Currant bushes

[Di]

I'm trying to bring the currant bushes back to some kind of shape after a year or two of neglect.

The fruit cage was very tangled with bindweed last year, but I covered the ground with black fabric after feeding with manure two years ago, so its a few weeds with ambition rather than hundreds of roots.
So advice please...(lots of it!?!)

1)One black currant has died, brittle to the base and a gonna - any ideas? do they die of old age, is is it strangled by weeds or the fabric. I don't remember seeing any disease, but I wasn't on my plot much last year.
2)I planted a ben coran black currant two years ago, it didn't get its first year pruning, how do I approach it now?
3)I'm doing major surgery on two older bushes one red one black currant, how drastic can I be? The cage is very crowded and some of the branches have started to lean on each other...So far I've taken about 60% of the old wood from the black current and 30% from the red, can I do more and still have berries/bushes next year.

Sorry for such long questions but the books all assume we've got neat well maintained bushes to tweek.

[richard p]

hi di, looks like youve stumped everyone
i wouldnt claim to be an expert, but if you read the books to find what the ideal is you can work towards it in a couple of stages.
with the black currants its a case of thinning out the branches by cutting out the oldest back to ground level, any of the remainder that are too long should be shortened, ask two experts and you will get an argument as to how many to cut out but provided they are good healthy bushes they will survive serious abuse and reshoot for suceeding years.
red currants need treating slightly differently, i dont like them so just leave them to get on with it there seems to be some to feed the birds every year

[Weed]

Blackcurrants....As I understand it old bushes can be cut down to the ground then a third of the growth cut back on successive years (three year cycle)

Redcurrants..... most books seem to say take a third off last years growth overall.

I was shown last year a slightly different approach...Cut each of the main stems back by a third of the previous years growth ...(take out any crossing stems). Then each of the side shoots to each main stem take back to within two buds of the joint

I did this a year ago and my crops last year excelled itself...mind you it was a good year for fruit anyway

[Di]

Thanks for the advice, I've decided to plant another blackcurrant just in case I kill these ones with too drastic measures.

Part of my confusiion is that the blackcurrant is grown from a stem, not indivisual stems emerging from the ground - presumeably not planted deep enough by whoever..

Still its been happy and productive, so i guess that expert advice is also best practice rather than the only way.

One way or another I will not be suffering from scurvy next year.

[PLUMPUDDING]

You might like to grow some new bushes from the cuttings you take, they root very easily. Just take healthy shoots about 9 inches long and stick them in a trench. Mark them so you don't forget and in a few months you will have lots of new fruit bushes.

If you don't mind not getting a blackcurrant crop for a year you could cut the bush almost down to the ground and giving it a good mulch of a high nitrogen compost/manure and it should send plenty of new shoots out from ground level. (The cuttings are a back up in case it doesn't!)

I've drastically pruned my redcurrants this year as they were getting quite large. I had just left them as they were very productive and I think they look beautiful when covered with fruit. I got 23 lbs of fruit from two bushes last year. It makes excellent wine. I will be interested to see what they do this year.

I usually read how to do things properly and then adapt it to suit myself. Things usually grow anyway, and if they die there was probably something wrong with them - like your blackcurrant. Experimentation makes gardening fun.

[Di]

Hi Plumpudding, I think i need your recipe for redcurrant wine, I've let the birds have 90% of the berries the last few years as I couldn't use them. I'm all for helping blackbirds thrive, but not at the loss of alcohol

[PLUMPUDDING]

Hi Di,

Recipe for Red currant wine:

3 lb red currants
3 lb granulated sugar
6 pts. boiling water
Pectic enzyme
Campden tablets
Wine yeast (general purpose is OK, but Bordeaux is better if you can get it)
Yeast nutrient

(Just multiply up the ingredients for larger quantities of fruit in the same proportions, but note that a packet of wine yeast usually is enough for 5 gallons, so check how much liquid you have before adding it)

Strip currants from the stalks and put them in a plastic bucket. Pour over the 6 pints of boiling water, add the sugar and stir well with a plastic spoon. Cover the bucket and leave to cool completely.

~Add a crushed campden tablet and the pectic enzyme and leave in a warm place for 24 hours well covered. Now add the yeast and yeast nutrient and stir well. Leave covered in a warm place for seven days, giving the mixture a good stir each day.

After seven days it is ready to strain into a fermentation demi-john and fit an airlock. Ferment the wine, if it seems to stop fermenting after only a week or two you can add a bit more sugar to make it a bit stronger, but it isn't vital. Rack and allow to clear after the fermentation is over (when there are no more bubbles coming through the air lock) and repeat racking (syphoning the clear wine off the sediment) if a lot of sediment builds up before the wine is clear.

Bottle and keep in a dark place to keep a good colour. Wait for nine months if you can, it is even better if left longer.

[Di]

Many thanks Plumpudding, I will go find the demijohns that lurk in my cellar and look forward to july's harvest. I can see why it might be hard to wait 9 months or more though.