gooseberry

[annie8]

Looks like my gooseberry is putting out runners. There are a couple of new shoots appearing a bit away from the main plant. Can I do something with them or should I just pull up?

[nickdub]

You can cut them off from the main bush, preferably below ground level and grow them on to make new bushes. Try to lift as much root as you can with them as now the plants are growing strongly they need a lot of roots to say alive. Alternatively leave them where they are until the winter when moving them will be easier when the bush is dormant.

[Bonjour]

A couple of mine have self-layered like that. One of the babies I accidentally pulled out in winter time. I stuck it in a pot and it is now growing on quite nicely. The other is still in the ground and attached to the parent. It's clearly growing independently now, so I'll snip it off and let it grow until it goes dormant, then I'll move it.

[annie8]

So I took three of the ‘Runners’ and planted them up into pots. All are doing fine but were growingS a single stem and thought they were looking a spindly. So I thought I snipped off the top to see if they bushed out a bit. They didn’t and are now they are just growing back in one stem again. Biggest is maybe 20cm. Still looking healthy but not sure if they are going to end up a bit straggly. I was thinking I would plant them into one of the raised beds soon before the ground cools down too much. Any thoughts?

[ameno]

They likely didn't bush out because the plant and roots are still small. If you cut off the growing point once they get a bit larger they should bush out.
Alternatively, you could take advantage of a single long stem and try growing them as mini standards. I have a standard gooseberry, with about 12 inches of "trunk", and it does well.

[Plot70]

On mine the fruiting branches weigh down until they touch the ground.
I just snip and dig up the new plant and give it away.

[annie8]

Have put the 3 wee plants in a raised bed. So far so good, they certainly haven’t been chomped any more and not died so far.