Black currant
Ribes nigrum
also called black currant, cassis
Aromatic berry bush brightened by allium guards against aphids.
Spacing & sowing
- Plant spacing
- 4 ft 11 in
- In-row spacing
- 4 ft 11 in
- Between rows
- 5 ft 11 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
Calendar (from your frost dates)
- Plant out
- at the last spring frost
- First harvest
- 100 days after the last spring frost
- Harvest ends
- 60 days before the first fall frost
Growing
- Type
- Fruit · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Sunlight
- Full sun to part shade
- Watering
- Moderate
- Soil
- Rich, moisture-retentive
- Feeding
- A potassium-rich feed in spring, laid over a generous mulch of manure.
- USDA zones
- 3a–8b
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- April
- Pruning
- Take out the oldest third of the stems each winter.
Through the year
- Apr–Apr Bud Break
- Apr–May Flowering
- May–Jul Fruit Set
- Jul–Aug Harvest
- Aug–Oct Growing
- Oct–Dec Leaf Fall
- Jan–Apr Leaf Fall
Harvest
- When
- July into early August in the UK; bushes crop in year 2 and peak from year 3. Fruit forms mostly on young wood.
- What to look for
- Berries jet black, plump, and glossy about a week after they first turn color — the lowest berries on each strig ripen first. Fully ripe fruit is aromatic and pulls free easily; underripe berries are hard and very tart.
- How to harvest
- Pick whole strigs (sprigs) by snipping or pinching at the base rather than stripping single berries — fruit keeps far better on the strig, and you string them off with a fork in the kitchen. Modern varieties like Ben Sarek ripen evenly enough to pick a whole bush at once.
- How often
- One or two picks per bush over about two weeks; don't leave ripe fruit hanging in rain or it splits and molds.
- Storing the crop
- A few days refrigerated on the strig. Predominantly a preserving fruit: freezes perfectly (string off while frozen), and makes outstanding jam, cordial, and cassis — very high in vitamin C and pectin.
Companions
Comfrey, Tansy, Marigolds
Pests & problems
Garden allies
Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. companion plant
- Parasitic wasps Braconidae & TrichogrammaHunts Sawfly
Tiny, stingless wasps that lay eggs in or on caterpillars, aphids, and moth eggs — the white cocoons riding a hornworm are their calling card, so leave that caterpillar be. Umbel flowers with shallow nectar keep the adults fuelled.
- Spined soldier bug Podisus maculiventrisHunts Sawfly
A predatory stink bug — same shield outline as the pest, but with a sharp spine at each shoulder and a beak it uses to spear caterpillars and beetle grubs. Learn the spines before you squash a shield bug, because this one is on your side.
- Tachinid fly TachinidaeHunts Sawfly
Bristly, house-fly-lookalike parasitoids that lay eggs on caterpillars, beetle grubs, and earwigs — the maggot consumes the host from within. Adults sip nectar from shallow umbels and daisies.
Did you know?
Blackcurrants pack several times more vitamin C than oranges.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com