North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Thomas Olenio <tolenio@sentex.net>]

Hi,

Rabbits chomp my apple trees, but leave the Crandall currants, Red Lake 
currants,  Cherry currants, Titania currants, and jostaberries alone.

I wonder if grazing cattle would ignore them in the pasture too.  Though 
the fruit may attract them, if the foliage doesn't.

My currents are already in fruit, and the HEAVY rain of last week, beat 
them to the ground.  Going to be  a tough summer for mowing.

Later,
Tom

Rob Halgren wrote:

> Well, my neighbor's 15 horses discovered that the electric fence was 
> grounded out the other day, and mowed a fair amount of my yard. 
> Normally I wouldn't have a problem with that, but they did take a few 
> apricots and peaches down to the ground.   Interestingly, they very 
> carefully left the currants (red and black) intact.  Did a better job 
> of mowing around them than I do...  Maybe they thought 'currants' were 
> 'currents', and stayed away.
>
> So, is this phenomenon repeatable?  I'd like to plant some low growing 
> plants along the horse fence, but horses are worse than deer. 
> Especially when the grass in the pasture is in short supply.  The 
> currants would be a perfect solution.
>
> If it is a perfect solution, where is a good place to purchase some 
> newer, improved varieties of currants that would hold up to a central 
> michigan winter?  In batches of 25 - 50, perhaps.
>
> Thanks
>
> Rob