Blackcurrant
Ribes nigrum
Undemanding, heavy cropping and pruned quite differently from the red and white currants it sits beside in every catalogue. Blackcurrants fruit best on stems made the previous year, so the oldest wood is cut out at the base each winter. They are also the one fruit in this catalogue planted deliberately deeper than it grew in the pot.
- Position
- Full sun or Partial shade
- Water
- moderate demand
- Drainage
- Moisture-retentive
- Grows to
- 150–180 cm × 150–180 cm
- Hardiness
- H6
- Harvest
- July and August
- Difficulty
- Straightforward
Described view
The base of a blackcurrant bush showing dark three-year-old stems being cut to ground level beside pale young stems left in place
August
Harvest
Blackcurrant’s year
Resolved for United Kingdom (general). Every window is stored against a climate event rather than a date, so a late frost pocket runs later than the band shows. What else August calls for.
| Activity | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plant | January. | February. | March. | November. | December. | |||||||
| In flower | April. | |||||||||||
| Harvest | July. | August. | ||||||||||
| Prune | January. | February. | November. | December. | ||||||||
| Take cuttings | October. | November. | December. | |||||||||
| Dormant | January. | December. |
Timing that travels
The band above resolves this plant's windows into months for one region. These are the windows themselves, stored against a climate event rather than a date — which is the form that survives being carried to a colder garden, a frost pocket, or next year.
Pollination
Whether one plant on its own will set fruit, and what has to be true if it will not.
One plant on its own will crop.
- Self-fertility
- Self-fertile
- Partner needed
- No partner needed
- Pollen moved by
- Insects
Where the pollination figures come from
- Self-fertilitySourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Growing blackcurrants
Checked 2026-08-13
- Partner neededSourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Growing blackcurrants
Checked 2026-08-13
- Pollen moved byHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
Self-fertile, but early flowering means cold weather during blossom can still reduce set.
- University of Minnesota Extension — University of Minnesota: Currant pollination
Checked 2026-08-13
Which of these will pollinate which
Worked out from flowering groups and ploidy for the 3 cultivars GrowingHQ holds — a small fraction of those in cultivation. A cultivar that is not listed has not been ruled out; it has not been recorded. Read a row as “this cultivar’s pollen reaches…”.
| Pollen from | Ben Connan | Ben Lomond | Ben Sarek |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ben Connan | — | not known | not known |
| Ben Lomond | not known | — | not known |
| Ben Sarek | not known | not known | — |
Ben Connan crops on its own.
A compact blackcurrant with unusually large berries and a heavy crop for its size. Blackcurrants fruit best on one-year-old wood, which is why about a third of the oldest stems are cut to the base each winter — a different rule from red currants and gooseberries.
Ben Lomond crops on its own.
A late-flowering and late-ripening blackcurrant, chosen where spring frost is the recurring problem. Extends the picking season past the Ben Connan bushes.
Ben Sarek crops on its own.
About half the size of a standard blackcurrant bush, which makes it the one that works in a container or a very small bed. Late-flowering, so it escapes many spring frosts.
Rootstocks
No rootstock to choose
Grown on their own roots from hardwood cuttings, which strike very readily — a pencil-thick prunings pushed into the ground in autumn usually roots.
Pruning and training
Every piece of fruit pruning advice follows from one fact: where the plant carries next year's crop.
Fruits on: Wood made last year
Fruit forms on stems produced the previous season, which then decline. Pruning removes the oldest wood at the base each year to force new stems.
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
The fact that separates blackcurrants from every other currant. Wood made last season carries the best crop, and stems older than about three years carry very little.
- Royal Horticultural Society: Pruning blackcurrants
Checked 2026-08-13
Forms it can be grown as
- Open bush
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
Grown as a stooled bush with stems arising from below ground, not on a leg like a redcurrant.
- Royal Horticultural Society: Growing blackcurrants
Checked 2026-08-13
- Formative pruningNovember, December, January, February, March
Force the plant to produce shoots from below ground in its first year, which is what creates the multi-stemmed bush the renewal system depends on.
