How to propagate gooseberries by cuttings, layering: in spring, summer, autumn, video, instructions and cutting rules

You can propagate gooseberries with green cuttings in the summer without much effort if you know the basic rules of the procedure. A garden fruit shrub lends itself very well to reproduction; in several different ways, you can significantly increase its number on the site.

How gooseberries reproduce

Gooseberries are a very popular horticultural crop. With proper care, the shrub produces abundant tasty fruits, it reproduces very easily, so usually gardeners plant the plant densely on the site using proven propagation methods.

Gooseberries can be propagated in several ways.

• seed way – it is not difficult to propagate a plant from seeds, but the method is not very popular. The fact is that the characteristics of the mother variety in the new bush are not preserved.
• Cuttings – both green and lignified cuttings are used for rooting. The method is most popular among gardeners, since it practically guarantees the successful rooting of a new plant.
• By dividing the bush – this method makes it possible to propagate overgrown shrubs over the area.
• Layers – long flexible gooseberry shoots are well suited for horizontal or apical rooting in the ground near the mother bush.

Gooseberries can be propagated by offspring at the roots and by grafting. The choice of a particular method depends only on your own preferences and some external conditions.

When is the best time to propagate gooseberries: in spring, summer or autumn

Gooseberries can be propagated throughout the warm season. The choice of terms directly depends on the method by which it was decided to propagate the shrub.

• It is more convenient to propagate gooseberries by layering in late spring or summer, at the height of the growing season.
• Gooseberries can be propagated by dividing the bush in spring or autumn. In the spring, you need to divide a large bush before the plant begins to actively grow green mass, and in the fall, you need to have time to divide it from early September to early October.
• Gooseberry cuttings are carried out at the beginning of summer, from the first days of June until July itself.
• It will be possible to propagate gooseberries by root offspring in the fall, after the completion of all the main work and harvesting. The ideal time is the beginning of October, when there are still 2-3 weeks left before the first frosts.

If it is decided to propagate the gooseberries by seeds, then they are collected during the fruiting period, sown in closed containers with the onset of cold weather and kept in a cool place throughout the winter. Gooseberries obtained by seed are transplanted into the ground in the spring, usually containers with seedlings are transferred to the soil no earlier than April.

How to propagate gooseberries from cuttings

It is easiest to propagate a fruit shrub by cuttings, since almost any plant variety demonstrates good rooting.

• The rooting rate is highest in American-European hybrid varieties, such as , Eaglet, Honey – up to 90%.
• Lower rates are demonstrated by freely pollinated European varieties – Timiryazevsky and Granatovy, Slavyansky and Muskatny – an average of 30-50%.
• The worst thing to propagate by cuttings is the European varieties Triumphal, Brazilian and Warsaw.

If it is decided to propagate the plant with green shoots, then the best time for their rooting will be summer, if the shoots are lignified, then autumn. It is recommended to propagate the shrub by cuttings in closed home containers; you can also use greenhouses with high temperatures and a high level of humidity. The process looks quite simple – first, the shoots are kept in water with the addition of a stimulating solution, and then they are buried in the ground and wait for the first roots to appear.

The advantage of the method is, first of all, that it is very easy for him to get planting material if there is at least 1 gooseberry bush on the site. Gardeners are almost unlimited in the timing of the procedure, and besides, grafting is somehow familiar to summer residents and rarely causes difficulties.

Recommended dates

If green young shoots are taken for propagation of gooseberries in the spring, then they are harvested at the end of spring, while the branches have not yet had time to be covered with a strong bark. Lignified shoots are cut both in spring and autumn, in the first case this should be done in April, and in the second in mid-October.

Harvesting green and lignified cuttings

When harvesting shoots, the main rule must be observed – the gooseberry propagation material must be healthy and strong.

• If you need to propagate the gooseberry with green shoots, then in the summer, in June or early July, several young branches from 8 to 15 cm long are cut from an adult shrub. It is best to take the apical branches, they take root faster, and it is best to harvest on a cloudy day and early in the morning.
• If in order to propagate gooseberries, lignified shoots are needed, then they are cut in autumn in September-October. The length of the branch should also be from 8 to 15 cm, and cuttings from the upper part of the shoot take root much better and faster than from the bottom.

In order for the cut shoots to remain healthy, immediately after harvesting, it is recommended to treat them with a weak solution of potassium permanganate – this will prevent rotting.

Selection of containers and soil preparation

Rooting cuttings is best in small pots at home. At the bottom of the pot, it is necessary to equip good drainage from expanded clay, small pebbles or broken bricks. It is not recommended to take too large a pot to escape. The earth in it can turn sour, it is better, if necessary, to transplant the grown seedling into a larger container.

