North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Kieran and/or Donna" <holycow@frontiernet.net>]

Dave, 

    My Ben Sarek is in with the blueberries, which may be a bit acidic for it, and it's had less water than the Ben Lomand and Black Down.  Ben Sarek should be as good a choice as Ben Lomand, and I believe it's a bit earlier.  Mine had fruit on it, and I think it got ripe and fell off because I didn't think it could possibly be ripe so early in the season. 

    It appears that Ben Sarek was a bit of a sensation in the industry because the bush is smaller and more easily manageable than most blackcurrants.  I had a spot just the right size in the blueberries where it got reasonable mulch and weeding but less water than the other two.  I think a mole bothered it a time or two, which is really unfair.  Crandall was way out at the end of the row where it got less water than anything else, it hardly produced any leaves in the spring (a wet spring early on) and hardly carried any leaves all summer long.  Maybe it will be more inspiring next year.  I'm grateful to Sam for telling me it was selected in Kansas.  Maybe it was too wet for it back in June....in between all the droughty spells.   What surprised me was that Blackdown did as well as Ben Lomand.  I thought it might have been a little chancy, not enough noise made about its disease resistance.  Because most blackcurrants are grown for juice production, our choices are mostly what agribiz has selected.  I don't really mind in this case because they have selected for a lot of the things I'd want anyway, disease resistance, productivity and flavor.  

    Apparently blackcurrants are very easy to root so I figured I'd cut off branches if the Ben Sarek and eventually have a little row of them in the garden.  I really feel like I'm on a whole different planet with the blackcurrants and gooseberries because they bloomed and cropped the very first year on quite small plants, and all I have to do ito make more is either stick cuttings in the ground or bend the gooseberry branches over to root the tips.  It's a far cry from waiting and waiting for pome fruits.  Donna