I already wrote this review for the titania plant but the ben sarek plant is in just as good condition and is being used in the same climate and conditions and shipping experiments.
This purchase was a test to see how this currant would do in the heat of south carolina when shipped all the way from washington for a week or 2 in a box. I had half a mind they'd arrive sun-starved, and yes when I got them all the leaf buds were yellow, I immediately used twine to tie them to the handle of a rain barrel so just the roots were fully submerged in afternoon sun, then left it that way for over 48 hours. that seemed to perk them back up and the leaves started to turn green again.
Then I took small but deep pots big enough to hold the currant root structure with a bit of room to grow, and put weed barrier at the bottom and filled them with pure potting soil and submerged the pots so their tops were above water height in the same rain barrel. then after 24 hours used a trowel/spade to shoehorn the currants into one pot each, then moved them to morning sun (they are in a spot where they get sun from sunrise til about 2:30 to 3pm as 4pm is the start of the worst heat of the day here) watering twice a day, morning and evening.
Now the leaves are a nice healthy green and lush and leafing out a lot.
I had read up on black currants and read that branches/shoots will not flower until they are at least 1 year old, so in the past 2 days I was surprised to find that there was a group of flower buds forming on each stem!
Again this is a test, I am going to attempt to see if I can get them to survive the heat and other elements; For example in the spring the pine trees dump exhorbitant amounts of pollen //everywhere//, it sticks to everything, as the pine pollen is white pine pollen, it can decay and attract rust and mildew (the actual currant plants themselves don't normally get rust or mildew and the varieties I bought are resistant, but the pine pollen is suceptible to rust if it gets on the plants). So I missed that test this year as the pine pollen season was over when I got these plants, so that's a test for next year. I may have to build a greenhouse cover for the bushes to protect them from spring pollen.
If all goes well after one month in the small pots I plan to move them to 2, 20inch diameter 18 inch deep plastic pots with a mix of manure, compost and potting soil with a bit of osmocote mixed in. The next challenge is building a bird net barrier frame to keep birds off the berries, I was surprised that no such frame is sold by stores like lowes and home depot, you literally have to make it yourself. I suspect the same frame will double as an eventual frame for the greenhouse pollen guard system.
The last test this year will be if I can get the plants to cool down steadily in the autumn to make them cold-hardy again so they can endure some of the hard freezes we get in the winter months. if not, then they may not survive here without a heated greenhouse in the winter (which I don't have). If they last til next spring I plan to get some red currants and or gooseberries (I want to try to grow leveller gooseberries, but haven't found any success stories in the states).
I must commend Raintree nursery on supplying great quality plants! I wish I could get some in south carolina, but none of the nurseries sell currants. most people here have never heard of them, and those that have confuse north carolina law with south carolina law out of ignorance saying such things as "I heard those were illegal here because of white pine rust" where it's not actually illegal in SC.
One bullet we dodged this time was the shipment did not go through North Carolina (this was another test of ordering it from washington, there was a small chance it could get routed through NC), that is entirely imperative to avoid when shipping any ribes! as if they ever touch NC's postal service they'll immediately detroy the plants by burning them even if the final destination is not in the state.
again, all plants arrived in savable condition and are now doing better than expected.
I paired the ben sarek with titania.