The soil for gooseberries should be loose, nutritious and well moistened. Usually sand, peat and fertile soil are mixed in equal proportions, in such conditions the shoot takes root the fastest.

Reproduction of gooseberry with green cuttings

Before planting in the ground, it is recommended to keep the green shoots for a day in a solution that stimulates the growth of roots, so they will take root more quickly. On the video of gooseberry propagation by cuttings in the summer, you can see that the further algorithm looks like this:

• prepared planting material is buried in the ground in pots so that a pair of buds remains above the ground;
• shoots are watered properly, and then immediately cover the pot with a glass cap or plastic wrap – this will maintain the desired humidity;
• the constant temperature in the room with shoots should be at the level of 23 ° C during the day and not less than 16-18 ° C at night;
• under the film or cap, the temperature should not rise above 25 ° C, otherwise the cuttings may rot, in order to avoid this, the film must be regularly lifted and the plants ventilated.

Subject to all the rules for propagating gooseberries with green cuttings in the summer, the plant will give the first roots in 2 weeks, and in the fall it can be transplanted under the open sky.

Propagation of gooseberries by lignified cuttings

If lignified shoots are used, then gooseberry propagation by cuttings is used in the fall. True, it should be noted that cuttings are cut in October, and then traditionally they start growing in early spring. Therefore, during the winter, the cuttings must be properly stored, after harvesting they are kept in a growth stimulator for a day, then wrapped in a damp cloth, packed in a plastic bag and sent to the refrigerator. During the winter, the fabric is re-moistened from time to time, while keeping the bag open so that the humidity remains at the right level.

With the onset of spring, the cuttings are rooted in prepared containers in the soil, consisting of fertile soil, sand and peat. The material is buried at an angle of 45 °, 2-3 buds should remain above the ground. Immediately after planting, the cutting should be watered and the pot should be covered with a film or a glass cap, and 2 weeks after the formation of the first roots, the film should be removed and the usual care should be carried out in the future.

How to root a gooseberry stalk in spring in water

Propagation of gooseberries by cuttings in spring in water is usually used for lignified shoots, this stimulates them to grow faster. At the end of February or March, the cuttings must be placed in narrow containers filled with clean soft water and left in a room with a temperature of at least 23 ° C.

Soon, vegetative processes begin on the cuttings, and young leaves appear in the upper part of the shoot, and roots appear in the lower part. To propagate the plant faster, you can keep the shoots in a growth stimulator for an additional day, and only then rearrange them into ordinary clean water. As the water evaporates, it is not necessary to change it entirely, you can simply add fresh water as needed.

Growing and transplanting to a permanent place

It will take several weeks to propagate the plant by cuttings, after which the young shoots actively start growing. Since the cuttings are usually transferred to the ground in June or early July, in order to successfully propagate them, the shoots will have to be grown in pots throughout the spring. It is quite simple to do this – after the film is removed from the pot, the soil will need to be moistened as it dries, and the pots themselves should be kept in a well-lit, warm place.

For landing in open ground, it is necessary to select a sunny, open area located near any building or fence – gooseberries need cover from the wind. The site should not be excessively wet, if groundwater passes nearby, then you will have to first attend to the creation of high-quality drainage.

• Planting pits for seedlings are dug 3 weeks before planting, in size they should be about half a meter in depth and the same in diameter.
• If you plan to propagate gooseberries abundantly and plant several bushes at once, you should leave 1 m of space between them and 2 m between rows of shrubs.
• The soil for gooseberries in open ground should be fertile – it is recommended to mix the soil from the site with 10-15 kg of humus or compost. Also, phosphorus and potash fertilizers must be added to the soil.

It is better to plant gooseberry bushes obtained by cuttings in a checkerboard pattern so that later they do not shade each other’s light. Immediately after planting, the seedlings need to be watered and the soil in the trunk circle should be mulched with a dense layer of 5 cm.

How to propagate gooseberries by layering

Best of all, layering manages to propagate European varieties of gooseberries, which are not very readily amenable to cuttings. The procedure should be carried out in late spring or summer, when the gooseberry is in a state of active vegetation.

The main advantage of layering is that they allow you to propagate gooseberries immediately in open ground, without transplanting from a closed container. In addition, the instruction for vegetative propagation by layering of the gooseberry bush is very simple.

Propagation of gooseberries by apical layers

For apical layers, in the spring of the gooseberry, you need to pinch a few young shoots about 45 cm long so that they give new lateral processes, and then pinch them too. It is necessary to increase potential layering on gooseberries in this way until mid-summer.

In July, the selected apical shoots will need to be bent to the ground and a groove 10 cm deep should be dug in the place where the tops touch the ground. The tops of the shoots are laid in the ground, fixed with a wire or staple. Then you need to dig gooseberries for reproduction and water abundantly.

