Easy new fruit bushes and plants

[zazen999]

Whenever I prune back my fruit bushes, I take the sappy growth, cut it just below a leaf bud, strip most of the leaves back and stick it in soil to make new bushes, which I then give away to people.

You can put them in pots, but a couple of easy ways to do it are to use an old grow bag, poke holes in it and then stick the cutting in - or to upturn a small pallet, fill with soil and use that to stick your cuttings in. Here's some from last week [in a growbag] and in the spring [already rooted, in a pallet bed]. These are Gooseberry Pax.

Also, as your strawbs throw out runners; pop one of these free trays nearby, and fill with compost. As each new runner starts to grow - either aim them at the tray so that they can root in the compost, or cut it off as soon as you start to see roots, and dunk them in the compost to grow on. Once they all have their own root system, you can simply pop them out and replant where you want them.

[redser]

Very kind, cheers

[redser]

doh forgot to finish. I experimented with strawberry runners and found something interesting. If you can find an older well developed runner with the roots about to bulge out, one thing you can do is cut the runner off a couple of inches below that root area and pop it in water. The roots will grow just like tomato slips do. The pot it up and away you go. I grew my strawberries through weed fabric and sometimes found it tricky rooting some of the runners in pots sat on top of the fabric. So I tried this.