Damaged branches are missing bark where they have rubbed other branches. Since gooseberry plants are impatient to grow in spring, I set bare-root plants in the ground either in the fall, using plenty of mulch, or as early as possible in spring. Arm yourself with sharp bypass secateurs, and some sturdy gloves if you’re pruning gooseberries, to protect your hands from their spines. For a complete background on how to grow gooseberry plants, we recommend starting from the beginning. Professional trimming of gooseberries To support yield and fruit size, we recommend annual pruning of gooseberry shrubs. Diseased wood is marked by broken bark and rough, raised areas. [[[PAGE]]] Prune to keep 1-, 2-, and 3-year-old shoots The usual way to grow gooseberries is as a “stool,” a huddle of stems that arise from the ground. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 8,909 times. Remove any new growth that is crowding the centre of your bushes and cut back the new shoots you wish to … Gooseberries produce best on 1-year wood. Follow our guide to growing your own. Gooseberries usually grow in a bush, although they can also be trained to grow against a wall or fence and commonly known as a gooseberry patch. Growing gooseberries is a worthwhile fruit to grow in the gooseberry patch as they are excellent for making jams, jellies, desserts, chutneys and wine.In fact, we have about 4 gooseberry wine recipes for you to try! The goal of cutting back gooseberry bushes is to keep the center of the plant open to air and sunshine, prune out any dead or diseased branches and to shorten the growth of the plant to a manageable size and to facilitate harvest. This article was co-authored by Maggie Moran. Canker is a fungal infection that kills the bark of gooseberry plants. Only new, well spaced, All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published, This article was co-authored by our trained team of editors and researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness. The right cut can significantly reduce painful scratches during harvesting. The natural tendency of the gooseberry is to be a bit sprawling and droopy; you want to counteract that. Pruning and Training. A cordon Gooseberry is a very space saving option for smaller gardens, it can be grown with a support system in the open, or you can plant against a fence or wall – any aspect is suitable. There's no need to prune the... Winter: During the winter, cut back the leading stems by half of their new growth. In Holland, a single branch is selected and trained up a stake to a height of five to six feet. For the first three growing seasons, leave gooseberry and currant plants unpruned. As the plant ages, you'll want to cut away stems more than 3 years old each year. Beware, an unpruned, tangled gooseberry bush is the perfect nesting place for pesky sawfly and caterpillars. Now look at … Grow gooseberries in moist but well-drained, fertile soil, in full sun. By the third year after planting, the bush will have established its core framework with an even distribution of stems aged between 1 and 3 years. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/3\/35\/Prune-Gooseberry-Step-1.jpg\/v4-460px-Prune-Gooseberry-Step-1.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/3\/35\/Prune-Gooseberry-Step-1.jpg\/aid10153444-v4-728px-Prune-Gooseberry-Step-1.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"