When to plant blackcurrants in Ho Chi Minh City

Why these dates

Plant dormant, and plant deep - 5 cm lower than the nursery mark - which encourages new shoots from below ground. Blackcurrant is the one soft fruit that genuinely benefits from being buried.

Very hardy. The flowers open early and can be caught by frost in a cold spring, which shows up as a bare patch at the base of an otherwise full strig.

Blackcurrants are planted once and then left in place, so there is no sowing offset to resolve. What matters in Ho Chi Minh City is the shape of the year: this crop is dormant through the winter and is planted while it sleeps, any time between leaf fall in autumn and the restart of growth in spring, so long as the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged. That is why the window below spans the cold months rather than sitting in the middle of the growing season.

Ho Chi Minh City sits in zone 13a, which is milder than this crop wants, and a winter that never really arrives is its own problem. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.

One caution specific to warm climates: this crop needs roughly 800 hours below 7.2°C (45°F) over winter before it will flower properly, and the coldest month in Ho Chi Minh City averages 25.9°C (78.5°F). Low-chill varieties exist for exactly this situation and are worth seeking out by name.

Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 2, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.

See every crop timed for Ho Chi Minh City →