Blackcurrant varieties

[ChingfordHarry]

I'm thinking of planting a blackcurrant bush, and am looking for suggestions that would suit my plot. North-east London, heavy clay soil, full sun, frost pocket (basically I have a long thin plot (25x5m) that runs down to the floor of a valley; the bottom end floods every winter, and the top bakes to a brick-like consistency every summer). The bushes would probably go about half-way up...

Any ideas?

[Jungle Jane]

I usually look at the RHS AGM list (in the link) when I’m researching for a variety,there’s two blackcurrants on the list Big Ben & Ben Connan. The plant trial link shows what the RHS says about them,good resistance to pests/disease,size & taste etc.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/a...vegetables.pdf

https://apps.rhs.org.uk/planttrials/...02009-2012.pdf

[ameno]

I grow Ben Hope and two other unknown varieties.
Ben Hope is a Which Best buy, as it tastes good, yields well, and is resistant to big bud mite (which can potentially carry the reversion virus, which is usually eventually fatal to blackcurrants).
Ben Hope performs best for me. By comparison, the unknown variety which came with my allotment is not so good. It always produces a large crop, but they are rather lacking in flavour unless allowed to completely ripen, but the bush is also terrible at retaining its fruit, and they always fall off as soon as they are fully ripe. You can see the problem.

[Mr Bones]

We grow Big Ben - fruits well, when ripe (soft) enough can be eaten straight off the bush, plenty of flavour too.

[ChingfordHarry]

Many thanks for the replies (and apologies for this late reply!). Looks like I'll be choosing something with "Ben" in the name...

[Brack]

Ben Lomond, Ben Sarek and Titania all do brilliantly up in durham on fairly clayey soil.

Not sure you can go too wrong.

[TrixC]

I haven’t had much success with blackcurrants. I actually wonder if the London climate has become too warm for them, as they have a very high winter chill requirement. I have Ebony and Ben Tirran. Both are really suffering in the current hot weather. I also have a plant called a Chuckleberry which is a blackcurrant hybrid, this does much better for me. The fruit are very similar to blackcurrants.

[nick the grief]

I used to have Ben Sarek on my old allotment.

Good sized berries, good crops and small manageable bush some can be monsters once they get going.
Roots easy from hardwoorwood cuttings too

[ameno]

I haven’t had much success with blackcurrants. I actually wonder if the London climate has become too warm for them, as they have a very high winter chill requirement. I have Ebony and Ben Tirran. Both are really suffering in the current hot weather. I also have a plant called a Chuckleberry which is a blackcurrant hybrid, this does much better for me. The fruit are very similar to blackcurrants.

The plants may just be suffering due to not having enough space (blackcurrants can grow very large). Alternatively, they might be diseased. Blackcurrants can get the reversion virus, which greatly limits both the vigour and fruiting of a bush, and can eventually kill it.

It's very unlikely to be lack of winter chill. My relatives down in Cornwall grow blackcurrants just fine, and they have even milder winters than central London does.

[TrixC]

The plants may just be suffering due to not having enough space (blackcurrants can grow very large). Alternatively, they might be diseased. Blackcurrants can get the reversion virus, which greatly limits both the vigour and fruiting of a bush, and can eventually kill it.

It's very unlikely to be lack of winter chill. My relatives down in Cornwall grow blackcurrants just fine, and they have even milder winters than central London does.

I don’t think it’s space, they are planted at recommended spacings. They were planted together with two redcurrants which are now huge and fruit prolifically, whereas the blackcurrants produce relatively weak growth and only a handful of fruit. In any case, this is not my thread, I wasn’t the one asking for advice…