Can anyone help me with some questions about planting a redcurrant bush?

[Mrscog]

DS1 (who is only 5) got a redcurrant bush for his birthday which he is delighted with. So I'm now feeling the burden of responsibility with planting it well! I've attached a picture.

On the planting instructions it says that once planted prune all the stems to 5cm above the ground! With all that lovely new growth coming is that right? I don't want to chop it all off for it all to die/not produce berries!

Redcurrants are usually pruned just after fruiting, as they flower and produce fruit on the previous year's wood. The rule of thumb is to take out 1/3 of the stems entirely and cut the rest down to 1/3 of their length. As it's quite young it will take a couple of years to establish and begin fruiting properly anyway, so I would just plant it as it is for now - you may get a few berries this year.

Thanks squashyhat It looks like it's already been cut back nicely (from what I can tell) so that's what I've done.

Fingers crossed for a few berries this year! DS was up at 6 to see if any had grown yet!!!!