[ricky]

hi all im moving about 25 raspberry canes and 8 blackcurrant bushes i planted them about 4 years ago , i know to wait till the dormant period nov onward i want to know if the roots will be in deep and if i cut one or two in the process of digging them out will they still grow ,im also waiting on 60 new bareroot canes coming from j parker along with 75 strawberry plants the grounds like a sponge over here im going to have to think of some kind of drainage all this to make way for my new potato plot many thanks

[JayG]

Raspberries are fairly shallow rooted, blackcurrants have a combination of shallow and deeper roots which may well get damaged when moving. Not grown the latter for years but my guess would be that they would be set back rather than killed.

Not many plants (including these 2) will tolerate living in waterlogged conditions if that's what you mean by the ground being like a sponge. 

[braders1234]

I will preparing a couple of rows for summer  raspberries this weekend (weather and wife permitting).

I will get bare root plants soon.


If they have shallow roots am I better of not digging too deep?  I am going to have raised beds round them and have quire heavy soil.  dont have the beds yet or the plants.

would a good plan be as follows..

Dig ground a couple of inches, add fertiliser and compost.
add additional compost where the plants will be and leave until I have the plants.
Plant the plants - I have read somewhere that they should not be planted too deep?

[Trillium]

I take it you mean that the new plants will be within the new raised beds? If so, your plan should work. Just remember that most fruiting canes prefer the soil level to be at the same height as before, so don't  cover the moved plants any higher. Nor should they sit any lower in the bed as this would pool water at their roots and cause root rot problems. They like water, but not that much. Even new plants will have existing planting heights at their base.

The black currants will move easily at this time; no problem if you miss a bit or two of root. Just dig up a nice ball of soil around them for least disturbance and they'll never know what happened.

The raspberries will have sent out lots of underground runners which might be hard to collect. You can only try your best to get what you can out.

[braders1234]

thanks for the advice and yes I did mean that the plants will be within the raised beds!

[jrko]

I dug up a couple of large redcurrant bushes and boy where they well rooted!  Widespread surface roots and deep (2ft) mains.  Took me 1.5hrs but I got the whole ball.

Still the were freeish. Payment in kind for collecting a car load of cobble sets for a 'vehicle- challenged' plot holder. 

Dig widely with a fork to find the surface stuff and then go down and under.