By Kelb51
West Midlands, United Kingdom
We've recently moved into a new house, it seems they had a lovely selection of soft fruits once upon a time...
Can anyone tell me what this is? I thought blackcurrants first of all but the berries have grown into a small gooseberry shape.
Thank you!
- 6 Sep, 2013
Answers
Wish I could see the berries closer up. If they are shaped like Gooseberries then they possibly could be Jostaberry. If the bushes are very spiny then they could be Worcesterberrry.
6 Sep, 2013
Looks like Blackcurrant to me going by the fruit and leaves.
6 Sep, 2013
Thanks! Moon grower, I know what the blackberries are :-) huge of them!
Owdboggy, just looked at some pictures of jostaberries... I think you may have hit the nail on the head :-) exact match of leaves and berries! Thank you so much! Never heard of then before!
6 Sep, 2013
Jostaberries are a new one on me - appear to be half way between Gooseberry and Blackcurrant according to Wiki. Let us know if they taste any good!
6 Sep, 2013
Well do! Yeah, I googled it to, time will tell, they're still quite small :-)
6 Sep, 2013
All these hybrid berries I wonder if they crop as well as the originals?
6 Sep, 2013
The only thing is that they should be well over by now, we picked and jammed ours about 3 weeks ago.
I think they taste good. Cropping is funny, last year they were loaded, this year not so good. Blackbirds adore them too.
6 Sep, 2013
MG My Mum had a gooseberry/blackcurrant cross called Worcesterberry and it cropped stupendously and was delicious.
6 Sep, 2013
Strangely Worcesterberry is now thought to be a straight species, Ribes divericatum. We had it, but it is so dreadfully prickly that we got rid of it. There is no discernible difference in taste (to us at least) from Josta, so no loss.
6 Sep, 2013
Blackberry or, as they call them up here, brambles. Treat them like raspberries and cut out the canes that have fruited this year leaving on the new cane that haven't yet fruited, those can be pruned to 5 - 6 foot in length.
6 Sep, 2013