clever help is to mark the individual vintages with differently colored or labeled rings. You can easily make such rings yourself from wire or packaging tape (plastic).
Spring rejuvenation pruning: Get rid of the old wood!
The right time for spring pruning is February to March. The aim of pruning is to create ideal growth conditions for the viable shoots. In concrete terms, this means: Get rid of the old wood and make room for new shoots.
As mentioned earlier, you have the maximum fruit yields on the 2-year-old and the 3-year-old shoots. So that these can develop better, it makes sense toremove older shoots. To do this, cut the shoots as close to the root base as possible with a pair of strong pruning shears. As well as old wood, you can also remove any overhanging shoots from last year that are growing inwards or on the ground.
Ideally, the spring pruning will give you a shrub with at least eight he althy, stable shoots that do not hinder each other in growth. You can still cut these shoots, but you should not cut off too many buds. This prevents the formation of powdery mildew, which can form on the shoot tips.
You can see how this looks in practice here in the video:
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Pruning gooseberries in summer: more light for the fruit
Before the gooseberries ripen in July and August, it is advisable to carry out a summer pruning. Shorten the shoots above the fruit and, if necessary, remove non-bearing shoots inside the bush. This gives the berries more light and you can enjoy larger and sweeter gooseberries a little later.
Good luck!