Black currant. What soil does black currant like? Soil for black currant
Black currants grow in every garden. But we do not always harvest the harvest that the planted variety is capable of. Often in gardens you can see thickened bushes affected by diseases and pests. Everyone in our family loves blackcurrant berries. To ensure that the bushes are healthy, the berries are large and tasty, and caring for the bushes does not take much time, I have drawn up a simplified “action plan” for myself.
Early spring (late March - April). The snow has already completely or partially melted, but the currant buds have not yet swelled
Top dressing. Nitrogen is needed for good leaf development. Pour the prepared mixtures onto the ground spring fertilizers for berry bushes (with nitrogen) onto moistened soil and lightly sprinkle soil on top. If this is not possible, then you don’t have to fertilize the bushes.
Trimming. We carry out pruning if this work was not carried out at the end of autumn. We remove the frozen ends of the shoots. We cut out dry, weak and broken branches. From the cut branches we collect the first harvest of currants: elongated buds and fragrant shoots cut into small pieces. They can be placed in a glass jar, closed with a lid and placed in the refrigerator, so that they can then be added to the kettle when brewing black tea.
Pests. We collect all the round buds on the branches and burn them. We rake and burn or place in a humus container the fallen leaves in late autumn. Some gardeners pour boiling water over the bushes, which is poured into metal watering cans.
Mid-spring (late April - early May). Blackcurrant buds are swelling, spring frosts are possible
Top dressing. We add nitrogen (along the edges of the bush crown), if this has not been done before. Can be divorced urea(1 tbsp per 10 liters of water) or ammonium nitrate(2 tbsp per 10 liters of water) and immediately sprinkle the soil over the watering areas with the solution. After weeding, add humus or crumbly compost under the bushes.
Landing. This is the best time to plant seedlings.
Pests. In old gardens, it is advisable to spray the bushes with a 3-5% solution of iron sulfate (against bud moths, scale insects, etc.). For kidney mites we use the drug “ Kleschevit», « Fitoverm" or " Kiovit Jet"(from ticks and powdery mildew).
Late spring (May)
Top dressing. From now until autumn we will feed black currants with slightly dried potato peelings, which contain a lot of starch. We bury them in shallow grooves dug in the ground in those places above which the ends of the branches are located. It is better to embed food potato or corn into the soil starch. Foliar feeding with microelements (ready-made compounds, potassium permanganate, boric acid) is useful. Water regularly, especially in dry weather.
Weeding. This is the time of active weed growth . At the same time, loosen the soil so as not to damage the surface roots.
Pests. We carefully examine the blackcurrant bushes. If there is a threat of fire damage, spraying the bushes with a weak solution helps nicotine sulfate with green or laundry soap. We make sure to hand-pick green and browned berries affected by the moth.
Summer (before harvest)
Top dressing. Once every two weeks we water the ground under the bushes (closer to the edge of the crown) with a diluted infusion of grass, manure or compost. We alternate with adding and incorporating wood ash into the soil.
Watering. Be sure to carry out one abundant watering. In dry weather, regularly water the blackcurrant bushes.
Pests. If caterpillars appear en masse, urgent measures must be taken. Manual collection of the pest or plant infusions are unlikely to help save blackcurrant foliage. You have to use " Spark" It is better to take a targeted drug. For example, " Spark from the tracks"(1 ml per 10 liters of water). We regularly inspect the bushes and destroy other pests. We cut out all dried branches.
We carefully inspect all the bushes to collect diseased and pest-infested berries and leaves, and then destroy them.
When powdery mildew appears, spray the foliage with soda ash. Some gardeners use a weak solution of any cheap washing powder. There is a folk method: spray the bush with a broom with a diluted infusion of manure (mullein). They say that in this way it is possible to avoid the development of powdery mildew.
Harvesting
Top dressing. Sprinkle under each bush wood ash and embed it into the soil.
Pests. We destroy moth nests and diseased berries . Be sure to trim the tips of those shoots that are affected by powdery mildew.
Old bushes are often affected by moth
We collect ripe berries.
