How to Grow Red Currants in Australia

Red currant (Ribes rubrum) is a deciduous fruiting shrub in the gooseberry family, Grossulariaceae, grown for long trusses of glossy, tart red berries. In cold-winter gardens such as Hobart, Canberra and Ballarat, a bush can crop for many years and often ripens in time for Christmas. The one thing to get right is pruning, because it differs from black currant.

Three mistakes that matter

1. Pruning it like a black currant. Black currant fruits best on last year's shoots and takes hard cutting. Red currant also fruits on short spurs (stubby fruiting shoots) along older branches. Cut those away and the crop goes with them. Follow Pruning and Training instead.
2. Planting where winters are too mild. Red currant needs a long, cold winter to flower and fruit well, and hot afternoons scorch its leaves. On a warm coast the bush grows but crops poorly. Check your zone in When to plant before buying.
3. Leaving ripening fruit uncovered. Birds find red berries fast and can strip a bush in days. Net the bush as the first trusses colour, using the wildlife-safe netting described under Care by growth stage.

When to plant

Plant dormant bare-root canes (sold leafless, with no soil on the roots) from June to August, the bare-root season, before the buds break. Red currant starts growing very early in spring, so the earlier in winter it goes in, the better it settles. It needs roughly 800 to 1,200 hours between 0 and 7°C each winter to flower and fruit well. There is no succession planting.

If a cane arrives before its bed is ready, heel it in. Lay the roots in a shallow trench of moist soil in a cool spot, then move it before the buds swell.

Site, soil and setup

Crop rotation does not apply to a shrub that stays put for years, so choose a spot you will not need to dig again. The roots are shallow and fibrous, and digging near the bush damages them.

Container growing

A red currant grows well in a large pot on a sunny patio, and a single cordon on a stake suits a pot especially well. Choose a pot at least 45 cm across, holding 40 L or more of premium potting mix, with drainage holes.

• Watering: keep the mix evenly moist through the growing season, and check daily in hot weather. See watering pots in summer.
• Feeding: fish and seaweed blend at 25 mL per 9 L, fortnightly from bud burst (when the buds open in spring). From first flowers to harvest, use liquid potash at the label rate, fortnightly.
• Position: move the pot into afternoon shade in hot weather.
• Repotting: move up to a larger pot every few years in early spring, or replace the top layer of mix.

Planting Canes

Red currant starts from a dormant bare-root cane planted straight into a prepared bed or pot, much as a raspberry cane is. One bush crops on its own, because red currant is generally self-fertile, though another red or white currant nearby can improve fruit size.

State rules for Ribes

Red currant belongs to the genus Ribes. Here is what each state's weed and plant biosecurity lists say about it.

Bare-root preparation

Never let the roots dry out between the nursery and the hole. On arrival, stand the roots in a bucket of water with seaweed solution at 30 mL per 9 L while you prepare the hole. Trim off any broken or damaged roots, keeping the fine fibrous ones, which take up water. Plant the same day if you can.

Planting

• Dig a hole as deep as the roots and twice as wide, and form a small mound of soil in the centre.
• Spread the roots over the mound, with the cane's old soil mark at ground level or slightly below.
• Backfill, firm gently and water in well to settle soil around the roots.
• For a bush, cut the cane back to 15 to 25 cm above the soil to push out strong new shoots.
• For a cordon, tie the single stem to its cane and shorten its new growth by a quarter to a half. Cut other shoots to one bud.
• Mulch 5 to 8 cm deep with compost or straw, leaving a bare circle around the stem.

Pinch off any flowers in the first spring so the plant puts its energy into roots and shoots. Expect a light crop in the second summer and a fuller one from the third.

Care by growth stage

Steady moisture over shallow roots, and a cool root run under mulch, decide the crop. Red currant is a medium feeder, and heavy nitrogen makes soft, leafy growth.

As the first trusses colour, cover the bush with white netting stretched taut over a frame, with mesh too small to push a finger through. Birds can see white netting and, when it is taut, tend to bounce off it, while loose or black netting can trap them. After picking, water less and top up the mulch.

Pruning and Training

Prune every winter while the bush is dormant, before any growth shows. Fruit forms at the base of last year's shoots and on short spurs along older branches, so the aim is a steady supply of both.

