I have a blackcurrant bush that I planted about 10 years ago (with another
that died over winter, and 2 redcurrant bushes). I have never picked more
than about 4 or 5 blackcurrants from it!! The bush flowers but the fruit
don't set.
I've talked to various experts, including one who has a 90 minute, weekly,
Q&A gardening program on the radio, and they're all flummoxed.
It grows like the clappers (I cut it back last year) and the redcurrants
fruit profusely.
This year will be its last chance.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Graham

graham wrote:
: I have a blackcurrant bush that I planted about 10 years ago (with
: another that died over winter, and 2 redcurrant bushes). I have
: never picked more than about 4 or 5 blackcurrants from it!! The bush
: flowers but the fruit don't set.
: I've talked to various experts, including one who has a 90 minute,
: weekly, Q&A gardening program on the radio, and they're all flummoxed.
: It grows like the clappers (I cut it back last year) and the
: redcurrants fruit profusely.
: This year will be its last chance.
: Any advice would be appreciated.
: Graham

Afterv 10 years I would imagine you have tried everything. Presumably your
experts would have spotted big bud and reversion, so out it comes. Why wait
ten years, you are very patient

On Mar 10, 5:47 pm, "Robert \(Plymouth\)" beachcom...@ultimate-
anonymity.com wrote:
graham wrote:

: I have a blackcurrant bush that I planted about 10 years ago (with
: another that died over winter, and 2 redcurrant bushes). I have
: never picked more than about 4 or 5 blackcurrants from it!! The bush
: flowers but the fruit don't set.
: I've talked to various experts, including one who has a 90 minute,
: weekly, Q&A gardening program on the radio, and they're all flummoxed.
: It grows like the clappers (I cut it back last year) and the
: redcurrants fruit profusely.
: This year will be its last chance.
: Any advice would be appreciated.
: Graham

Afterv 10 years I would imagine you have tried everything. Presumably your
experts would have spotted big bud and reversion, so out it comes. Why wait
ten years, you are very patient

Apparently they need a really cold winter to become profitable. Try a
variety that will cope with warm wet winters.

Weatherlawyer wrote:
: On Mar 10, 5:47 pm, "Robert \(Plymouth\)" beachcom...@ultimate-
: anonymity.com wrote:
:: graham wrote:
::
::: I have a blackcurrant bush that I planted about 10 years ago (with
::: another that died over winter, and 2 redcurrant bushes). I have
::: never picked more than about 4 or 5 blackcurrants from it!! The
::: bush flowers but the fruit don't set.
::: I've talked to various experts, including one who has a 90 minute,
::: weekly, Q&A gardening program on the radio, and they're all
::: flummoxed. It grows like the clappers (I cut it back last year) and
::: the redcurrants fruit profusely.
::: This year will be its last chance.
::: Any advice would be appreciated.
::: Graham
::
:: Afterv 10 years I would imagine you have tried everything.
:: Presumably your experts would have spotted big bud and reversion, so
:: out it comes. Why wait ten years, you are very patient
:
: Apparently they need a really cold winter to become profitable. Try a
: variety that will cope with warm wet winters.

Naaa, never bothered any of mine whether the winter is warm, cold or
indifferent

On 10 Mar, 19:13, "Robert \(Plymouth\)" beachcom...@ultimate-
anonymity.com wrote:
Weatherlawyer wrote:

: On Mar 10, 5:47 pm, "Robert \(Plymouth\)" beachcom...@ultimate-: anonymity.com wrote:
:: graham wrote:

::
::: I have a blackcurrant bush that I planted about 10 years ago (with
::: another that died over winter, and 2 redcurrant bushes). I have
::: never picked more than about 4 or 5 blackcurrants from it!! The
::: bush flowers but the fruit don't set.
::: I've talked to various experts, including one who has a 90 minute,
::: weekly, Q&A gardening program on the radio, and they're all
::: flummoxed. It grows like the clappers (I cut it back last year) and
::: the redcurrants fruit profusely.
::: This year will be its last chance.
::: Any advice would be appreciated.
::: Graham
::
:: Afterv 10 years I would imagine you have tried everything.
:: Presumably your experts would have spotted big bud and reversion, so
:: out it comes. Why wait ten years, you are very patient
:
: Apparently they need a really cold winter to become profitable. Try a
: variety that will cope with warm wet winters.

