North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[ED Mashburn <ribes60@currants.com>]

At 09:39 PM 5/31/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Ed,
>
>As you predicted, all but one of my currants set fruit nicely this
>year.  Alas, the most fruitful branch of my wild red seems to have been
>broken off by my neighbor's dog (it was hanging by a bit of bark, and I
>tried supporting it with popsicle sticks and taping it in place, but to
>no avail - so much for grafting ribes.)
>
>All the fruiting branches of the Crandall/Prince Consort are hanging
>rather low to the ground.  Do you think I ought to support them?  If so,
>how?  I'm not sure if tying them up will make them more or less prone to
>dog-damage.  I don't recall having this problem before, but they are
>fruiting much more heavily than they did in NY, so perhaps it's the
>weight of the fruit.
>
>I am interested to note that the Crandalls are all suckering this year. 
>With any luck, they will fill in to become a nice hedge.  (If the
>branches don't all fall down, first.)  I am also astonished by the
>fruitfulness of my Redstart, which is a small bush.  It didn't grow much
>last year after I put it in, and doesn't seem to be growing much this
>year, either, but is carrying an awful lot of little white fruits.  So
>far, I'm a fan.
>
>Best,
>Ginda Fisher


Ginda, 

Sorry about the branch of the wild red, at that stage there is probably
nothing you could have done to save it.

The Crandalls are very heavy yielding plants and the fruit is large, so it
tends to bend the branches down low. There are several things that you can
do, you can "tip" the canes - that is, remove the growing tip end, this
will reduce some of the weight and encourage a stronger stiffer cane. It
also tends to cause the side buds to grow and that defeats the intended
purpose.  I would stake them, I use the steel electric fence posts known as
"Western Posts" they are a straight steel rod with a triangle thin plate
braised to one end. You can place your foot on it and push the stake into
the ground. Then tie baler or binder twine around the stake and use it to
hold up the bending branches. I get the stakes at a farm supply house and
pay about $1.50 for them, they come in very handy for quick support.

Redstart is a heavy bearing plant and is also a rather small bush for a red
currant. I think you will like it. On the other hand, I have some Tatran
Red Currants, that are monsters. The plants are four years old and are
about 6 feet tall and have very heavy canes.



Ed Mashburn
Northumberland BerryWorks
707 Front Street
Northumberland, PA  17857
(570) 473-9910
WWW.currants.com
Ed@currants.com