After picking berries
Top dressing. Flower buds are being laid for the next year, so black currants need to be fertilized with phosphorus and potassium. You can take potassium sulfate and superphosphate. In early August we feed potassium sulfate(1 tbsp per 10 liters of warm water), and after two weeks double superphosphate(1 tbsp per 10 liters of hot water, leave for 24 hours). We pre-moisten the soil. To water with fertilizer solutions, you can make a shallow ditch along the crown projection line, which you then fill in, and then mulch the soil with compost or humus.
Trimming. It is necessary to regularly cut off the tops of shoots that are crumpled and powdered with powdery mildew, and remove frail young shoots growing in the center of the bush. They just thicken the bush.
Black currant leaves crushed by gooseberry aphids
At the end of August, we pinch off the ends of blackcurrant branches, which promotes the ripening of the wood and reduces the risk of powdery mildew the following year. It is better to remove old branches lying on the ground. Be sure to cut out and burn all drying branches, because... there is a high probability of currant glass. We remember that too much preventive summer pruning weakens the bush.
Watering and weeding the soil under blackcurrant bushes are required.
Pests. In places where kidney mites are spread, we spray with the drug “ Kleschevit"(1 ampoule per 2 liters of water). It can be replaced by " Fitoverm».
Autumn
Top dressing. It is useful to add potassium and phosphorus fertilizers. You can take ready-made mixtures for autumn feeding of berry bushes or superphosphate(100 g per adult bush) and potassium chloride(30 g per adult bush). After dropping the bulk of the foliage, be sure to powder the soil under the tree bushes. ash, add fresh fertile soil or compost under each bush in a layer of 10 - 15 cm.
Trimming. We cut off old, twisted, damaged branches that thicken the bush. It is advisable to shorten the tops of the shoots . After this, you need to immediately burn all the cut branches.
Pests. Be sure to remove all round swollen buds with currant mites. Sometimes you have to cut out branches that are heavily infested with it. Be sure to collect fallen leaves.
Landing. In the second ten days of September, we plant the cuttings detached from the mother plant in a permanent place. We plant seedlings (grown from cuttings and purchased), trying not to damage the roots. For insulation, add loose compost to them. In the first ten days of October, we continue to propagate black currants, planting new cuttings in fertile soil for rooting.
Be sure to carry out autumn water-recharging irrigation. After the leaves fall, we tie loose bushes together with a strong rope and place bars or boards under some branches or build a wooden frame. Without this, a spreading bush may be crushed by a snowdrift or lose some of its branches by spring.
Winter
At the very beginning of winter, add as much snow as possible to the bushes. In winter, it happens that frosty days give way to thaws. In snowy winters, this leads to damage to black currants. We have to remove some of the snow from the heavy snowdrifts, under which there are bushes. After the frosts have subsided at the end of winter, you can begin preparing cuttings for spring planting. They are stored in the snow or buried in wet sand and left in a cool place.
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The most suitable time for planting berry bushes, and currants in particular, is the end of August - beginning of September. We'll tell you how to properly prepare the soil for currant bushes, why you need to trim the bush before planting, and why currants, unlike raspberries, are planted obliquely.
If you purchased planting material at the end of September, then be guided by the weather. If, according to forecasts, the autumn is expected to be warm, then you can plant bushes even in early October. In berry bushes, the root system continues to grow until late autumn. You just have to mulch the soil under the plantings: to do this, just throw weeded weeds, tomato or zucchini tops under the bushes.
If autumn is cold, with early frosts, then it is better to bury the bushes in a horizontal position until spring. And plant them in the earliest spring. The planting site must be prepared immediately in the fall. Before planting, any plant should be placed in water for a couple of hours so that the roots are saturated with water.
Trimming currants before planting
All shrubs, except raspberries and honeysuckle, should be planted obliquely, regardless of whether you are planting a thin twig or a bush with 2-3 stems. When planting, the stems are buried in the soil so that the 3 lower buds are in the ground. Only 3 buds are also left above the surface. The rest of the upper part of the bush is cut off with pruning shears.
Why is this being done? So that the bush does not begin to age prematurely when the leaves begin to open in the spring due to the nutritious juices in the stems. The root system, damaged during transplantation, will not yet have time to take root well and begin to fully supply the above-ground part with soil solution.
Since the owner of each stem is its apical bud, which absorbs all the nutrients, then with a weak root system, there is only enough nutrition for this apical bud. Short, overgrown fruit branches do not form on the branch; it becomes bare, its leaves are located only at the ends. That is, the bush ages immediately, in the first year of planting. Therefore, pruning is required when planting a bush in order to reduce the above-ground part and remove the apical bud.
