I appreciate the disclaimer about using AI. I’m more interested in hearing how your own experiences go. I think most of us have access to some form of AI now with the big tech companies all pushing their own apps, so posting something we could ask Copilot or whatever isn’t really adding value to this forum imho.
I asked it to list propagation for the methods that were included, I didnt ask just generally ‘how to propagate’. Suckers are kinda propagation, but they are ‘passive’ propagation and not really a good way to reliably turn a couple plants into dozens in a relatively short timeframe. I have 2 plants and I would like to turn them into enough for a 300ft row. Im thinking Id use 4ft spacing so I need about 75 of them I suppose.
Isn’t what the AI thing listed basically normal propagation methods ?
yeah, pretty similar
Is it possible to stool mound crandall currant for propagation?
I wonder the same thing about making a stool bed with them. I will be trying this with both Crandall and Missouri Giant this summer.
According to old reviews it was not very good at all.
However Boskoop Giant was very good.
But that was a long long time ago… maybe things have changed.
https://www.chathamapples.com/SmallFruitsNY/BlackCurrants.htm
It looks like boskoop is a standard black currant, not a golden currant/ribes aureum
Also I am wondering if the author had a true Crandall or some wild seedling. The description does not line up with my experience of the plant or its fruit.
I’ve grown a number of ribes (currants, jostaberries, and gooseberries), and Crandall is my #1 favourite.
Taste: They are the best of the currants I’ve tried for fresh eating. I had some gooseberries that were better for fresh eating, but not especially productive in my garden, and the thorns were very annoying, and I ended up ripping out 3 out of 4 plants.
Care: Perhaps a little fussier than other currants, and a little tougher to propagate. Still very easy overall. Has a tendency to droop significantly under the weight of the ripening fruit unless pruned or staked. Easiest propagation is by digging up suckers. No thorns to worry about, not especially bothered by pests.
Beauty: The bright yellow flowers are fairly attractive, and last about 3 weeks in the spring.
My crandell clove currants grew well last year and produced a good amount of fruit for first year fruit.
We had a winter low of 12F.
This spring when my crandells leafed out… some branches looked Ok… some had no leaves until the very tip… and several had no leaves at all.
I thought those were dead and started pruning them out… but they were actually still green and limber… but had no or few leaves.
Anyone know what causes that ?
Is my southern middle TN location too hot/humid for them ?
They are looking pretty shabby this year.
Ps… someone said in another thread it could be that they did not get enough chill hours.
I thought that only affected blooming… my crandells are missing leaves and blooms.
TNHunter
Also TN gets huge amounts of chilling hours, more than northern states so that’s unlikely the issue, though those are often the symptoms of not getting enough chilling hours
Chill hour requirements for crandell clove curants is reported as 800-1000.
Per the University of TN … our state gets an average 900-1600 per year.
I am not sure how you find more details on that by year or more refined by location.
TNHunter
Going by the chilling hours map I have your location averages between 1200 and 1000. Considering it was an unusually cold winter it was likely on the higher end
Lack of chill can affect flowering and vegetative buds, but it depends on the species. This could be something else, of course, but it does look like what happens when plants don’t get enough chill.
In my area, 1000 hours seems barely enough, though I have no idea of knowing if my Crandall is the “true” Crandall or a seedling.
As far as I understand it, temperatures below 32 don’t contribute to chilling, so it doesn’t matter that this winter was unusually cold. I mean, I am in 9b and I get as many chilling hours as east coast cities in zones 7-8 without ever dropping much below 30 degrees. Warmer temps are also “negative” chill, and I think the degree to which warm winter temperatures affect dormancy depends on the species.
I think this isn’t settled yet. But I also have heard that, however it doesn’t make a ton of sense that it could be that simple. I fear it’s more complicated than simple +/- and likely not able to come up with a workable simple math problem.
My Crandall didn’t flower this year, and had similar issues as @TNHunter, mine is is almost full shade to keep it alive however. So I never expect it to be loaded in blooms but a couple like last year. I’ll move a sucker next year to test one in more sun, but it will likely succumb to the heat/drought.
Here’s my Crandall I got from edible landscape. It was in a 4 inch pot i think it was tiny. Planted in the spring last year. It’s South facing behind a brick alcove against my house. So it’s pretty well insulate, 7b Maryland. It flowered and set fruit on all the flowers from what I can tell. Pics are from about a month ago.
My yard is so neglected…just took this photo. Crandall is a spreader for me so far. Last year its debut fruit was mild & sweet compared to black currants, much to my wife’s relief. What she doesn’t use I’ll probably mix with black currants in whatever I do with black currants.
Nice to know, @JohannsGarden, that cuttings can be made from the roots. We may need more of these.
Rumble grumble, I wanted to post a photo & the newest/bestest/brightest/useless update this morning prevents the PC from recognizing the phone/camera again.