[fletch]

I have a bed approx 15ft x 4ft and it's full of currant bushes, a mixture of black, red and white. I've neglected it over the last 3 years and it's totally full of couch grass and weeds which I'm finding impossible to eradicate. Also, the bushes themselves are quite overgrown (I forgot to prune them last year) and basically the whole lot is a mess.

I want to move them all into a seperate part of the allotment and then perhaps cover the bed with black plastic for a year and deal with it next year.

When is the best time to transplant them? They're just about coming in to leaf now. The place where they are going isn't fully ready, so could I pot them up into large pots for a few weeks?

[Rangerkris]

I moved some mid summer last year that i didn't really want, they made it through.  If you look after them i am sure you could move them now with out to much trouble.

[joyfull]

I got given some white currants last summer and they had a couple of hours journey in a baking hot van before getting home and being replanted. It looks like all 3 have made it  .
With trees and hedging it is normally adviseable to transplant when they are at their most dormant i.e. Nov - Feb.

[gillie]

How are you going to move them without taking the couch grass with them?

You would have to totally clean the roots which the bushes might not survive, especially at this time of year.

Alternatively take cuttings from them and start again.

Gillie

[fletch]

I just read on another site that Spring is the best time for taking cuttings, so I think I might take a load of cuttings in pots and see if they take and then transplant the bushes anyway.

Gillie, I did wonder about moving the couch grass with them, it's right up to the base of the plants so I figured I'd have to practically strip them all right back down. I'll give them a massive haircut and transplant them as carefully as I can. If I lose them then hopefully I'll have some cuttings as a fallback and if not then I'll just have to start again. It's one of those things I've put off for so long that I'll just have to accept it if I lose them. 

[noshed]

That sounds like a good plan. I've got cuttings (off a kind forum member) which are growing away nicely, so they're not hard to propagate, if I can.

[fletch]

Oh good, I'll get on with that today then! 

[aelf]

I have some white current bushes lying bare rooted on the ground as I keep forgetting to plant them. Noticed yesterday that they are in full bud. Pretty hardy things, current bushes! 

[fletch]

Well I've taken lots of cuttings, about 6 per bush, so I have over 30 which means I should hopefully have some success with at least a few of them.

I've dug the bushes themselves up, they were pretty old and ropey so I'm not going to replant them, I'll see if my neighbour wants them. I've covered the bed in black plastic and it can stay on the back burner for now, still got loads of weeding and digging to do elsewhere.