Pruning gooseberries in the fall for beginners: diagram and video. Proper pruning of gooseberries is the basis of a healthy plant Is it possible to shorten gooseberry branches

If the formation of a new gooseberry shoot is not controlled in a timely manner, then after a few years the bush will become an interweaving of prickly branches with small berries. It will be subject to various diseases and damage by pests. Due to the increase in the number of branches, the berries will not receive nutrients in full and the yield of the bush will decrease.

To avoid this, pruning is carried out. There are several technologies for forming a bush. The choice of each of them depends on the season and the method of growing gooseberries.

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What time of year?

The ideal time for the formation of a bush is spring before the onset of an active growing season. You need to cut the branches before the gooseberries release their buds and sap flow begins, otherwise the procedure will significantly weaken the plant.

Spring pruning is performed for young bushes up to 5 years old so that 5 buds remain on each branch. Finally, they will form by 6 years. After that, rejuvenating pruning is done: removal of old branches.

It is undesirable to cut gooseberries in the summer, even if the weather is warm outside. Pruning in August provokes the development of new shoots.

After winter, gooseberries wake up earlier than other garden crops, but not all summer residents have the opportunity to come to the site and rejuvenate the bush, so pruning is sometimes carried out in the fall before frost. Autumn pruning is suitable for an adult bush.

Technology step by step:

1. Examine the bush and find old dark and diseased branches. They are cut to the ground.
2. Remove deformed annual shoots at the root.
3. The lateral branches are cut off by a quarter, thin ones - to the first large bud, the curves are completely removed.
4. Treat slices with garden pitch.

At the end of the work, 1/3 of all branches remain from the bush. With the onset of the next season, the gooseberries will begin to grow and get stronger, the quality of the crop will improve. For better resistance of the shrub to winter cold, after harvesting, the soil under it is mulched with a 10 cm layer of peat or humus.

Instruments

Before you start forming a bush, you need to stock up on working tools and protective equipment.

You will need:

gloves with wide cuffs;
clothes made of dense fabric;
secateurs or saw;
scissors with elongated handles;
lime or paint.

First, the lower branches are cut to improve the overview of the workspace.

Before planting and in the first year

Pruning a bush before planting

In order to properly form a gooseberry bush, it is necessary to carry out its first pruning before planting it in the ground. 4 buds are left on the branches to stimulate growth in early spring. No need to feel sorry for the bush. Thanks to good pruning, new side shoots will appear and the bush will begin to grow faster.

When the growth of the branch is small, it is shortened with shears at an angle of 45˚. The main thing is not to damage the kidneys during work. Pruning is performed 1 cm above the kidneys. Up to 4 buds are left on developed branches. If the bush is weakened, then all shoots are shortened, leaving 2 buds each.

Weak shoots take away nutrients from other branches, but cannot become strong skeletal branches. With properly carried out autumn work on the formation of a young bush, at least 5 annual shoots will remain on it.

Formation of an adult bush

The annual pruning of the gooseberry bush is carried out in the summer. In the second year, during spring work, last year's shoots are shortened by a quarter. And also remove crooked and diseased branches. In summer, dry and diseased shoots are regularly removed so that pests or infection do not have time to move to healthy branches.

After three years, the lateral branches of the 1st and 2nd order are strengthened. When the shrub is actively sprouts, but they do not look strong, then the aging branches are cut to the first branch with strong sprouts. If the fruits are strong and can give a good harvest of berries, then the procedure is postponed for a year.

The maximum yield is harvested from seven-year-old and eight-year-old bushes, but with the condition that their annual anti-aging pruning is carried out.

Some varieties of gooseberries are distinguished by the absence of replacement shoots in adulthood.

When the gooseberry is 9-10 years old, in spring or autumn, old weakened branches are cut out on it, in return for which basal shoots of the same year come.

The classic way to prune gooseberries

Adult bushes are strengthened with props that prevent the extreme branches from falling to the ground and protect against damage by pests and mold infection.

Stamp method

The culture can be grown in standard form. As a result of this, an ordinary bush turns into a small tree.

Instruction for beginners:

1. In the spring, a strong shoot is chosen, which will become a trunk, it is shortened.
2. The remaining shoots are cut to the base.
3. Determine the height of 1 m and cut out the side shoots from the main shoot to the indicated height.
4. They put an opaque tube on the trunk so that new shoots do not grow on it in the future.
5. They make a backup so that the gooseberries do not break.