Naaa, never bothered any of mine whether the winter is warm, cold or
indifferent

Black currants fruit on last years wood so after fruiting you cut out
the old wood and leave in the new.
You say it/they are making a lot of growth, I wonder what fertilizer
you are giving them. It/they might benifit from a low Nitrogen high
potash high phosphate fertilizer to toughen up the growth. With most
fruiting plants, if they are growing to well they don't carry a great
amount of fruit, they have no need to reproduce.
But I would be asking myself if it wasn't time foe a couple of new
bushes.
David Hill
Abacus Nurseries

In article 1DzIh.2837$zU1.2107@pd7urf1no,
"graham" writes:
| I have a blackcurrant bush that I planted about 10 years ago (with another
| that died over winter, and 2 redcurrant bushes). I have never picked more
| than about 4 or 5 blackcurrants from it!! The bush flowers but the fruit
| don't set.
| I've talked to various experts, including one who has a 90 minute, weekly,
| Q&A gardening program on the radio, and they're all flummoxed.
| It grows like the clappers (I cut it back last year) and the redcurrants
| fruit profusely.

Odd. However, following on from another thread, sports are fairly
common in most plants, and it isn't impossible that you have one that
is effectively self-sterile. If that is so, replacing it by another
plant would work. But I doubt that explanation.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article , Nick Maclaren
writes

Odd. However, following on from another thread, sports are fairly
common in most plants, and it isn't impossible that you have one that
is effectively self-sterile. If that is so, replacing it by another
plant would work. But I doubt that explanation.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


Not sure if it will help, but when I moved to this house in '79 there
were several blackcurrants bushes that didn't seem to fruit.
I wanted to move them anyway so dug them up and planted 5 hardwood
cuttings, just shoving the stems into the ground (I did add a bit of
sharp sand to the trench)
They grew and fruited fine.

Might this be a solution?
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

"Robert (Plymouth)" wrote in message
...
graham wrote:
: I have a blackcurrant bush that I planted about 10 years ago (with
: another that died over winter, and 2 redcurrant bushes). I have
: never picked more than about 4 or 5 blackcurrants from it!! The bush
: flowers but the fruit don't set.
: I've talked to various experts, including one who has a 90 minute,
: weekly, Q&A gardening program on the radio, and they're all flummoxed.
: It grows like the clappers (I cut it back last year) and the
: redcurrants fruit profusely.
: This year will be its last chance.
: Any advice would be appreciated.
: Graham

Afterv 10 years I would imagine you have tried everything. Presumably your
experts would have spotted big bud and reversion, so out it comes. Why
wait
ten years, you are very patient

And now I've lost it{:-) As soon as the ground thaws, out it comes!
Graham

"Weatherlawyer" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Mar 10, 5:47 pm, "Robert \(Plymouth\)" beachcom...@ultimate-
anonymity.com wrote:
graham wrote:

: I have a blackcurrant bush that I planted about 10 years ago (with
: another that died over winter, and 2 redcurrant bushes). I have
: never picked more than about 4 or 5 blackcurrants from it!! The bush
: flowers but the fruit don't set.
: I've talked to various experts, including one who has a 90 minute,
: weekly, Q&A gardening program on the radio, and they're all flummoxed.
: It grows like the clappers (I cut it back last year) and the
: redcurrants fruit profusely.
: This year will be its last chance.
: Any advice would be appreciated.
: Graham

Afterv 10 years I would imagine you have tried everything. Presumably
your
experts would have spotted big bud and reversion, so out it comes. Why
wait
ten years, you are very patient

Apparently they need a really cold winter to become profitable. Try a
variety that will cope with warm wet winters.

Thanks for the suggestion but I'm a Brit living in Canada. Cold winters are
a fact of life{:-))
Graham

"Dave Hill" wrote in message
ups.com...
On 10 Mar, 19:13, "Robert \(Plymouth\)" beachcom...@ultimate-
anonymity.com wrote:

Black currants fruit on last years wood so after fruiting you cut out
the old wood and leave in the new.
You say it/they are making a lot of growth, I wonder what fertilizer
you are giving them. It/they might benifit from a low Nitrogen high
potash high phosphate fertilizer to toughen up the growth. With most
fruiting plants, if they are growing to well they don't carry a great
amount of fruit, they have no need to reproduce.
But I would be asking myself if it wasn't time foe a couple of new
bushes.
David Hill
Abacus Nurseries


I think you are right. That spot doesn't get over fertilised, in fact it's
next to a former raspberry patch that must surely be depleted. The adjacent
redcurrants fruit heavily, at least when the aphids are kept under control!
Graham

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article 1DzIh.2837$zU1.2107@pd7urf1no,
"graham" writes:
| I have a blackcurrant bush that I planted about 10 years ago (with
another
| that died over winter, and 2 redcurrant bushes). I have never picked
more
| than about 4 or 5 blackcurrants from it!! The bush flowers but the
fruit
| don't set.
| I've talked to various experts, including one who has a 90 minute,
weekly,
| Q&A gardening program on the radio, and they're all flummoxed.
| It grows like the clappers (I cut it back last year) and the
redcurrants
| fruit profusely.

