I planted mine as a rooted stick my brother gave me. They grow rather large pretty quickly, so I hope you gave them room to expand!. Brother says just cut a bit off and poke it in the ground, it will take root. Won't crop right away as they fruit on mature 'wood'. This gets a bit difficult as the older wood is on the inside but you can't let it go mad, if in a garden as mine is. I have experimentd with letting one go and chopping one back. The pruned one didn't grow that much as it was so dry for 2/12. So I have had to to let the large one stay large.....so that plan went awry!. They flower very early and there may have been a pollination problem with severe weather

In other words, you won't get flowers or fruit until next year. After harvest, I would cut all of the fruited wood down to the ground, leaving the new shoots to bear the following year. Hope that helps, Nwoodward!

The new shoots for next year grow out of the fruiting wood. It is a shrub with vigourous growth and rapidly makes a substantial bush. If one cuts the fruited wood forget anymore fruit. They are not canes like blackberry which will fruit on old wood if not enough new canes grow. It can be called a thug if let go, as it grows so fast, and towers above other plants. Hessayon recommends 6!!!!!!! foot between each bush because of this. It looks like a blackcurrant but grows like a gooseberry bush as it is a cross.

I'm sorry Nwoodward and Dorjac! I was remembering it as a kind of bramble...which it isn't! I'm not all that old yet, but I can see that I need to start double checking my memory!