Photo: User:Zualio — CC BY 2.5 · source
Survives zone 3 through 8
Harvest calendar
Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.
A deliberately bred German hybrid — blackcurrant (R. nigrum) × European gooseberry (R. uva-crispa) × the wild American coastal black gooseberry (R. divaricatum), whose genes were key to overcoming the cross's initial sterility. Bred by Paul Lorenz from 1926 at Berlin's Kaiser Wilhelm Institute; Rudolf Bauer achieved a fertile line using colchicine-induced tetraploidy and released the first cultivar, 'Josta', in 1977 (the name is a portmanteau of German Johannisbeere/currant and Stachelbeere/gooseberry). Fruit is blackcurrant-sized or larger, dark purple-black, with a flavor between the two parents — less musky than blackcurrant, juicier and milder than gooseberry.
- Hardiness
- Zone 3–8
- Habit
- Shrub
- Edible part
- Fruit
- Ripens
- June–Aug
- Mature size
- Vigorous thornless shrub 1.5–2 m — larger than either gooseberry parent
- Light
- Partial to full sun
- Soil pH
- 6.0–7.0
- Environment
- Garden origin
- Native range
- No wild range — a deliberate cross of blackcurrant (R. nigrum) with two gooseberries (R. uva-crispa and R. divaricatum), bred in Germany and released in the 1970s.
- Status
- Cultivated
- Years to fruit
- Begins cropping well by 1-2 years after planting
- Growth speed
- Fast — more vigorous than either parent species.
- Spacing
- 122 cm (48 in) apart — about 1.5 m² (16 sq ft) per plant
- Leaf shape
- Three-lobed, rounded, notched leaves — intermediate between its blackcurrant and gooseberry parents.
- Root system
- Fibrous and spreading, shallow enough that deep cultivation near the plant is discouraged.
- Fruit description
- Berries 2–3 times the size of a redcurrant, near gooseberry size, translucent deep black-purple skin, soft when ripe, sweet-and-sour with a blackcurrant-like aroma; borne singly or in pairs rather than in clusters.
- Propagation
- Hardwood cuttings are close to foolproof: take pencil-thick shoots about 20–25 cm long in late autumn, push two-thirds into free-draining ground outdoors and leave them a year. Layering a low branch works too. Seed needs several months of cold stratification and is only worth it for breeding.
- Pollination
- Self-fertile, but cross-pollination with a related currant or gooseberry blooming at the same time (e.g. 'Consort' or 'Crandall' black currant) can boost yield 20-40%. Blooms very early in spring, among the earliest-flowering fruiting shrubs, so it depends on early-season pollinators regardless.
The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.
Growing guide
Growing tips. Vigorous and genuinely thornless (unlike true gooseberries), and also documented as resistant to powdery mildew, leaf spot and gall mites — inheriting combined disease resistance from its several parent lineages.
Companion planting. Bred to be highly resistant to blister rust, inheriting that resistance from its parentage — one reason it can be legally grown in many states that restrict true black currants. Some eastern states may still apply a blanket Ribes restriction regardless of its actual resistance, so check local rules before assuming it's exempt.
Grow journal
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