Gooseberry is a fruit bush that does not require much maintenance. But when it gets old, after a few years, it produces less fruit. To renew the legs, it can then be cut in late autumn or early winter, a period that also corresponds to the blackcurrant Pruning Gooseberries season. The advantage of this technique is that we get fruits that are exactly the same as the mother plant.

Dark twigs and light brown wood

We should already start by clearly distinguishing the different blackcurrant woods:

• The darker, almost black stems are the oldest. We will not be interested in them here.
• We will look for rather light colored strains, which we select as much as possible. These are actually the branches of the year.

Cutting the black currant, step by step

• With the pruning shears, we cut pieces of about 20 cm from the young branches located in the upper parts. To tip the odds in your favor, you should cut just below one bud at a time. New roots will form at these nodes.

© Gardensharing

• Here are the cuttings taken: you can see the size made under a bud and the number of buds (7 to 8) retained on both sides of the stem.
• On the other hand, you can cut the tip (1 to 2 cm) of each cut, a little too tender.
• Then group the cuttings prepared by 3. These 3 cuttings placed on the foot of a pot will allow you to get a single foot because it is a bush that grows in clumps.
• If you have a small corner of a raised vegetable garden, this is ideal! The soil is generally rich, thin and airy: the best for successful transplants!
• But you can also use jars. They should then be filled with good garden soil and light sand.
• Dig a fairly deep and wide hole (15 cm in all directions). We will need this place to place the 3 cuttings that we will bury almost to their full height.
• We have zoomed in here to show you the arrangement of the 3. They form a triangle at the base 5cm on each side. This is why we talk about a cut at the foot of a pot.
• Backfill, making sure to tap around the cuttings a bit with your fingers to bring the stems into contact with the fine soil. There it happened!
• When the roots form in the spring, all 3 should be taken to form a single bush. You can immediately plant this young gooseberry in its last place in your garden! Don’t forget it appreciates a rich, deep soil that stays cool in the summer!

You can find all these tips in this video: