Topic: Cold enough for the Blackcurrants

[Digeroo]

Bit nippy here last night.  Lawn is white.

Read that blackcurrants do not do well if they do not get cold enough in the winters, so hopefully last night will do enough to get a good crop next year.

[galina]

Bit nippy here last night.  Lawn is white.

Read that blackcurrants do not do well if they do not get cold enough in the winters, so hopefully last night will do enough to get a good crop next year.

Yes and it is not just blackcurrants that need a certain amount of chilling hours.  Places like Florida struggle growing apples for example, not because they won't grow there during summer, but because they don't get the chilling hours required.  Nicely explained here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilling_requirement

[gwynleg]

I was thinking gleefully that this might kill off a few slugs and snails and other allotment baddies!

[saddad]

Most of the baddies sneak lower into the soil when it freezes to avoid getting frozen!

[Digeroo]

Thanks for the link Galina interesting.
May explain why some of my apple trees did not do well this years, two had no flowers and one very much fewer than normal.

Seems blackcurrants have quite a high cold requirement.  A couple of hard frosts are not enough.

http://www.fruitgateway.co.uk/blackcurrant_cultivation.asp

[martinburo]

Last winter was very mild here in East Anglia, but my blackcurrants were as productive as usual.
Ah, the website says 800-1600 hours below 7C (33-67 days), so it's more the duration than the minimum temperature that might be the limit.