Hi folks

I'm trying to root redcurrant cuttings, and getting nowhere. The last
of 3 batches of cuttings is now dying. They've been 2-3" long, with
most of the leaves taken off to slow water use, planted fairly deeply,
in compost thats kept almost wet, and with a variety of remaining leaf
areas. The results? In every case they look ok for a bit, but after
many days they very slowly die, starting at the outer leaf edges,
moving inward. No sign of rooting was ever found afterwards. Light
levels have varied from direct sun in batch 1 to more or less no
direct sun in batch 3.

What am I dont wrong? How can I get them to work?


NT

On 06/11/2011 15:08, NT wrote:
Hi folks

I'm trying to root redcurrant cuttings, and getting nowhere. The last
of 3 batches of cuttings is now dying. They've been 2-3" long, with
most of the leaves taken off to slow water use, planted fairly deeply,
in compost thats kept almost wet, and with a variety of remaining leaf
areas. The results? In every case they look ok for a bit, but after
many days they very slowly die, starting at the outer leaf edges,
moving inward. No sign of rooting was ever found afterwards. Light
levels have varied from direct sun in batch 1 to more or less no
direct sun in batch 3.

What am I dont wrong? How can I get them to work?


NT


I've never tried to root redcurrants, but I don't think one starts with
3" cuttings. This sounds as if you're using soft tip cuttings when, in
fact, you'd probably be better off using 9-10" hardwood cuttings in a
slit trench. I will check my propagation guide and come back to you.

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

On Sun, 6 Nov 2011 Spider wrote:

I'm trying to root redcurrant cuttings, and getting nowhere. The last
of 3 batches of cuttings is now dying. They've been 2-3" long, with
most of the leaves taken off to slow water use, planted fairly deeply,
in compost thats kept almost wet, and with a variety of remaining leaf
areas. The results? In every case they look ok for a bit, but after
many days they very slowly die, starting at the outer leaf edges,
moving inward. No sign of rooting was ever found afterwards. Light
levels have varied from direct sun in batch 1 to more or less no
direct sun in batch 3.

What am I dont wrong? How can I get them to work?

I've never tried to root redcurrants, but I don't think one starts with
3" cuttings. This sounds as if you're using soft tip cuttings when, in
fact, you'd probably be better off using 9-10" hardwood cuttings in a
slit trench. I will check my propagation guide and come back to you.

I agree with that. You need much longer cuttings and the wood needs to
be ripe. Don't try to root cuttings with leaves on but wait until
November/December and then do it. You'll find that next spring about 90%
of them will start growing. Always do more than you think you're going
to need to allow for failures.

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK
http://rance.org.uk

On 06/11/2011 15:19, Spider wrote:
On 06/11/2011 15:08, NT wrote:
Hi folks

I'm trying to root redcurrant cuttings, and getting nowhere. The last
of 3 batches of cuttings is now dying. They've been 2-3" long, with
most of the leaves taken off to slow water use, planted fairly deeply,
in compost thats kept almost wet, and with a variety of remaining leaf
areas. The results? In every case they look ok for a bit, but after
many days they very slowly die, starting at the outer leaf edges,
moving inward. No sign of rooting was ever found afterwards. Light
levels have varied from direct sun in batch 1 to more or less no
direct sun in batch 3.

What am I dont wrong? How can I get them to work?


NT


I've never tried to root redcurrants, but I don't think one starts with
3" cuttings. This sounds as if you're using soft tip cuttings when, in
fact, you'd probably be better off using 9-10" hardwood cuttings in a
slit trench. I will check my propagation guide and come back to you.



Right. I've checked in the prop. bible.

You need 12" hardwood cuttings.
Remove all but the top 3 or 4 buds, to avoid suckering later.
Insert the cuttings to half their length.

There seems to be nothing about soil type, temperature or watering.
I suggest you use a slit trench (in a sheltered spot in your garden)
with sharp sand in the bottom to aid drainage. Water to settle the soil
around them. Make sure they're set in firmly so that neither animal nor
wind can easily move them, but *don't* compact the soil.
I dare say you could also do this in a deep pot which is kept outdoors.

I suggest you don't keep the compost/soil quite so wet, as this can
cause rotting.

--
Spider
from high ground in SE London
gardening on clay

On Nov 6, 4:33*pm, David Rance wrote:
On Sun, 6 Nov 2011 *Spider wrote:



I'm trying to root redcurrant cuttings, and getting nowhere. The last
of 3 batches of cuttings is now dying. They've been 2-3" long, with
most of the leaves taken off to slow water use, planted fairly deeply,
in compost thats kept almost wet, and with a variety of remaining leaf
areas. The results? In every case they look ok for a bit, but after
many days they very slowly die, starting at the outer leaf edges,
moving inward. No sign of rooting was ever found afterwards. Light
levels have varied from direct sun in batch 1 to more or *less no
direct sun in batch 3.

