Soft Fruit at Focus

Soft fruit

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All soft fruit must be planted in well-prepared soil with good amounts of organic material such as well-rotted farmyard manure, garden, spent mushroom or other proprietory planting composts added. They also benefit from a mulch of the same organic composts applied ideally during late winter before any new growth starts.

Bush soft fruit

Black, Red and Whitecurrants and Gooseberries are all grown as bush soft fruit and come in a range of varieties and are normally sold as bush-shaped plants either one or two years old. Limited numbers of standards and pre-trained cordon trees may also be available.

Growing them as individual plants or in rows at 1.2m (4ft) apart within the rows with 2m (6ft) minimum between rows is the accepted planting formula. There is no need to pay attention to varieties for pollination as all are self-fertile.

Pruning bush soft fruit

Attention to pruning will increase not only the size of the crop but the long-term wellbeing of the bush. The aim is to maintain an open habit that will allow sunlight to reach all the fruit and ripen it quickly.

Blackcurrants are pruned after fruiting and in the second and subsequent years after planting all fruited shoots are removed after the crop has been harvested. These should be cut off at ground level to make way for the newly developing shoots which will take their place.

In late Winter and early Spring, prune Redcurrents and Whitecurrants by reducing all the new side shoots produced in the previous year to 3.5cm (11/4) in length. Any leading shoots should be reduced to 12-15cm (5-6in) from the point at which they grew in the previous year.

During early summer any shoots arising from these cuts are again shortened back to within 12-15cm (5-6in) from their origins, so producing fruiting shoots or spurs.

In addition, throughout their lives, a short basal stem up to 30cm (12in) long should be retained with any growth growing from it removed.

Gooseberries are very similar with all the previous years shoots being reduced back to within 20-25cm (8-10)in) from their origin during late Winter and Spring and any strong crossing shoots removed. A short basal stem should be encouraged as with Red and Whitecurrants.

As many Gooseberry varieties have a weeping habit, any cuts wherever possible should be made to an upward and outward facing bud.

Cane soft fruit

Raspberries produce an annual crop of new canes which are most often sold in bundles of 5 or 10, bare-rooted, between Autumn and early Spring from certified pest and disease-free stock. Plants may be found in containers but care must be taken not to plant too late in the spring if a good root system is to be established before the cane naturally dies.

	A number of varieties are available for both summer or autumn fruiting and in addition to the traditional red fruits there are also golden yellow and white fruiting varieties.
	Raspberries normally require some form of framework to be tied to and this is best provided with posts and wires up to 2m (6ft) high. They should be planted 50cm (18in) apart in rows with up to 2m (6ft) between the rows in an open sunny position.

Pruning cane soft fruit

With summer fruiting varieties, in the first early Spring after planting, the canes should be reduced to 23cm (9in) in height. In the following years the fruited canes should be removed to ground level once the crop has been harvested.

Autumn fruiting varieties are cut to ground level in the early Spring and the resulting canes fruit in the following Autumn. They normally do not require support.

Loganberries, Blackberries, Boysenberries, Tayberries and Wineberries produce their fruit on the two year old shoots on long canes which require the support of posts and wires or fences and walls, often up to 2m (6ft) high.

Pruning - in the Spring of year one, all canes should be cut to within 5cm (2in) of ground level and the resulting new canes tied to the supports to flower and fruit in the following year.

Once they have flowered and fruited in the Summer all fruiting canes should be removed to ground level. All the new shoots are then tied to the support at 50cm (18in) intervals with any surplus or weak canes being removed.