Cut all stems to about 5 cm after planting. It feels like throwing away the plant you just bought, and it is what produces a properly furnished bush rather than a single leggy stem.
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Growing blackcurrants
Checked 2026-08-13
- Annual maintenanceNovember, December, January, February
Renew the fruiting wood by removing the oldest stems, so the bush always carries a majority of young productive growth.
Each winter, cut about a third of the stems — the oldest and darkest — right down to the base. Young stems are pale; three-year-old wood is nearly black. Removing it forces new shoots that will fruit the following year.
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Pruning blackcurrants
Checked 2026-08-13
What you are committing to
Fruit is a multi-year decision. These are the numbers a nursery label rarely carries.
- First worthwhile crop
- 2–3 years
- Productive life
- 10–15 years
- Propagated by
- Hardwood cuttings
- Fruit type
- Bush fruit
Where these figures come from
- First worthwhile cropSourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Growing blackcurrants
Checked 2026-08-13
- Productive lifeHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
Kept productive indefinitely by renewal pruning; replaced when reversion virus reduces cropping.
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- Propagated bySourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Propagating currants
Checked 2026-08-13
source
Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
One established bush produces several kilograms a year of a fruit that is expensive to buy and almost always sold frozen.
Conditions it needs
- Light
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Direct sun
- 4 hours a day or more
- Frost
- Very hardySourced guidanceDepends on conditions
- Hardiness rating
- H6 (RHS)
- Soil
- Loam, Clay, Silt
- Soil pH
- 6–6.8
- Drainage
- Moisture-retentive
- Water needs
- moderate
- Drought
- poor tolerance
- Waterlogging
- moderate tolerance
- Heat
- moderate tolerance
- Wind and exposure
- good tolerance
Where these figures come from
- LightSourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Growing blackcurrants
Checked 2026-08-13
- Direct sunHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- FrostSourced guidanceDepends on conditionshigh confidence
Applies when: The bush is very hardy; the early flowers can be caught by a hard spring frost.
- Royal Horticultural Society: Blackcurrants — hardiness
Checked 2026-08-13
- Hardiness ratingSourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: RHS hardiness ratings
Checked 2026-08-13
- SoilHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
Tolerant of heavier ground than most fruit, and a genuinely hungry plant.
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- Soil pHHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- DrainageHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- Water needsHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- DroughtHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- WaterloggingHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- HeatHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- Wind and exposureHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
On your soil
Computed by comparing this plant's recorded requirements against each soil's recorded characteristics. A recorded horticultural fact overrides the comparison where GrowingHQ holds one.
| Soil | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy clay | Prefers this soil | Clay's drainage would ordinarily count against a fruit bush, and blackcurrants are the exception: they are hungry, thirsty, shallow-rooted and genuinely at their best on heavy, fertile, moisture-retentive ground. On sand they need feeding and watering all season to achieve less. |
| Sandy | Works, with one condition | Blackcurrant will crop on sandy, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It has little drought tolerance and this soil dries out fast — it will check and bolt in the first dry spell without watering.Water and mulch will carry it through. On this soil the watering is not optional in a dry spell, which is the difference between a crop and a failure. |
| Chalky and alkaline | Struggles here | Blackcurrant struggles on chalky and alkaline: The soil is substantially too alkaline for it: it wants pH 6 to 6.8, and this soil sits around 7.8 to 8.5. It has little drought tolerance and this soil dries out fast — it will check and bolt in the first dry spell without watering. A container or a raised bed of imported soil sidesteps the problem entirely. |
| Loam | Grows well here | Blackcurrant grows perfectly well on loam without special measures, though it is not the soil it would choose. |
| Silty | Grows well here | Blackcurrant grows perfectly well on silty without special measures, though it is not the soil it would choose. |
| Peaty and acid | Grows well here | Blackcurrant grows perfectly well on peaty and acid without special measures, though it is not the soil it would choose. |
| Shallow over rock | Struggles here | Blackcurrant struggles on shallow over rock: It has little drought tolerance and this soil dries out fast — it will check and bolt in the first dry spell without watering. It roots to about 30 cm and this soil offers roughly 25 cm before rock or hardpan. A container or a raised bed of imported soil sidesteps the problem entirely. |
| Made ground and urban soil | Grows well here | Blackcurrant grows perfectly well on made ground and urban soil without special measures, though it is not the soil it would choose. |
Not sure which you have? Four hand tests will settle it.
