All Ben

Ben Lomond
A heavy yielding, mid-late season variety, raised by the Scottish Crop Research Institute. Flowering up to 2 weeks later than Baldwin, the flowers have good frost resistance and will normally escape frost damage. The very large, quality fruit are of very good flavour. Strong and compact, the bush is slightly spreading. The very high yield (normally half as much again as the old varieties) comes from the very large size of the flavourful berries which are produced on short strings. The fruits are ideal for all purposes, freeze well and are the best for making juice. An excellent variety. The first of the 'Ben' varieties.

Ben More
Raised by the Scottish Crop Research Institute, Ben More is by far the best for plant habit, making a good cup-shaped. easy to manage bush. It is the latest flowering, even a few days later than Jet, so normally avoiding spring frosts but with the advantage of fruiting much earlier (same time as Baldwin). The fruits are very large produced on shortish strings and ripen evenly with the excellent true blackcurrant flavour. The bush is upright with very strong branches that support the massive crop well.

Ben Sarek
Ben Sarek is a new, compact variety and is the first of a new range of highly productive small bush hybrids, specifically raised for planting at a closer spacing and still giving a heavier crop per bush. Ben Sarek flowers at the same time as Baldwin, the standard mid-season variety, but is much more tolerant of frost and cold, and fruits approximately 7-10 days earlier. The fruits are very large and borne in such abundance as to defy description. A complete mass of high quality, large, bright black berries. The flavour is excellent and ideal for all normal uses. In Ministry of Agriculture trials in the heart of England, Ben Sarek gave the heaviest crop of all varieties even outyielding Ben More by 30%. Frost resistant. Mildew resistant, excellent flavour. High quality, large fruits and a cropping potential that is second to none.

Ben Alder
Ben Alder produces heavy crops of small to medium sized fruits with a lovely flavour. Very high colour stability makes the fruits perfect for juice and wine. A new late season variety from the S.C.R.I. Ben Alder is a vigorous bush but easy to harvest. Good resistance to Mildew and flowers late to avoid damage from spring frosts. Excellent for the late ripening and intense flavour of the fruit.

Ben Connan
Ben Corman berries can be as large as 18mm each. The fruit ripens early with extremely heavy crops and the fruit has an excellent flavour. Ben Connan is not susceptible to Mildew and has resistance to Leaf Curling Midge. Ben Connan is easy to pick, easy to grow with its good compact habit, suitable for pies, preserves, yogurts etc. Super for exhibition. Raised by the Scottish Crop Research Institute, Ben Connan is a cross between Sarek and Lomond and ripens about one week earlier than Lomond which it outyields.

Ben Gairn
Bred by Scottish Crop Research this arose from a cross of Ben Alder and a very hardy Russian variety. It is very early flowering and early ripening but despite this advantage has shown little reduction to frost damage. It is a very healthy bush with resistance to most foliar diseases and importantly to virus reversion. The fruit size is large and of uniformly good quality, very juicy and of excellent colour.

Ben Hope
Bred by Scottish Crop Research. A new late season variety ripening 10 days after Ben Lomond, very high yields of medium sized berries, the flavour is excellent with a real blackcurrant aroma, In addition Ben Hope is a very good grower, rather vigorous but upright in habit and easy to manage, it is resistant to mildew, leaf spot and gall midge.

Ben Nevis
A mid-late season variety raised by the Scottish Crop Research Institute. Heavy yielding, the large well flavoured fruit are of very good quality. Flowers 2 days before Ben Lomond but crops at about the same time, weight of crop is usually just a little less but the bush is more upright, vigorous, taller growing and easier to pick. The fruits are very large and ripen evenly on short strigs, flavour is excellent and the fruits are ideal for all purposes.

Ben Tirran
A new late fruiting variety from the S.C.R.I. Ben Tirran is the latest to ripen of all the commonly grown varieties and extends the cropping season. Good disease resistance due to the late flowering season. Excellent quality fruits and very heavy high yielding with a good flavour. The fruits are larger than those of Ben Alder and suitable for all purposes.