It is important to carry out the correct pruning and ensure that the trunk is not exposed to frost.

Many gardeners make a big mistake by pruning gooseberries in the fall in a similar way to pruning blackcurrants. These two shrubs are very similar in cultivation and care, and both need autumn pruning, however, the principles of the procedure are markedly different. So that you do not make mistakes, I will tell you about the features of the autumn pruning of gooseberries.

Why prune gooseberries?

Gooseberry- fast-growing shrub, giving annually a huge increase in branches. By regularly pruning gooseberries, gardeners have a number of goals. The first of which is productivity. After all, we plant certain crops in our garden in order to get a quality harvest. Unremoved old shoots take food from young fruit-bearing plants, the berries first become smaller and less tasty, and then the bush stops producing crops altogether. The second goal is to get a healthy plant. Thickened shrubs do not let sunlight into themselves. Branches get sick, fungal diseases develop. If the bush is not removed, the disease will spread to neighboring plants. Another important goal is the decorativeness of plantings. Old branches fall to the ground, where they give a new root system. The shrub reproduces uncontrollably in the garden. In addition, the overgrown bush does not look very aesthetically pleasing. Well, the last goal is the convenience of harvesting. Gooseberries are a prickly plant, sometimes it is not so easy to get to the berries on overgrown and randomly located branches.

When to prune gooseberries?

The very first pruning of gooseberries is done even before it is transplanted into open ground. But even then this procedure requires regularity. There are two opinions about when to prune gooseberries: in the spring, before the buds swell, or in the fall, after harvesting and leaf fall. I advise you to carry out the procedure in the fall. Because the plant is already entering the dormant stage, the movement of juices slows down. In the spring, the shrub wakes up early, and you will have a few days to prune. If you are late, you risk losing the current year's crop and causing plant disease. In summer, gooseberries can be cut only in emergency cases (remove the diseased branch), otherwise the cut branch will have time to give a young shoot that will not survive the frost.

We cut the gooseberries, step by step instructions

Prepare a sharp pruner and gloves to protect your hands from injury. When the bushes grow, get a long-handled pruner, with which it is convenient to remove branches in the core of the bush. Before placing the seedling in the ground, carry out the first pruning of the gooseberry, removing the old branches. Carefully inspect annual shoots, leave four buds on strong branches, two are enough on weak ones. Cut off the rest of the shoot. With proper pruning of gooseberries, 5-6 young shoots will remain on the bush.

In the second year of life, shorten last year's shoots by a third or a quarter. Don't forget to remove diseased and broken branches. After three years of life, the branches will cease to lengthen at a tremendous speed, the shrub will begin to grow in breadth, due to lateral shoots of the first and second order. At this stage, regularly remove old and diseased branches, shoots that give a small crop, cutting them to the first from the top of a strong growth. This is enough to keep the bush in shape.

When the bush reaches the age of 7-8 years, I recommend rejuvenating the bush in order to extend the overall lifespan. To do this, cut each shoot more than usual, but do not forget that at least a third of the plant must be left. If you cut off the entire ground part of the bush, the plant will die.

To give originality, some gardeners form a small tree from a gooseberry bush, removing all basal shoots, leaving only one strong “trunk” from the very beginning. The advantage of such a bush is decorativeness, ease of care, large sweet berries. Cons - the fragility of life (no more than 10 years) and the risk of losing the entire bush if the disease or pests take possession of exactly the shoot on which the entire structure rests.

The annual autumn pruning of gooseberries is simpler than a similar procedure for other shrubs. But, like most work in the garden, it has its own characteristics and nuances. I hope the article helped you understand them.

Novice gardeners who grow gooseberries are interested in the question of how to properly cut a bush in the autumn? Experienced gardeners know certain rules for trimming branches on bushes and trees, and it is easy for them to cope with this task. It is more difficult for beginners, but they will quickly figure it out and cope with the task.

So that the branches of the gooseberry do not grow excessively and bear fruit perfectly, they must be correctly cut annually. If the owner began to cut the bushes in the fall, then it’s worth continuing. It is not advisable to do 2 pruning in spring and autumn, when frost hits, the plant may not have time to gain strength, it will freeze and more than half of the crop will die.

If you take care of the gooseberry bush, cut off the extra branches in a timely manner, then every year the owner will receive an excellent harvest of delicious berries. How big will the gooseberry be, depends on the new shoots on it and does it grow on the sunny side?

If the bush becomes too large, then the berries on it will be small and not very tasty. This is due to the fact that they will be shaded by branches, leaves and receive less portions of sunlight.

