I’ve tried 3 times to root gooseberries without luck… currants and jostaberry, no problem. gooseberries leaf out and then eventually die, no roots. People seem to have better luck when just sticking cuttings in the ground and leaving over winter. So my plan is to scratch the bark, dip in hormones, pot up in some peat blend, put the pots in the fridge for a month to let the plants callus, then set them with my seedlings under light. Might put them on a heat mat outside after the month - kind of like callousing grape cuttings, where it is too cold outside to encourage leaves but rooting media is slightly warmer. Problem I see is gooseberries break dormancy at cooler temps than grapes.
Anyone have thoughts on this? (because clearly I haven’t figured the secret out yet)
I only did a bit, but this had success. You know the method of bending the branches into soil while still attached to the bush (i forgot the term)? That works wonders for me, made lots of roots during winter and in spring i transplanted. Good luck
This. +
Layering.
Ya, but need to start with a plant to airlayer. Im hoping to order all sorts of cuttings and have a variety, before duplicating what i got.
When I tried, I had 50 percent success or better. I started with 8-9 inch cuttings, wrapped the tops with parafilm, and then put the cuttings into used oatmeal containers (the one-pound cylinder type) filled with ProMix BX, which is what I use for most things. I’m sure treepots or other tall pots would work just fine if you don’t eat as much oatmeal as I do… I pushed them most of the way in so most buds were below and only a few above the soil. It was about this time of year, maybe even a little earlier. I’m in Arlington, VA - 7B.
Once the cuttings were in pots I just left them outside on the north side of a garage to keep them shaded, but still getting indirect light. I moistened the soil (not too moist) before sticking the cuttings, but I didn’t do anything once they were outside. I think I just left it up to the spring rains to keep them moist, but might have thrown some water on them if we had a long dry spell. Once they were actively growing I made sure to water when they needed it, especially in the heat of summer. I may have fertilized them once or twice, but it is probably just as likely I forgot to.
This is similar to people just putting them into the soil, but I grew them out a year before planting and then planted the best-looking ones the following spring where I want them and sold the extras off locally. I like ProMix for rooting since it doesn’t have any fertilizer in it that I think can rot cuttings faster.
The varieties I was rooting were Amish Red, Black Velvet, Jahns Prairie and Poorman. I later bought a Jeanne to add to the row since I didn’t have cuttings for that one but wanted to grow it.