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nafex - [NAFEX] Ribes odoratum (Clove or Buffalo Currant)

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  • From: "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Ribes odoratum (Clove or Buffalo Currant)
  • Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2007 17:48:40 -0600

I appreciate all the comments about these native black currants (I've also seen them listed as Ribes aureum, var. 'Crandall'), but there are two things I wasn't able to determine last year (before I joined the NAFEX list). I planted some of these anyway, but could I get some help on these questions, please?

1. For best fruit production, do you prune them like other Ribes (remove three year and older stems)?

2. I received nothing but conflicting information about these plants. Several nurseries told me that the 'Crandall' variety of /Ribes odoratum/ (clove currant, buffalo currant, golden currant, etc.) would set fruit with just one plant. But the Missouri Botanical Garden says Ribes odoratum is dioecious, requiring both a male and a female plant to set fruit. Apparently, this comes from the reference work, "A Manual of Woody Landscape Plants" by Michael A. Dirr.

Does anyone here know for sure? Have you seen separate male and female plants? Or perhaps it's dioecious, but the female plants will still set "some" fruit without a male?

At least one nursery told me that "cross-pollination" would increase fruit production, and that a Ribes nigrum type of black currant would work for that (and maybe other Ribes species?). If that's true, I suppose all these nurseries could be seeing fruit from Ribes odoratum because they have other Ribes planted nearby...

I ended up buying from two different nurseries, but I was totally confused by then. So I planted 6 of the 'Crandall' currants and one seedling clove currant, just in case. But, of course, I don't know if the seedling currant is male or female, or even if they really ARE dioecious. Anyone know for sure?

Thanks much,

Bill

--
It used to be, everyone was entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. But that's not the case anymore. Facts matter not at all. Perception is everything. It's certainty. ... What is important? What you want to be true, or what is true? - Stephen Colbert





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