Alpine currant ∗ The 10 best planting and care tips

Characteristics

• Scientific name: Ribes alpinum
• Family: Gooseberry family (Grossulariaceae)
• Synonym: mountain currant, wild currant
• Occurrence: Central and Northern Europe
• Growth type: deciduous shrub
• Growth height: 100 cm to 200 cm
• Leaf: lobed, triangular to rounded
• Flower: racemose
• Fruit: berry
• consumption quality
• Roots: Heart shallow roots
• Hardiness: hardy
• Use: hedge plant, wild fruit bush, wood for feeding birds

growth

the alpine currant (Ribes alpinum) is a deciduous shrub of the gooseberry family. The wild form of the well-known garden currant originally comes from the high altitudes of the Alps. In the meantime, the wild currant as decorative street greening has become a familiar sight in Central and Northern Europe. In contrast to currants in the orchard, the dark red fruits of a mountain currant are not very tasty. The wild fruit tree compensates for this shortcoming with these special growth properties:

• growth type: deciduous shrub with inconspicuous spring flowers and bright red fruit decoration.
• growth habit: stiffly upright, bushy branches with thornless shoots, partly prostrate when old.
• growth height: 100 to 200 cm, under ideal conditions up to 250 cm.
• growth width: 100cm to 200cm.
• root: heart-shaped, partially shallow root system without invasive stolons.
• growth rate: 20 cm to 30 cm annual growth.
• Horticulturally interesting properties: easy to care for, hardy, root pressure tolerant, tolerates pruning, ecologically valuable, bee-friendly, bird-friendly, tolerates shade.

Alpine currants along the way

Sheet

For most of the year, the alpine currant wears a lush robe of leaves with these characteristics:

• leaf shape: short stalked, three to five lobes, 3 cm to 5 cm long, rounded to triangular in outline.
• leaf edge: coarsely toothed.
• leaf color: dark green, bright yellow autumn colour.
• arrangement: alternate, in dense clusters.
• special feature: very early shoots, stays on thornless twigs for a long time until well into winter.

blossom

Ribes alpinum thrives as dioecious with separate sexes. Male and female flowers are on separate branches. The following overview summarizes the flower characteristics worth knowing:

• flower shape: Raceme with 5 to 30 individual flowers.
• single flower (gender independent): four to fivefold, 5 mm to 9 mm in size, yellowish green.
• male inflorescence: 2 cm to 3 cm long with 10 to 30 individual flowers.
• female inflorescence: 1 cm to 1.5 cm long with up to 5 individual flowers.
• heyday: April to May.
• special feature: aromatic, incense-like fragrance.
• nectar and pollen value: 2, recommended bee pasture.

Botanists classify the alpine currant as imperfectly dioecious. A male shrub will bear isolated female flowers and vice versa. For this reason, it is not surprising if the well-known male variety Ribes alpinum Schmidt occasionally boasts of fiery red fruits in autumn.

fruit

Pollinated flowers of a female alpine currant turn into decorative fruits with these attributes:

• fruit shape: berry
• fruit size: 5mm
• fruit color: bright red
• fruit ripening: from August
• consumption quality: edible, insipid to tasteless

Gardeners who are close to nature leave the wild currants hanging as fruit decorations so that hungry birds can feast on them.

use

The alpine currant is a local natural treasure with these diverse uses:

Plant alpine currants

The best time to plant alpine currants as a hedge or solitary is from February to May. At this time, you can buy inexpensive Ribes alpinum as bare-rooted trees in any well-stocked tree nursery for prices starting at 1.59 euros. A ready-to-plant shrub in a 3-liter container for year-round planting costs around 10 euros. If a wild currant is already thriving in the garden, it can be planted after propagation with sticks. The best planting tips to read:

propagation

The alpine currant is so easy to propagate:

1. Cut off and defoliate woody shoots in autumn.
2. With disinfected scissors diagonally into 20 cm long cut cuttings with a Eye at each end.
3. Plant two-thirds of the cuttings in a pot with loose-humus potting soil.
4. Water regularly and not fertilize.

You can use the sticks like Overwinter rose cuttings and plant out next spring. In order for a young alpine currant to branch out luxuriantly, the first 5-10 cm long, herbaceous shoots are pinched.

Location

Basically, the alpine currant thrives where you plant the shrub. At this location, the wood shows its most beautiful side:

• Sun to shade, preferably semi-shady.
• normal garden floor, rich in nutrients, fresh and moist, loose and humus rich and permeable.

The mountain currant is best planted in a calcareous soil with a pH between 6.5 and 8.

