Moving redcurrants

[Motherwoman]

Well, push has come to shove and I'm giving up my smaller 5 rod plot, keeping the 10 rod plot and here's the problem... my fruit bushes are on the small plot. I'm not bothered about the gooseberries or blackcurrants as I've got some young ones on the big plot but my redcurrants have been in about 8 years and they groan with fruit every year. I will really miss them.

So I'd like to ask has anybody moved bushes this age? If so what's the best way to do it? Or would it be best to start afresh? Bearing in mind my tenancy will end on 31st August so everything that's going has to be gone by this point.

Thoughts please!

Motherwoman

[Elaine]

Hello MW. I posted a question about this and got some very good advice but I cannot find the post.
Fortunately, I didn't have your dilemma, I wanted to move mine because it was in completely the wrong place in the fruit cage and got in the way. In the end, I left it where it was as I didn't want to lose it...like yours, it produces so many fruits. I sacrificed the gooseberry bush it was over shadowing instead and prune the bits which get in the way.

Someone on here will give you good advice about moving them and it may be worth the risk. I would think moving them will give them a check and you probably won't get much fruit the following year, while they recover from their move.

If you don't risk it, will you always wonder whether it would have worked, as you watch them fruiting for the new tenant of your old plot?? (I would!)

Or if said new tenant digs them out?? (I definitely would)

Good Luck Motherwoman.

[peter]

Prune before move and get the biggest rootball you can manage, draghing it on a big sack or sheet rather than lifting.
I mean a hig clod with the bush in it.

Also keep it moist enough, but not wet.

[oldherbaceous]

Also soak the bushes 24 hours before digging them out, this not only let's the bushes take up a lot of water, it also helps to keep the soil on the rootball.

[Motherwoman]

Thanks all. I think I'll give it a go, cut back, soak and move. They either will or they won't.

MW

[PLUMPUDDING]

Take some cuttings. They root very easily and will fruit quickly too.

Mine came from some Red Lake cuttings I was given when I attended a pruning course at Arley Hall many years ago.

Have you looked underneath the bushes, as sometimes the lower branches root where they touch the ground and you can easily cut these off and plant them.

[Motherwoman]

That's an idea, I might find a ready rooted bit! Thanks.

[Motherwoman]

Well the deed is done. Cut back, soaked and moved one redcurrant. No handy small rooted bits so it's the whole bush. I thought it would be a good time to do it with all the rain we're supposed to get tomorrow.
I did find a rooted branch on my Invicta gooseberry so that's gone across to the plot I'm keeping as well. Loganberries came up easy so they are also moved. Everything else is being dug up and removed.

The redcurrants have got big roots! Blackcurrants not so bad and I'm finding a lot of slow worms. Don't know where they got that name, they wiggle off at a rate of knots!

MW

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Motherwoman, fingers crossed, but i'm sure they will be fine.

[Motherwoman]

Thanks OH, time will tell.

[Elaine]

I'm so glad you've "risked" moving them MW! I hope they continue to give you good crops.

I thought about it quite a bit after you first posted and decided I would definitely risk moving them, in your situation.. I would have been hopping mad if the new tenant dug them out or just harvested all "my" lovely fruit.

[Motherwoman]

Hi Elaine,

I hope they take, the thought of no redcurrant jelly for a few years is upsetting! But they've certainly had plenty of water so fingers crossed.

MW