Hi everyone
My name is Matt and I’m needing advice on my black currants.
Last year I planted 860 Ben Hope variety ribes. Things went great they grew fast and strong. This year they are covered in a orangy dust that seems to be killing off the lower leaves. From what I’ve researched it looks like white pine blister fungus. There are no pine around at all.
Will this eventually wipe out my field of dreams? This was a retirement project that seems to be turning bad.
Should I restart? Spray?
Any advice would be helpful.
Thanks
M
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In what state do you live?
Depending on where you live, they are pretty mildew vulnerable. It may just be mildew.
WPBR isn’t lethal to Ribes but may be to white pines. mine had the same thing but no white pines within 2 miles. no spray will kill it unfortunately. my consorts aren’t affected by it.
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Right, one should test many cultivars before planting a lot of any one of them. As far as treatment I bet some fungicides would work as a preventative, but the research as to what has never been done. So it would be difficult to figure out if any work? And only as a preventative. None of them may work. A dormant spray would probably kill spores, but they will just come in from other areas the next year.
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I live in Eastern Canada. Why would that matter?
im in Maine and up until recently, all Ribes were banned here due to WPBR. many new england states as well as CA. provinces had restrictions as well. while many places have eased restrictions, you don’t want to plant susceptible cultivars within a couple km. of white pine. esp. fast growing saplings which are more susceptible.
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Lot’s of reasons. If in a warm zone, you’re not going to have very good luck with currants. Also being in Canada tells us you have limited options for sprays. And it tells us it’s legal to grow them there. Some states still have restrictions. For example my state does not allow Ben Hope to be grown here for it’s lack of resistance to WPBR I grow only rust resistant cultivars.
I would trial some other cultivars, and if they are more resistant, you can slowly replace current crop.
Some resistant cultivars
: Blackcomb, Canada RIB0112, Consort (Prince Consort), Crusader,
Coronet, Crandall, 'Doch Siberyachki (Daughter of Siberia), Kosmioleskaja, Lowes
Auslese, Minaj smyriou, Pilot Alexander Mamkin, Polar, Risager , Tahsis, Titania,
Willoughby
Somewhat resistant
Tiben and Ben Sarek
You know black currants about the easiest plant to propagate, you could easily clone 5-10 plants off a mature bush a season. If you bought 100 in 2 years you could clone 500 to 1000.
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read a report from vermont where a Titania planting was infected from a mutated strain of WPBR. don’t know if they removed this cultivar off of the resistant lists elsewhere, but its not considered resistant in VT anymore.
Great!!
Thanks for the info Drew. I had no idea the Ben Hope was so suceptable. I just wasted two years.
not really. WPBR doesn’t hit every year and wont kill your plants. i can be managed by pruning away any low branches and spraying with fungicide as a preventative. id just slowly start to replace some with more immune cultivars.
From what I understand none are resistant to the mutant strain.
You know it is not, you got a little unlucky. Also as Steve mentions a mutant strain of WPBR seems to defeat all resistance. Still i would not give up. I really like your plan. Black currants are so unique, and what a great flavor, and health benefits.
I made a syrup this year to make cordials, well to use as a flavoring for water. I really like the drink. I made about 6 of them yesterday. I got a couple gallons, and want more! I planted some cuttings last fall, and over half took, just by sticking the cuttings in the ground.
Some of us have been looking into the golden currant, and it comes in red, black, and yellow berries. The black berries are very good. They don’t have the muskiness of Black currants, but have that flavor all the same. I’m trying to grow a red, and recently found seed to the yellow. It is a different species of currant.
I also made cordials out of th white and red currants, but the black is so much better. I still want to grow them, but removing some plants to replace with blacks.
Anyway good luck with it, and maybe Ben Hope can survive this onslaught and still produce for you. Everything else about it is excellent.
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What could I use as a fungicide? I’d like to stay organic if possible someone mentioned Murphy’s soap.
I dunno…
Well I can’t suggest anything not labeled for use as a fungicide. I never tried it.
Copper and sulfur are considered OK for organic production in some places. That is your best bet. The problem with copper is the products offered are usually too weak to be very reliable. Lime-sulfur would be a good one too, but almost impossible to find these days.
You could contact Charlie Dobin and ask her opinion.
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i wonder how well neem oil would work? I’ve used it on other plants for mildew/ fungus and have had good luck. only thing is you have to apply on a shady day or in the evening as it can burn.
Yeah I don’t have the pine rust here, so can’t say which really are more resistant or not?
Neem would be worth trying too, you can always use it for other applications.
Each Black currant plant should come with a description of its resistance to WPBR. If it doesn’t ask the grower. Your soap will burn the leaves. You will need a fungicide.
Has anyone used or considered baking soda diluted or even ASA aspirin diluted with water.
I’m researching as much as I can but everything reverts to white pine trees. These Ben Hope seem so weak. Someone mentioned cycles of WPBR. That must mean cycles can be increased.
Maybe should have gone to Haskap seems that’s the hot berry around here.
Sorry I’m sounding desperate I’m by myself trying to survive the golden years without eating catfood sandwhiches.
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It can’t hurt to try. I know a guy who uses bleach on his tomatoes and claims it works. Very diluted of course.
The fungi infect Ribes species then they infect white pines. They must infect Ribes species first to grow the form that infects the pines. It would defeat their purpose to kill the Ribes.
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So, how about an update?
Ben Hope was my first Black Currant…started in 2012, same year I bought my first red fleshed apple.
Never saw any rust. Sold the plants and for some reason I had trouble rooting cuttings of that variety.
Have added several others over the years, some have first fruits this year.