Planting – Tips & Tricks

Here you can read the best tips about the perfect planting technique for Ribes alpinum as a solitary plant and hedge plant:

• Soak each shrub in water for 30 to 60 minutes before planting.
• Dig a planting trench marked with string for the alpine currant hedge.
• The planting hole for a solitary alpine currant is twice as large as the root ball.
• Mix the excavated soil up to 30 percent as a start fertilizing compost soil and horn shavings.(€9.00 at Amazon*)
• The correct planting depth corresponds to the planting depth in the seed pot (pay attention to the soil mark if you have roots from the tree nursery).

The most important care measure on the day of planting is extensive watering with normal tap water. Bare-rooted hedge plants also receive a pruning. Cut back all shoots by a third or half. There is a sap accumulation, whereupon the tree branches vigorously.

digression

Mixed hedge with alpine currant

Caring for alpine currants

The alpine currant is undemanding and easy to care for. In contrast to garden currants, wild currants rarely require your gardening attention. You can read useful care tips here:

Pour

Drought stress is the most common cause of a shrub not growing. In the first few weeks after planting, the alpine currant is watered regularly. A well-rooted tree should only be watered if the drought lasts for a long time.

Fertilize

If a mountain currant is planted in nutrient-rich soil, the initial fertilization on the day of planting completely covers the nutrient requirement. Additional fertilizers are not required. Alpine currants are only grateful for a portion of compost or a handful if there are noticeable signs of deficiency, such as pale leaf colour horn shavings.(€9.00 at Amazon*) In fact, the shrub thrives more compactly in poor soil. On the other hand, the wood tends to fall apart on particularly nutritious soils.

To cut

The pruning of an alpine currant is a matter of discretion. Thanks to a good-natured pruning tolerance, the wood also tolerates a strong pruning. Best time for one hedge trimming is in early spring, just in time before the leaves sprout.

Recommendations for a pruning date after flowering fall on deaf ears with natural gardeners. The breeding season has long since begun in May. Humming hedge trimmers and clattering secateurs(€14.00 at Amazon*) are out of place in a mountain currant hedge from early March to early October, which is also the case in Federal Nature Conservation Act can be read.

diseases and pests

A mountain currant gives no reason to complain about diseases or pests. The wood is not only very easy to care for, but also robust and resistant.

Popular Varieties

These beautiful alpine currant varieties beautify your garden and make the hearts of birds and insects beat faster:

• Ribes alpinum Schmidt: Premium variety with stiffly upright, densely branched growth, predominantly male flowers from April, plant height 100 cm to 200 cm.
• Ribes alpinum Elza: female variety with edible berries without fruit acid; Ribes alpinum requires Schmidt as a pollinator.
• Dwarf alpine currant (Ribes alpinum pumilum): low-compact, cushion-forming, beautiful as a woody underplanting, height of growth 60 cm to 90 cm, spread of 50 cm to 125 cm.
• Alpine currant Majorenhof: ideal variety for the wild fruit hedge, bears bright red, juicy-sweet currants, growth height up to 200 cm.
• Alpine currant "Aureum": compact variety inspires with lemon-yellow flowers, deep red fruits and red autumn colors, height of growth 90 cm to 120 cm.

FAQ

What planting distance should an alpine currant hedge keep to the neighboring property?

The alpine currant does not grow rampant and does not form long runners. For this reason, a planting distance of 100 cm to 150 cm is sufficient so that the hedge plants do not exceed the property line grow.

How do I raise an alpine currant hedge with a privacy screen height of 2 meters?

By planting 3 Ribes alpinum per meter of hedge, the densely branched shrubs pull each other up. Provided that there is a regular supply of nutrients and water, the desired growth height of 2 meters can be achieved without any problems. For rapid growth in height, the currant hedge should be cut slimmer at the beginning. In this way, the growth power of the trees goes into the shoot tips in the crown area.

Is the wild currant poisonous?

No, the wild currant, also known as alpine currant (Ribes alpinum) is not poisonous. The native shrub is also not reinforced, the other gooseberry plants. The bright red berries are edible, but completely acid-free. For this reason, consumption is not a refreshing treat for the palate, as with red currants (Ribes rubrum). Birds, on the other hand, appreciate the fruit as a valuable source of food.

Is the alpine currant suitable as an underplant for a silver birch?

Planting silver birches is a tricky business. Compete with their shallow, vigorous root system Betula pendula with an underplanting for water and nutrients. The alpine currant is one of the few plants that can withstand this vehement root pressure.

Does the alpine currant need a pollinator?

The alpine currant thrives as a dioecious tree with separate sexes. In order for a bush with female flowers to bear fruit, there must be a male bush nearby. The Ribes alpinum 'Schmidt' variety, which you can buy from your trusted tree nursery, is an excellent pollinator.