When there are few shoots, all berries get enough nutrients. If the gooseberries are cut in time, the berries grow on fewer shoots, all ripen in the sun and grow large, juicy, fragrant.

Consider what clothes and tools to prepare for cutting gooseberries:

Before working with gooseberries, you need to prepare gloves that protect your hands from thorns and tools for pruning branches. Mittens should be tight and the cuffs should be wider. Whoever does not have these, let them take ordinary gloves, in which they take care of trees, bushes in the garden, vegetables in the garden.
You need to dress in a tight jacket, for example, from thick jeans, tarpaulin. Clothing will protect your arms higher from pricks of thorns and cuts.
Branches are cut with ordinary secateurs. Some use clippers or a saw. To cover the cuts, you will need a garden pitch, and to mark where to cut the branches: water-based paint or lime.

Step by step instructions on how to prune gooseberries?

It is best to prune the gooseberry bush 2 times a year: in spring and autumn. For example, capital in the fall, and partial in the spring.

In the spring, you can cut the branches after the snow has melted, but before the buds appear on the branches. This moment is difficult for summer residents to catch, since most of them are at work and come to the country house only for the weekend, therefore, many people prefer to cut branches once a year - in the fall.

The crop is completely removed from the bush and it is possible to cut off excess or old, withered branches. If the timing of the procedure is clear, you can begin to study the step-by-step instructions and cut the gooseberries in the country or village area.

There are several cutting patterns. The main types are:

The strongest central branch is left, and the side ones are cut off. This method is called - on the stem;
Normal pruning is considered classic, when they don’t do anything special, they don’t use any devices.
On the wallpaper. This procedure is done for gooseberry varieties, the branches of which tend to the ground.

The photo shows a diagram according to which the bush is correctly cut. It is easiest for a gardener to prune in a classic style.

More about annual pruning of shrubs:

When the bush is only 1 year old, its branches are cut to 1/3. It is required to leave the 3 strongest shoots long, and the rest can be shortened.
In the 2nd year of life, the whip must be reduced by 1/3. Good branches that grow at the root are best left from 6 to 7.
In the 3rd year of life, the branches are cut in the same way and the bush needs to be thinned out, which means that shoots that the owner considers superfluous and they are located next to others closer than 10 cm are cut. This pruning is done in the spring. It helps to collect more crops and the berries will be larger than last year.
Autumn pruning is done after the leaves have fallen from a bush or several, gooseberries have been collected, some branches are old, dried at the tips or along the entire length. How do you know if branches are old? They turn black, the bark is easily separated from them.
Branches that are too low parallel or touching the ground are also cut off. It is required to remove new shoots that have grown next to each other. Bushes are made less often so that next season, when the gooseberries bloom, fruits are tied, the shrub receives enough sunlight and the fruits are tasty, juicy.

Where do you start pruning? Remove the shoots located below. This helps to better see the front of the work.

The processes located at the roots are removed completely. This is done so that they do not pull the juices from the gooseberries, do not interfere with the growth and ripening of the fruits.

"Important! If you take good care of a young bush, it will develop rapidly, improve its health and give an excellent harvest, better than last year.

The video shows the correct pruning of gooseberries:

What to do when finished trimming?

A novice gardener may not know that gooseberries need to be intensively looked after after procedures. What to do? Hill the ground under and around it for about 2 m. Select and discard weeds, apply organic or mineral top dressing and water the plant well.

The owner is glad that he has harvested a good harvest from a gooseberry bush or bushes, and the plant is weakened during this period and needs high-quality feeding. This is vital for him to endure frosts well.

In autumn, for each shrub, you need to make a choice of 15 kg:

humus;
compost;
manure that has been overgrown.

To organic dressings add:

potassium - 40 g;
superphosphate - 200 g.

After these procedures, the owner can be calm, frost will come, and the bushes will endure the cold perfectly. If there is a desire to protect the bushes from hares and cold, the trunks are lined with straw.

Unfortunately, harmful microorganisms overwinter well in overripe foliage. Insects hide and winter in the bark and hollows of trees, bushes, in the same fallen leaves.

A gardener can start pest control by digging up the ground under the bushes. This can be done only after harvesting, so as not to trample the dug up soil.

You can work a little, so as not to discourage yourself from caring for plants. This is especially true for summer residents who come to the sites on weekends or attacks.

