I was given one back in January,by someone who gave up his plot and planted straight away.
Since then not much has happened to it.
Should I have pruned it to the ground or is the thing likely to be dead ? Perhaps it didn't like being moved.
All my other fruit bushes are flying.
Any help advice appreciated.
Thanks Steve
Scrape the bark:if it is greenish there is still hope,if it is all brown.....hmmm.But don't be in a hurry to dig it out,there may be a new shoot from the base later.
I have some I bought from Lidl which are very late to leaf they have only just started to break.
I would not give up on them yet, they might sprout from the base.
I'll hang fire and see what happens, thanks
To answer your other question, no, blackcurrants don't require pruning to the ground. They produce on the same wood for several years. If the bush becomes crowded it gets more prone to diseases, so I find the need to prune to maintain ventilation makes for more pruning than maintaining fruiting alone would.
My blackcurrants are in full bloom and lots of leaf, but I'd also wait at least until July and see if it regrows.
For years I had bumper crops of blackcurrants and followed advice on gardeners question time.
They will fruit for several years on the same stem but I find I get bigger and better crops from previous years growth. So the more growth you have this year the more fruit next year.
Advice was to cut as much of the stuff that had fruited off. I tend to cut the whole branch with the fruit then pick from the comfort of a chair, and then feed the plant. Then every third year be brutal and cut as much old wood as possible on thrid of the plants. The idea is to get it to sprout as much as possible from the base. If you get it right it will produce lots of new growth between fruiting and autumn which will fruit the following year.
Taking out the growing tip of the previous years branches early in the year also can get the plant to sprout strongly from further down.