How do you folks take your blackcurrant cuttings & when please?
When all the leaves have dropped..cut about 8-10 inches long bits out of your bush..new growth would be best..make a slit into ground and if you have sand or grit drop some of that into bottom of the slit....push the sticks in (right way up)halfway down, or so...heel them in..and leave it untill they have started making good amount of new growth.. ;)...then dig them up..plant them or pot them.. ;D
To be honest Janet, I wait until a dropped berry produces a new bush, then take up the baby in spring and pot it up.
Yes it does take a year or three to become a new bush but there are a lot of bushes where it is possible take several cuttings and stick them into the soil in autumn.
Then all those which 'have taken' are potted up in spring.
The process is the same from roses, to goji berries.
Just stick, a green branch (new growth) into a wedge made by the spade when plunging it into the earth. stick in the 'twig' then push the soil back to firm in place.
Take a few because some don't 'take' .
The method for taking 'rose cuttings' is exactly the same.
At autumn time there is always loads of space to put cuttings in, then come spring, as they start to leaf (or not) pot up those which have taken and the area can be reused for other stuff.
The new shoots this year from black currants are the ones which will produce fruit OR new bushes for next year.
Like that...
I take cuttings in late Sept.. remove leaves from lower half and pinch out tip. Leave about four leaves above ground and about 3" below them. I cut the base on a slant to make sure they are the right way up... :-[
That's what I thought. The lovely Alan on daughters site asked if I would like some cuttings, didn't want to say it was to early. He gave me a bunch of blackcurrant branches & told me to put them in a bucket of water & leave them for 6 weeks & they would have rooted. Well bless his cotton socks, he was right. I've just had a look after 4 weeks & they have rooted.
An elderly man gave him this tip years ago. I wonder if it would work with red & white currants too.
Yes it will... the only problem with this method (water bucket) is if the plant tries to grow now it can have too many leaves for the root area... the later in the season method builds up good roots before the new growth starts...
If they have roots on........Pot them up........nothing ventured.
Plant them any where there is room or put them in biggish pots. You do not need to use top quality potting compost, some decent soil will do.
I prune mine ,make a slit with a spade and push 'em in .I dig them up the following Nov and plant .Sorry I don't do sand or picking leaves off and to date have had an 80% success plants for free wonderful.I started with one plant and now have a very productive row we have lots of bags in the freezer and a gallon of wine in a demijohn bubbling away :)
He gave me about 10 so I will pot them up as we don't have room at the plot. A couple can go in our garden & daughter will have the rest. Alan himself has about 20 bushes mostly done with this method apart from his original 2.