Between the rows, the earth is dug deep - on a spade bayonet. And closer to the plant, you can loosen the soil no deeper than 10 cm. At the trunk where the roots grow, you can only go deep into the ground by 5 cm and be careful not to accidentally cut the roots.

Fungicides are added to the dug up area, with insecticides that have a strong effect on insects. The latter kill both adults and larvae. Now you need to take peat and mulch the surface around the shrubs.

Gooseberries must be watered abundantly. Water is poured into a circle dug around the plants. When pouring, you need to wait until the liquid is absorbed and add the next portion.

"Important! Gooseberry bushes are watered abundantly after cutting. It takes 15 to 20 liters of liquid and the plant will be ready to overwinter.

Old gooseberry bushes are rejuvenated by removing no more than 50% of the branches per year. Owners with experience are in no hurry, they cut off dry, diseased and extra branches, and often they are less than 50%.

In the autumn after the harvest, when the gooseberry bushes shed their leaves, you need to inspect them. Old branches have a dark bark and it is noticeable which branches are dry. They are removed with a pruner, a sharp knife, and the thick ones are cut down.

The soil under the bushes and between them is dug up to different depths, treated for diseases and insects. Such care for gooseberry bushes should be carried out annually, for example, in the autumn. This helps to rejuvenate plants, increase yields, and up to 10 or even 12 years, gooseberries will produce a good harvest.

How to properly prune gooseberries in autumn and spring is of interest to many beginner gardeners, consider the schemes and basic methods. Gooseberry pruning is based on the properties of its growth and fruiting. When its bushes, even under favorable soil climate conditions, its cultivation and fertilizers are not pruned at all, then growth shoots appear in abundance, beginning to bear fruit from the second year on small shoots that appear already in the first summer, but short-lived and existing only two or three years.

Moreover, in the second year, the ringlets give the largest berries, then the smaller ones then dry up, break off from the wind of rain and snow, which is why there are very few of them or not at all on 4-year-old branches. Together with an increase in the number of berries, their size decreases over the years and the variety changes, degenerating into a small-fruited one; in addition, the middle of the bush suffers most from the growth and density of the branches from shading, not bringing berries, which are then only in the outer parts of the bush.

Ringworms are young, short shoots with underdeveloped lateral buds.

Which gooseberry branches to cut for a good harvest?

With such growth properties, they try to keep only 3-year-old branches in the bush with pruning, cutting off 4-year-old branches annually along with their young branches and fruit-bearing rings; the number of these branches, depending on the strength of growth, ranges from 6 in lean bushes to 12 or more in strong plants. In place of the distant branches, young ones grow, and since the branches often hang down, their lower parts take root and in this way the bush turns into, as it were, consisting of individual plants.

To renew branches, their lateral branches are often used, that is, a 4-year-old branch is cut not at its base, but above its lateral, stronger 3-year-old branch, which is cut off in the same way the next year; with the age of the bush, whole 4-year-old branches may be superfluous, which are then cut off at their base. On the contrary, when there are not enough branches, new main branches of the bush are formed from strong growth shoots emerging from the lower parts and called water or fat, usually removed away, since they deplete the growth force of the bush. Further, the most obsolete, especially those covered with lichen, are cut out from the old branches.

In general, in the pruning of old branches, the intention is noticed, as it were, in the annual partial rejuvenation of the bush, but there is also a general rejuvenation of the entire old bush whose growth strength has weakened and the fruits have begun to become small. For general rejuvenation of the entire gooseberry bush, all its branches are cut off at its base and new ones are grown from the undergrowth from the underground parts. They are also distinguished by the rejuvenation or renewal of old bushes at the age of 12 - 15 years, which have undergone all the consequences of poor care without any pruning: when the growth shoots are thin and weak, leaf fall occurs prematurely from mid-summer and the berries become small and there are few of them.

In addition to ground pruning, it is also advised to renew their roots in such bushes, for which they loosen the earth near the bush with forks, rake it, cut out all the thick old roots, leaving only young ones, after which the land is renewed with an increase or but such renewed gooseberry bushes give again after a few years small berries, and instead of laboring to rejuvenate them, it is better to uproot them completely, improve and fertilize the land and make a new planting of young bushes with their new layout or other young plants.

Pruning thick branches

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For cutting thick gooseberry branches and branches, 2 cm thick or more, special garden shears with elongated handles are used, for branches a massive pruner, the best is Kunde's design, which can cut branches up to 25 mm.

How to prune young shoots?