In addition, it is very important that several shoots immediately come out of the ground. These additional shoots will develop from the buds buried in the soil. If the bush is planted vertically, then for a long time it will have exactly as many shoots as you planted, even if it is buried when planting in the soil. Such a vertically planted bush will not produce large yields for the first few years.
When the next year, new branches begin to grow from the obliquely planted bush, you will see that two side branches are growing on each planted stem. As soon as the growth bud at the end of each branch is removed, new side shoots begin to develop from the two buds closest to it, located on the branch below the pruning site. Therefore, in the fall, you will again shorten all the side branches that have grown over the summer, leaving only three buds on each. The same procedure will have to be repeated again. Now you have completely completed the formation of the bush, and instead of 1-3 planted stems, you have a bush with a large number of branches on each shoot coming from the ground.
What to do if the bush is planted incorrectly? If the bush is young, then you need to insert the shovel deeply on the south side of the bush, lift the bush, tilting the top to the north, pour soil into the resulting cavity and cover the lower part of the stems with soil. It is better to do this in early spring. Shorten all branches by one third of their length.
If the bush is old, then all the lower branches should be pinned to the soil, after making grooves on the bark of the stems with cloves for faster rooting. You can water it with Kornevin. To prevent the rooting site from drying out, add moist soil on top and cover the area with film so that the wind does not blow it away.
If the root system of the seedling is rather weak, then it is a good idea to water the bush after planting with the Kornevin solution, which speeds up the process of formation of new roots.
How to prepare the ground for planting currants: fertilizers
The key to success is not only in proper planting, but also in well-prepared soil. Black currants have a shallow root system, so they do not need deep planting holes. It is best to plant currants in one row along the border of the site. Firstly, it will be convenient to care for it, and secondly, it will protect you from the neighbors’ eyes. If your site is flooded with water, then it is better to place the currant bushes on a continuous ridge, rising above the soil level by about 15-20 cm.
Fill a planting hole or trench only 20-25 cm deep with well-rotted compost or rotted manure. Black currant prefers slightly acidic soils, although it tolerates even acidic soil. If your soil is acidic, and even more so, strongly acidic, then you should add a deoxidizer to the planting hole, which will work in the soil for a long time.
Fluff lime is not suitable for this: it dissolves in water all at once and is immediately washed away by rain from the top layer of soil to the bottom. It is better to use dolomite or chalk, gypsum, old cement, old or dry plaster. You can use eggshells, which should be ground first. If you use ash, you should be aware that the calcium it contains is also quickly washed out with water, and you will have to add ash annually. Therefore, when planting, phosphorus fertilizer should be added to the planting hole. 2 tbsp is enough. spoons of double granulated superphosphate under the bush.
When planting, it is recommended to add an additional 1 tbsp. a spoonful of urea and potassium, which does not contain chlorine. For the North-West, such a recommendation is not suitable. Potassium and nitrogen, which easily dissolve in water, are washed out of the soil into the lower layers by rain during autumn planting. By spring, these fertilizers will be inaccessible to currant roots. In winter, plant roots do not absorb anything from the soil. Therefore, when planting in autumn, only phosphorus should be added. Nitrogen and half the dose of potassium should be added in the spring, after spring frosts have passed.
Digging the soil: pros and cons
In my opinion, digging up the soil is generally harmful, and doubly so under bushes and trees. Why then is it recommended to dig up tree trunk circles? Mainly to get rid of pests overwintering in the soil under the plants. Also to loosen compacted soil. Loosening retains moisture in the soil and reduces watering. Regular loosening forces the roots to go deeper into the soil.
However, both loosening and digging up the soil under plantings cause undoubted harm to the sucking part of the root system of plants, especially those like black currants, whose roots are located shallow from the surface. Moreover, all this work is far from easy, but they can be avoided if you systematically (about three times a season) cut off the weeds growing under and around all plantings. This also requires work, but in the amount of much less.
If you look under the cut weeds after a couple of weeks, you will see a large number of earthworms that have come to feed on the decaying remains of the plants and their roots. You will undoubtedly notice that the soil under the cut weeds is loose and moist. This approach significantly simplifies work on the site.
