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I frequently prune gooseberries during the growing season.I do this primarily to reduce the side shoots on the canes. I prefer to have the plants open to make harvesting easier. I am sure that I lose some total capacity of fruit but I think that I make up for it with larger and better quality fruit, just as thinning peaches or bunch thinning grapes. Remember that dormant pruning is a stimulating process and that summer tends to be an inhibiting process.

 

One thing that I adhere to is that I do NOT tip or cut canes other than back to the base of the plant. Cutting a cane (heading it back) makes many side shoots or branchlets and that makes harvesting a bit harder and painful.

 

Ed Mashburn