My inherited lottie carries a wide range of rather neglected but none the less productive fruit bushes. I am sure that an appropriate pruning will add that little bit of new life zing to them but I don't know where (or when) to start. Can any experienced fruiters out there advise on pruning
Gooseberries
Black/redcurrants
Summer and autumn raspberries
Thornless and natural blackberries.
How do you tell old wood from the newer stuff?
Any advice at all will add to the zilch I know now........
Thanks, guys AR
Hi AR,
The BBC have an article on pruning, try the following
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/pruning_index.shtml
On gooseberry and redcurrant, old wood will be darker and thicker, on blackcurrant there will be shiny brown surface bark and the stems are thicker, on blackberry the canes will be harder, darker and more rigid and there will be evidence of old fruit. Have a look at these previous posts too:
Blackcurrant and gooseberry (redcurrants same as gooseberry):
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,57/topic,14346.msg138809#msg138809
Summer and autumn raspberry:
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,57/topic,12290.msg113940#msg113940
Loganberry (same as blackberry):
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/joomla/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,57/topic,12264.msg113930#msg113930
Many thanks, MikeB and jennym. Clearly some very knowledgeable lottie folk out there. Is there a search facility to go to historic strings to avoid new boys on the block like me asking the same old questions? AR
Quote from: Ageing Rocker on March 21, 2006, 20:54:59
Is there a search facility to go to historic strings to avoid new boys on the block like me asking the same old questions? AR
At the top of the page there is a button marked search, also a button marked wiki which contains some useful info garnered from this site.