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feeling fruity

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Mrs Ava:
I know I have only had the plot for a week, but planning ahead...I was wondering.....do you think it is okay to dig up my currant bushes from the backgarden and shift them to my lottie...or is it still to early, should I wait another few weeks for autumn to really set in?

cheers....EJ

gavin:
Hi Emma Jane - unless you have to move the bushes from your garden, I'd be tempted just to take cuttings.

Take 10 inch cuttings of healthy shoots in autumn. Strip the lower leaves, push them into soil in a "nursery bed" (ie, an appropriate corner!) until two buds are left showing.

Cuttings root very readily, and should be ready for planting out in one or two years.

All best - Gavin

PS If the cuttings take (as they probably will) you may find you have many more bushes than you can use!

Mrs Ava:
Hiya.....yep, gotta move them.  3 are growing in totally the wrong place, shaded by a neighbours huge conifer, so they aren't performing as they should, plus, I have grown so many flowery type plant things that I really need the space.

I always have more plants than I can cope with as I stick the prunings in the ground, and they always root!  I have given them to my childrens playgroup, friends and family!  Wouldn't mind, but I am one of the few people I know who really loves currants!

Emma

gavin:
Hi Emma Jane,

Now I'm talking in ignorance - I'd try moving them, once they've gone to sleep for the winter; whether they take or not, will depend on how old they are, how wide their roots spread.

But I think I'd have the backup of doing it over a couple of years, if I had the time, and take a few cuttings this year; pop them into a free space.  Move them in, if necessary, to replace any failed moves of the established bushes.

I hope somebody with more experience of fruit bushes sees this - I'd like to know too!!!!!!!

Good luck - Gavin

Palustris:
Gavin is right, when the bushes are dormant is the best time to move them. But if you are in a hurry, you can actually move them at any time as long as you go about it the correct way (pompous that bit, but you know what I mean I hope). You need to dig with a sharp spade down around the bush say about 4-6 inches away from the ends of the branches to about a full spade depth, severing any roots you find. Then work your way under the shrub until you have freed it. Try not to disturb the root ball. Leave it where it is and dig the hole where it is going to go (Usual stuff for planting, food etc) Bring ther bush across across (wrap the roots in plastic bin sack and drag if too heavy) and away you go. OR you could just loosen the bush, yank it out of the ground by its main stem and plant it. Either way works. We moved our red currants last Spring just before the leaves appeared without bothering too much about it and they have produced the best crop of all time.

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