Pruning currants makes the wickedest difference to the amount and quality of fruit because the fruits come on young wood. Left unpruned, the harvests become increasingly pathetic – too much old unproductive wood! An annual winter prune and a spring feed will inspire the new wood to come through, netting yourself a haul of about 5kg of delicious fruit per shrub. Yum!
There is a small difference in the way each currant fruits, making for a small difference in the way we prune them.
If the thought of one, two, three year old wood has you worried – don’t be – the difference is obvious when you know what you’re looking for.
Your job as the pruner is to set up a three year cycle. Leaving the shoot that grows in the first year to fatten and develop into two year old wood (blackcurrant) or three year old wood (redcurrant). At which point it’s best years are over – it’s time to remove it and inspire a new one.
Don’t be too anxious here, and over think it. Just do it! – you’ll learn. I once pruned a horribly overgrown blackcurrant with my chainsaw, at the base – and began again!
For Blackcurrants
For Redcurrants
Prune out a selection of the oldest wood, as close to the base as possible. If lots of new shoots are coming off the older wood, you have options. (Those new shoots will be fruitful next summer.)
Either head back the older branch to an outward growing new shoot or leave the branch in place for another year and trim back all the shoots by a thirdor if it’s cluttering up the shrub remove it at the base.
Any of these options will be fine – just do the one that feels/ looks right.
Head back (shorten) all branches and shoots by about a third, cutting to an outward facing bud. This stimulates the fruiting spurs – for more vigour in summer.
As much as pruning is about removing – it’s about leaving behind as well. Be sure to leave 8 – 12 well spaced, youngish branches (on a mature shrub) for a decent harvest.
Don’t be a shy pruner – going around the outside, shortening everything. When you shorten a branch it forks, making for twiggy, dense growth the next season. No light, no air, no new shoots!
Be bold! Get inside the shrub removing whole shoots/ branches at their point of origin. Lots of thinning makes for an open shrub and inspires lovely strong shoots the season following.