Blackcurrants

Blackcurrants are soft fruits bushes that flower early in the season so they will only grow in cool-temperate climate. They are prone to frost damage if they are placed in exposed sites. They fruit in mid summer. There are some hybrid plants called Jostaberries, obtained from blackcurrants and gooseberries and are grown in the same way as blackcurrants.

In order to offer good growing conditions to your blackcurrants bushes you have to prepare the ground well before planting them by removing all weeds from the planting site and dig in plenty of manure. Choose a sunny, sheltered place even they may tolerate some shade. If the springs are colder in your region you have to protect your blackcurrants from spring frosts. They will like a good soil, deep and moisture-retentive, with a pH of 6.5-7 if possible. They are self-fertile.

Plant the blackcurrants bushes in late autumn or throughout the winter period if the weather allow it. Place them 1.3-1.5 m apart and with the same distance between the rows. Handle the bushes with care to avoid damaging the basal buds. After planting you have to cut down all the shoots to one bud in order to encourage strong, new growth.

In winter apply a sulphate or potash fertilizer and in spring a nitrogenous fertilizer at a rate of 35g/sq m. Mulch well all round the bushes in spring with well-rotted manure, compost or leaf mould, to conserve soil moisture around the plants. If the weather is dry you have to water them but not over the ripen period because this may cause the skins of the fruits to split. If there is any danger of birds attack then you have to net the blackcurrants bushes to protect the ripening fruits.

The fruits are borne on shoots produced in the previous season, so regular pruning is essential. Cut all stems to one bud above ground level right after planting and the following year remove any weak, downward-pointing or horizontal shoots. Maintenance pruning will be done as buds begin to burst, before late winter, by cutting to the base one quarter to one third of two-years-old wood and any older or weak wood. Even most of the bushes rejuvenate well after a strong pruning, it is better to replace the bushes that are older than ten years.

Fruits can be harvest when they are dry and ripe but still firm. Remove the whole bunch not only the individual fruits. Blackcurrants may be eaten fresh or stored by bottling, preserving or freezing.

Propagation for blackcurrants can be done from hardwood cuttings, 20-25 cm long, taken from healthy bushes in autumn. Keep all buds on the cuttings to encourage basal shoots to grow. Insert the cuttings in a trench, leaving two buds exposed.