Pruning Berry Fruits

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31729, 12 July 1968, Page 6

Pruning Berry Fruits

Berry fruits of some kind or another are to be found in most gardens and these perhaps decline more rapidly than any other fruiting subjects in vigour, manageability and fruiting capabilities if not regularly pruned. With such neglect, too, pests and diseases have every opportunity to get well established and spread. The task of pruning berry fruits, by which is included currants, raspberries and allied berries and such vinebearers as passion fruit and grapes, is relatively simple. It is hoped to indicate this by the following advice which may help towards maintaining high level production. As with other fruiting subjects which are to be pruned, it is necessary to know the fruiting habits of the berry fruit to be pruned and then to make an appraisal of each individual plant before commencing to prune. Recognition of the different wood is essential. Then follows the removal of dead, diseased, broken, overcrowded, weak or spindly growth after which more detailed attention can be given. Only sharp tools should be used, and avoid leaving stubs. Chinese Gooseberries Fruit only from the first three to five buds on new shoots of the current season’s growth. The objective when pruning these various vines is to keep them within bounds but at the same time maintaining maximum productivity. The most straightforward system of pruning them is by the renewal method. This consists of replacing as many of the old horizontally trained canes which have just borne fruit with new ones. Old canes which cannot be replaced should be shortened back to new growth which are long enough to replace the portion removed. This pruning should be accomplished in winter before the sap begins to rise, a feature which can lead to unstoppable bleeding and possible death of the cane.

Summer pruning will probably be necessary also with plants which are thriving. The purpose at that time of year is to remove unwanted canes and to shorten fruit bearing laterals to avoid overcrowding and let in more sunlight The renewal system described above Is recommended more for vines supported by a wire fence. The spur system is more suitable for Chinese gooseberries which are trained on posts and pergolas. It is identical to the method adopted for the training of grape vines. Grapes These are borne in bunches on the current season’s growth of laterals developing from one year and older canes.

Fruit is generally carried on the first twelve inches of those laterals. Pruning is very simple indeed if done with regularity. It entails the spurring back of old fruited laterals to two basal buds from the main rod, thus leaving short spurs only along its entirety. All other growths should be removed. Summer pruning is also a worth-while procedure. As with Chinese gooseberries, this attention is given in January. It is done as before to restrict excessive growth and overcrowding, to provide ventilation and assist in ripening by allowing better filtration, as against exposure, of sunlight to the fruit. Where new grapes have been planted, these should be pruned back to two buds on the strongest shoot and all other growths removed. Passion Fruit This is yet another vine which carries its fruit on current season’s growth. If left unpruned these plants soon become a tangled mass of entwined vines which are impossible to cope-with and prone to disease. The general aim should be to keep the plant as free as possible. The thinning, cutting out or cutting back of

lateral growth, especially that which has fruited, will go a long way’ towards ensuring this.

Gradual replacement of leaders and shortening back of older ones which are too long is also advisable to maintain vigour. Leaders which require shortening should be cut back to a lateral rather than a dormant bud because of the fact that passion fruit are prone to die-back. Pruning should not be commenced until the dangers of spring frosts have receded but should not be left too late unless late cropping is desired—a feature really only suitable for favourablysituated plants. October Is the suggested period to carry out the job. Boysenberriea

This fruit, loganberries and allied hybrid berries are produced on one-year-old canes, that is growth made in the previous season, and all too often neglect in training them makes the task of picking and pruning very difficult Not only that but production suffers greatly and such diseases as cane spot and cane wilt become rampant As fruiting wood consists of one-year-old canes only, which then die, these spent canes must be cut out at ground level every winter and remaining growths thinned out to retain only the healthiest and most vigorous. If the plants are correctly trained, using the best method of three or four spaced wires between supporting posts, the retained canes should be tied down to the lower wires. Young growth which arises In the preceding spring and early summer can then be kept separate and tied to the upper wires until needed. In this way not only are the different canes kept apart to ease the task of subsequent pruning but pests and diseases can be better controlled. During the growing season some reduction of new growth could be maintained if excessive. . (To be concluded.)