Growing Currant Bushes: A Guide to Our Nursery's Red, Black, and Pink Currants
Hey folks, Kevin here.
If you grew up in Europe or Russia, currants are ordinary fruit — jam, juice, liqueurs, everyday. Here in the United States they still feel like a discovery. Part of that is history, and the history is worth knowing before you dig the hole.
Currants are deciduous shrubs in the genus Ribes. The berries are small, tart, and useful: fresh, jam, jelly, sauce, or wine. We grow and sell three colors — red, black, and pink — and the black ones come with a legal footnote that still matters in New York.
A legal note on black currants
In 1911 the federal government banned black and red currants nationwide because Ribes species can serve as an alternate host for white pine blister rust, a disease that was hammering the timber industry’s white pine. The ban was handed to the states in 1966. New York repealed its statewide ban in 2003, but Environmental Conservation Law § 9-1301 still treats black currants differently by cultivar and, in some cases, by county.
The varieties we grow and sell — Consort and Crusader — were bred specifically for rust resistance. Those are the cultivars Cornell Cooperative Extension and New York point to as the low-risk choice. Older, susceptible heirlooms can still run into local restrictions, so if you’re planting something else or moving plants across county lines, check with your local Extension office. With Consort and Crusader you’re starting at the safer end of the spectrum.
Red currants
Bright red, tart, good for jam, jelly, and sauce. High in vitamin C and antioxidants.
Plant in a sunny spot with well-drained soil; they tolerate partial shade but yield better in full sun. Space 3–4 feet apart. Prune in late winter or early spring: take out the oldest wood so air moves through the bush and new growth can carry the crop.
Black currants — Consort and Crusader
Dark purple to black berries with a strong, tart flavor. They make excellent juice, syrup, and desserts. Nutritionally they earn the attention: roughly two and a half times the vitamin C of an orange, high anthocyanins, plus fiber, manganese, copper, and iron.
We offer a rust-resistant cultivar:
Consort — one of the original rust-immune selections, reliable flavor and production.
Black currants prefer cooler conditions than the reds. A north-facing slope or the north side of a building often works well because it keeps the roots cool and moist. Plant in well-drained, organically rich soil with partial to full sun. Space 4–5 feet apart. Prune every year: black currants fruit most heavily on one- and two-year-old wood, so anything older needs to come out if you want a decent harvest.
Pink currants
Botanically these are still Ribes rubrum — a paler selection of the red currant group, not a separate species. The berries are translucent pink, milder and sweeter than the reds, and useful for fresh eating or color in a dish.
Same planting and spacing as red currants: sunny to partial shade, well-drained soil, 3–4 feet apart. Prune the same way — late winter or early spring, remove older wood.
Where to plant them: sun, soil, and moisture
As a genus, currants tolerate more shade than most fruiting shrubs. Full sun works, but afternoon shade or a north exposure often produces better results, especially for the blacks and especially in a hot Central New York summer. They want consistently moist, cool soil with decent organic matter and a pH around 6.5. They will not tolerate standing water.
Cornell’s home-fruit guidance prefers fall planting for Ribes when you can get it, because these shrubs break dormancy very early in spring. Early spring still works if the plants are dormant when they go in.
General care
Roots are shallow, so mulch matters. A few inches of wood chips or other organic mulch holds moisture, keeps soil cooler, and cuts weed pressure. Water regularly in the growing season; once established they still dislike drying out. A balanced fertilizer in early spring is enough for most plantings. High nitrogen pushes soft growth and can make mildew worse.
Watch for aphids and currant sawfly larvae. Powdery mildew and leaf spot show up in humid summers if air circulation is poor — proper spacing and yearly pruning prevent most of it. Birds will find the fruit; netting or early harvest is the practical answer once the bushes start bearing.
How long until fruit
Most growers remove the flowers the first year so the plant puts energy into roots instead of a small crop. Expect a light crop in year two and a full crop by year three. Once established, a healthy bush stays productive for many years. Mature plantings can yield 90 to 150 pounds per 100 feet of row — more than enough for a home garden from a couple of bushes.
Further reading — professional sources
These are the New York and Extension texts behind the legal note and the spacing/pruning advice:
Guide to Growing Currants & Gooseberries — Cornell Cooperative Extension, Oneida County — New York–specific culture and the legal-status guidance referenced above.
Welcome Back Black Currants: Forbidden Fruit Making a Comeback in New York — Cornell Chronicle — the ban, the 2003 repeal, and why New York was once a leading currant producer. (The older /node/276700 link on the live page points to the same story.)
Currants and Gooseberries — Cornell Fruit Resources — cultivar notes, including Consort, Crusader, and Titania as rust-resistant blacks; site selection and soil pH around 6.5.
Currants and Gooseberries chapter — Cornell Guide to Growing Fruit at Home — home-grower chapter on legality, planting, pruning, pests, and harvest.
Growing Currants and Gooseberries in the Home Garden — University of Minnesota Extension — clear cold-climate culture notes that travel well to zone 5.
Currants and Gooseberries — UMass / New England Small Fruit Management Guide — Northeast commercial and home guidance on site, spacing, and mildew.
NYS Environmental Conservation Law § 9-1301 — the current statute. Read it, then still call your county Extension office before you plant an older black currant.
Further reading — on this site
If you are building a berry row rather than a single bush, these are the next pages:
Growing Gooseberry Plants: A Guide from Our Nursery — same genus, same rust conversation, different fruit and pruning habit.
Growing Honeyberry Plants — another early, hardy fruit shrub that fits a cool Central New York site.
Growing Thornless Semierect Blackberry Plants — later-season berry, different structure, same “will you actually keep up with the pruning” question.
Plant Propagation Introduction and Stem Cuttings (Anatomy) — if you want more bushes from wood instead of buying every plant.
Who's in the Garden and What Are They Up To? — pests and neighbors, including the ones that find fruit before you do.
Weeding and Gardening — shallow-rooted shrubs lose the argument with weeds if the mulch disappears.
Soil Succession and Transforming Degraded Properties in Cold Temperate Climates — if the hole you are digging is still raw subsoil, fix that first.
If you’re planting this fall or next spring, pick the site first — cooler for the blacks, good drainage for all three — then order rust-resistant cultivars if you want black currants. The rest is spacing, annual pruning, and keeping mulch on those shallow roots.