Young gooseberry shoots are also pruned. In neglected old bushes, the young growth is small and thin, which is why it is not cut at all, but in bushes with strong growth, two kinds of young shoots are distinguished during pruning: apical, which continue the growth of branches, and lateral; the first are cut off the less, the weaker they are, and the longer ones in accordance with the length of the main branches; side branches are always cut little, because only a few upper weak buds are taken away from them.

Be sure to remove skinny shoots that have grown densely (the strongest are left), going inside the bush or at a cross with its branches, and all sorts of extra, even strong shoots. The latter also include grassroots shoots and fatty shoots. The gooseberry shoots in the middle of the bush are the most pruned, which is carefully maintained with room for air and light.

The extra fruiting gooseberry rings are also cut off, the weakest at the bottom or at the top of last year's shoots, as well as with small and thin buds on 2- and 3-year-old shoots.

The harvest is normalized, that is, gooseberries are thinned out, especially in dessert varieties.

Bushes are pruned in all their parts, both old and young, both growth and fruiting. It is not for nothing that practitioners say in this regard: one should not think that the more branches are on the bush, the more fruit it bears; a refutation of this view is the often found dense gooseberry bushes, in which berries develop only on the outer branches. Another practitioner notes that cutting gooseberry branches should not be skimped at all and one should not feel sorry for cutting even fruit-bearing branches if they are inappropriate or superfluous in the bush.

Spring and summer gooseberry pruning

Gooseberry pruning is done in two terms in the summer before the growth of the berries, when they reach the size of a large pea and when liquid fertilizer is applied, and in the fall after leaf fall in warm areas, and in severe early spring before bud break. In the summer pruning gooseberries are cut out:

1) weak new young shoots, especially on last year's parts of the branches, where the berries grow larger;

2) young shoots that have grown densely and shade each other and nearby branches, making up stronger ones;

3) low shoots and watery shoots, if they are not needed to replace old branches, and if needed, they are left and the tops are plucked off after picking berries, approximately in August when growth stops;

4) all sorts of small branches that have begun to dry out and bearing weak fruit-bearing kolchatka with small berries in a small number;

5) extra fruit-bearing rings on 2- and 3-year-old parts of the branches; at the same time, excess berries are removed.

Pruning gooseberries for beginner gardeners - Video

Pruning gooseberries in autumn

When pruning in autumn, first of all, old branches over 4 years old are cut. Pruning starts from the lower branches, strongly bent to the ground, and continues to the middle of the bush where the old branches are cut, replacing the middle parts of the bush and having a weak growth. Thick sections of an inch (2.5 cm) or more after the scissors are smoothed with a garden knife and coated with garden putty. When old branches are removed, their deputies are found, and if they are lateral branches, then the old ones are cut before them, trying to maintain a certain number of main branches in the bush in accordance with the growth force of the bush.

After the old branches, they begin to young growth: first, they cut the elongation shoots to stronger buds or align them, depending on the same shoots on all branches of the bush, so that the next growth is uniform on all sides; after that, a weak pruning of the lateral young shoots is made, cutting off their upper parts with small buds. Pruning ends with the removal of any weak and superfluous shoots, densely located or growing inward and intersecting with others. At the same time, other dry branches and twigs are cut off with a simple pruner, most of all on the aging parts of the branches.

Forming gooseberry pruning in autumn

short pruning

Not sparing the gooseberry bushes when pruning them, one must be careful not to allow, when not necessary, the so-called short pruning, in which most of the shoots are cut off with a short remainder of them; although they say that it is necessary to cut off no more than half of their length from growth shoots, even one third, but sometimes more must be cut off to excite the growth force, and in general the amount of pruning does not obey a strict rule and is determined by skill.

Short pruning can be useful in low-growing varieties to trim the ramifications of the bush, but in bushes with strong growth, it causes the development of excessive growth shoots, which, due to their abundance, take away the juices from the berry bells and reduce the yield of berries, or the buds of these bells also grow into growth shoots, moreover, it is so different in time that stronger shoots do not have time to stiffen by winter.

The same thing can happen with low-growing varieties of gooseberries, when plants are grown on too rich soil, or when strong growth comes from especially favorable weather for it; on the contrary, vigorous varieties on lean soil and poorly planted may be subject to short pruning.

The process of growing horticultural crops includes many agricultural practices, among which pruning of trees and shrubs is not the least important. This also applies to gooseberries, as a well-formed bush gives a greater yield.

What is it for?

