Grafting/Mixing Currants?

[jennycoppock]

Hi everyone, i'm new here and in truth a newbie "budding" gardener.
I had a go at grafting a few days ago - my dog decided to chew my plum tree in half! Whether it has been a success will have to be seen...

But it got me thinking... I've got black currant, red currant and whitecurrant bushes.

If I was to attempt to graft any branches onto each other would it work? And if it was to work, what would possibly happen? Will I end up with a bush producing red and whitecurrants on different branches, or would they mix and become a pink?

Any thoughts would be gratefully accepted!
Thanks
Jenny Coppock

[Strawberry delight]

Welcome to the vine! Sorry,im not sure. You would propaply get a bush that produced different ones.

[FB.]

I've never tried cross-grafting currants as they are very easy to root from cuttings taken as the leaves turn autumn-colour. They'd probably root fairly well from cuttings taken right now I'd guess - although autumn is best as the roots are often growing slowly all winter while the above-ground part is dormant.

The success rate of pencil-sized cuttings taken as the leaves start to fall is probably over 90%.
Grafting tends to be used where the plant concerned is very difficult to root from cuttings. This applies to most fruit trees (apple, pear, plum), although a few varieties will root.

I suspect that cross-grafting red/white/black currants would have a good chance of success as they're closely related.
Each part of the plant would continue to produce fruit that is virtually the same as the plant it came from - so you'd have red, white and black currants on one bush.
However, there may be a slight influence from the other parts of the plant, which could slightly affect the vigour of the grafted part, and also affect flowering time, fruit size, fruit ripening - and maybe slightly intensify or slightly reduce the depth of colour of the red or black currants.

Also bear in mind that grafts can pass virus infection from one plant to another; a virus which one variety tolerates may be damaging to another. But if the plants have all been living together, then they've probably all got the same viruses by now anyway (spread by various insects and - I think - root nematodes).

[jennycoppock]

Thank you!
I've got all three bushes and thought it would be cool to have one bush with several types of currants - very colourful!
Thanks for the advice, I think i'll give it a try this autumn and see what happens - it will be an interesting experiment
I'll probably take some cuttings as well from each bush, maybe try and graft a few together just to see if I can make any join.
Should be fun
Many Thanks!
Jen

[FB.]

Fruit trees are normally grafted in late winter. I've just recently begun my grafting for this year.
Cuttings are normally taken in early autumn.

For a beginner, I'd suggest using a stanley knife to perform a "saddle graft" - a V-shaped notch is cut in one piece and the other piece is cut with a taper to slot inside the V.
Make sure that the greenish layer just under the bark is in at least partial contact; the greenish layer is where new wood will be produced to heal the graft.
Bind it together with some electricians tape or some clingfilm - and an extra pair of hands is very useful.

[Dottie]

Sounds like you enjoy the process, and if it works out and you have a multi fruit currant, it will feel great to have created your own variety. I'd have thought it would be like the dual cherry, apple and pear trees that are ideal for folk with limited space. But if your starting plant is a blackcurrant, then it might just take over?

[kirk765432]

I have attempted to graft to a currant

I have an apple tree, a Battleford, and I have attempted to graft a scion from the tree to a currant bush in the yard. Currants seem to grow well in Kodiak, Alaska, and rabbits seem not to bother them.

I was wondering if someone, who knows what they are doing, would be interested in attempting to graft an apple scion onto a currant bush, and then post the results of the experiment?

I will let you all know how my experiment goes.

[ameno]

I have to wonder how successful a duo bush of black and red/whitecurrants would be. The way they fruit, and thus the way they are pruned, is quite different, and so although the graft may well take, I feel like one side would soon take over the other as a result of the differing pruning regimes.

White and redcurrants, however, should pose no problems. They are both actually the same species, after all. Whitecurrants are basically just albino redcurrants.

I have an apple tree, a Battleford, and I have attempted to graft a scion from the tree to a currant bush in the yard. Currants seem to grow well in Kodiak, Alaska, and rabbits seem not to bother them.

I was wondering if someone, who knows what they are doing, would be interested in attempting to graft an apple scion onto a currant bush, and then post the results of the experiment?

I will let you all know how my experiment goes.

An apple onto a currant?
That'll never work. They need to be closely related, in most cases the same genus, in order for grafting to work. If they are too genetically different, it simply won't take. Apples and currants aren't even in the same family.