What am I dont wrong? How can I get them to work?

I've never tried to root redcurrants, but I don't think one starts with
3" cuttings. *This sounds as if you're using soft tip cuttings when, in
fact, you'd probably be better off using 9-10" hardwood cuttings in a
slit trench. *I will check my propagation guide and come back to you.

I agree with that. You need much longer cuttings and the wood needs to
be ripe. Don't try to root cuttings with leaves on but wait until
November/December and then do it. You'll find that next spring about 90%
of them will start growing. Always do more than you think you're going
to need to allow for failures.

David

ahh thank you I'll do that. I read somewhere that 2" cuttings also
work, but... they arent doing.

cheers, NT

No idea specifically on redcurrant, but on general principles for cuttings:

1) You need to keep the air around the cuttings moist to reduce water loss so full sun is a very bad idea. I enclose the entire pot and cuttings in a plastic bag. Remember the leaves are pumping water out, but there are no roots to replace the lost water, so you need as little leaf as you can get away with, and try to reduce water loss as close as possible to zero.

2) cuttings take a long time. If you take them now, you shouldn't remove them from the pot until you can see roots coming out the bottom, which will be some time early next summer. So this makes 1) even more important!

3) compost needs to be moist but reasonably well drained (so as not to encourage mould), so you may need to add sharp sand to it. I do my cuttings in ordinary compost, but people who do a lot of cuttings take a lot more care over the soil.

4) "fairly deeply" is a bit shallow! My cuttings are 3-4 inches long, and I have less than an inch above the soil surface.

If you're having difficult with cuttings, it may be worth layering - take a branch of the parent bush, damage the bark a bit in one place on the underside, then peg the branch down so the damaged bit of bark is against the soil. This should generate roots. Once the roots are well established, you can cut the branch, gently dig up the new plant, and transplant it to where you want it. The advantage is that the "cutting" is still getting food and water from the parent plant while it's growing its new roots.

On Sun, 6 Nov 2011 NT wrote:

I'm trying to root redcurrant cuttings, and getting nowhere. The last
of 3 batches of cuttings is now dying. They've been 2-3" long, with
most of the leaves taken off to slow water use, planted fairly deeply,
in compost thats kept almost wet, and with a variety of remaining leaf
areas. The results? In every case they look ok for a bit, but after
many days they very slowly die, starting at the outer leaf edges,
moving inward. No sign of rooting was ever found afterwards. Light
levels have varied from direct sun in batch 1 to more or *less no
direct sun in batch 3.

I've never tried to root redcurrants, but I don't think one starts with
3" cuttings. *This sounds as if you're using soft tip cuttings when, in
fact, you'd probably be better off using 9-10" hardwood cuttings in a
slit trench. *I will check my propagation guide and come back to you.

I agree with that. You need much longer cuttings and the wood needs to
be ripe. Don't try to root cuttings with leaves on but wait until
November/December and then do it. You'll find that next spring about 90%
of them will start growing. Always do more than you think you're going
to need to allow for failures.

ahh thank you I'll do that. I read somewhere that 2" cuttings also
work, but... they arent doing.

If the wood is ripe you *might* get some to strike but safer to use
longer cuttings.

I do currants (red and black) in exactly the same way that I do vine
cuttings and I get around 80-90% striking. This may help:

http://rance.org.uk/cuttings.htm

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK
http://rance.org.uk

On Nov 6, 3:08*pm, NT wrote:
Hi folks

I'm trying to root redcurrant cuttings, and getting nowhere. The last
of 3 batches of cuttings is now dying. They've been 2-3" long, with
most of the leaves taken off to slow water use, planted fairly deeply,
in compost thats kept almost wet, and with a variety of remaining leaf
areas. The results? In every case they look ok for a bit, but after
many days they very slowly die, starting at the outer leaf edges,
moving inward. No sign of rooting was ever found afterwards. Light
levels have varied from direct sun in batch 1 to more or *less no
direct sun in batch 3.

What am I dont wrong? How can I get them to work?

NT


Perhaps a fungal attack. Water with some Cheshunt compound in it.

NT wrote:
I'm trying to root redcurrant cuttings, and getting nowhere. The last
of 3 batches of cuttings is now dying. They've been 2-3" long, with
most of the leaves taken off to slow water use, planted fairly deeply,
in compost thats kept almost wet, and with a variety of remaining leaf
areas. The results? In every case they look ok for a bit, but after
many days they very slowly die, starting at the outer leaf edges,
moving inward. No sign of rooting was ever found afterwards. Light
levels have varied from direct sun in batch 1 to more or less no
direct sun in batch 3.

