So if I grew it a year or two in a pot first it might be tough enough to survive regular deer attacks? Not worried about the fruit, it’s the spring growth that they like.
I pick the whole string, then freeze them Once frozen you can strip them easily. Much easier to harvest.Some have small strings, so i tend to go for the long stringed type. I only know of two. Rovada and Primus
Primus
Rovada (note the size of the berry, bigger than most)
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I have Star of Altai and the fruit is small, similar in size to an autumn olive. I likely won’t see fruit this year because my male died (seaberries are sexed plants and one of each is required for fruit-set). I don’t find the fruit are water-balloon like even when ripe.
It is tasty, though I like tart fruit.
No disease problems, but the plant does REQUIRE pretty full sun. I lost my male because it didn’t have enough sun.
Scott
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currants are easy to pick compared to seaberries which it was what i was talking about. 
For anybody looking at this thread, keep in mind that currants & gooseberries have a temperature max of about 95 degrees or so. Here in 7A Richmond the 100 degree days & humidity in July & August stress the plants so badly they defoliate, resulting in poor growth and production.
I’m going to try one last year with heavy anti-microbrial use, mainly the oxalic acid 2 part spray of peroxide and then vinegar. But not even the varities touted as the most heat/wilt/mildew resistant gooseberries do well here, and almost all the colored currants just give up and die.
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try crandall clove currant . theres a member in here in s. cali z 9b that grows several that fruits regularly for him. whats cool is this same variety also grows into z2 central alberta! they taste a lot like a gooseberry.
Some varieties definitely handle the heat better than others. Here in 7a/b Pink Champagne and Jonkheer Van Tets currants handle the heat well being planted in partial afternoon shade (on the north side of a tree). Poorman gooseberry is also doing well. Adding a Black September black currant this year.
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I think Pink Champagne is the only colored currant that has survived in ground for me, over about 3 years. It won’t fruit, so I’m going to move it and my Jeanne into pots back with my other potted currants and black/yellow raspberries. It is certainly more resistant than the other 5-6 colored currants and about half the gooseberries & black currants.
I think I’ve got a Jonkheer, but I want to say that’s in a pot.
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I have a jostaberry; going into its 6th leaf, semi-espaliered. Being a cross between a gooseberry and a currant, it is rather like a fruit and a bush that is somewhere between them. Mine started fruiting something like year 3 or 4. We like the fruits pretty well, maybe better than currants but not quite as much as gooseberries.
The bush I feel has a more currant-like growth habit. It seems to have more vigor than either of its parents, which is good for me in this location. It is not tidy on the espalier because I didn’t get around to installing the trellis wires for a few years after I planted it, and I was away from home last year so could not tend the new growth then. But it looks pretty nice and the fruit is decent.
I don’t know if I would take it over a gooseberry, but it is easier to espalier (like a currant) and doesn’t have thorns, so that is a plus. There is a Hinnomaki Red to the left of it and that thing has vicious thorns; somehow they are very thin but very stiff so they can go through all but my heavy leather gloves. Anyone that gets within a meter of it inevitably gets some pain. It is annoying to try to espalier this gooseberry because you can’t be strapping growth to wires without getting stuck, and it is always sending up a ton of thorny suckers from the base.
I guess my advice is to grow all of them! Gooseberries, currants, and a jostaberry.
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Thanks. I think I am going to stay away from currants and jostaberry. Looking for more sweet than sour. I found some LARGE potted gooseberries at a local nursury. Now have 3 Pixwell, 2 Hinnomaki red, 1 Houghton, 1 Black Velvet, and 1 Captivator. Your right about the Hinnomaki. Looks more like raspberry canes.
My Pixwell is ~24" multi-stem, and the longest/thickest root was ~18" (it right-angles around 8" in length) when I buried it. Last year’s thorns fell right off, but looked pretty ugly. The Imperial currant is ~2.5 feet tall. So far, I have not had a bad experience from Burnt Ridge.
They are both producing flower buds this year. I don’t know if they will set fruit, but it is encouraging.
Pixwell Gooseberry
White Imperial Currant
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I think I see flower buds on the second pic. Gooseberry flowers are small and not very showy.
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nothing touches my consort b. currants.
I found a pretty big red lake currant at a local nursery. If I like it I think I am going to try one of the whites next. You know anything about red lake?
Bought a bunch of these this year and wanted to give an update myself.
Houghton
Hinno Red
Pixwell
Pixwell Crop
Pixwell is a production machine.
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my jeanne is putting out flowers for the 1st time and so is my recently planted johnkeer van teets red currant. anxious to try both. also found a wild gooseberry growing under my pines that i transplanted into a pot and this year put into my yard. its full of flowers as well.if they aren’t tasty i can graft over to other more productive Ribes i have, if i can cut off all the thorns 1st!
Does anyone have tixia and Hinno red? I lost labels and can’t figure out which is which. One has more elongated fruit and the others is round.
From my experience, Hinno Red is round.