Moving Currant Bushes

[darloboy]

Hi

A fellow plot holder is giving her plot up, and is offering her well producing currant bushes to anybody who would like them.

I am interested in a couple for my second allotment, however that is a month away from being ready. So is there anything I can do to dig them out but keep them alive for a month before they get replanted? Or is this just not feasible?

I have no room on my current plot for them unfortunately!!

Thanks!

[veggiechicken]

Put them in pots - or compost bags? Its worth a try - you have nothing to lose

[darloboy]

Never thought about that, thanks! I suspect the roots are huge but there are plenty to choose from so I will give it a go!

[veggiechicken]

If you get a sheet of plastic or tarpaulin; put it down alongside the bush, dig it up with as much soil as you can and put it on the plastic. Then bundle up the plastic around the rootball and tie it up. Put it somewhere shady and make sure the soil is damp. Should be fine for a few weeks/months, until you're ready to replant.

[WendyC]

If they are blackcurrants you can prune out some of the fruiting stems now, and eat the fruit! This would help reduce water loss. Can't comment on other currants as I don't grow them!

[FB.]

With the heatwave at the moment, I think if you dig them out you will kill them.

[FB.]

With the heatwave at the moment, I think if you dig them out you will kill them.

To clarify: in hot weather their water usage will be high. The roots will be working at 100% capacity at the moment and still struggling to keep up with the plant demands.

The smaller roots at the edge of the root spread will be the ones finding most of the water - and they'll be the ones which break off easiest when the plant is dug out.
So even if you get 90% of the roots out, they'll mostly be tough older woody "structural" roots which can't absorb much water.

The finer roots (the thickness of cotton threads) will mostly be left behind, and it is these that will be absorbing most of the water - firstly because soft white roots absorb water more easily, and secondly because small soft white roots have a much greater surface area to mass ratio compared to woody roots.

If you must try to remove them, you might need to immediately sit them in a bucket of water. But sitting too long in buckets of water has its own problems - risking root-rot diseases or suffocation of roots.
However, the lost roots will take longer to grow back than the time many plants can tolerate being sat in water.

[FB.]

Hence why most plants are transplanted in winter, without leaves, and when the soil is damp - it gives the roots the best chance to recover before the leaves start to emerge and before the soil dries in summer.

[rustylady]

Hi

A fellow plot holder is giving her plot up, and is offering her well producing currant bushes to anybody who would like them.

I am interested in a couple for my second allotment, however that is a month away from being ready. So is there anything I can do to dig them out but keep them alive for a month before they get replanted? Or is this just not feasible?

I have no room on my current plot for them unfortunately!!

Thanks!

How long do you have before she actually gives the plot up? Just wondering whether they could stay where they are for a week or two.

[Paulieb]

As FB says its difficult in this weather to do anything that will guarantee a good success rate.

Itll take longer to get to a large bush stage but you could take semi ripe cuttings about now and over the next few weeks which should work. Find a 'how to' clip on youtube its fairly easy to follow. Or you could wait until the winter and take hard cuttings which are less faff.

[Nicos]

I'd agree with FB- but.....

I bought 2 small currant bushes from Lidl back in March.
As the area I intended to plant them into wasn't even prepared I put them in a bucket of water.
They grew leaves- then flowered- and fruited- and today I cropped fruit off them...and they are both still in the bucket of water!


What I'm getting at is that if you take the biggest root ball you can and stick them in a large bin with plenty of water they may well survive.

( and nope- my planting area still isn't anywhere near prepared!)

[FB.]

I'd agree with FB- but.....

I bought 2 small currant bushes from Lidl back in March.
As the area I intended to plant them into wasn't even prepared I put them in a bucket of water.
They grew leaves- then flowered- and fruited- and today I cropped fruit off them...and they are both still in the bucket of water!


What I'm getting at is that if you take the biggest root ball you can and stick them in a large bin with plenty of water they may well survive.

( and nope- my planting area still isn't anywhere near prepared!)

Interesting. Given my past serious problems with crown rot on fruit trees I'm always cautious about too much water and flooding. But evidently currants don't mind.
I must admit that my currants have always ben trouble-free, with very little pests and diseases apart from some gooseberry sawfly chewing the leaves.

So from Nicos' experiences I'd be happy to keep currants in water from a prolonged period. But not fruit trees!

[Two_Sheds]

I've moved mature blackcurrants at the "wrong" time of year: they all took. Bumper crops this week too.

I also stick all the pruned branches into the ground and 90% of them take, so cuttings are easy too, if you don't want the whole plant.

[FB.]

I've moved mature blackcurrants at the "wrong" time of year: they all took.

If done quickly, a lot of plants can be moved during the growing season. It's just this very warm and dry spell might tip them over the edge.

To examine exactly that, I recently did an experiment with a few M25 apple trees (the strongest apple roots available, for those not familiar) which I'd been growing in containers for a couple of years: they suffered virtually no loss of roots when planted-out about a week ago, and were well-watered after planting and most days since, yet one completely collapsed and died within a week and the other two suffered some brown leaves and dieback of shoot tips.

[Two_Sheds]

Yep you're right there.

I've finally learned not to plant things at all in dry hot spells, it's just pointless.