Pruning red, black and white currant bushes mostly with old wood

April 8, 2020 11:03 AM

My currant bushes are mostly old branches. Do I prune them out just the same, leaving very little or no new growth?

I have nine very productive black, red and white currant bushes that I planted many years ago. I have never pruned them. Most of the branches are old wood (some with peeling bark), and many are nearly horizontal and close to the ground, although some are nearly upright. However, all of these old branches are loaded with buds. It's my understanding that one should eliminate old branches, but if I did that, there would be nothing left or almost nothing left. What do I do?

posted by kirsti to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

As you probably know, currants produce fruit on three year old canes, so you should remove canes older than three years to make room for the productive canes.

If all you have at this point are canes older than three years, then you can restart by pruning back to a few buds per cane. The new growth from those buds will eventually reach the three year stage and produce fruit. This page has a pretty good guide and illustrations. It may be a few years before you get fruit again, but once you have the pattern going you should get fruit reliably.
posted by jedicus at 11:12 AM on April 8, 2020

As you probably know, currants produce fruit on three year old canes

A method that is recommended for rehabbing old lilac bushes is to thin them out over 3 years, so that any pruning doesn't remove the buds that are already there.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 1:05 PM on April 8, 2020

Possibly your currants are very flourishing and productive so that you get crops even off older wood? If I took over shrubs with that reputation I would prune out anything diseased/triphazard/crossing, and then look at the oldest branches very carefully next summer to see if they were actually producing much of the crop. If not, mark the scanty branches to prune in winter.
posted by clew at 10:26 PM on April 8, 2020 [1 favorite]

As you probably know, currants produce fruit on three year old canes

Not in my case. I used to have an allotment where there were a lot of currant bushes and I've tried a few different things. One bush that god quite overgrown and was spread out way too far I cut back completely to the ground in the winter. The first year it grew nice strong branches and it fruited on those branches the second year.

In your case what I would do is to select the three or four most horizontal branches on each plant and snip them off at the base. Also this year I would only do it after the fruit is ripe so you wouldn't lose anything at ll this year. It is easier to pick the berries off the prunes branches rather than picking them off the plant when everything is still attached. I'd do the same the next year then just prune out a branch or two each year after that again looking towards removing the most horizontal ones.
posted by koolkat at 5:54 AM on April 9, 2020 [1 favorite]