How to Grow Blackcurrants UK
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In the UK, blackcurrants go in the ground late October to March.
Timing is the decision that matters most in the UK: planting from late October, while the plants are dormant, and that same window applies across all 4 regions covered here.
The short answer
- Plant
- Late October to March
- Site
- soil pH 6.5–7.5
- Biggest risk
- Powdery mildew
Core growing advice on this page is checked against named horticultural sources — see References.
Blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum)
8 sources cited · Verified
When to Plant Blackcurrants in the UK
When to plant blackcurrants in the UK: in Southern England, plant late October to March. Find your area in the table below.
Quick Facts
At a Glance
Soil & Growing Conditions
Growth Stages
Harvest & Storage
Diseases
Pests
Blackcurrant, Rich in Vitamin C
Plan your Blackcurrants planting
When to sow and plant Blackcurrants depends on your own frost dates. Check the UK vegetable planting calendar, or the month-by-month guides that cover Blackcurrants: October, November. To work out where it fits in your beds, sketch your plot in the free Garden Layout Planner.
Growing Blackcurrant in another region
Planting dates, frost timing and local advice differ by country. Use the guide for where you garden.
References
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Official NCDA&CS Plant Industry Division statement: "Currant and gooseberry plants (the genus Ribes) cannot be legally imported into, or grown in, North Carolina." Ribes are alternate hosts for Cronartium ribicola, the white pine blister rust fungus, which devastated white pine forests in the north-eastern United States in the early 1900s. The prohibition covers the whole genus, cultivated and wild, and NCDA&CS maintains a separate White Pine Blister Rust Regulations document. Other states also restrict Ribes: Michigan requires a permit to plant currants and gooseberries.
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Black currants are very winter hardy, tolerating -22 to -31°F, and unlike most fruit they tolerate partial shade. Plant dormant 1- or 2-year-old bushes in autumn or early spring, 3-4ft apart in rows 6-8ft apart, cutting the tops back to 6-10in at planting and removing the first year's blossom to let the plant establish. Black currants fruit differently from red: the best fruit comes on ONE-YEAR-OLD WOOD, supported by 2- to 3-year-old shoots, so remove all canes over 3 years old each year to force new growth. Prune while dormant in early spring (March/early April in Pennsylvania). Plants begin cropping in the third or fourth year. WHITE PINE BLISTER RUST: Ribes species are alternate hosts for Cronartium ribicola, and black currant is BY FAR THE MOST SUSCEPTIBLE Ribes; many areas outside Pennsylvania still prohibit growing it for that reason.
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RHS explicitly does not recommend pesticide use against aphids; recommends tolerance, manual squashing, and encouraging/purchasing natural predators (ladybirds, hoverflies, lacewings, parasitoid wasps, earwigs) as biological control, especially under glass.
8 independent sources are cited for this crop. Where they disagree - soil pH is the clearest case - every figure is preserved rather than averaged into false precision.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should I plant blackcurrants in the UK?
Plant bare-root blackcurrants while dormant, from late October to March, avoiding times when the soil is very wet or frozen. Container-grown plants can be planted all year round; water them well in dry spells if planted in spring or summer (RHS).
What soil pH do blackcurrants need?
A pH of about 6.5–7.5. That span reflects genuine variation between the authorities we cite rather than a single agreed figure — the References section lists each source's exact range.
What problems affect blackcurrants?
Our data links 4 diseases and 4 pests to this crop. See the sections above for each one and how to manage it.
Plan next season before the problems start
Most of the advice on this page comes down to timing and spacing — planting at the right moment, rotating beds, and giving plants enough airflow. The UK Garden Planner lays your plot out month by month so those decisions are already made before the season starts.
Get the UK Garden Planner →Instant PDF download · Written for UK growing conditions
How this guide is put together
The growing data on this page — planting windows, pests, diseases, soil and site requirements — comes from named horticultural sources, listed in References below, checked against RHS and Met Office guidance. An automated pipeline assembles that verified data into the page you're reading: it selects which facts to lead with and builds the surrounding prose and layout. It does not invent a date, a source or a number — where a verified value for a field isn't available, the page leaves it out rather than guessing. A person reviews and publishes each page; nothing goes live unverified.
Related Problem Guides
Last verified 2026-09-02
Plan Blackcurrants by month
The months this guide gives for sowing or planting, each with the full list of jobs for that month in the UK:
- What to plant in October
- What to plant in November
- What to plant in December
- What to plant in January
- What to plant in February
- What to plant in March
More from the same group (fruit & berries):
Growing advice for your part of the UK
Timing and conditions change a lot inside one country. These guides cover frost dates and growing seasons region by region.
Where To Go From Here
Take this crop from reading into a written plan for your own beds.
Keep going
Plan the next step
Use the printable SoilCommander planner for your region to turn this guide into sowing dates, bed layouts and weekly garden tasks.