What am I dont wrong? How can I get them to work?

Umm. I may be completely off the mark here, but ... it's autumn. My
redcurrant plants are all already leafless and wintery. I am not surprised
yours are losing their leaves.

I would have thought spring cuttings would be more likely to get somewhere.
Maybe if you leave the ones you have that are losing their leaves until
spring, they might leaf up again?

On Sun, 6 Nov 2011 Vicky wrote:

I'm trying to root redcurrant cuttings, and getting nowhere. The last
of 3 batches of cuttings is now dying. They've been 2-3" long, with
most of the leaves taken off to slow water use, planted fairly deeply,
in compost thats kept almost wet, and with a variety of remaining leaf
areas. The results? In every case they look ok for a bit, but after
many days they very slowly die, starting at the outer leaf edges,
moving inward. No sign of rooting was ever found afterwards. Light
levels have varied from direct sun in batch 1 to more or less no
direct sun in batch 3.

I would have thought spring cuttings would be more likely to get somewhere.
Maybe if you leave the ones you have that are losing their leaves until
spring, they might leaf up again?

No, if the wood isn't ripe it won't work, therefore spring cuttings are
a no-no. See my earlier replies.

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK
http://rance.org.uk

On Sun, 6 Nov 2011 17:37:56 +0000, David Rance
wrote:


I do currants (red and black) in exactly the same way that I do vine
cuttings and I get around 80-90% striking. This may help:

http://rance.org.uk/cuttings.htm

David


I did blackcurrant cuttings using the prunings and I have a handful to
plant out at some point.
--
http://www.voucherfreebies.co.uk

On 06/11/2011 17:35, kay wrote:
NT;941186 Wrote:
Hi folks

I'm trying to root redcurrant cuttings, and getting nowhere. The last
of 3 batches of cuttings is now dying. They've been 2-3" long, with
most of the leaves taken off to slow water use, planted fairly deeply,
in compost thats kept almost wet, and with a variety of remaining leaf
areas. The results? In every case they look ok for a bit, but after
many days they very slowly die, starting at the outer leaf edges,
moving inward. No sign of rooting was ever found afterwards. Light
levels have varied from direct sun in batch 1 to more or less no
direct sun in batch 3.

What am I dont wrong? How can I get them to work?


No idea specifically on redcurrant, but on general principles for
cuttings:

1) You need to keep the air around the cuttings moist to reduce water
loss so full sun is a very bad idea. I enclose the entire pot and
cuttings in a plastic bag. Remember the leaves are pumping water out,
but there are no roots to replace the lost water, so you need as little
leaf as you can get away with, and try to reduce water loss as close as
possible to zero.


Those transparent freezer bags with the handles are ideal. Knot them up
and hang them on a hook.

On Nov 7, 11:09*am, stuart noble wrote:
On 06/11/2011 17:35, kay wrote:



NT;941186 Wrote:
Hi folks

I'm trying to root redcurrant cuttings, and getting nowhere. The last
of 3 batches of cuttings is now dying. They've been 2-3" long, with
most of the leaves taken off to slow water use, planted fairly deeply,
in compost thats kept almost wet, and with a variety of remaining leaf
areas. The results? In every case they look ok for a bit, but after
many days they very slowly die, starting at the outer leaf edges,
moving inward. No sign of rooting was ever found afterwards. Light
levels have varied from direct sun in batch 1 to more or *less no
direct sun in batch 3.

What am I dont wrong? How can I get them to work?

No idea specifically on redcurrant, but on general principles for
cuttings:

1) You need to keep the air around the cuttings moist to reduce water
loss so full sun is a very bad idea. I enclose the entire pot and
cuttings in a plastic bag. Remember the leaves are pumping water out,
but there are no roots to replace the lost water, so you need as little
leaf as you can get away with, and try to reduce water loss as close as
possible to zero.

Those transparent freezer bags with the handles are ideal. Knot them up
and hang them on a hook.

Thanks eveyrone for the feedback. I'll wait till christmas and plant
some long cuttings outdoors.


NT

Thanks eveyrone for the feedback. I'll wait till christmas and plant
some long cuttings outdoors.

I'd do it now, the ground may be frozen by Xmas

On Wed, 9 Nov 2011 NT wrote:

Thanks eveyrone for the feedback. I'll wait till christmas and plant
some long cuttings outdoors.

Why wait until Christmas. Do it now otherwise the ground may be frozen.

David

--
David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK
http://rance.org.uk