It’s that time of year when most people turn their thoughts to holiday meals and the hope of a white Christmas. I, on the other hand, have started to thumb through seed catalogs and dig through old threads here in search of a fruit that will do well in my location. Last summer I clipped a twig from a plant at an urban garden. I wasn’t positive what it was as the garden was neglected and many of the name plates were missing. The kind folks here identified it as golden current. I water rooted the cutting and planted it out in a pot this fall. It got me to thinking that I may want to add currents to my list of things I need. Here are my questions. Will they grow in poor rocky clay soil? How productive will they be? Are there pests, swd?
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Currents are interesting things. In the smallest of brooks to the largest of oceans, there are currents. The riptides and the undercurrents are usually the most dangerous and hard to detect in advance.
And, ElNino is about currents. The Gulf Stream brings Gulf heat even to Scotland and Denmark.
The atmosphere similarly has currents…a very strong on-shore breeze is going to cause an interesting Sunday and Monday. And, at the same time Kentucky gets breezes off Lake Michigan. An example of a big non-tropical set of atmospheric currents in animation.
The sort of time meterologists look eagerly to.
~
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well done-brought me a smile- a lot of effort to point out spelling differences though…Currant vs Current.
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Currants are easy- they grow everywhere (bad soil and in shade) and are very easy to root from cuttings. No pests I’ve seen in Wisconsin. They are not the most awesome for fresh eating but I like them on a salad. I would imagine you get better yield in better conditions.
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Thanks for the spelling lesson and the extended length troll
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I’m not too far from you. My currants are young, so no experience as far as fruiting. I have some currants planted with named gooseberries in two different spots. The first spot is just poor Ozarks soil and some mulch to keep weeds down. The second spot is in some small terraces with sifted soil, compost, manure, and charcoal. The ones in the raised beds are, as easily predicted, much happier. Blackdown died on me, but Titania has been doing the best of everything planted in the poor spot. I think a little shade helps the currants more than the gooseberries. Hopefully I’ll get my first taste this year. I’m pretty sure all of them will end up processed into jam or mixed into smoothies.
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Cannot grow them here. You should check around if you have the fly in your area, it’s not worth trying. Other growers may know. They lay eggs and the grubs hollow out the plants so the plants die. When I had currants I could find nothing to prevent infection. I read this about treatment TREATMENT. The currant worm is a comparatively easy insect to control. As soon as the eggs begin to hatch, spray the plants thoroughly with lead arsenate, using 13 pounds of the powder to 50 gallons of water, or one ounce to a gallon for small quantities .
Dennis
Kent wa
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I must say I like Currentcy and lots of it
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I have the Red Lake Currant. It does well for me in a fairly high clay soil location, amended with lots of compost mixed in and an annual, thick, application of leaf mulch.
The biggest challenges for me are birds and deer. Deer love eating the plant to nothingness. Birds will strip off every red current in a few hours. Usually, one day before I plan to pick them 
. A bird resistant mesh can help.
Production is not high for the amount of space, but OK especially if grown along a fence. A quart bowl of currants per plant. My plant is about 5 years old.
Red currants make a very nice flavorful jam.
Last year I stuck dormant prunings from my currents into the soil of vegetable raised beds, as row markers. just sticks about a foot long, All of them grew into plants, and now they need to be moved. I think they will bear fruit this year.
The garden writer Lee Reich does a top of the fence training with his, sort of like espalier. They look very nice in his photos.
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I like tangy, sweet current corn muffins. But I guess I will keep buying them dried in the store.
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I have had success with black currants.SWD haven’t been a problem at all since they ripen so early. I have them in heavy soil though not necessarily clay. I think they make some of the best jams, puddings, and syrups of any fruits I have tried.
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Currants are great for processing. I never thought of drying them. I will try them that way for cooking. I make fig newtons. I have a lot of dried figs. But dried cherries with figs was great. Now I’ll try with dried red currants.
I make crisps with red currants. I do add peaches and make a peach-red currant crisp. Great with ice cream. Red currant jam or jelly is also used to flavor meats. Like cranberry sauce. Dogwood cherries are also used this way in the Middle East. I mostly use red currants for syrup which I make mixed cordials with water other flavors or just in water.
I use a low amount of sugar so the syrups can be tart. I like them that way.
For reds I would grow Rovada as it has very large berries. Extremely easy to harvest compared to other cultivars.
Primus white has very long strings, again easy to harvest. Yield is high too.
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We’ve used reds and blacks in baked goods. Dry is the only way we get them here.
Red currants seem to struggle where I am in California (zone 9), I assume due to the heat. Funny this post popped up because I’ve just started looking into golden currants as an alternative too. They seem popularly recommended in my area as a native but are also sometimes listed as only tolerant up to zone 8.
I haven’t seen much about people eating them - any growers here? I love eating red currants fresh so can tolerate the tartness, but golden currants seem to mainly be processed. I’ll probably throw some golden currants in the ground next year anyway, and maybe try to plant some red currants in the cooler part of my property.
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I picked a few berries from the golden current that I took the clipping from. First the plants were very short , three feet tall at most, the berries were on the backside of ripening and pretty sparsely scattered around the plant . I liked the flavor out of hand but I like very tart fruit.
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currants and gooseberries grow like weeds here and i get huge harvests off the most productive ones. i never fertilize them and only heavily prune them each spring to control them. Tiben black is my most productive cultivar. for you folks in warmer climes, jerry in z10 Cali is growing Crandall clove currants and gets regular crops there. i have 2 as well and they are quite productive. they taste different than the euro black currants. some prefer them.
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not everyone appreciates dry humor. you have to admit, @BlueBerry didnt skimp on effort
In SW Missouri Id consider growing them in full shade. At the minimum choose a site with afternoon shade during the height of summer.
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I didn’t find it humorous. I was asking a serious question.
you’re welcome here, as are your questions. hopefully you got at least a few serious answers in addition to the one decidedly unserious one