• Jostaberry
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Silver Creek Nursery Ltd.

Jostaberry

Jostaberry

Species: Ribes x nidigrolaria, a cross between Ribes nigrum (black currants), Ribes divaracitum (black gooseberries), and Ribes uva-crispa (European gooseberries)

History: Jostaberries were created in West Germany in 1955 by Dr. Rudolph Bauer, although attempts to cross these three plants had begun as early as 1883 without success. They were eventually released to the public in 1977.

Why We Grow It: Jostaberries are a unique cross between three plants: black currants, black gooseberries, and European gooseberries. The berries taste like gooseberries at first and transition to a black currant taste as they ripen and darken. 

Fruit Specs

Recommended Use: Fresh eating, cooking, baking

Fruit Size:

Storage: Keeps up to two weeks in the fridge

Harvest: July - Mid

Growing Specs

Canadian Hardiness Zone: 3

Soil Preference: Prefers loam, but adaptable to different soil conditions

Flowering Time: Middle

Bloom Colour: Maroon

Pollination Requirements: Self-pollinating, this variety will produce fruit without another jostaberry nearby but will produce more and better fruit if one is present

Sun/Shade Requirements:

Prefers full sun to partial shade, but can tolerate full shade

General Growth Habits:

Shrub reaches 1-2m tall, vigorous. Resistant to American gooseberry mildew, blackcurrant leaf spot, white pine blister rust, and big bud gall mite.

Thorns: No

Shipping vs. Pick Up

CLICK HERE to see how shipping compares to pick up.

Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of trees across Canada (except BC due to CFIA regulations). We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courrier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.

Pick-up: We also have thousands of trees picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc. We really appreciate if you can make an appointment to pick up, then we can be as organized as possible during our busy season.

Size at Purchase

Currants and gooseberries are divided into the following grades:

  • 1 year plant - 15-50cm
  • 2 year plant - 30-80cm

There is some overlap in size since we are also taking the age of the plants into account. Some older plants may not have put on quite as much vegetative growth but will have larger root systems. 

All of these heights exclude the roots since seedlings and some berries will often have a lot of root growth but relatively little vegetative growth (ex. our Shagbark Hickories seedlings are often 5-15cm above the soil but will have roots that reach 20cm+ in length).

Not all of our berries and seedlings will be available in all of these grades since growth rate can vary significantly across species and even varieties. While we remain competitive in our plant size, it's also worth noting we don't use synthetic chemicals to push vegetative growth, therefore you may find conventional nursery stock larger in some instances comparatively. 

Why plant small? It's best to transplant when a plant is young so it can establish its roots before it has a lot of vegetative growth. This is much less stressful on it and bareroot plants tend to catch up and even surpass larger potted ones planted at the same time, after a few years.
Orders that are cancelled last minute due to size (being "too small"), will still incur the applicable cancellation fees if the plants are true to our grading standards as per the agreement of sale when the order was placed.
Size
$23.00 CAD
$23.00 CAD
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