Allotments 4 All

I live in on the outskirts of London.  We do not have many cold days
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/07/30/eacurrants130.xml

Could the mild winters mean that growing blackcurrants are a waste of time ?

"cientists are racing against time to save blackcurrants in Britain amid fears they are under threat from climate change.

The blackcurrant could disappear within 15 years due to increasingly mild winters, the Met Office warns.

The fruit is rich in vitamin C and contains more anti-oxidants than most other fruit and vegetables. They have been grown in Britain for 500 years. But the bush needs a long, cold winter for buds to grow properly in the spring.
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Farmers are adamant that warmer weather conditions have been disastrous for crops - worth about £10million a year to the economy.

But it will take 15 to 20 years to develop new "environment-adaptable" varieties.

Dr Rex Brennan, of the fruit breeding group at the Scottish Crop Research Institute, said: "The future of the blackcurrant is uncertain and we are taking these climactic changes very seriously.

"There are nine or ten varieties in production and it is unlikely we will ever get a variety that is suitable for all growing conditions because they vary so much.

"But we are working on a new variety that has low chilling requirements and will survive the changing conditions. It is very much a long-term operation and we need to be taking action now to deal with the predicted trends."

Edward Thompson, of Pixley Berries, in Ledbury, Herefordshire, who has been growing blackberries for 30 years, first noticed a mild winter in 1998, resulting in only half as much fruit.

He said: "We have a lot of hope and faith in the Scottish scientists but the process is very slow. The industry is not really responding quick enough to the changes that are occurring."

The growers' main customer is GlaxoSmithKline.

It buys 95 per cent of the crop to produce Ribena, a brand worth £192million a year.

A spokesman said: "We are working very closely with the science team at SCRI to protect the future of blackcurrants and ensure the continuity of supply. It is a very serious concern."

I had quite a good crop this year

Do you live in North Kent ?

They may only have a few varieties in commercial production but nature has hundreds out there; the classification of blackcurrants is incredibly complex, with all sorts of variantions. They'll survive, even if the commercial growers don't.

That was interesting. I had no more than 20 berries on my three bushes. The bushes themselves look very healthy, and no, the berries weren't nicked by birds. Thinking about it, last winter was not so different from last month here in W Yorkshire, except that last month was wetter.

Geoff.

I'm wondering about pollination; the constant rain will have washed the nectar out of the flowers, and will often have stopped pollinators doing their business.

The last two years I have had bumper crops

I grow Jostaberries, much bigger fruit, and have had no noticeable decline...
???

There was a thread about soft fruits earlier in the season - during that warm sunny spell (if you can remember that far back). Most people reported having not only early crops but 'giant' fruits, particularly the whopping blackcurrants - mine included. My new blackcurrant is only a baby so this first crop wasn't what you'd call plentiful, but the fruits were much bigger than expected.

I am in West Yorkshire and had a good crop this year. Does this also depend on the age of the bushes?

I live in west yorkshire too. I have inherited a black currant bush on my allotment. didn't know what to expect from it. So far have only had a handful of berries. I wondered if it was the weather or something, or maybe it will crop later, just don't know ???

I only had a few berries on 4 new bushes, but they were the biggest i have grown.

I havn't got any yet but observing others on the site I would say this year has produced a bumper yield of high quality. The cuttings I took last year were also from high-yielding bushes so I think the original information is one of many routine scare stories.

More a case of us only having 10 years left to breed a totally new strain of Farmer that is able to withstand the rigours of market fluctuations and competition.