Along the lines of the seed snail starting method, today I have put some of my fruit bush cuttings in 'snails' too!
I pruned one of my gooseberry and one of my blackcurrant bushes back very hard, so had a lot of starting material!
gooseberry stool cut hard back
This time i used some old plastic bags opened out by cutting down the sides. I've got plenty of dog feed bags and old compost sacks. I spread the bag material out and spread peat free compost along it, then added the cuttings. I put them all the same depth into the compost, I suppose I could have varied it more by length. I rolled up the first section then finished the rest of the roll (there wasn't enough space to do it all in one go.
partially finished roll
I then inserted the roll into a large plant pot. I suspect that I could have just tied a string round the bundle, but this way the pot will keep the roll together.
finished roll viewed from the top
I did one roll of blackcurrant and one roll of gooseberry. The blackcurrant I can get reasonable success with pushing the cuttings straight into turf, but the gooseberries seem to have a higher failure rate for me when propagated drect. It will be interesting to see how good the success is with this method, given that the pot will be reliant on me watering, or at least keeping an eye on the moisture level.
Two cutting rolls labelled up on the propagation bench
I don't see why not. I'm not sure at what stage my cuttings will need planting out. I guess I'll need to check for roots every month or so through the early part of the year and plant out when it looks like they have taken. I don't know if they will last till autumn, and putting peas might give them a bit more chance for lasting longer in the roll...alternatively maybe the peas would compete for water over the summer and cause some stress on the plants. It may be worth doing some with and some without and seeing what happens (and let us know!)
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