Red Currant Help

Hi all,
I was at a site a while back that has a rather sad looking red currant. The bark was all gnarled and there were lichens growing on it. All the same it produced good berries.

I was at another site yesterday that had extensive plantings of red currants and black currants. The black currants looked healthy and vigorous, but all the red currants had that same gnarled, lichen covered appearance.

Is it normal for red currants to look like this, or is this just not a great climate (zone 3) for them? Or is there something in this ecosystem that just does not play well with red currants?

OK, it appears that red currants are not like black currants. Lichen growing on red currents is a sign that you forgot to prune the old wood. In this respect, red currants are similar to raspberries.

The good news is that the plant is healthy, and just tired. It needs an aggressive haircut.

The bad news is that berries grow on 1 year old wood.

The lesson is that you have to keep up a pruning regimen with red currants, while black currants are less sensitive to pruning.

In a permaculture context, this means red currants are best situated between black currants and natural browsers like deer and rabbits. They can come in during the winter and prune the red currants, leaving the black currants alone. You can then come in and cut off the damaged canes and old canes the critters missed.

Thank you for sharing that information, Nick. We planted red and black currants for the first time this past fall (from cuttings) so this information is very helpful!