Gooseberry, developing, throws a huge number of young shoots, which lead to a very fast thickening of the bush and a decrease in its fertility. In addition, over the years, some branches of this plant bend and begin to grow down. That is why gooseberries are often subjected to pruning and bush formation.
Gooseberries: Care and Pruning
The best time for pruning this shrub is considered to be
early spring, when its buds have not yet blossomed. However, in this plant they bloom very early and therefore greatly reduce the time period when it is possible to form gooseberries. Pruning this shrub in the fall allows you to carry out a number of works with the plant. To do this, in the twentieth of September, almost immediately after harvesting, the old shoots are completely removed. The gardener needs to cut them to the very bottom, not even leaving a hemp. In addition, all broken and dried branches are removed. After the procedure, all trimmed parts should be burned, because they can be carriers of various fungal diseases and parasites.
Gooseberry: pruning in the fall
To give the bush a shape immediately after harvesting, it is almost completely cut out, leaving only three or four strong young shoots growing on different sides of the base of the bush. All young and damaged parts of the plant are ruthlessly removed. When a similar trimming of gooseberries is made, a photo of which you can see below, all deformed and curved branches are also deleted.
As a result, the formed bush should have from ten to sixteen shoots of different ages, uniformly growing on all sides. However, the process does not end there. It is continued every fall, removing all shoots older than seven to eight years. They can be easily distinguished from younger ones by the dark color of the bark, weak fruiting and curvature of the branches. Such a procedure allows you to release a huge amount of plant nutrients and send them to those places where they could not only support life, but also ensure the growth and development of berries.
Sometimes a gardener has to work with a healthy, but very neglected plant. As a rule, such a shrub is heavily densified with basal branches. In addition, the tops of the drooping shoots he often already rooted in the ground. To update this gooseberry, in early spring, the gardener removes all the basal branches and thins the entire bush. Gooseberries, pruning in the autumn of which allows the plant to be almost completely renewed, recovers very quickly. As a rule, after this procedure, the bush begins to bear fruit abundantly on uncircumcised branches.
Gooseberry: pruning in the fall to form a stem
With this procedure, a very beautiful and comfortable bush is obtained, from which it is easy to pick berries. For the formation of the stem, a shrub leaves only one vertical branch during pruning. This type of impact on the gooseberry is aimed at creating a full crown with shoots of different ages. Usually the whole process takes about five years, but after the gardener receives a convenient and aesthetically good looking bush, from which it is very easy to collect the fruits.