Nothing else special needs to be done, you just need to regularly water the layering along with the main bush. After about 3 weeks, new shoots will appear from the soil, and in the middle of autumn they can be carefully dug up and transplanted to a permanent place.

How to propagate gooseberries with horizontal layering

Vegetative propagation by layering of a gooseberry bush by the horizontal method is a simple process. The algorithm looks like this:

• at the beginning or middle of summer, several young shoots up to 3 years old are selected, located close to the ground;
• on each branch, fresh growth is shortened by about a third – this stimulates the growth of lateral buds;
• the shoots are bent to the soil and laid horizontally in shallow trenches, and then fixed with wire in several places and covered with earth.

Immediately after this, the layering should be watered and mulched; after a couple of weeks, complex fertilizers can be applied. After sprouts appear from the ground, they can be hilled up a little, and after another 2 weeks, hilling can be repeated. With proper care, by the fall, the layers take strong roots, in October they can be separated from the mother bush and transferred to a new place.

Propagation of gooseberries by dividing the bush

When dividing the bush, almost all varieties of gooseberries take root well, and hybrid American-European varieties take root most quickly. It is recommended to use division for especially valuable varieties – the fact is that you can propagate gooseberries in the fall in this way without losing varietal characteristics.

Bushes that have reached 2 years of age or more are suitable for division, and gooseberries are propagated in autumn – in October and November.

Propagating a plant by dividing a bush is very simple, for this you need:

• carefully dig a gooseberry bush out of the ground;
• with a sharpened shovel, divide its rhizome into several parts;
• disinfect the sections, and then transfer the delenki to new places and plant them in the prepared wells according to the standard algorithm.

Each of the divisions should have several intact strong roots and 2-3 well-developed shoots. The advantages of the method are that it is not necessary to spend time rooting the plant from scratch, the gooseberries have roots from the very beginning. With proper care, the bushes take root in new places very quickly.

How to propagate gooseberries offspring

Both European and American varieties can be propagated using offspring or root shoots that grow naturally around the bush.

It is recommended to propagate gooseberries by offspring in the fall, after fruiting. Young shoots in the roots of plants must be carefully separated from the main bush and transferred to a new place in previously prepared holes. The shoots are planted immediately in the ground, it is not necessary to pre-root the offspring in pots.

The advantages of the method are that gooseberries can be propagated in this way quickly and without the additional hassle associated with cutting and rooting cuttings.

Is it possible to propagate gooseberries with seeds

Any varieties of gooseberries can be propagated by seeds collected from the fruits of the plant. However, this method is rarely used in practice. Despite the fact that seed propagation is quite easy, and planting material does not even need to be further prepared, the method has its drawbacks. First of all, gooseberries do not retain varietal characteristics after seed propagation; this method can only breed a new variety. In addition, the first fruiting of the shrub occurs only after a few years.

To propagate gooseberries with seeds, you must:

• collect ripe berries in July-August and extract seeds from them;
• dry the seeds for several days, and then immediately sow in small pots filled with sand, humus and fertile soil in equal proportions;
• pour the seedlings and cover them with a film, then put them in a cool place with a temperature of up to 5 degrees.

Keep the seedlings cool, regularly moistening them until spring. After warm weather is established, the pots are taken out into the garden and buried in a temporary area as a whole – it is not necessary to remove the earthen ball from the pots. After the first shoots of gooseberries give 2 leaves, the seedlings can be swooped down and transferred to a permanent place.

Is it possible to propagate gooseberries by grafting

In rare cases, it is advisable to propagate gooseberries by grafting – under favorable circumstances, this allows you to grow a shrub on a strong trunk, improve the decorative appearance of the plant and increase the size of the fruit. True, the method also has disadvantages – the yield of grafted gooseberries is usually small, you have to take care of the plant more carefully, and the health of the gooseberries depends on the trunk.

Grafting is carried out on fruit bushes, less often on trees. As a stock, they use mainly currants, sometimes plums or even mountain ash.

The grafting is carried out as follows – a wedge-shaped cut is made on the scion, and the same split is made on the stock, the plants are combined with each other and fixed with a bandage. As the shoots grow on the grafted gooseberry, they will need to be pinched to get a dense crown, and on the rootstock it is necessary to remove the young shoots in a timely manner.

How to propagate gooseberries without thorns

Breeding gooseberry varieties without thorns are very popular; it is easier to harvest from such a bush. You can propagate gooseberries without thorns by all standard methods, but cuttings bring the best results. In the process of breeding a plant without thorns, it is especially important to monitor the fertility of the soil and often feed the shrub with organic matter and mineral fertilizers.

Conclusion

You can propagate gooseberries with green cuttings in the summer quickly and without any problems. There are also many other ways to grow shrubs. Which one to choose depends on the time of year, the gooseberry variety and the gardener’s personal preferences.