Black Currants - productive even in the woods

Working on a harvest the other day and made a quick video showing just how productive black currants are for us, even in the woodland context.  Thought I'd get other folks excited to try growing them in partial shade to see how much food and medicine you can get with just a few hours of direct sunlight a day and pretty massive deer pressure.   (Lots!)

Well done I am a big big blackcurrent fan . Its so easy to grow and multiply until you have more than enough at ZERO cost plus its got so much vitamin C etc etc taste I cannot understand not growing it . I made 27 jars of jam this week and I doubt that will last me a year ( mainly as the GF likes it so much too ) . I am planning on raising another twenty plants this year . Great in cordials, crumbles with apple , tarts a must in my book

I haven't planted currants because I'm worried about white pine rust.  Is that a real concern, or not?

The Pine rust is a real concern. When I was a kid we had half dead pines around our garden. Turns out they had contracted something from are black currants.

I had a good feed of black currants yesterday, from an area that gets slightly more sun than the one in the video.

A single plant becomes a clump, becomes a patch. It can be sped up with some transplanting. Then you do nothing. You don't prune them, you don't water them, you don't worry about them. Just pick.

I planted red and black currents and I do have white pines around.  I picked varieties that are resistant to WPBR.  Here's the place I got mine (HoneyBerryUSA).  Their descriptions mention WPBR resistance and since they're from North of me I figured the plants would be hardy enough..

And here's a better resource I just found for WPBR.  It's a form you fill out for the state of Michigan if you want to plant a currant or gooseberry with a list of approved cultivars.  Unfortunately the currants I planted are not on that list:(

Michigan Ribes Permission Slip

Actually Dale I do some work on mine .....every four years I cut them back