Starting new currant bushes

[womble]

Can I take some cuttings of black and red currants and stick them in the soil now, to get new plants?

[Hans Mum]

Black currants you need to do in Autumn, I did mine last year when i cut some old growth out & generally tidied them up, i cut them into 12" ish lengths dipped into rooting powder & stuck about 12 of them in a 12" pot. They've all rooted & are putting on good leaf growth & according to my book I need to pot them on into individual pots this autumn.

Dont know about red or white yet but apparently you treat these like goodberries???

[bobleponge]

Currant bushes are pretty hardy things, over the last few years I've taken plenty of cuttings and they have all taken.
That said, they have all been done in Autumn. However, they have 2 chances do they not? If your currant bushes are anything like mine, you could spare a couple of cuttings and give them a try.
I did take some kiwi cuttings late last summer to give to friends as they were going back to UK, but none of them grew, as the cuttings were taken too early.

[ginger ninger]

I've taken new growth cuttings before also old wood cuttings both successfully, the new growth ones were from the bit's you prune off, I stripped the bottom few leaves off shoved then in some seed compost round the edge of an eight inch pot, 8 to a pot put them in the green house in the shade and left them well alone, watered them sparingly and hay presto...new plant's.

[rustylady]

You could, they usually root fairly easily. You don't need to use pots just dig a slit trench on a spare bit of ground, put them in fairly deep so the tops are showing about four inches and water in well. Usual time to take cuttings is when you prune the bushes after fruiting.

[womble]

Thankyou all, I've just changed my mind actually and am going to buy a couple of whitecurrants instead to fill the space. I've probably got enough red and black.