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Black currant varieties are divided into self-fertile (can be pollinated by their own pollen) and self-sterile (pollination with pollen of another black currant variety is necessary for the formation of ovaries). But with cross-pollination, even in self-fertile varieties, the yield increases.
Healthy blackcurrant bushes with proper agricultural technology are characterized by high winter hardiness.
Black currant is light-loving, but tolerates partial shading. It is good to place black currants along the southwestern walls of buildings.
Phsoil acidity for black currants
6-6,5
Watering currants
Blackcurrant is moisture-loving. During droughts, watering is needed in early June, early July, and mid-August. Moisture-recharging irrigation in October. It is better to water black currants by sprinkling (30-50 l per 1 m²).
The depth of groundwater is 1.5 m, black currant does not tolerate wetlands and flooded areas.
Blackcurrant fertilizer
In the third year after planting, apply as fertilizer under the blackcurrant bush annually in the fall.organic fertilizers - 0.5 buckets of humus (compost) per bush, 20 g of superphosphate, 20 g of potassium sulfate (or 0.5 cupash ).
Nitrogen fertilizers (80 g of ammonium nitrate per bush) are applied annually. Liquid fertilizing with organic fertilizers is effective in early spring, immediately after flowering, during the period of ovary growth.
The roots of black currant are shallow, so you need to carefully loosen the soil under the bushes.
Blackcurrant is very responsive to the application of manure.
You can lay out any plant debris (weeds, tops, mown grass) under the bushes during the summer, constantly adding it as needed. This will servemulching material : will reduce the need for watering and loosening, make it difficult for weeds to grow, and when rotting, green residues will serve as organic fertilizer and enrich the soil. Under such bushes you will no longer need to add humus or compost.
A good addition to the main fertilizer is top dressing. Liquid fertilizers are especially effective. For fertilizing, slurry, bird droppings solution, ash and mineral fertilizers, which dissolve well in water, are used.
Slurry contains mainly nitrogen and potassium. Before adding it under the currants, add 40 g of superphosphate to 1 bucket of slurry. For each fruit-bearing bush, apply up to 2 buckets of this fertilizer.
Before applying any fertilizers or fertilizing, the soil under the bushes is first watered abundantly with water.
Additional foliar feeding of currants is effective. In this case, the currant bushes are sprayed with a weak solution of complex fertilizers, and the currants can absorb all the nutrients into the leaf tissues. Spraying is carried out early in the morning, in the evening or in cloudy weather.
The first foliar feeding is carried out during the currant flowering period. For spraying, use a solution: 10 l of water, 8 g of boric acid, 1 g of zinc chloride, 0.5 g of copper sulfate, 0.25 g of magnesium sulfate, 0.25 g of potassium permanganate.
The second foliar feeding of currants is carried out on the green ovary: 10 liters of water, 5 g of boric acid, 1.5 g of copper sulfate, 1.5 g of zinc chloride, 1.5 g of magnesium sulfate, 0.5 g of potassium permanganate.
After the currant harvest, a third foliar feeding is carried out: 10 liters of water, 3 g of boric acid, 1 g of copper sulfate, 3.5 g of potassium permanganate.All types currants can be planted in various areas. They naturally require good soil fertility, but most species are not particularly demanding. Black currants are characterized by high fertility requirements. This phenomenon is explained by the fact that its roots are located close to the surface and are located on the horizon of humus and soddy-podzolic soil.
How to prepare the soil for planting black currants?
It is recommended to prepare the site in advance. The best option is row crops and perennial grass. All weeds, in particular wheatgrass, should be removed from the soil. It is recommended to keep the area under clean fallow, periodically destroying all the weed.
A month before planting, the selected place is dug up to a depth of humus - up to 25 centimeters. First, the following norm of fertilizers should be added there: up to 8 kilograms of organic, up to 60 grams of phosphorus and 30 grams of potassium. Due to the fact that the plant is very sensitive to chlorine, it is better to use chlorine-free types of fertilizer. The soil, which is not rich in nutrients, is fertilized 4 months before planting black currants in it.
Such doses of mineral fertilizer must be applied for the entire period of plant growth, which is no more than 8 years. In the case of moderately cultivated soils, the dose of RA is reduced by 0.25 from the norm, and in fertile soils - by 0.5. If there is a severe shortage of minerals, then fertilizers are applied in two passes: about 70% before the planting process, and the remaining 30% during two years of growth.
