My American black currants are sick I think! I’m not sure what to do. First the leaves were pretty chewed by insects, then most turned brown, dried up and fell off. This has been going on for months and it’s steadily getting worse.
Maybe I haven’t been fertilizing enough? Maybe it’s a fungus? The leaves are turning brown and falling off but it’s not cold enough yet for it to be a changing season. When I got the soil tested it wasn’t great, but it wasn’t horrible, and the raspberries nearby are doing great. Zone 7, North Carolina.
I tried red currants and jostaberries here in TN zone 7a… 3 years… I got 4 or 5 fruit off them this year.
I tried them in full sun and in a morning sun only location… they could not cut it here…
just did not grow and had awful foliage issues - This was year 3 for them, and by July they had lost almost all leaves again… I pulled them. Going to plant something else in those beds next spring (earlier ripening blackberries).
I hope yours get better… mine just did not and for me 3 years is long enough to try on something like that.
I have a couple honey berry bushes too… 3 years, no fruit… I am giving them one more year.
Maybe you have a different issue, but my currants and gooseberries almost always look bad. Seems to be normal in somewhat southern environments. Mine do just fine though.
That picture, or worse, is what all my currants look like right now in 7B, Arlington, VA. Some years they are completely defoliated by this time of year, but they are doing a bit better this year for some reason.
Some varieties seem to fight through it better and fruit okay, but many of the black currants I’ve tried have not gotten very productive due to the heat stress. They are much happier a few zones cooler or possibly in a more maritime type zone 7 that doesn’t have as much summer heat.
I agree with @zendog, below is a photo of what my Pink Champagne looks like right now .
Some varieties appear to do better with heat than others. I am growing Black September black currants and the foliage looks great but its also in strong shade and hasn’t produced fruit yet.
between heat weakening them then bugs/ fungus you guys have down there its no suprise they look bad. if these dont work for you try crandal clove currants. Jesse on here has them fruiting well for him in z10a Cali.
Nothing to do this year. Next year start spraying immunox , up to 3 times with 2-3 weeks interval starting when the leaf is 2/3 of normal size. It will be much better next year. It either anthracnose or rust.
Thank you all! I’ll see how they look next season (hopefully they leaf out again!)
I might move one of them to the north side of the house, maybe the shade will mean less heat stress?
