Bloodcurrants are grateful spring bloomers. They are undemanding to care for and do not necessarily need to be cut. You should only use scissors if the bloodcurrant has become too large. What you need to pay attention to when cutting.
When and how should you cut bloodcurrants?
Bloodcurrants are ideally cut immediately after flowering in May. Shoot tips should be carefully shortened by a maximum of a third without cutting into the old wood. Radical pruning should be avoided as it impairs the ability to flower.
How to cut bloodcurrants?
- Pruning immediately after flowering
- Short shoots only slightly
- Care cutting in autumn or spring
- Removing diseased branches
- Remove water bullets
- Never cut into old wood
Cut immediately after flowering
The bloodcurrant develops most flowers on two-year-old shoots. If you cut them off, you will wait in vain for them to bloom next spring. The shrub should therefore only be cut very carefully.
If you want to shorten shoots, the best time to do this is right after flowering in May. Be careful when cutting, because every cut shoot tip means the loss of flowers for the following year.
Carefully shorten the shoot tips
When shortening individual shoots, cut off a maximum of a third of the branch. There should be an outward-facing eye directly under the cut so that the bloodcurrant sprouts more quickly.
Cut off dry branches directly at the trunk. Be careful not to damage the old wood. You can safely shorten transverse shoots. Hardly any flowers develop on them. This gives the plant more air.
In addition to the main shoot of the bloodcurrant, new, thin shoots often grow out of the ground, so-called water shoots. You should remove these. They don't bloom and take unnecessary energy away from the plant.
Never cut back bloodcurrants radically
A radical pruning would involve removing all of next year's flower heads. If your bloodcurrant isn't blooming, it may be because you cut off too many shoot tips the previous year.
If you need to prune the plant because it has become too large or out of shape, do this work either just before frost begins or in early spring.
Keep in mind that a complete pruning of the bush does not make sense in order to stimulate the flowering of the bloodcurrant.
Tips & Tricks
Bloodcurrants are very suitable for planting in flowering hedges. They are undemanding and do not spread as much as other plants. They therefore do not necessarily need to be cut, which makes maintaining the hedge much easier.