I am looking into the viability of growing yellow raspberries and red and white currants in my area, South San Francisco/San Bruno border. I am USDA zone 10a and Sunset Western zone 17/16, just outside of the main fog belt in a nice microclimate. We almost never have frost and we have very mild Summers (low-to-mid 70’s) that actually get hotter into early Fall. Chill hours are low.
Some locals on another forum indicated that the raspberries and currants in question should fruit here, but recommended looking for confirmation here.
One Green World has some varieties of both fruits listed as compatible with my Sunset zone, but others are listed by USDA, and never go as high as 9, let alone 10. And when I look around the web for chill hours, both are usually listed around 800-1500.
With all of the conflicting information out there, it seems like asking for experience-based knowledge is the best solution. Is there anyone from my area, or one similar, who has successfully grown currants and yellow raspberries?
not sure about y. raspberries but theres a person on here from your zone in C.A that has grown crandall clove currant that gets reliable crops yearly. try to plant where it gets shade iim the afternoon and mulch heavily to conserve moisture.
I love my crandall clove currants… as an ornamental. I used to harvest the fruit, but I don’t actually enjoy it very much. Sort of dry, very fruity, but not very sweet. When the critters started taking them I didn’t do anything to even try to stop them.
But I really enjoy the clove-scented flowers every spring. They are low maintainence for me, too.
(I also have a traditional red currant, and when I beat the birds and chipmunks to the fruit, I make drop-dead awesome jelly. I also eat a few out of hand.)
I did some research a while back for a friend who lives out there. It sounds like it’s on the edge of where it will work. The cooler microclimates should be OK (your summer temps sound good), but your big challenges are going to be the high sun intensity and low rainfall. You’ll probably want to make sure they have afternoon shade, or even full shade, and provide supplemental irrigation.
the crandall is actually Ribes odoratum. not auerum. i see this mistake often. though closlely related they are considered a different genius. the new publications have corrected this.
The best thing I ever did with it was to freeze a few cups, and add it to apples in the fall to make an apple/crandall current pie. So I can believe it would make a nice jam.
Thanks, JC. I had seen this CRFG article. It seems to indicate that they need the chill hours.
“Currants grow best in summer humid, cool regions with great winter chilling…in California they are fairly productive in the coolest parts of the San Francisco Bay Area.”
What I couldn’t figure out is whether “coolest parts” refers to summers or winters. We have the former, but not the latter.
I suspect it’s more the summer than the winter. Currants hate hot weather. Do apples get sufficient chilling where you are? I think the requirements are similar.
Seems like a decent rule of thumb. We share a zone with @hawk_941, though it sounds like we may get a touch more frost. Apples are very happy here, and Crandalls do well, too. Haven’t tried other fruiting currants.
I’m up on the north coast near Arcata (9b), and I have productive clove currants. I’m not growing any yellow raspberries, but Tulameen are my favorites side-by-side against the Willamette red raspberries - to the point of wanting to phase out the willamette for another variety. Also, the munger black raspberries are super productive and I live for the jam off these. I probably get a fair bit more chilling hours. Our summer temps (when not foggy) will generally be low 70s here on the best days.
There are some apples growing in our area, but I couldn’t tell you which varietals. It’s difficult to tell how many chill hours we get here because there is no good weather station to use. SFO is close, but on the water. Half Moon Bay is further, but not too different from us. If I were to put us in between the two, we are looking at maybe 200-300 chill hours. Not very scientific, but there it is.
On a related note, I am looking at getting a personal weather station so I can track chill hours myself (along with the more obvious uses).
The microclimate variations there are pretty extreme, right? It must make figuring out what will work pretty tough. Maybe the thing to do is get some cuttings from fruitwood nursery and root them over the winter. That way, your total out of pocket wouldn’t be too bad. I don’t know if I can legally send plant material to CA, or I’d offer to send you some when my bushes are larger.
The blacks do make great jam but I found they are hard to get a good set. I usually add something with high pectin like say Marion berry. The best black raspberry jam I made was mixing with mulberries. Except here too, they have low pectin. Mulberries and black caps make a new flavor as good as say strawberry and banana. Meant to go together!
I really appreciate the thought, but yeah, CA is very strict.
Thanks, I hadn’t thought about Fruitwood for this. I have purchased from Rolling River (now Planting Justice), which I believe the Fruitwood owners used to own.
SFO is right on the Bay, at sea level, and has under 200 chill hours per year. In the summer, the fog comes through over the water and spreads inland, but we usually have wind that keeps it off of us. We’re just NW of SFO, about 2/3 the way up the coastal hill. Strangely, the areas up the hill to the west do see a lot of fog, but it usually dissipates before reaching us.
On a lark, I’ve tried some melons here in pots placed in the hottest area (seeds are cheap). The cantaloupe and honeydew fruited, but didn’t make it to maturity. If you can believe it, I currently have two ~7" diameter Sugar Baby watermelons still on the vine. It’s almost December, but our heat came really late this year. We even had two 90+ days in mid October. The melons probably won’t ripen all the way, but it has been an interesting experiment.