i've been told (don't know if it's correct info tho) that if you bend a new cane over and stick it in the ground it will form it's own roots and can then be separated from the main plant once it has become established. maybe someone on here will be able to tell us both whether this is correct or not.
welcome to GOY, by the way.

Hi, and welcome from me too. You can cut the new cane( about mid/late summer) and just stick it in the ground....no need to leave attached to mother plant

Interesting Louise I've never heard of that before.
More normally in autumn you take cuttings of 4 - 6 inches in length from the current year's growth.
Gather the cuttings together in groups of around 10 and hold the stems together with twine.
Plant the bundles of cuttings at an angle of 45˚, leaving a little less than half the cutting above ground.
In spring as soon as the first leaves appear gently lift the cuttings and place individually in pots of good organic compost.
A few weeks later when the roots have developed pant them out or pot them up in soil based compost.

My redcurrant bush rooted itself along from a slightly broken branch. I think a pigeon had sat on it!!

maybe Louise means layering? which is not the same as she says but similar, I've had great success with Moongrowers method on the flowering currant ( Ribes sanguineum) as well as the edible currants

I think that we posted at the same time Volunteer-- that would be like layering wouldn't it

Yes, except I can't take any credit for it!!

happy accident then :o)

Thanks a lot that is most helpful info i will let you all know how i get on

If you want to go the layering route I wouldn't put the tip of a growing branch into the soil I'd bend a growing branch over and anchor this years growth to the soil to root.

so what does layering do then? glad you all told me before i wasted my time with my own canes, thanks everyone! x

Layering means you leave the branch of the shrub you want to create more of attached to the parent shrub. Bend down to earth level and anchor this years growth to the ground using a bent piece of wire or something similar which we keep the branch in contact with the soil. The branch will root and can then be removed from the parent. With currents and the like cuttings are just as easy as you generally want to prune fruit bushes back in the autumn anyway.