Odd. However, following on from another thread, sports are fairly
common in most plants, and it isn't impossible that you have one that
is effectively self-sterile. If that is so, replacing it by another
plant would work. But I doubt that explanation.

I think that it might be. I've generally been lucky with most of my
plantings but this one has perplexed me. Every year I think that I'll watch
it carefully, try this or that and evry year the same result. I don't need
the room so I left it but this year, out it comes.
Graham

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
In article , Nick Maclaren
writes

Odd. However, following on from another thread, sports are fairly
common in most plants, and it isn't impossible that you have one that
is effectively self-sterile. If that is so, replacing it by another
plant would work. But I doubt that explanation.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


Not sure if it will help, but when I moved to this house in '79 there were
several blackcurrants bushes that didn't seem to fruit.
I wanted to move them anyway so dug them up and planted 5 hardwood
cuttings, just shoving the stems into the ground (I did add a bit of sharp
sand to the trench)
They grew and fruited fine.

Might this be a solution?
--
Thanks, Janet, but there isn't a suitable spot to which to move it. It has
just been too frustrating. I had visions of making jam, crème de cassis and
pepping up summer puddings when I planted. A farm near the city was selling
them in bulk last year for about 8 quid for a gallon-sized ice-cream bucket
full, so I bought some.
Graham

"graham" wrote in message
news:1DzIh.2837$zU1.2107@pd7urf1no...
I have a blackcurrant bush that I planted about 10 years ago (with another
that died over winter, and 2 redcurrant bushes). I have never picked more
than about 4 or 5 blackcurrants from it!! The bush flowers but the fruit
don't set.
I've talked to various experts, including one who has a 90 minute, weekly,
Q&A gardening program on the radio, and they're all flummoxed.
It grows like the clappers (I cut it back last year) and the redcurrants
fruit profusely.
This year will be its last chance.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Graham


Many thanks for all of your suggestions and advice. I think, however, that
it's a lost cause.
Now if only they were as successful as the french tarragon........
Graham

Graham
I am amazed at your patience - you should have currants from year
three.
Do you know what variety it was you planted?
Can we go over growing a blackcurrant - forgive me if you have been
there and done that - but at least know that you have knocked off the
items on the list.
Blackcurrants, unlike redcurrants, are hungry nitrogen feeders. FYM
is typically applied as a mulch in February. If not available then
bone meal / pelleted chicken manure can be used to supplement garden
compost. Soil wise they are not fussy (except chalk soils) so long as
they are fed. Can be grown on chlk if a large planting hole is dug
and good soil put in.

Blackcurrants are grown as a stool bush, the plant is planted lower
than it was in the pot / nursery. The ground it goes in wants to be
fertile and enriched. When the first rooted curtring is planted it
should be cut back to three buds above the ground so that it thows up
new wood from below the ground. This is where most people go wrong
on buying a new plant, they fail to cut it back. The aim is to
eastblish 5-8 main branches to start the plant off.
The following year reduce the new growth by half. No further pruning
will be required for two years as a well fed bush will produce pleanty
of new growth. The fruit appears on last years young wood, whereas
your redcurrants fruit on old wood. Here lies the difference in the
culture of the two plants. Redcurrants are pruned like gooeseberries
- to encourage the formation of fruiting spurs, whereas pruning
blackcurrants is about renewal pruing - that being the removal of one
third old wood at the point of origin. OK cutting out old wood takes
away young wood - therefore fruit. But if there is more old wood than
new on the branch, then it is a candidate for removal.
You can get fruit in year two after planting a cutting - but doing so
leads to spindly growth. The wood produced it much more dense /
thicker than redcurrants, it does not want to be spindly.
The commercial life expectancy of a currant bush is 8-12 years, though
the gardener may eeek out longer.
Space - most blackcurrants are vigourous growers - a bush of 6ft
spread is typical.
They grow well in the UK and there are commercial growers down in the
south of England up into Scotland - growing for juice. yes 98% of all
UK blackcurrants go into ribena (and all grown under environmental
stewardship shemes). The flowers are frost sensitive. Again
commercially they have a technique used but French grape growers who
spray the plants with water - to encase the plant in ice to protect
the flower from the rapid thaw of frost, the ice thaw is gentle and
insulates the flower from the cold - apparently. Attended a talk
given by an ex Beechams man (owner of Ribena) whio had some great
slides of fields of icicle laden blackcurrant bushes.
Revertion and big bud disease are the main issues with blackcurants.
Removal and burn is the only corrective measure. Do not propogate from
them. If you are unware of what big bud is - it is a disease caused
by a mite which attacks the buds which are enlarged. In reversion the
leaves of an infected plant have desribed as being nettle like in that
they have three elongate lobes and there are three rather than five
main veins in the leaf.. The old winter tar oil wash was a good
control of the mite but alas no longer available.

