Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: londongardener on May 09, 2011, 09:09
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Some of my gooseberries bushes have not flowered yet. Any advice? Should I feed them?
I have some tomato feed if that would help.
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Do you know what variety they are?
Hopefully someone will be along soon who knows the answer (to your question, not mine!).
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Did you prune them? because they only flower on old (1 year old wood)
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Would've thought they would've flowered by now. My fruits are a good size already.
Do you get birds? I think bluetits, bullfinches and pigeons are partial to the flowers. Or maybe the bush is too young yet.
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Did you prune them? because they only flower on old (1 year old wood)
No, I did not know that. Should I prune them a little now?
The bushes were planted in 2006 but haven't grown that well. They are Langley Gage, Leveller and have fruited (not a lot before). A Hinomaki Green planted nearby at the same time has loads of fruit.
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The way to prune gooseberries is to take out one or two older branches all the way down to the root, once they stop producing well. New runners will come up to replace them.
If the bush grows too large, shorten the new growth at the end of the growing season, but don't cut it all off or you lose you productive wood for next year.
It takes a couple of years to renew-prune a gooseberry bush back into shape and productivity, but it's well worth it.