North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lee Reich <lreich@hvc.rr.com>]

I've grown Ben Sarek for a few years and although it has nice stature and large berries, the berries almost always seem to dry out for me before ripening. I don't think that the flavor of those that do ripen is all that good. I'm taking all mine out.

Lee Reich, PhD

http://www.leereich.com/

http://leereich.com/blog.html.

Books by Lee Reich:

A Northeast Gardener's Year

The Pruning Book

Weedless Gardening

Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden

Landscaping with Fruit

On Sep 18, 2010, at 1:12 PM, david liezen wrote:

After reading Donna's missive yesterday I fired up the search engine and found this site:
 
blackcurrantfoundation.co.uk/varieties.html
 
It described the development of the Ben series of b/c at a research station near Dundee, Scotland. Much of their work has been aimed at the commercial industry, but Ben Sarek was specifically intended for the Pick Your Own farmer and backyard enthusiast, with a shorter stature and sweeter fruit, in addition to disease resistance.
Looks like good reasons for me to try it here in Spokane, zone 6.
 
                Dave    
 

---

From: holycow@frontiernet.net
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2010 10:06:10 -0500
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] gooseberry leaves

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

_______________________________________________ nafex mailing list nafex@lists.ibiblio.orgReproduction of list messages or archives is not allowed. This includes distribution on other email lists or reproduction on web sites. Permission to reproduce is NEVER granted, so don't claim you have permission! **YOU MUST BE SUBSCRIBED TO POST!** Posts from email addresses that are not subscribed are discarded. No exceptions. ---- To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this page (also can be used to change other email options): http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex File attachments are NOT stripped by this list. TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COMPUTER VIRUSES! Please do not send binary files. Use plain text ONLY in emails! NAFEX web site: http://www.nafex.org/_______________________________________________
nafex mailing list
nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

Reproduction of list messages or archives is not allowed.
This includes distribution on other email lists or reproduction on web sites.
Permission to reproduce is NEVER granted, so don't claim you have permission!

**YOU MUST BE SUBSCRIBED TO POST!**
Posts from email addresses that are not subscribed are discarded.
No exceptions.
----
To subscribe or unsubscribe, go to the bottom of this page (also can be used to change other email options):
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/nafex

File attachments are NOT stripped by this list.
TAKE STEPS TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM COMPUTER VIRUSES!
Please do not send binary files.
Use plain text ONLY in emails!

NAFEX web site:   http://www.nafex.org/