When And How Do You Prune Gooseberry Bushes?

Last updated on October 23rd, 2023 at 08:31 pm

The size of the harvest of delicious gooseberry fruit each summer depends largely on the regular pruning of the bushes. Annual care and maintenance pruning of gooseberries provides abundant fruit with particularly large berries. In this article you will learn which simple techniques have proven successful for pruning gooseberries as shrubs and high stems, tricks that make pruning your gooseberries easier, how to achieve the optimum harvest and how to get rid of American gooseberry mildew.

Lush gooseberry harvests are only possible with regular pruning!

Gooseberries only produce high yields in the long run if they are pruned regularly. If they are not pruned, the harvest will be smaller from year to year until only a few of the delicious berries are left hanging on the bush. The reason: gooseberries form their fruits on the one to three year old wood. However, as soon as the shoots reach an age of over 4-5 years, they usually hardly bear any berries. Over time, the bush then consists mainly of old shoots that take away each other’s light. As a result, the berries become smaller and smaller and can hardly be reached during harvesting due to the dense and prickly branches.

Care pruning is therefore very important for gooseberries and is the basic requirement for the bushes to hang full of large delicious fruit every summer. Annual pruning keeps gooseberry bushes young and vital. With good care, a gooseberry bush can yield around 5 to 10 kg of the delicious berries per year. If you plant several gooseberries in the garden at the same time, you can therefore achieve considerable yields.

When is the ideal time to prune gooseberries?

Pruning is done once a year for gooseberries. The ideal time for this is in late winter between the end of February and the beginning of March. Since gooseberries have not yet sprouted leaves and flowers, it is much easier to see which shoots should be removed. Important: The day on which the pruning is done should be frost-free. Overcast days with no rain are ideal. In warmer and drier weather, fungi and other pests have less chance, as the pruning wounds heal better.

The perfect pruning: what is the ideal appearance of a gooseberry bush?

In order for gooseberries to bear fruit abundantly, a certain pruning technique has proven successful. Therefore, after planting, the first thing that begins is the establishment phase. The aim of this phase is to grow strong new shoots in the next few years. The ideal gooseberry bush has a total of eight main shoots after the establishment phase. Of these, two are one-year-old, two are two-year-old, three are three-year-old and four are four-year-old main shoots, which together provide a lush harvest every year. Once the shrub has reached optimum establishment, pruning will follow in future years to maintain this condition.

Mark gooseberry shoots with colorful ribbons!

Old main shoots can be recognized by the fact that they are darker and woody. However, it is much easier to distinguish how old the individual shoots of the gooseberry are if you mark them with a colorful ribbon. Use a different color for each year. This way you can always tell at a glance how old the individual shoots of your gooseberry are.

Pruning gooseberries correctly – the growing phase

In the first years after planting gooseberries, eight main shoots are grown. To do this, select 3 – 4 of the annual and biennial shoots in the spring and cut them back to 25 cm. All other shoots are cut off at the base. The following year, in addition to the older shoots from the previous year, two of the new strongest shoots remain. The remaining new shoots are removed at the base. This is continued until the bush consists of two one-year, two-year, three-year and four-year shoots respectively. Now the gooseberry bush has reached the ideal structure, so that it regularly produces good yields. Now it is necessary to care for the gooseberry every year with the maintenance pruning, so that in the future it will continue to thrive and bear much fruit.

Properly care for gooseberries with topiary and maintenance pruning.

Maintenance pruning is used to rejuvenate the gooseberry each year so that the bush does not become over-aged or too dense after a few years. The gooseberry is therefore thinned out in the spring by removing dead wood. At the same time, weak, diseased or inward growing branches are cut off.

The next step is to rejuvenate the gooseberry bush. The two oldest main shoots are cut to the ground. These have reached an age of five years and hardly form berries. As a replacement, two strong new main shoots are selected to remain on the bush. The remaining new shoots should be removed at the base so that the gooseberry bush invests its strength in the strongest shoots and in fruiting. Two to three side shoots should remain on each main shoot; the fruit will grow on them later. All other side branches should be shortened to two buds.

Correct pruning of gooseberry bushes at a glance

Establishment phase
Start: after planting
Ideal pruning time: February/ March
Goal: Gooseberry bush with a total of 8 main shoots

• 2 one-year shoots
• 2 two-year shoots
• 2 three year old shoots
• 2 four-year-old shoots

How to do it:

• Select 3 – 4 of the one and two year old shoots and cut back to 25 cm.
• Cut all other shoots down to the ground
• in the second year leave two of the strongest new shoots
• Remove the remaining new shoots at the base
• Continue until the shrub has reached the ideal condition

Shape and maintenance pruning

Thinning out annually in spring

• remove dead wood
• Cut off weak, diseased and inwardly directed branches

Annual rejuvenation

• Cut the oldest main shoots (5 years and older) down to the ground
• Select two strong new shoots and leave them standing
• Remove the remaining new shoots down to the ground
• Leave only 2 – 3 side shoots per main shoot
• Shorten the remaining side branches to 2 buds.

Correct pruning of gooseberry bushes

In addition to the classic form as a shrub, gooseberries are also available as high stems. Gooseberry stems have the advantage that the delicious berries are easier to harvest and are particularly decorative. However, high stems have a shorter life expectancy than the bushes and always need a stake for support.

Because of their growth habit, gooseberry stems tend to bald more quickly. Sometimes it is enough if no pruning is done in a single year, so that the gooseberry tree gets out of shape and produces less fruit. Pruning of high stems is carried out, in principle, in the same way as for shrubs.

The ideal time for pruning is also here, as with gooseberry bushes, between March and February. The stem should ideally consist of 5-8 main shoots. The first step in shaping and maintenance pruning is to remove dead wood and all those shoots that are too close together or rubbing against each other. About 5-8 of the strongest leading shoots growing towards the ground are retained, the rest are to be removed. Leading shoots older than four years are cut back to a new shoot growing at the base of the crown. On each of the main branches leave 2-3 strong side shoots and shorten the rest to 2 buds.

Gooseberry bush – pruning at a glance.

Shape and maintenance pruning of gooseberry high trunks

• the ideal stem consists of 5 – 8 main shoots
• annual topiary and maintenance pruning in February/March
• remove dead wood
• cut off shoots that are too close together
• cut back branches older than 4 years to the base
• select 5 – 8 of the strongest leader branches and leave them standing
• keep one strong new shoot each to replace the oldest leading branches
• remove all other branches growing towards the ground
• keep 2 -3 strong side shoots on each main branch
• cut back the remaining side shoots to 2 buds

cut off American gooseberry mildew in time
Older varieties of gooseberries, unlike newer cultivars, are often affected by the dreaded American gooseberry mildew. If you have an older variety in your garden that is repeatedly covered with powdery mildew, you can contain the fungus by pruning it back selectively. After the annoying fungus has covered the leaves, berries and shoots with the unsightly white coating, it allows its spores to overwinter in the main shoots. The infestation in the next summer is already pre-programmed.

To reduce or, in the best case, even prevent powdery mildew infestation in the following year, the infected main shoots should be shortened by 5 cm in autumn. This simply cuts away the fungal spores that survive in the branches. Pruning to eliminate American powdery mildew can still be done by spring at the latest. Infected shoots and branches are usually grayish brown and should then be removed to the base.