Gardeners claim that black currants, growing in acidic soil, love liming, because thanks to this process, yields can be increased by 35%. This suggests that it is better to lime acidic soddy-podzolic soil with 500 grams of lime per 1 square meter. This fertilizer should be applied before planting.
The ideal time for planting blackcurrants is October. It is allowed to do this in April, but in this case the plant begins to grow quickly.
How to properly care for the soil?
The soil in planting areas should be regularly loosened during the growing season and kept free from weeds. During the entire fruiting period, up to 6 treatments should be carried out along the rows and between them. The first treatment is recommended in early spring, the next two - during the period of berry growth. This is necessary in order to remove moisture, supply air to the roots, and fight grass and crust on the soil due to heavy rain. The third time the soil is loosened after the harvest is harvested, and the last time - in mid-autumn to help accumulate moisture in the ground and add the necessary fertilizers. It is worth ensuring that the tillage depth in the rows does not exceed 7 centimeters, and in the center of the row spacing - 12 centimeters.
If you follow all the above tips, then the bushes black currant will delight you with a rich, tasty and healthy harvest for many years.
General informationBlackcurrant came to us from the forest. It still grows wild everywhere in the forests of Europe and Russia. Hence its requirements for growing conditions: soil with sufficient humus content, slightly acidic or neutral, low need for mineral elements, resistance to shading, winter hardiness and endurance.
Features of cultivation
What does blackcurrant like? Slightly acidic, humus-rich, moisture- and breathable soils, a sunny location (although it can tolerate partial shade), phosphorus fertilizers and, most importantly, moist soil. Therefore, it is regularly watered throughout spring and early summer, especially in dry and windy weather. Stop watering only after the ovaries have fully grown and begun to color. At this point, watering is harmful, since the berries can crack right on the bushes from excess water in the cell sap.
What doesn't blackcurrant like? There is a large amount of lime, so it is better to apply it gradually, in the form of watering with lime milk once a season, if the soil is acidic. In addition, she does not like fertilizing with potassium chloride, large doses of nitrogen, or drying out of the top layer of soil, so the soil under the bushes must be kept in a loose state, regularly removing weeds.
It would be a good idea to immediately mulch the soil under the currants in the spring (cover the soil). It is usually recommended to use peat or simply dry, lumpy soil as mulching materials. But it could be sphagnum moss, or even just newspapers. Cover the soil under the bushes with newspapers during the period when the green cone appears and the buds separate (by the way, this simple technique will not allow pests to emerge from the soil after wintering). At the time of flowering, newspapers should be removed, since at this time beneficial insects come to the surface of the soil. After flowering, the newspapers are returned under the bushes, but with the goal of preventing the evaporation of moisture from the soil. Newspapers can be replaced with remnants of old film from greenhouses, pieces of cardboard, roofing felt, but best of all - black lutrasil, which allows you to water directly over the material. Black materials contribute to rapid warming of the soil in the spring and awakening of roots.
Variety selection
For the North-West, the most suitable and unpretentious variety is Karelian creeping (an ancient Finnish variety Bredtorp) and, accordingly, varieties obtained on the basis of Karelian creeping. They all differ in that. that have a slightly lodging shape, the branches have a slightly wavy shape and diverge far to the sides. As soon as the branch lies on the ground, it immediately takes root, so the bush can grow strongly in all directions. Supports should be placed under it. But all these shortcomings are compensated by the fertility, large-fruitedness, good taste of the berries, resistance to diseases and pests, and the genetic stability of the variety. It still exists without any pruning or maintenance on ancient Finnish farmsteads, abandoned since 1945. At the same time, it bears fruit well.
Karelian currants always produce a harvest, because their flowering period is extended to almost two weeks, although some of the flowers are damaged by spring frosts. In addition, the lower branches and those located in the center of the bush bloom as profusely as the peripheral ones. The ripening of the berries is also extended, so the harvest has to be harvested in several stages. On the one hand, this is inconvenient for those who sell berries, but, on the other hand, it is very convenient for those who grow crops for themselves and their families. Firstly, the berries can be removed gradually, without particularly bothering. Secondly, there is a harvest on the lower branches at the end of August, which makes it possible to cook jelly when there are no longer any berries. This variety has one more advantage - it does not have sepals left on the berries, so they are easy to process.
