Currants, Gooseberries, & White Pines?

[SD51555]

Building out the nutrition complex even further this spring. Looking to build another 2-3 raised bed hugel gardens, and the theme for this year is perennial fruit production. What's on the list so far:

Apple (planted last spring)
Elderberry (planted last fall)
Strawberry
Raspberry
Gooseberry
Currants
Chokecherry (Not sure on that yet. I've got them in the woods, but the critters get them all, and the ones I've got are in my sanctuary)

My question is, I'm reading lots about white pine blister rust, and I've got 17 white pines in my yard that are very important to me. I've found one university that recommended 1000 feet as a safe spacing. I could even go further and put them along my farthest food plot because the harvest would be over before I begin my lockout period leading up to hunting season.

Has anyone ever grown gooseberry and currant near white pines? Was it a problem or a death sentence for the pines? I'd prefer to have these up by my yard so they're not such a secluded meal for bears and deers and such.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I had wild gooseberry plants growing only 10 yards from a white pine on the edge of my yard and they didn't seem to hurt the pine at all. I cut the pine down eventually, but it was healthy when I cut it down.

I've tried wild gooseberry fruit and it isn't very tasty, so I probably wouldn't risk damaging some pines you like over some gooseberry fruit that you might not like. I think that adding some juneberry, blackberry and maybe even blueberries would be worth a shot too.

 

[Telemark]

Try honeyberry. They're easy to grow and delicious.

I have white pines and gooseberries, but not in the same place. Sorry I can't help you there.

 

[Daydreamer]

I know as soon as I heard about the currants vs white pines I killed off the currants that I had planted.

 

[SD51555]

I've got one wild gooseberry growing right next to my sweet clover plot. It fruited really well last year and the fruit was excellent. Part of me wants to take cuttings from that and multiply a native strain. I really want to avoid the Frankenstein varieties of this stuff, but it gets hard to find heirlooms and non-gmo's in fruit.

That wild one is about 50 yards from my pines now. The pines have been there for two years. Prevailing winds blow away from the pines.

 

[wooduck]

I've got one wild gooseberry growing right next to my sweet clover plot. It fruited really well last year and the fruit was excellent. Part of me wants to take cuttings from that and multiply a native strain. I really want to avoid the Frankenstein varieties of this stuff, but it gets hard to find heirlooms and non-gmo's in fruit.

That wild one is about 50 yards from my pines now. The pines have been there for two years. Prevailing winds blow away from the pines.

Please list any GMO fruit being grown was not aware of any . i think there maybe an apple that is growen to resist browning after cutting but dont think its available to the public

 

[SD51555]

Please list any GMO fruit being grown was not aware of any . i think there maybe an apple that is growen to resist browning after cutting but dont think its available to the public

I’ll admit, I can’t list any off the top of my head. I don’t look for the ones that say they are. I look for the ones that say they aren’t, and that’s the harder part.

It’s in the vegetable world, just figured it made its way to the fruit world too.


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[Telemark]

With gooseberries and currants, it's probably only selective breeding. There might be some newer GMOs in the Ribes family for the sake of resisting the diseases that affect the white pine industry in the US, but I am not aware of any. Actually, I thought it was petty much under control, and as long as you buy from a reputable nursery, they should be free of the disease. It has been a long time since I looked into it, and I have switched to other types of berries since the European varieties of Ribes that I likes were not available. It's probably worth checking all that out again.

 

[Lucky_P]

Many of the gooseberry varieties in the nursery trade are immune/resistant to WPBR infection. Some black currant varieties have been selected for WPBR immunity, but new, virulent strains of the fungus have emerged that will infect some of those currant varieties previously considered to be safe.
To my knowledge, white pine is not all that common or important as a timber species here in KY - though I've seen it frequently planted for 'screening' in town. IDK if I ever saw a white pine, growing up in AL, as slash, loblolly, shortleaf, and longleaf pines predominated there. There were a couple of stands of pitch and Virginia pines growing on this KY farm when we bought it, but we had them clearcut soon after, as an ice storm wreaked havoc on them.

Doing a little reading(I knew very little about WPBR), I was surprised to learn the following, which may be old hat to y'all: "WPBR has two different types of spores. One type moves from white pines to Ribes plants, and is capable of traveling 100 miles or more. The other type of spore travels from Ribes to pines and is only capable of traveling a few hundred yards- and here lies the weakness in the disease. By removing all the cultivated and wild ribes from the immediate area of a valuable white pine stand, the pines could be protected. "