Kitchen Garden Forum

I have a few gooseberry cuttings that have rooted and are now potted individually.

To grow them as cordons do I just let the leader go to the height required and keep all side branches cut back to 3 or 4 buds or is there more to it than that?

In addition, if I keep 2 leaders can I follow the same practice and produce a u shaped cordon or am I being to simplistic?

Good morning Mr P, i hope your in fine fettle today.
On Steve Partridges site he is doing twin cordon gooseberries, he should be able to give you some advice, hope this might help.
If you ever want any advice on being silly i'm your man, thinking about it i don't think you really need any help along those lines, do you.
Hope you get a nice lot done today.

Kind regards the cheeky Old Herbaceous.

I'm a hard man with a soft collar.

I have actually grown mine as 4 "legs", with the side shoots on each leg being pruned back to approx 2 inches in the backend of the year. This leaves the centre of the bush open, which reduces mildew etc, and gives good yields.

I find that that the number of legs depends on the number of strong sideshoots when the plant is small. It is important to get a good central stem, around 4-6 inches, before the legs start, as this allows room to mulch without each leg trying to root.