Topic: Blackcurrants

[cambourne7]

Hello everyone

I finally picked up a new blackcurrant having found out last year my blackcurrant was actually a loganberry 

So i have a second large pot to fill and again filled with spent potato compost and the blackcurrant anything else i need to consider? Will be top dressing with gravel.

The plant will be put behind my greenhouse which is at the corner of my garden with a 3-4ft gab from fence to greenhouse so it will just fit.

The fence i am going to be training it against is A) not mine and B) rotten so unlikly to make it though the winter (will be training in spring if the fence makes it. But i am thinking i will on my side put some wire and train the plant on that so that if the fence goes in future the plant should be ok is this sound thinking?

Any other fruiting plants (shrub) that i could put in the same pot?

Cam

[Paulh]

Blackcurrants form sturdy bushes about 4' or so in diameter, you prune by cutting out at the base of the plant the stems that have fruited. So it shouldn't need supporting or training, which solves your problem!

[Obelixx]

Blackcurrants respond well to good feeding and regular watering so spent potato compost will be a bit thin on nutrients.  Is there any special reason to grow it in a pot rather than in the ground?   They can be trained as cordons but are very well behaved when grown as shrubs and, as Paulh says, you prune them by taking out the fruited stem.   I do that at harvest time so we can sit on a chair in comfort to strip the fruit rather than bending and peering under the shrub.

[Russell]

I'm uncertain why you want to train your blackcurrant. If you are short of space or want to achieve a visual effect it might be better to look at a more trainable soft fruit such as redcurrants or gooseberries, both of which can be trained into the classical forms (cordon, espalier, fan) or into an interesting and hopefully artistic shape of your own origination. Reds and goosegogs are also more tolerant of drought and starvation (easier to grow) but more attractive to birds.

[Vinlander]

Whitecurrants fool a lot of birds (so far - touch wood). The flavour is mild but delicious - like grapes but months earlier.

Cheers.