Couple of my gooseberry plants are garbage varieties that I would like to graft over. After looking at them there are tons of stems in a clump at the base. How do you graft them over with so many stems? Any advice?
Im sure grafting is technically possible. But the best solution is stick a dorment branch in the dirt late fall and … well thats it. Even a branch toching the geound and covered with leaves will root.
Now are the gooseberries bad or just unproductive? Have you been removing canes older then 4-5 years old?
I’ve got a bunch of well established gooseberry plants. Three of them just do not taste any good. I hate to waste a well established plant. That’s why I was asking if anyone had any success grafting them and how they did it.
Here is an interesting artical. it is of no use to you however. Ribes aureum can be used a root stock to give other varieties a pseudo trunk.
Gooseberries like to sucker, so you would have to really keep an eye on it to make sure you still have the better variety and not a “cocktail” bush.
Digging it out and planting a new rooted branch would be a better idea. The plants propagated from the tips of branches touching the ground get the best result for me and and grow up to 1,2m branches by the end of their first year, unlike those from cuttings. So you can replace it quickly.
But I get the reluctance to do away with an established plant. I have pulled a few red currants - unnamed and bearing next to no fruit. Fortunately we have a portion of our property that we let grow wild. I just moved them there.