Space and spacing
- Mature height
- 150–180 cm
- Mature spread
- 150–180 cm
- Rooting depth
- 30–45 cm
- Spacing
- 150–180 cm apart
Where these figures come from
- Mature heightHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- Mature spreadHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- Rooting depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- SpacingSourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Growing blackcurrants
Checked 2026-08-13
In a container
- Minimum volume
- 45 litres or more
- Minimum depth
- 40 cm
Where the container figures come from
- Minimum volumeSourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Fruit in containers
Checked 2026-08-13
- Minimum depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
Thirstier than any other soft fruit in a pot and the first to suffer. Use the largest container you can move, and mulch the surface — bare compost in a pot dries from the top down within hours in July.
Where and how you can grow it
Each way of growing is assessed separately, and “not assessed” is a real answer rather than a gap we have filled in with a guess.
| Method | Suitability | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| Open ground | Well suitedsourceSourced guidancehigh confidence
Checked 2026-08-13 | |
| Traditional dug bed | Well suitedsourceHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13 | |
| Raised bed | Well suitedsourceHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13 | |
| Container | WorkablesourceHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
Checked 2026-08-13 | 45 litres or more; Annual feeding |
| Polytunnel | MarginalsourceSourced guidancemoderate confidence
Checked 2026-08-13 | |
| Hydroponics | MarginalsourceGrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence A permanent bush needing a hard winter to break bud evenly, which is the objection that disqualifies most of the fruit in this file.
Checked 2026-08-13 | |
| Greenhouse | MarginalsourceSourced guidancemoderate confidence
Checked 2026-08-13 | |
| Windowsill | Not suitablesourceHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13 |
Growing it
- PlantingPlant about 5 cm deeper than the bush grew in its pot. Blackcurrants are one of very few plants where deep planting is correct: the buried stem bases produce the new shoots that the renewal pruning system depends on.
- FeedingFeed generously. Blackcurrants are among the hungriest fruit in the garden and respond markedly to an annual mulch of well-rotted manure.
- ProtectionNet as the fruit colours. Birds strip a blackcurrant bush faster than almost anything else.
- WateringBlackcurrants want more water than any other soft fruit and are the one bush worth watering in a dry spring. A dry spell while the fruit is setting causes the strigs to drop before they colour, which is usually blamed on frost or on birds after the event.
- PropagationBlackcurrants are among the easiest plants in the garden to root. Take hardwood cuttings in late autumn from this year's growth: a pencil-thick shoot about 20 cm long, cut below a bud at the base, and push two thirds of it into a slit trench of gritty soil. Unlike most cuttings, leave every bud on — a blackcurrant is wanted as a stooled bush with shoots from below ground.
Where this guidance comes from
- PlantingSourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Growing blackcurrants
Checked 2026-08-13
- FeedingHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Growing blackcurrants
Checked 2026-08-13
- ProtectionHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Protecting fruit from birds
Checked 2026-08-13
- WateringSourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Blackcurrants — watering
Checked 2026-08-13
- PropagationSourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Blackcurrants — propagation
Checked 2026-08-13
Is it worth putting under cover?
Whether it will grow there is on the methods table above. This is whether the space is well spent, which is a different question and usually the one being asked.
| Structure | What protection is worth | What decides it |
|---|---|---|
| Greenhouse | Worse under coversourceGrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence What protection is worth for this crop, judged against the same standard as every other record in this file.
Checked 2026-08-13 | Winter chill. Blackcurrants need a substantial cold period to break bud evenly, and a bush kept warm flowers raggedly and crops badly. |
| Polytunnel | Worse under coversourceGrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence What protection is worth for this crop, judged against the same standard as every other record in this file.
