Currant Cordons

[veggiechicken]

Most of the redcurrants here are stripped by the blackbirds. They're alongside the jostaberries. The pigeons land on the jostaberries and all the fruit falls off - what stays on the bush they eat. What falls on the floor, something else eats. So the redcurrants/jostas are being attacked in several ways.

My thought is that, if I grow them as cordons with 1,2 or 3 upright stems, I could throw a fleece over them when they're starting to ripen and the pigeons couldn't land on them so easily. I don't like using netting as the birds can be trapped in it.

My cunning plan is to find a suitable "row"; take some cuttings of straight new growth, and jab them in the soil in the "row". Water them and let them get on with it!

From what I've read, cordoning works for red/white currants and gooseberries but not blackcurrants. Not sure about jostaberries but there's one way to find out.

Has anyone tried this? Advice welcomed.

[Jay-ell]

My goosegogs and red currants are grown as a triple cordon along the fence underneath the kiwi, hop and white grape.

They're planted 3 feet apart with the cordons at 1 foot Intervals tied onto bamboo canes to keep them straight.



I don't net them though as the fence is 8 foot high and 32 foot long.

[veggiechicken]

Thank you, that's exactly what I want to do.
Did you start them as cuttings or bought-ins?

[nickdub]

The reason for the problem with growing blackcurrants as cordons is that they fruit mostly on the new wood which grew the previous year, so establishing a permanent framework of branches and getting a crop is virtually impossible (gooseberries etc fruit on old wood, a bit like apples). I'd say that jostaberries are like blackcurrants, so growing them as cordons would mean not much fruit - you could try fan-training them and see if you could get a flat shape that way.

[Lardman]

If you're worried about trapping the birds you can always use chicken wire or weld mesh. I have 8'x4' weldmesh wooden panels I assemble into a box to protect the blueberry bushes. As it doesn't flop around and there's no excess nothing can get trapped in it (there are a lot of grass snakes here). It also has the added bonus the rats don't chew it in shed over winter - that was a very expensive enviromesh lesson.

I'd start the cutting off in pots myself, it removes the risk of gaps in your rows and the weak plants can be disguarded, as it will take a least a season to get them started you might as well make use of the ground whilst you wait. FYI I'm also trying a similar set up with some blueberry bushes at the moment.

[nickdub]

some very good points - I use chicken wire for the bottom of my hashed-up fruit cage mostly because its easier to disentangle it from the weeds at the end of the season - I do use nylon netting over the top as its easiest to take on and off - I have caught a couple of birds in it over the years, but I managed to free them without harm - I find putting a cloth over their head so they can't see, calms them down enough that they can be untangled.

[Jay-ell]

Thank you, that's exactly what I want to do.
Did you start them as cuttings or bought-ins?

They were the 3 packs from ladle or alday cut back to produce 3 shoots. The side shoots were laid down to horizontal. On some the side shoots were cut back to 12 inches to an upward facing bud, on others the growth just went up naturally.

It's taken a few years but the cordons are getting to the 5 foot mark tied in to the bamboo. I do prune back quite heavily.

[Jay-ell]

For what it's worth, the goosegogs have given 8l s of berries.

I've lost half a dozen leaves to sawfly in a week