Moving mature currant bushes

[sewer rat]

I have the chance to get my hands on 15 mature blackcurant bushes. These bushes were cut back last year (they apparently were supposed to be ripped out then but weren't).
If I dig them up and move them ( will get four in each trailer load) when is the best time to do this and will they transplant satisfactorily ? They are quite large and have about two ft of fresh green growth on them at the moment, but no fruit - I assume because they were cut back hard.
Any and all advice welcome.

[Tam]

I have moved adult currant bushes in the autumn and in the spring. I am inclined to prefer moving bigger plants in springtime as I think they start growing so quickly then and I have seen others fail with Autumn planting. However, I have never had problems with black and red currants and gooseberries. The usual rules apply - as big a rootball as you can manage and the quicker the better; although currants appear quite difficult to kill as they are quite tough plants.

[Tam]

I meant to also say to plant them quite deeply, so that you will have plenty of new stems each year and they will go on for years. I have plants in the garden that are over thirty years old and still producing heavily.

[Two_Sheds]

I moved mine in late spring/early summer (just before they fruited) and although it was the "wrong time of year" they did fine.
Puddle them in well, of course

[Paulottie]

I moved loads of blackcurrants just after fruiting (this time 2 years ago.) They were full of couch and ground elder though so I split each bush into three (in the shade) and washed off all soil and extracted any trace of weed roots. I kept them in pots till the following spring. (to check weed free and allow me to prepare the home) 18/18 success and a reasonable harvest this year.

I tried the same trick in spring with a weedy gooseberry and now have three healthy weed free plants....birds had the fruit though as I arrived too late with the netting


one afterthought...make sure of your source as blackcurrants can be full of big bud mite.

[Snadger]

You and I both know they should be moved when they are dormant rat, but they are such hardy resilient buggers that I have found they will transplant easily at any time of the year as long as you take plenty of soil with them and give them copious ammounts of water.