Hello everyone,
I planted some currants last year and this year I planted several more plus lots of gooseberries. Last year my currants had many of their leaves turn bright yellow around August time but came back very healthy with lots of growth this year. The same things seem to be happening to many of the newly planted currants/gooseberries now and a tiny bit on last years plants (but less so than last time). Is this normal during the first year of growth for ribes?
Thanks!
Some of mine are in full sun and they usually look pretty bad as the summer goes on. It’s normal and they do just fine. Others I have in more shaded area’s are not as bad.
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Thank you!
I tried red currants and jostaberries down her in TN zone 7a… 3 years… with no luck.
Tried full sun and morning sun only… but they just could not take it. Refused to grow, actually died back some and developed aweful leaf blight mess starting in july… and it got worse from there.
In 3 years I got to eat 2 red currants and 2 josta… and was not all that impressed with either.
Replacing them with something else next spring… either raspberries or early ripening blackberry… both of which grow outstandingly well here and produce lots of fruit.
I see you are in zone 5… you may have much better luck with those than I did. Hope so !!!
TNHunter
Even if you gave them afternoon shade??
Yes @blueberry… first year in full sun and both josta died… 1 currant managed to send up some shoots from roots… the other died… I moved the loan survivor to a nice morning sun only location and replaced the others… in a nice bed there… they have survived… but that is about it. Just barely making it… looking awful… and not producing.
I had high hopes… but has not worked out.
TNHunter
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mine in pots turn yellow like that come this time of year. the ones in ground not so much as my clay soil holds more moisture.
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Are your plants in full sun?
I think if you can keep them alive, they’ll recover. Full sun in zone 7 may be hard, but should not be a death sentence. I actually planted some in full sun (red currants) this year…bare root, and all have lived. Gooseberries have done OK for years in full sun so long as they get enough moisture. (Zone 6b)
@BlueBerry – I have been judge, jury, and prosecuting attorney already in this case… found them guilty… and I think I was very fair on their behalf.
I am leaving my honey berry bushes one more year… have babied them for 3 years and still no fruit. But at least one of them looks quite healthy… the other not as good… but it has improved since last year… I have hope for them still.
The way my josta and currants looked a couple weeks ago… one of my currants no leaves at all… may have been dead to the ground again… the rest … not just turning yellow… but brown and dead looking. Absolutely no new growth this year in what has been a very nice year plenty of rain… they have been mounded with compost, mulched deeply, provided protection from deer and still refused to grow and produce fruit. Time to go…
Steveb4 mentioned a Crandall clove currant ??? A while back which I have on my list of things to try in the future. Evidently they can take the heat/humidity… and still thrive and produce some pretty good fruit.
If I do try currants again i may give those a try.
I really need some blackberries that ripen early… late may and into june… i expect that is what will replace my josta and currants… which have already been pulled and tossed out in the field… drying in the sun.
TNHunter
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Did you get a self fertile variety of honeyberry? A lot of honey berry are not self fertile and will need a different variety to pollinate and produce fruit. Currants and honey berry are hardy to a super low zone with something like zone 3 so it does make sense that by the time you get to zone 7 it will be super hot for them. Currants grow great here in zone 5 Colorado but we are very cold here getting snow until May or June and getting snow again in either September in rare cases or late October in most cases. My cherry trees are already creating buds for next year.
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Sorry about your misfortune.
I have only had Black Velvet gooseberry die from drought.
Other varieties just go leafless and come out just fine next year (or even current year if enough rainfall).
None have gone leafless or dormant this year.
But, then again, rain above average and summer temps moderate for 5 consecutive years here.
yes. z4a.
@elivings1 - my honeyberry varieties are Blue Pagoda and Blue Sea from OGW…
Per their catalog those two varieties are (Late blooming)… and their descriptions include “large and sweet and flavorful” and those are a few key things I normally look for in fruit producers that I am not so familiar with.
Late Blooming… well because we often have late frost that wipes out peaches, apples, etc…
large, sweet and flavorful… yes, like that as well.
Both of my bushes have bloomed the past two years, same time… but no fruit set.
I may try hand pollinating some next year… they are only 3 ft apart, so something should be pollinating them… perhaps my TN pollinators have just not figured out yet what they are.
TNHunter
@BlueBerry — yes… on the extra rain… the last two years, we have had much extra rain here too… so if these currants and josta’s have not made it here lately… they are sure not going to like it when we have normal hot dry summers and fall.
Another reason that I am willing to give up on them… is when they fruit…
They fruit at the same time that I have an abundance of raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, even my early McIntosh apple fruiting…
If they fruited extra early (like honeyberries are supposed to) I would be more willing to keep trying what ever I could… to make them live.
And that is one reason that I am willing to hang on to the honeyberries another year… even though no fruit in 3 years… the hope is that they will give me fruit, when little else is.
I do have strawberries and goumi berries that produce quite early (early May)… and logans start end of May. I would love to have some honeyberry in there somewhere…
Once I get into June… got Plenty of stuff ripening, no worries there.
And my honeyberries have grown some, one is looking very happy, the other so so… but still green, still has leaves this year… so they are improving. The currants and josta, only kept getting worse.
TNHunter
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That’s about my experience. It’s not sunburn, the gooseberries, currants, and josta just can’t really take the heat. If you spray hard/effectively enough and water enough you can probably keep the leaves on them but they don’t grow an inch between June and September here. And sooner or later they’ll just get too stressed out and die.
I started with more than a dozen varities between gooseberrrries & currants, and they’ve steadily died at 2 to 4 per year. The afternoon shade helps some as I haven’t lost any in the pots this year, but they still stop growing and still have leaf damage.
Some of the gooseberries are really good. I’ve had less success with colored currants, and somewhat more with black currants.
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@TheGrog … I see you are in 7b…
Have you tried the crandell clove currants ?
Steveb4 said he knows of some folks in hot locations having good luck with them. Best I remember he said the taste was between a black currant and a Concord grape.
Thanks
TNHunter
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No, I haven’t.
Jerry on here grows them in s.Cali and says they reliably fruit every year for him. thats one adaptable plant! grows from z2 Canada to z10!
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