Composts For Currants

[Artisan]

I will shortly be taking delivery of Black and Pink currant plants which I am going to grow in containers. Please can anyone tell me what would be the best compost to use.

[burnie]

Never grown them in pots before, but fruit does seem to like potash, so I'd add some into maybe a John Innes loam based?

[BUFFS]

It would have to be john Innes No3 for me as the other composts would be played out in no time, then all you need is some BFB at the end of Feb and make sure the containers are at least 50ltrs olume or above to give the roots some room..

[Zelenina]

Mine do ok in multipurpose compost.

[BUFFS]

Mine do ok in multipurpose compost.

that would be like living on fast food, okay to fill the gap, but not as a main diet, it dries out too quickly, and wont have the trace elements/ minerals in it, and what is there doesn't last long, and you would want the plant to settle and thrive, not be searching for essential nourishment. I use MPC for annual stuff like toms or peppers, melons etc and it works fine for that, but fruit planted in tubs, in No3, in the autumn, would have the winter to put out a viable root system to afford cropping next year, without you having to keep feeding non stop throughout the summer. a spring handful of BFB early each year and that's it all sorted..thats how it works for me, and the big freezer already has 35-40 ice cream tubs of fruit , a good lot grown in tubs, from peaches to figs, apricots, honeyberries and strawberries, so we have homegrown fruit any time we want...magic..and with the rain we get summer and winter (the rain is warmer in the summer, that's how we tell the season) any MPC is washed out of nutrients in no time, you could call it a 12 month monsoon, we call it Scotland..

[Artisan]

Hello BUFFS. Thank you again for great information and help. My money is on the JI No3 then!