Hey there - bit of a newbie. I have a couple of 3 year consort black currants and I fertilized them with maybe a tablespoon of 17 17 17 early spring as they were flowering. They fruited well and I was excited for a bit harvest but checked them today and almost all the unripe black currants have dropped off. Good growth though… weather has been fine. Nothing too hot and good rain. No sign of any disease.
Is this common for black currants? Should I just stick with compost for the future?
Thanks
You might need to get a 2nd variety for cross pollination.
‘Consort’ is pretty reliably self fertile. I grew it for years before adding additional black currant cultivars to my garden. It always set crops.
Do you see unripe currants on the ground to confirm they fell off and weren’t stripped off by animals? I’ve got chickens and they’ll eat fruit that is no where near ripe.
ive never seen fruit drop off my currants of any color or variety and i grow many with 0 fertilzation.
Thanks. I do have another variety. Wellington to cross pollinate with that still has its berries. I think the synthetic fertilizer makes the berries to fall off if theres too much energy going towards growth.
what type of soil do you have? mine does just fine in my heavy clay without fertilizing . most grew with just some mulch for a few years. for about 5 yrs. i just had 2 consorts and had plenty of berries without a different currant around. they supposedly do make more and bigger berries with a different pollinator.
I have sandy loam soil.
yeah. you would still need to fertilize as your soil doesnt hold onto nutrients as well.
I use hollytone and osmocote on my currants /gooseberry and haven’t had any fruit drop.
I was thinking the synthetic fertilizer caused the fruit drop cause I got a foot of growth on my plant over the last month which I think caused the berries to get neglected. Do you recommend organic fertilizer instead?
It’s called “the runoff” in currants and is usually a combination of pollination and other environmental factors. Fertility isn’t usually the issue. My red and white currants usually have a moderate runoff even with great pollination. My Willoughby black currant has almost complete runoff and I suspect the primary issue is pollination. It’s the only true black currant I can legally grow in New Hampshire, so I’ve been trying to add other things that might cross pollinate it. Josta berry so far hasn’t helped, but it’s only the first year blooming for that.
Interesting. Is your run off specific to certain black currant strains?
Id think is a more lack of pollinators as my 2 consorts were crazy productive and they were the only ribes i had for 4 years. i would have kept them if the berries were easier to pick. way too small to make it worth it. maybe try planting some flowers near them and / or grafting a branch of something thats w.p.
.b.r immune, like titania or consort, to see if its indeed that. ive never seen any of my Ribes drop immature fruit and i dont fertilize any of them.