The gooseberry bush is a perennial plant growing up to one and a half meters. Branches of different ages and basal sprouts form a crown, which can also reach almost 1.5 m in diameter. Basal sprouts are characterized by active growth in the first year of life.

By autumn, the process of lignification is completed for them, and already next spring they will release young shoots, from which the skeleton (skeleton) of the bush will form. In turn, shoots also appear on these branches annually, growing by 8–30 cm in length. By autumn, these shoots will harden, become covered with bark, that is, they will be real branches of the second order, which will give branches of the third order, and so on. Branches of orders 1–3 are the strongest and produce the most berries. Systematic pruning will help to regularly update such branches so that the crop is stable.

Gooseberries are able to quickly become thick due to new young shoots. This leads to the fact that the sun and air do not penetrate deep into the bush, which leads to a decrease in yield and contributes to the occurrence of diseases.

The purpose of pruning is to regulate the growth of new shoots, cut old ones, remove diseased and superfluous ones. Therefore, it is so important to prune gooseberries every year, form its bush and get rid of unnecessary shoots. At the 5th or 6th year of growth, old black branches appear, which must be cut to rejuvenate the bush. Pruning contributes to the manifestation of the following factors:

improving lighting and aeration of the inside of the bush;
reducing the possibility of diseases and colonies of harmful insects;
an increase in the volume and quality of the crop, since the dense crown prevents pollination and the ovary of berries;
simplifying the care and harvesting of berry crops - it is very difficult to do this from overgrown branches with many thorns without injuring your hands;
gooseberry rejuvenation, which makes it possible to prolong its life and fruiting, since when cutting the entire shoot or part of it, an impulse occurs from the root system to the branches, leading to the growth of young shoots.

In addition to all this, in an overgrown shrub, the berries become small. With a large number of stems, each branch has less nutrition, the number of fruits decreases, and their quality deteriorates. The grown long stems lie on the soil, give roots. As a result, the gooseberry ceases to produce crops and becomes an object of colonization by harmful insects.

There are such types of pruning:

formative- its goal is to make the bush compact;
sanitary- is carried out with the aim of improving the gooseberry by removing diseased, broken, dry and damaged stems;
rejuvenating- its purpose is to stimulate the growth of young shoots;
pre-landing- is done to stimulate its further growth, before planting a seedling, all broken and beginning to dry branches are cut off, and the remaining shoots are cut, leaving no more than 4 buds.

Timing

Spring pruning should be done early, before buds open and sap flow begins. Gooseberries are an early culture, buds swell in the second decade of March, and by the beginning of April the first leaves bloom. When pruning after blooming, some of the nutrition will go to the buds, which will then be cut off. This means a lot of nutrients will be wasted. Therefore, pruning should be done in the first half of March.

Removed in the spring:

old blackened and horizontally growing shoots;
branches with defects (broken, crooked);
the middle of the bush is also thinned out, weak young and very high-growing shoots are removed.

In one-year-old bushes in spring, it is recommended to cut off all the weakest branches and leave 3-4 of the strongest ones. This spring pruning is done five years in a row. As a result, the bush will have approximately 25 strong and strong main branches, on which side shoots will grow.

But the most effective is autumn pruning and summer pruning - the one that is done after harvesting.

Summer pruning of gooseberries is done immediately after picking the berries. The main thing is to remove the branches that have appeared dry and with signs of diseases. This pruning is often referred to as sanitary pruning. It is carried out approximately in the last days of July or early August.

And on young shoots, a part is cut off from the top, leaving about 7 leaves on them. Shortening of old shoots in summer should not be done, as this will cause the reproduction of young shoots. But the process of lignification of such shoots will not have time to complete before the cold weather and with the advent of frost they will die.

Autumn pruning of gooseberries is done after the end of leaf fall, until frosty weather is established. For the middle lane, this will be around October-November.

Cut in autumn:

all newly appeared dry, damaged, old and with signs of disease branches;
shoots that grow very low and lie on the ground, since their growth occurs in the shade with insufficient lighting, which is why they are more at risk of getting sick;
branches that have a direction of growth in the center and in the inner part of the crown, which strongly compact the bush;
shoots that prevent others from growing;
young and weakened shoots.

It must be remembered that the total number of cut branches should not be more than 1/3 of the total number of branches in the bush.

How to work?

In order to trim, you need to have a special tool. This is a pruner that cuts thin branches, and a lopper for cutting thicker and more powerful shoots. Since the gooseberry has very sharp thorns, heavy gloves will be needed.

