Hello everyone,
I have a pink champagne currant bush (2nd year in the ground, still somewhat small) and this year I probably had close to 100 flowers followed by nearly as many berries. All of a sudden over the course of a week, nearly 4/5 of the berries seemingly halted growth and when even lightly touched, the berries fell off. I now have a bunch of medium sized strigs with only 1-2 berries on each. Anyone know what happend and how to prevent this in the future?
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Sounds normal to me; plant is not big enough to full production, lots of fruit drop.
My Romeo cherry tree, 3 years old last year? It put out a good amount of flowers, when everything was said and done it matured a total of two cherries. I was surprised it put out any. This year it should give me a cup or two, next it should explode.
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Same thing is happening to my currants this year. One bush is only on its third summer and the other two bushes, although older, were transplanted this winter. So I am chalking this weak crop to shock from transplanting. But the other bush may also just be. Too young at only three years.
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I agree with don1357, after growing currants for years, including your ‘Pink Champagne’ its takes a bit of time. Next year should be very good for your currants. Do you have any others. I had four currant bushes in a row of that type. My black currants had a separate row, all for the sake of easy picking. My Pink Champagne currants were the sweetest of all. You will love them. They make a great jelly, and crunchy pie!
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same happened to me last year. i got a small bowl full of cherries from 5 trees. this year every one has hundreds of blooms including my small monty which was a surprise. if half the blooms set fruit, ill have hundreds of cherries. if all set ill be selling at the farmers market. i need to buy a cherry pitter very soon! funny thing is C.J was the 1st to start flowering but only about half of the blooms opened before romeo , 2 juilet and monty started. the cross pollination should be phenominal! they are all in about a 20 yrd radius area. my white/ red nankings also had a heavy bloom for the 1st time about 4 days before C.J started. my Adirondack gold apricot bloomed 3 days before them. never seen so many bumbles, mason and sweat bees and flies in once place at 1 time. smells great out here this morning. my plums are loaded with blooms as well for the 1st time but havent started opening yet. my wife is looking forward to them the most. i have a primus white currant i put in last spring . it has about 20 strings of flowers on it. i hope they set but wouldnt be suprised if they didnt. its only 16in tall. all my red and black currants are loaded as well. going to be a productive summer if i can keep the diseases and bugs/ birds at bay!
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I cant wait! How much fruit would you get off of your mature pink champagnes? I planted two but youre making me want to plant more! I also plant a white variety and a crandall currant which have a few fruits growing.
Here is a picture of one picking of red Jonkeer von Tets after three years and a fabulous tart. (Three cups) Multiply that amount for the pink champagne by at least 3 as they are far more prolific. The strings of berries of the Champagne currant can be at least 4” long. Remember, they are primarily seeds with a very thin skin and very little flesh.
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Remember birds love them,you must net them.
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Did you get rid of your pink currants? Curious what peoples overall impression of these are. Are they good enough that they would be popular in a U-pick type orchard do you think? Someone suggested I should try growing some and I like my black currants, but I also have rovada reds that Im not in love with…
im not a fan of reds either. i have jonkeer von teets. they are productive. i offer them to folks. if no takers, the chics love them. i have 2 primus white currants going to give me a crop for the 1st time this year. they have red stems on them and pink new growth. ive heard good things about them. got enough ripening on 2 bushes to give a good review once ripe.
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Pink currants are like reds but a little sweeter I love both as syrups especially red. One of my favorite syrups also are fantastic for cooking I make a nectarine-red currant crisp. Fantastic!! Good in scones too. Excellent berry if you ask me
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ill have to try them in syrups. how long do you let the reds hang before harvesting them?
I planted my Primus this Year, it’s a slow growing little thing. I doubt it will flower next year …
I’m planning to add pink champagne next year. I’ve seen people say positive stuff about it. Worse comes to worse it becomes mixed berry jelly.
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When they become deep red. Not too long after turning red. Rovada does take some time. Early ripeners more quickly. They don’t last long after ripe. Maybe a week. A big enough window to harvest. Some do last but leaving them didn’t seem to improve flavor.
I use about 250 to 300 grams of sugar for 1000 grams of fruit. I remove seeds with a fine mesh sieve. A
Pestle works well to push some pulp through
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i have a euro juicer. i steam them for awhile and gently mash them. i usually get very few seeds if any.
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they are the slowest growing of the currants. mine are in their third year and finally fruiting. reds and blacks start the 2nd year. full production at 4. Crandall clove took 4 years to fruit and its still only 18in tall at 6 yrs. its more of a sprawling bush. suckering everywhere now. its in the same soil/ row as the other reds , whites and gooseberries.
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I wanna say my Primus has put on probably an inch of growth. Super healthy, just doing it’s thing tho 
My Crandall I planted this year is growing like crazy, probably about 7 inches already. It was transplant stressed like crazy too when I first planted it, wilted like crazy.
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i gave my 2 their 1st real fertilizing in April and they have took right off and put on a good 14in of new growth so far .
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I gave mine a little sprinkle of osmocote about a month after planting so probably around start of May-ish.
The rosemary bush beside it went crazy from it too. Time to bake some Rosemary bread !
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