Gooseberry is one of the favorite berry bushes of many gardeners, which gives many new young shoots every year. Numerous shoots thicken the plant and create inconvenience when picking berries. In addition, in an unkempt bushy crown of a bush, there is a high risk of developing fungal diseases. To avoid all these inconveniences, it is necessary to prune and shape the shrub in time.
The gooseberry starts growing earlier than many other berry bushes, for this reason, you need to cut the gooseberry in the fall, around the end of October - early November.
In the first year of the shrub's life, new root shoots grow on the cut bushes, 5-6 of the strongest are left, and the rest of the shoots is cut off.
In the second year, they do the same procedure as in the first, do it after the leaf fall.
By the end of the third year, 25-30 branches of various ages should remain in the formed bush. These shoots are the backbone of a well-formed gooseberry bush. Starting from the fourth year, all new shoots are cut out or replaced with broken old ones.
When pruning a shrub, it must be borne in mind that the main gooseberry crop is given by skeletal branches at the age of 3-6 years.
Old, overgrown gooseberry bushes are rejuvenated by radical pruning. All diseased, broken and old branches, as well as thickening branches and frail young shoots are cut off.
