My Wine Garden

[grapeman]

They will hang for a while yet. Those purple ones will turn black. You have been feeding them a lot of nitrogen- back off a bit before fall so they can harden off good. (The dark green color is telling me this- may just be from lawn fertilizer). Looking good! Looks like they settled in their new home alright.

 

[Wade E]

I havent fed them anything, I didnt even have the money this year to spend on fertizing the yard. My neihbor never does his yard either.

 

[deboard]

They are looking great! I hope mine can produce some for me in a couple of years. Wade, what kind of fertilizer do you use on them? and how often? I have fertilized mine once in the spring, but I don't know if I should do it more often.

Also, do you have problems with birds? I was told that birds don't like black currants and generally leave them alone. My bushes only have 5-10 berries per bush this year since it's the first year, but the birds here seem to like them just fine, they have stripped two out of six of the bushes of their berries.

 

[Wade E]

I havent given them anything, I havent even watered them! So far the birds have not touched them a bit b ut I have been watching and if they do start to dissapear I have n agricultural store right around the corner where Ill run and grab some cheescloth to cover them all.

 

[grapeman]

Just good fertile soil- that's great Wade. You sure don't need to worry about fertilizing them then. Are all the bushes bearing, or just the bigger ones? Tell them Dad says "Hi"

 

[Wade E]

Everyone but 2 which were really just branches that or root balls that I just stuck in the ground to see what would happen. I will do some trimming this year and grow some more from the branches and also transplant some elderberry bushes this fall that are growing wild and just perfect size for up rooting without killing me. Do you think they work the same way with the branches? They said they miss there daddy but dont miss the weather!

 

[deboard]

OK good, I don't have wonderful soil here, but I've only added a bit of nitrogen in the spring. I'll just leave them alone.

 

[Wade E]

I sure dont have a green thumb and my grass doesnt do very well either so these doing as good as they are is a blessing.

 

[Runningwolf]

Nice berries Wade I think he gave you the Dingo's though which are self fertilizing.

 

[Wade E]

I hope my Currants do ok this year. Right now you wouldnt even know I had any as they are buried under snow!!! Im a little worried as its not all normal snow fall as some of it is snow blown snow from my neighbors driveway. He doesnt use salt on his driveway so thats good and we had a lot of normal snow so that is probably supporting most of that blown snow from just knocking over my bushes and I do know that the snow is probably protecting the plants from any really really cold temps if we get any of that again. I can not even see any of the tips of these and most were 3-4' tall. I believe we are going get another 1-2' of snow on Wednesday.

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

Wade, mine have been completely buried under snow before, I think you are right, that blanket protects them from the drying winds. So have you gone out and made any cuttings to do some propogating and expanding your patch? Did you get any red currants yet? We just opened a bottle from a gallon we made from some overipe berries we got at the supermarket, I had to toss 20% of the berries before getting started, I think we drank the last bottle from that 2006 batch, it got much better with age just like the black currants do. Crackedcork

 

[Wade E]

I havent done any propagating yet and was told by the person I got the plants from to do that this year. I havent gotten any red and probably wont unless they sping up somewhere for free as my budget is just so freakin tight right now its not funny!

 

[gird123]

Would you post the final brix and the recipe?

 

[Wade E]

My recipe is in the recipe section. The final brix on my black currants was like 22.5