Crops & Breeds › Soft Fruit Plants
🫐 Currant
Soft Fruit Plants · growing reference
| To first harvest | ~2 years |
|---|---|
| Spacing | 48″ in the row × 96″ between rows |
| Planted as | plant |
| Water | ~1–1.5 in a week |
When to plant
In USDA zone 6, for example: Plant around Mar 4, while the stock is still dormant — bare-root wants to be in the ground before it leafs out.
| Spring | |
|---|---|
| Zone 3 | Apr 3 |
| Zone 4 | Mar 26 |
| Zone 5 | Mar 15 |
| Zone 6 | Mar 4 |
| Zone 7 | Feb 18 |
| Zone 8 | Feb 1 |
| Zone 9 | Jan 9 |
Dates are the typical window for each zone's average frost dates — your own last frost can differ by a couple of weeks. Zone 10 and warmer is effectively frost-free: plant to the season, not the frost. Southern Hemisphere: shift six months.
Currant Types
- Black · ~2 years · 4–8 lbs/plant — R. nigrum — cassis: musky, intense, for juice and jam. The most restricted by state blister-rust law.
- Red · ~2 years · 6–10 lbs/plant — R. rubrum — tart translucent strings, the classic jelly currant; heaviest and easiest cropper.
- White · ~2 years · 5–8 lbs/plant — The albino red — same plant, milder and sweeter, good fresh off the bush.
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