@Drew51, Thanks for the info. I have noticed that they are super vigorous. There’s plenty of wild ones around here that get to be small tree size. I like to make them into a syrup to use around cold and flu time. I have three young kids so it seems like someone is always ill, and passing it on to the rest of us.
Sounds like you will enjoy your currants, they do seem to be pretty carefree. And no thorns is always nice. I can’t get my kids to eat the blackcurrants I’ve planted. The neighbor kids like them but mine spit them out. Even when jellied. I’m going to keep trying, maybe with more red and pink currants. The one Crandall currant I got this year was phenomenal, I know they’d love that. It doesn’t seem as vigorous as the Consorts I have though.
I’ve been watching some videos on keeping currants and gooseberries in a cordon shape- has anyone done this? Do you think you’d get a reduced yield?
I have with red currants, and yes it would reduce yield compared to a bush. These things once big produce amazing amounts anyway. So i would not be concerned about that. I removed my cordons because I want to start new ones with Rovada a red currant. Berries are biggest I have seen on this one and it has long strings of them. Flavor seems the same, Bob Vance told me this years ago, and he was right. So I’m starting a new cordon next year with Rovada. I’m also starting a 2nd cordon with Primus white. It has the longest strings of currants I have seen. So these two should be the best candidates for cordons. Any though can be used. The best for fresh eating is the pinks, a little tart, yet great flavor too.
Cordons make harvest easy and that is what I need, so losing some yield is fine. I got about 5 gallons of reds this year.
You can grow bushes too, these thing are so easy to propagate. In March I will cut off 3 scions of Rovada and just stick them in the ground where I want my new cordon. I will leave the best growing one once they start growing. I could do that now too, the scion will survive outside all year stuck in the ground. I will do the same for the black currants that are going in where the elderberries were. I’m putting in Consort, Tiben, and hopefully a seed grown yellow fruited golden currant.(I’m going to try and germinate seed this winter) I have Crandall, and a red fruiting plant already in the ground. Yes these at first are not very vigorous, slow to establish. But I bet they explode once established. Mine are young too. I also noticed my Crandall has a root sucker, it may spread to a patch of them via underground risomes. Crandall looks to be a very decent producer once larger.
Perhaps that was the issue. My neighbor only said he used them in muffins. No other instructions. I should have done more research before using them. It was only about a pint of them.
Thank you for the information about using them in syrup.
Been there done that! Each cultivar has different ripening times, and also gradual ripening or full ripening at once. Often it’s a daily process to see which berries are ripe. One of the hardest things about growing fruit, that is not mentioned that much is when to harvest. The course on harvest times from the school of hard knocks is a prerequisite to harvesting at the optimal time.
currants basically grow themselves. i prune the older canes out at 3 yrs. but besides that i let them do their thing. very low maintenance shrub. grow WPBR resistant cultivars and you won’t have any issues. i believe the titania that Dereks growing are immune and are good tasting from the bush. my crandals taste a bit like a ripe concord grape but still different.
I prune my currants when I pick the entire crop. It forces bud growth on lower stems as well, as the buds for the following year will grow in the fall.
I only tried one of the Ben series, Sarek and it has struggled for 2 years. It is barely growing. All my others grow very well. Just a bad plant probably. Happens sometimes.
The others I grow are
Goliath
Minaj Smyriou/Minaj Shmyrev/Minaj Smyreu
Tiben
Titania
Crandall
Black September
Consort
About 8” every July. Their roots tend to grow out of the soil as they get older. My current Black Currants are about 16 yesrs old. My pink, white and reds died two years ago. The roots should be mulched during the summer or early spring. They do not like weeds. They are easy to root. Cut off an 8” twig and stick it into the ground, in the spring when your soil is warm.
Not only Scottish varieties, but if you do a web search you will find a host of Ben currant varieties. I believe they were bred in response to wartime pressures in Britain, when German U-Boats threatened shipping. Citrus fruits were rare and costly.
Black currants are chock full of vitamins and need fairly high chill hours. Despite dry and hot summers, mine do well. (Mulch 'em!) Most of them live close to the house, getting shade in the afternoon.
Moose there is always dead wood, so I prune that out from the base of each plant then prune the branches/ stems I have just picked. It works like a charm. This way, your black currants do not get leggy. I didn’t have enough time to prune as much as I wanted a year ago, so some of my branches really spread. And they spread quickly with all of the new spring growth. Hope this helps. The more fragile varieties of white and Jonkeer Von Tets red, do not grow well, meaning, not in Maine or even RI very well. The Blacks are hardy and have incredible flavor. One summer I made Black Currant jam, but Jelly from Jonkeer von Tets, Champagne, and Blanca. All were excellent. Currants are filled with so many seeds, I always remove them with a food mill, as you must have seen in my photographs. I am diligent about this as I give my jams away as gifts at Xmas, many of my older pals cannot tolerate seeds. PS as I now recall, Red Lake Currants did well for me in Southern Maine.
After reading about how easy it is to root currants and gooseberries, today I went out and cut twigs from my numerous varieties and planted them in the ground where the potatoes had been. I will be curious to see how they do. My bushes have been very slow to get going, so I have only had a taste of some of them so far. Yes, the currant seeds are rather obnoxious, but the flavor has been good on most fresh off the the bush, except the blacks.