How to take fruit bush cuttings

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How to take fruit bush cuttings

BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

Published: Wednesday, 24 April 2019 at 3:00 pm

Get new currant and gooseberry plants for free with this guide on taking cuttings from them.

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It's easy to propagate your favourite fruit bushes by taking hardwood cuttings from healthy plants over winter.

Suitable fruits include gooseberries, blackcurrants, whitecurrants and redcurrants and after about a year's time you'll be rewarded with healthy new plants, all for free.

As well as fruit bushes, you can also take hardwood cuttings in winter from lots of other woody perennials, including roses, viburnums, dogwoods, willow and forsythia.

Follow these easy steps to take cuttings from fruit bushes like blackcurrants and gooseberries.

You Will Need

Fruit bushes
Secateurs
Spade

Total time: 2 hours

Step 1

Taking hardwood cuttings

Select a healthy stem of the current season's growth, and cut it from the plant right at the base. Select only one or two stems from each bush.

Step 2

Reducing the cutting

Reduce the cutting down to 25-30cm long, trimming just below a bud at the base, and above a bud at the top. Remove soft growth at the stem tip. With redcurrants, whitecurrants and gooseberries, remove all but the top three or four buds to create a clear stem. Leave all the buds on blackcurrants.

Step 3

Making a vertical slit in the soil

Choose a warm, bright site with free-draining soil, and make a vertical slit in the soil with a spade. Then put a layer of sharp sand or grit in the base of the slit trench.

Step 4

Placing the cuttings in the slit

Insert the cuttings to about half their depth, spacing them about 20cm apart. Firm the soil back around them, then water in well. Water in dry spells and the cuttings should be ready to transplant in about a year's time.

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