Hi,
BlackDown is very good black current as well as Rovada great red. I have several black current varieties (Laxton Giant, Ben Sarek, Minaj Smeriou, Titiania,Consort) and BD is one of my favorite for fresh eating. Currents are very easy to grow and rewarding. No fuss plants.
I am not familiar with Poorman gooseberry. I tried several others (Invicta, Captivator, Hinomaki), but so far could not find any one that is comparable to gooseberries I used to eat in Europe. I enjoy taking with Lucille and have several varieties planted based on her recommendations (not just currents or gooseberries, but other too, like cornelian cherries). One thing to keep in mind is her climate is very different from MD climate. So I would trust her recommendation on taste, but not her recommendations health.
Olga

You've got my favorites there. I would wait til the fall to get them at this point, they hate sun and will not transplant well this late. I put in a few more this spring and Lucile sent me a couple experimental black currants called D-8 which she thinks are great. I also got some Black Down to try.

Hopefully you found one of my past comments where I mentioned that I think they do a lot better if they don't get sun all day in our climate - they are genetically engineered for a cool climate, not our type of climate. One thing I like about that is I stick them in all the somewhat shady spots in my yard where fruit trees will not grow well.

Scott

http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/currants.html

http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/gooseberry.html

Black and red currants require rather different culture from each other. There are short pruning videos at the link. For red currants and gooseberries click on the A - Z list

Here is a link that might be useful: Pruning black currants

I actually grow many currants (not all) in full sun. Some varieties have no issue with that. For example Titania and Black Down. The berries are much sweeter when grown in full sun. No comparison. I have two Black Downs and two Titanias one of each in full sun and one in semi shade, they tase like different berries.
Olga

Olga, the gooseberries are the most sun-adverse but I am still surprised you can grow currants in completely full sun. I have also noticed some varieties are worse tasting in part sun but it was only with gooseberries - many don't sweeten up at all. One of the reasons I like Poorman is it sweetens up well in less light. Now that I think of it I had some Red Lake currants in nearly full sun and I moved them to the shade and they don't have as much flavor as I remembered. I recently put Robadas in that same sunny spot and will be able to compare them with my other Robadas in part shade.

Scott

Here in MD I grow my currents and gooseberries in full sun, though one (captivator) is in the shade and doing well. If I had the right place for them, I would grow them so that they receive morning sun but are shaded in the afternoon, but even with full sun and heavily mulched they produce large crops. They are somewhat prone to mildew, so good air circulation is also desirable. I find that mildew problems tend to set in after the crop has been harvested and the plants can look pretty bad by the late summer, but come back just fine in the spring.

Anyone have any updates on good currants and gooseberries (or secrets to success for growing them) since May 2011 they would like to share?

I've always been curious, since they don't sell them fresh here in so-cal, are gooseberries sweet off the plant or are they like cranberries in the sense that they typically need a sweetener to be palletable?

Not to hijack this thread, but what about the "clove-scented" currant ("Crandall"). I have read about it and seen pictures. Some sources say the fruit is good. The idea is appealing to me, but *is* the fruit any good and--perhaps more importantly--do currants become a nuisance from birds dropping seeds everywhere?

When I was living in the UK the neighbor would constantly tell me that I could pick all the black currants I wanted from the bush. The problem she was having wasn't so much the droppings but rather the birds simply sitting on the plants in large numbers, eating them.

Currants don't sprout from seed very easily, I don't find any wild plants in my yard. The birds do love them, especially the red ones. Usually I get the early ones and by the late ones they have caught on and they get most of them.

Steve, many people plant Crandall and then can't stand the flavor and dig it up. But the few people that like them are really into them. The main advantage is they are a native US currant and are much more tolerant of the climate.

Wiz, a good gooseberry properly grown in my mind should be sweet enough to taste about like a grape in terms of the sweet/sour balance. However, I have found that it is not that easy to do that and I often get too-sour fruits. I am not sure what the issues are there, I have mine in mostly shade to avoid the heat and that may be part of the problem. The one berry that does very well for me is Poorman. It is not as productive but they taste delicious. I have decided to do a much bigger planting of them and have pulled up all my other gooseberry varieties.

I just re-read my post above and it looks like I repeated some things I said up there. I don't have anything to add in terms of my berries, I didn't get any fruits off of my new plants yet. I recently moved some currants/gooses to somewhat more sunny locations. One nice thing about currants is their root systems are smaller than trees and 2-3 year bushes are easy to dig up and move about in the winter.

Scott

I'll second Scott's comments about Poorman. I've had no disease problems with it and the plant is vigorous. Mine is in full sun. The fruit is excellent, though as Scott says it is not as productive as other varieties.

Many gooseberry varieties will sweeten up if you leave them on the plant long enough, but many people use them before they are sweet for pies etc., where they taste somewhat like rhubarb. Whitman farms should tell which varieties are best for fresh eating ('desert' varieties).

Gooseberries are prone to mildew, and if you are in a humid climate you would be advised to get mildew-resistant varieties. They also suffer other diseases. Invicta is prone to a leaf spot disease. My gooseberries suffer some sort of insect damage, maybe gooseberry sawfly.

I have found that it is imperative to net gooseberries if I am to get fruit. Given their thorns, this is easier said than done. It might make sense to make a cage around them over which you can place netting or shade cloth once the fruit start to develop.

I have found black currants somewhat easier to grow here in humid Maryland than red currants, though red currants make a sublime jam or jelly. As with gooseberries, it is wise to select varieties resistant to mildew if you live in a humid climate.

Although currants and gooseberries do not grow well from seed, they do grow extremely well -- especially currants -- from cuttings. If you buy a currant plant with well developed stems, you will want to cut these down before planting, but don't throw away the cuttings. Simply put them in the ground with a few buds above ground, keep them moist, and you will very quickly have new plants.

Most varieties of gooseberries are very thorny. If planted as bushes they have a tendency to have branches that brush against the ground. If I were planting more gooseberries, I would probably try growing them as standards -- that is, as plants with a single stem of a couple of feet above which are the branches. You can look up information about this on the web.

Thanks for the tips, I wonder if they will grow here in So Cal? I don't get blisteringly hot by the ocean but I also don't get too cold either.

Hi, what gooseberries are sweet for fresh eating ( sweet skin and flesh) ? And are white currents sweeter than red ones?

In addition to that, gooseberries also fall into two different categories, sweeter "dessert" gooseberries, and more sour "culinary" gooseberries for cooking.

The culinary gooseberries are still perfectly fine for eating fresh if you are the type of person who likes more sour things.

(It should be clarified that the "dessert" gooseberries are not for making desserts, they are called that because they are sweeter and can be eaten out of hand like a dessert)