gooseberry cuttings

[the big lebowski]

hi all.
i have just taken some cuttings from my sweet red gooseberry bush and have put them in pots with potting compost its the 1st time i`ve taken cuttings any tips or advice welcome ,cheers

[boundtothesoil]

It's quite early to be taking gooseberry cuttings. Normally, you'd wait until the winter and the leaves have fallen off. The problem with ' leaves on' is that they will lose water by transpiration, but as there are no roots on the cutting (yet), it can't take up water, hence the cutting may dry out and die. You might be lucky though, particularly if you keep the soil/compost really moist for the first few weeks, as gooseberry cuttings are good rooters. I usually take gooseberry cuttings of 6-9 inches length in December or January, inserting around 3 inches into the soil.

[Farmer_Gyles]

i'm hoping to move house before christmas .... i want to take some gooseberry cuttings before i move ....
what wood is best to use for the cuttings?
what do i plant them in? soil? compost? i'll be keeping them in large pots for the time being
do i need some of that rooting powder?

i'm also hoping to take cuttings from red/black/white currants too - do i do exactly the same with them?

[the big lebowski]

thanks for that i also want to take cuttings from current bushes too but will wait for winter time i`ll keep you posted on how many of my cuttings survive ,cheers

[Snadger]

I usually just 'layer' gooseberries. Very easy to do, just rest a brick on wayward branches (or peg down if you are posh!) and they will root very easily where they touch the soil. If you want to speed it up you could scrape a bit of bark off the bottom but I never bother!
I am slowly converting my gooseberry bushes to standards from layered plants to make them easier to pick!

[Guest]

Layering does work well. I took cuttings around this time last year all I done was stuck them in compost and left them to the elements. I do the no fuss approach and my plants know it - they have 2 options!
9 out of 12 cuttings took.

[Noosner]

I usually just 'layer' gooseberries. Very easy to do, just rest a brick on wayward branches (or peg down if you are posh!) and they will root very easily where they touch the soil. If you want to speed it up you could scrape a bit of bark off the bottom but I never bother!
I am slowly converting my gooseberry bushes to standards from layered plants to make them easier to pick!

Aha, I think I 'layered' a gooseberry bush accidentally last year - it looked as if the bush had sent out a runner. Thanks for the explanation!

[pigletwillie]

Wait till winter, when you prune take 6" lenghts and prune just below a bud at the bottom and just above a bud at the top. Dont bother with pots as they dry out too readily. Just find a piece of spare ground, plunge a spade in and wiggle it to make a slit, put several cuttings in each and using your foot close the slit.

Return in the spring and most if not all will have struck and you can then either pinch the tops out to make a bush or grow as standards.

[spanish_gardener]

Last year I took cuttings from 10-15 gooseberries and not even one took. Also, I took over 30 raspberries cuttings and around 10 -15 redcurrant, blackcurrant, etc. and non of them took either. I'm going to try again this winter.

[planetologist]

With blackcurrants I've had more success rooting cuttings in a jar of water rather than soil.

[starloc]

Every time I prune any currents, gooseberries, grapes or most other things I just chop the lump of plant off, take a few leaves off at the bottom, sometimes dip in rooting powder and stick into the closest plant pot that doesnt look too full
Almost every one roots, any time of year
I never cover them or keep them out of frost as long as the plant is ok with cold weather, in the summer they tend to be under another plant growing in the pot to shield them from sun

[Aberdeenplotter]

Wait till winter, when you prune take 6" lenghts and prune just below a bud at the bottom and just above a bud at the top. Dont bother with pots as they dry out too readily. Just find a piece of spare ground, plunge a spade in and wiggle it to make a slit, put several cuttings in each and using your foot close the slit.

Return in the spring and most if not all will have struck and you can then either pinch the tops out to make a bush or grow as standards.

I do exactly the same except I prune mine in springtime. I rarely find that any fail to take.

[BUFFS]

I prune unwanted stems after the leaves start to fall and shove them in the side of a veg bed with 2ins left showing and they will be rooted by april/may and used for swaps, so now this method has given me about 15-20 young plants a year, I started with 2 sticks from a pound shop and now have 9 mature plants which gives me 2 big bucketfuls each year, so now I swop or donate, I do find It sad when kids don't know what they are so I let them get really ripe and sweet and give bagfuls to families with young kids, they always pull a face til they taste them and we have had a 5yr old turning up at the door asking for any more we had, so they now have 3 bushes which they keep an eye on waiting for them to go red, and they come and tell me how they are getting on.....

[Jonny.D]

Wait till winter, when you prune take 6" lenghts and prune just below a bud at the bottom and just above a bud at the top. Dont bother with pots as they dry out too readily. Just find a piece of spare ground, plunge a spade in and wiggle it to make a slit, put several cuttings in each and using your foot close the slit.

Return in the spring and most if not all will have struck and you can then either pinch the tops out to make a bush or grow as standards.

I did a few in pots to give away though the ones that went into the ground are doing much better