Checked 2026-08-13 | Winter chill, on the same mechanism. |
Growing it without soil
Nearly anything can be grown in a soilless system by somebody with enough equipment. The useful question is whether it is worth it, in which technique, and what goes wrong.
It can be made to grow, but a soilless system is the wrong tool — usually because of rooting volume, running cost, or a result no better than a pot of compost.
source
GrowingHQ editorial positionmoderate confidence
A permanent bush needing a hard winter to break bud evenly, which is the objection that disqualifies most of the fruit in this file.
- GrowingHQ editorial synthesis — GrowingHQ
Checked 2026-08-13
Bud break is the mechanism worth remembering: without a real winter the bush flowers over several weeks and sets a fraction of a crop.
Techniques that suit it
- Drip-fed mediumSolution is dripped into an inert medium around each plant. The most forgiving technique and the one that suits large, long-season, heavy crops.
Horticultural consensusDepends on conditionsmoderate confidence
Applies when: Substrate only.
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- Root space
- Large and permanent.
- pH band
- 5.5–6.5
Where these figures come from
- Root spaceHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- pH bandSourced guidancehigh confidence
Outside roughly this band, individual nutrients become unavailable even when they are present in the solution — which is why a crop can starve in a full reservoir.
- Purdue Extension — Purdue University: Hydroponic solution management — pH
Checked 2026-08-13
No nutrient recipes here
GrowingHQ records pH bands, which are measurable properties of nutrient availability, and deliberately records no EC or PPM targets and no mixing instructions. Published targets vary by cultivar, growth stage, water source and technique, and the figures that apply to your system are on the product you bought.
Harvesting
- When it is readyPick whole strigs — the little stalks carrying the string of berries — once all the fruit on them has coloured. Individual picking is possible and slow.
- How to pick itCut or pull the whole strig and strip the berries afterwards.
- Keeping itA few days refrigerated; freezes very well.
Where the harvest guidance comes from
- When it is readyHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Growing blackcurrants
Checked 2026-08-13
- How to pick itHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
- Keeping itHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
No external citation — see the evidence type above.
Checked 2026-08-13
What goes wrong
| Problem | How often | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Currant blister aphid | commonsourceHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13 | Yellow-green leaf blisters in spring. Cosmetic, and the aphids leave by midsummer. |
| Vine weevil | commonsourceHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13 | The grubs eat the roots of container-grown plants with no sign above ground until the plant collapses. |
| Bird damage | commonsourceSourced guidancehigh confidence
Checked 2026-08-13 | |
| Aphids | commonsourceHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13 | Currant blister aphid raises red puckered blotches on the leaves; largely cosmetic. |
| Powdery mildew | occasionalsourceHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13 | |
| Grey mould | occasionalsourceHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence No external citation — see the evidence type above. Checked 2026-08-13 |
Grown with, grown after, grown instead
Every relationship states its mechanism. A pairing nobody can explain is a pairing nobody has checked, and it does not go in.
- Closely relatedRedcurrantThe same genus and superficially the same plant, but pruned in opposite ways: blackcurrants fruit on wood made last year and are renewed from the base, while redcurrants fruit on spurs on a permanent framework. Treating one like the other removes the crop.
source
Sourced guidancehigh confidence
- Royal Horticultural Society: Pruning currants
Checked 2026-08-13
Recorded specifically as a contrast. This is the pairing most likely to be pruned wrongly.
Sources for this page
Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board · GrowingHQ editorial synthesis · Royal Horticultural Society
Each figure on this page carries its own citation, under the “where these figures come from” note in its section. Record last reviewed 2026-08-13.
If something is wrong with it
- New growth twisted, puckered or distorted — 2 causes GrowingHQ holds for blackcurrant
- Healthy growth but no flowers — 2 causes GrowingHQ holds for blackcurrant
- Sticky leaves, or a sticky surface below the plant — 2 causes GrowingHQ holds for blackcurrant
Something else? Work through it with the diagnostic tool.