Autumn pruning must be carried out according to the scheme developed by gardeners for a long time.

All obsolete and low-growing branches should be cut to the level of the soil surface, leaving not even small knots. Thickness and color distinguish ancient branches from young ones. The obsolete ones are thick and dark brown (almost black), while the young ones are rather thin, and the color is light.
Unwanted sprouts and rival stems are also cut off, leaving no knots and as close to the offshoot as possible. The young shoot is left, and the old one is cut off to the place where the young one grows.
In order for underdeveloped branches to branch better, they are shortened, having first determined the strongest bud, and then the shoot is cut off at a distance of no more than one centimeter from this bud.
In one-year-old bushes, the branches are shortened, leaving only 4 buds on them.

After trimming, all cuts with a diameter of more than 8 mm must be covered with garden pitch. It is also important to remember that the cuts must be made above the kidney by about 1 cm and at an angle of 50 degrees.

Pruning bushes of different years of life is distinguished by its characteristics and techniques.

Pruning at 1 year is preplant pruning. On the seedling, all branches must be shortened, and on strong shoots only 4 buds are kept from the ground, and on underdeveloped ones - no more than two. The purpose of such pruning is to provide the young bush with sufficient nutrition and the creation of skeletal branches that form the frame of the bush.

During the growing season, the root system will develop and give new shoots. Autumn pruning this year is limited to about 6 healthy and powerful shoots, which, after shortening, are left to winter.

Second year. The next year in the spring, well-placed 5 strong zero branches are also chosen. Underdeveloped shoots less than 20 cm must be removed completely. Powerful vertical and slightly inclined branches are made shorter, leaving processes about 30 cm long, which contributes to further branching. Shoots growing horizontally are cut off completely.

By the third year, the gooseberry should have about 18 branches of different ages, and they form the skeleton of the bush. This is achieved in this way:

all horizontal branches are cut off completely (this also applies to underdeveloped processes);
in the left healthy branches, 15 cm are cut off from the top.

In the fourth year, a four-year-old gooseberry bush is considered an adult and begins to produce a large number of berries, which does not exclude the need for further pruning and maintaining the shape of the bush.

Pruning this year consists in regular cutting of crooked and underdeveloped unhealthy branches. Young shoots are also removed in a timely manner, including those that have grown from the neck of the roots, which excludes the growth of horizontal branches. By this time, the gooseberry should have about 16–20 branches of different ages.

Further annual pruning of gooseberries is carried out in a similar way. Upon reaching 7–8 years, they begin to do anti-aging pruning. With this method, you can cut no more than 1/3 of the branches from their total number.

First, black old, crooked, underdeveloped branches with signs of disease are removed.
At the left strongly developed basal branches, the tops are examined. Those with defects (dry, broken) are cut off to the point of branching from a healthy shoot.

In 10-year-old and older bushes, cardinal pruning is carried out: 5 of the most powerful and healthy branches are left, the rest are completely removed. If this is done in a timely manner, then the bush gives a new young generation of shoots. This pruning is best done in early spring.

When pruning, you need to remember the following rules:

if a branch has given few shoots in a year, it means that it is underdeveloped and needs to be cut to a lateral branch with a good shoot;
the underdevelopment of the branch is also indicated by its thin ending, it is cut off to the largest bud, directed outward;
good branching of the gooseberry is helped by trimming the zero shoots one-fourth of their length;
by cutting the branch above the bud and from its outer side, it is possible to prevent the compaction of the bush, since the shoots will not have an internal, but an external direction of growth.

An old and very overgrown non-fruiting gooseberry bush can be revived and restored to good fruiting. Anti-aging pruning is preferably carried out in two steps.

First, sanitary pruning is carried out. If it is done in the spring, the bush is thinned out and all black, broken, crooked and diseased branches are removed. And if it is carried out in the fall, then all the old branches are cut off entirely to the very ground, which contributes to the emergence of new shoots in the spring.

Then make a rejuvenating pruning. Very old and horizontally grown branches are removed. In the presence of vertical processes, the 5 most healthy and strong are kept, and the rest are also cut off. On the branches that give the harvest, the dry ends are cut off to the very first powerful lateral branching.

Subsequently, pruning of the old gooseberry is carried out, as usual, maintaining the shape of the bush. But you need to remember that in spring and autumn you can cut no more than 1/3 of the shoots. Overgrown gooseberries are reborn for about 4 years.

