[Jean Stanford]

I have 2 blackcurrant bushes in my garden here in France.  They've been in about 3 years. This year is the first year I've had fruit on just one - and then about half a pound in weight.  I pruned them back last year - they hae grown and have lots of foliage but no fruit.  What am I doing wrong.  I've no fruit on the redcurrant bushes and had very little fruit on the gooseberries.  I'm a fair weather gardener so any help would be appreciated.

[maloneranger]

I'm not sure where you are in France, but perhaps it is too hot?

Did you bring the plants from UK?

Do you see any others in your neighbourhood?

In this link, the map under "History" shows they are mostly grown in central France.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackcurrant

mr.

[tangojulie]

More knowledgeable people will be along soon no doubt, but in the meantime I have these observations from a row of 8 bushes, all the same variety, all treated the same.

The one at the end near the willow tree is consistently smaller than the others so I'm wondering whether any of yours are overshadowed by anything.

If I skimp on the feeding I don't get anything like as good a crop. Mine get probably 3 buckets of pure horse manure each, each year in the spring, spread around as a mulch.

I don't do well on the gooseberries and the redcurrants though so I'll be awaiting replies with interest.

[Aunt Sally]

I think you may have been pruning them incorrectly.

I'll find a link.

[Aunt Sally]

Here you are:

Pruning blackcurrants

• Blackcurrant bushes need constant renewal to ensure heavy crops. Older branches will bear fruit, but quantity and quality decline with age.
  
  
• For this reason new bushes are planted deeply so that the plant produces vigorous young branches annually from below ground.
  
  
• These are then used to replace older ones cut out after harvest.
  
  
• Each year remove about one third of the oldest stems - the bark is very dark to the point of being black - and any that are weak or very low.
  
  
• Always cut back to ground level or to a strong new shoot.
  
  
• You can combine pruning with picking the fruit, or wait until winter.

 
   
   

[surbie100]

I have 2 blackcurrant bushes in my garden here in France.  They've been in about 3 years. This year is the first year I've had fruit on just one - and then about half a pound in weight.  I pruned them back last year - they hae grown and have lots of foliage but no fruit.  What am I doing wrong.  I've no fruit on the redcurrant bushes and had very little fruit on the gooseberries.  I'm a fair weather gardener so any help would be appreciated.

It's difficult to see without pictures, but you might have taken out too much of the older wood. You will may get a bit of fruit on new growth, but I think that blackcurrants fruit best on 2nd year shoots - the idea being that you take out the oldest and blackest of the wood after fruiting, usually about a third of it, and prune those bits right down to the ground or to the 'leg' of the bush if it's been grown that way. Can't help on the redcurrants or gooseberries, am still learning on those fronts! 

[surbie100]

SNAP! (ish) 

[Aunt Sally]

Red currants and gooseberries are pruned differently to blackcurrants.

RCs and GBs fruit on mature wood and you prune to preserve a framework each year.

I've taken the basic method below from an article I wrote for our allotment Newsletter:

Redcurrants and Gooseberries
Try to achieve a bowl shape with an open centre to give you  access at picking time.  During winter remove any branches, with loppers, that will be too close to the ground when weighted down with fruit.  A pair of shears can then be used to get the bush into the general round shape required (and save getting spines in your hands).  Leave the main branches but prune all new side growth back to 1 inch long with your secateurs.  Summer prune all new growths back to about 4-5 leaves in June.

They can also be grown as cordons by training 2 - 4 stems up stout supports. 

[Jean Stanford]

Thank you all for your comments.  I think they were planted too shallow. Also the ground is very dry but we water frequently.  OH puts copious amounts of cow manure around them in the spring - the joys of living opposite a farm.  So is it advised that we move them and dig them in deeper, if so when is the best time to do this?