If the plant is healthy and not suffering from reversion or big bud
then my gut feeling is frost damage to the flowers

Good luck
Clifford
Bawtry, Doncaster, South Yorkshire

"cliff_the_gardener" wrote in message
s.com...
Graham
I am amazed at your patience - you should have currants from year
three.
Do you know what variety it was you planted?

No, I'm afraid not and it is probably a variety developed for the prairies.
I'm a Brit living in Calgary.
Can we go over growing a blackcurrant - forgive me if you have been
there and done that - but at least know that you have knocked off the
items on the list.
Blackcurrants, unlike redcurrants, are hungry nitrogen feeders. FYM
is typically applied as a mulch in February.

Every thing is still under snow then:-((

If not available then
bone meal / pelleted chicken manure can be used to supplement garden
compost. Soil wise they are not fussy (except chalk soils) so long as
they are fed. Can be grown on chlk if a large planting hole is dug
and good soil put in.

Blackcurrants are grown as a stool bush, the plant is planted lower
than it was in the pot / nursery. The ground it goes in wants to be
fertile and enriched. When the first rooted curtring is planted it
should be cut back to three buds above the ground so that it thows up
new wood from below the ground. This is where most people go wrong
on buying a new plant, they fail to cut it back. The aim is to
eastblish 5-8 main branches to start the plant off.
The following year reduce the new growth by half. No further pruning
will be required for two years as a well fed bush will produce pleanty
of new growth. The fruit appears on last years young wood, whereas
your redcurrants fruit on old wood. Here lies the difference in the
culture of the two plants. Redcurrants are pruned like gooeseberries
- to encourage the formation of fruiting spurs, whereas pruning
blackcurrants is about renewal pruing - that being the removal of one
third old wood at the point of origin. OK cutting out old wood takes
away young wood - therefore fruit. But if there is more old wood than
new on the branch, then it is a candidate for removal.
You can get fruit in year two after planting a cutting - but doing so
leads to spindly growth. The wood produced it much more dense /
thicker than redcurrants, it does not want to be spindly.
The commercial life expectancy of a currant bush is 8-12 years, though
the gardener may eeek out longer.
Space - most blackcurrants are vigourous growers - a bush of 6ft
spread is typical.
They grow well in the UK and there are commercial growers down in the
south of England up into Scotland - growing for juice. yes 98% of all
UK blackcurrants go into ribena (and all grown under environmental
stewardship shemes). The flowers are frost sensitive. Again
commercially they have a technique used but French grape growers who
spray the plants with water - to encase the plant in ice to protect
the flower from the rapid thaw of frost, the ice thaw is gentle and
insulates the flower from the cold - apparently. Attended a talk
given by an ex Beechams man (owner of Ribena) whio had some great
slides of fields of icicle laden blackcurrant bushes.
Revertion and big bud disease are the main issues with blackcurants.
Removal and burn is the only corrective measure. Do not propogate from
them. If you are unware of what big bud is - it is a disease caused
by a mite which attacks the buds which are enlarged. In reversion the
leaves of an infected plant have desribed as being nettle like in that
they have three elongate lobes and there are three rather than five
main veins in the leaf.. The old winter tar oil wash was a good
control of the mite but alas no longer available.

If the plant is healthy and not suffering from reversion or big bud
then my gut feeling is frost damage to the flowers

Good luck
Clifford
Bawtry, Doncaster, South Yorkshire


Many thanks for the comprehensive reply. I've saved it for my friends and
for those local experts that hadn't a clue. I couldn't get any advice from
local gardening experts so I thought that I would ask here. From other
replies, I think that I have a dud bush. The lack of fruit setting after
flowering could have been due to frosts in one or two years but not for the
rest.. There is a large blackcurrant farm south of the city that is far more
frost prone than my garden (heat island effect) and they haven't had any
major losses. They also couldn't help me with my problem as all their
bushes produce profusely.
I cut it back last year, out of frustration, so if it's going to produce at
all, it should be this year, from what you have written. So I'll wait to
see if it sets before I decide whether to dig it up.
Cheers
Graham