There is also such a cardinal method of restoring a neglected gooseberry: they cut off all the branches entirely to ground level, except for the 4 youngest and most powerful branches. A year after such pruning, a large number of sprouts will grow, some of which are removed again, leaving about 5 strong, strong, well-placed.

Having cut, the bush is well fed with organic or mineral fertilizers, watered abundantly. After this method of pruning, the gooseberry bush quickly revives and can produce berries in three years.

There are also such extraordinary methods of cutting the gooseberry and shaping its bush: standard and trellis.

The standard method of breeding gooseberries is to form a bush like a tree. For the trunk of the future tree, the most powerful, upward-growing branch of a certain height (most often one meter) is left, and the lower side branches of the bole are cut to the same height, cutting off the rest.

Shoots growing on the stem are subsequently also removed. A metal (or plastic) tube is put on the trunk, which is slightly deepened into the soil. This makes it easier to care for the trunk of the bush, and is also a support for it. A peg is driven in near the gooseberry, to which the trunk is tied.

The subsequent formation is carried out as usual: every year 5 new powerful shoots are left, and last year's ones are cut in half. Branches with growth direction inside the bush or down are removed, as well as basal processes growing from the ground.

The disadvantages of this method are the short life span of the gooseberry (it cannot be rejuvenated) and poor cold resistance.

The trellis method of breeding gooseberries is carried out using trellises. Between the supports of the trellises, 3 rows of wire are pulled at a distance of 50-80-100 cm from the soil. The gap between the bushes is approximately from 0.7 to 1 m, and the distance between the trellises is one and a half meters.

The formation of a gooseberry bush begins with three or four branches, which are fan-shaped tied to the bottom row of wire at a distance of 20–25 cm. Their growth will then be directed vertically upwards. Branches (3-5 of the strongest), having a horizontal direction of growth, having previously cut off a little, are also tied up on a trellis, and all the rest are removed. A year later, these horizontal branches are fixed, without shortening, on the middle wire.

The main fan-shaped branches shorten somewhat more than the horizontal ones: this is how the growth ratio is maintained. Each year, no more than 5 new shoots are left, and last year's ones are shortened by a third (sometimes by half). Zero sprouts are removed. After the fifth year, you can start rejuvenating the bush.

After pruning, fertilization is mandatory. It can be both mineral and organic fertilizers. A shallow (approximately 30 cm) ditch is dug around the bush around the bush, fertilizers are applied to it and then added dropwise.

Spring top dressing is aimed at feeding the gooseberries before flowering and subsequent growth of fruit ovaries. Nitrogen fertilizers are applied at about 50–70 g per gooseberry.

Upon completion of picking berries and pruning, top dressing with fertilizers contributes to the formation of fruit-bearing buds for the next year's harvest, as well as the accumulation of strength for the winter. During this period, it is very effective to nourish the bush with mullein. It is important to carry out preventive treatment with fungicides and insecticides.

Top dressing in the fall, which necessarily includes potassium-phosphorus fertilizers, will make it easier for gooseberries in winter and prepare them for a new harvest. And you should also feed the soil around the bush (about 50 cm in diameter) with compost or peat chips. Generous watering in autumn is also essential.

It should be noted that after the completion of any type of pruning, abundant watering, fertilizing and loosening the soil are immediately carried out.

These tips will help you successfully grow gooseberries.

Heavily overgrown gooseberries are more convenient to cut with a pruning shear with long handles, and also use thicker welder gloves to protect hands.
For cutting gooseberries, it is preferable to purchase a brightly colored tool: it is more noticeable on the soil and will not be lost even in the semi-darkness.
When shortening branches that point down and horizontally, you need to leave the buds with the direction up or up at a large angle.
A distinctive feature of strong shoots is that they grow no less than 50 cm per year, unlike weak ones.
The root system of the gooseberry has such a structure that it gives horizontal shoots and they also need to be removed.
It is recommended to cut off the thinnest branches almost entirely, since they will not begin to bear fruit so soon, and food will be spent on them on a par with other branches.

In autumn, sections can be treated not only with garden pitch, but also with such a cold-resistant agent: separately heated alcohol (60 ml) and wood resin (500 g) are mixed, then flax oil (2 tablespoons) is added. This mixture is stored in a tightly closed tin jar.

Gooseberries older than 20 years are usually not rejuvenated. It is better to remove it and plant a young plant.

Having understood the principle of pruning gooseberries, this process will not be difficult for any gardener, and the result will not be long in coming.