• Second winter, a year after planting: build towards an open, goblet-shaped bush of eight to ten main branches. Shorten last year's growth on the first branches by half, then choose five or six more strong, outward-facing shoots and shorten them by half too.
• Established bush: shorten each branch's new growth by a quarter to a half. Cut side-shoots back to one or two buds to form fruiting spurs.
• Renewal: every year or two, remove one or two of the oldest, least fruitful branches, plus any that droop to the soil.
• Cordon: keep the stem tied to its cane, fixed to wires 40 to 60 cm apart. In midsummer, once side-shoots have seven or eight leaves, cut them back to five leaves. In winter, cut them to one or two buds and shorten the leader's new growth by a quarter.
• Fan: train five main branches flat against a wire-covered wall or fence, and prune their side-shoots as for a cordon.

Companion planting

Good neighbours for red currant bring in aphid predators and leave its shallow roots alone.

Grows well with

• Alyssum, whose flowers draw hoverflies, whose larvae eat aphids.
• Yarrow and dill, which also attract hoverflies and other aphid predators.

Keep apart

• Lettuce, chicory and endive, which share currant lettuce aphid with red currant.
• Mint, whose creeping runners compete with the currant's shallow roots.

Harvesting Fruit

Pick when the berries are richly coloured, glossy, firm and juicy, usually in December or January.

• Cut or snap off whole trusses (called strigs) rather than single berries, because the thin skins tear.
• Ripe berries hang on the bush for a while, so one or two pickings usually clear it.
• For fresh eating, leave the fruit two or three weeks after colouring to sweeten.

Store unwashed trusses covered in the fridge, where they usually keep for five to seven days. To freeze, spread dry berries in one layer on a tray, then bag them once frozen. The fruit is rich in pectin, so it sets well as redcurrant jelly, and it brightens desserts and summer pudding.

Common problems

Flowers open but few berries set. A late frost has damaged the flowers; cover the bush overnight with fleece when frost is forecast, and uncover it by day for the bees.

Brown, crisp leaf edges in summer. Heat and strong afternoon sun scorch the leaves; give afternoon shade, deep mulch and steady water.

A new cane never leafs up. Roots that dried out before planting rarely recover; keep them wet from arrival, as Bare-root preparation describes.

Crops shrink on an older bush. A crowded bush with too much old wood fruits less; renew it as Pruning and Training describes.

Pests and diseases

Before any spray, check that its label covers currants or berries, and keep to its withholding period.

Currant lettuce aphid (Nasonovia ribisnigri). These greenish to yellow-green aphids, about 2.5 mm long, use currants and gooseberries as their main host. In cold districts they lay eggs on the bushes to survive winter, and they prefer to feed on new leaves. Knock them off with a strong jet of water, or spray insecticidal soap under the leaves. Read more

Currant borer moth (Synanthedon tipuliformis). This introduced clearwing moth has been recorded in Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, the ACT and South Australia. Its larvae tunnel inside the stems, so shoots grow sickly in spring and repeated attacks can kill whole stems. In winter, cut out infested stems and bin them.

Powdery mildew (Podosphaera mors-uvae). A white powdery coating appears on leaves, shoot tips and berries, which can crack. The fungus survives winter on the twigs and thrives in humid, still air and on dry-stressed bushes. Prune for an open centre and, at the first spots, spray 1 part full-cream milk to 10 parts water. Read more

Prevention first

• Keep the centre of the bush open so air moves through and leaves dry quickly.
• Water at the base in the morning, never over the leaves.
• Rake up fallen leaves and prunings in winter, and bin any diseased material.
• Check shoot tips and leaf undersides weekly from bud burst, and act on the entries above.

Tips

1. In frost-prone districts, plant on the south side of a fence or a south-facing slope. The winter shade delays flowering a little, which helps the flowers dodge late frosts.
2. White currants are a pale form of the same species. Plant, feed and prune them exactly like red currants.
3. To make more plants, take hardwood cuttings between late autumn and late winter. Choose 15 to 20 cm of young, healthy wood a little thicker than a pencil. Cut just below a bud, rub off the lower buds and push them into pots or the ground. Buds opening in spring show a cutting has taken.
4. Take the netting off after the last picking, so birds can clean up spoiled fruit and hunt insects.

Due to quarantine restrictions and our shipping policy, we cannot send red currant canes to Western Australia or Tasmania.