Early varieties include the good variety Primorsky Champion and Seedling Golubki. Mid-early varieties include the Belarusian variety Minai Shmyrev, which has erect, tall bushes, good yield, large tasty berries, but sometimes the variety is affected by mites. But it is resistant to most diseases, including terry.
The middle varieties include the varieties Zagadka, Izmailovskaya, Karelskaya, Naryadnaya, Odzhebin, Pilot Alexander Mamkin and the new varieties Volodinka, Binar, Beloy, Detskoselskaya. Almost all of them are resistant to diseases, including terry disease and kidney flare. The last four varieties have spreading bushes. More recently, new varieties of medium ripening periods, Green Haze and Tralena, were released for the North-West. The latest variety is Pobeda, but in the conditions of the North-West it is not winter-hardy enough. Its root system freezes during sudden frosts, without snow, after a thaw.
Recently, varieties have appeared with exceptionally large, cherry-sized berries. However, they are not productive enough. This is a variety of Altai selection that has taken root quite well in the North-West, Galinka and the northern variety Vologda.
Black currant is a productive crop; with good care, you can harvest from 4 to 10 kg of berries from each bush. Therefore, my advice to you: less is more. Plant a few bushes of good varieties and take good care of them, then you will have a large harvest. For a family of 3-4 people, 3-4 bushes are enough.
On a note
Old varieties such as Golubka or Stakhanovka Altai should not be planted. You should not mess with varieties that are highly susceptible to powdery mildew in your region. In the North-West it is Leningrad giant, sometimes Belarusian sweet, Pamyati Michurin (the variety is zoned for the Non-Black Earth region). Do not plant varieties that degenerate very quickly. These include varieties such as Pamyat Zhukova, Pomyat Vavilova, Kosmicheskaya, Studencheskaya, Bagira, Black Pearl and Grape, a relatively new variety called Eureka, despite the fact that the last three varieties are quite large-fruited. You should also avoid varieties that the bud mite likes to attack, because it is quite difficult to fight it. These varieties include the varieties Dikovinka, Dochka, Imandra (by the way, this is the most winter-hardy variety), Nina, Pamyati Shukshina, Chudesnitsa. The most important thing is that the variety must be zoned for your region.
Landing
The most suitable time for planting berry bushes and, in particular, currants is the end of August - beginning of September. If you purchased planting material at the end of September, then be guided by the weather. If, according to forecasts, the autumn is expected to be warm, then you can plant bushes even in early October. In berry bushes, the root system continues to grow until late autumn. You just have to mulch the soil under the plantings; to do this, just throw weeded weeds, tomato or zucchini tops under the bushes. If autumn is cold, with early frosts, then it is better to bury the bushes in a horizontal position until spring. And plant them in the earliest spring. The planting site must be prepared immediately in the fall. Before planting, any plant should be placed in water for a couple of hours so that the roots are saturated with water.
All shrubs, except raspberries and honeysuckle, should be planted obliquely, regardless of whether you are planting a thin twig or a bush with 2-3 stems. When planting, the stems are buried in the soil so that the 3 lower buds are in the ground. Only 3 buds are also left above the surface. The rest of the upper part of the bush is cut off with pruning shears.
Why is this being done? So that the bush does not begin to age prematurely when the leaves begin to open in the spring due to the nutritious juices in the stems. The root system, damaged during transplantation, will not yet have time to take root well and begin to fully supply the above-ground part with soil solution. Since the owner of each stem is its apical bud, which absorbs all the nutrients, then with a weak root system, there is only enough nutrition for this apical bud. Short, overgrown fruit branches do not form on the branch; it becomes bare, its leaves are located only at the ends. That is, the bush ages immediately, in the first year of planting, which is why pruning is required when planting the bush in order to reduce the above-ground part and remove the apical bud.
In addition, it is very important that several shoots immediately come out of the ground. These additional shoots will develop from the buds buried in the soil. If the bush is planted vertically, then for a long time it will have exactly as many shoots as you planted, even if it is buried when planting in the soil. Such a vertically planted bush will not produce large yields for the first few years.
When new branches begin to grow next year from an obliquely planted bush, you will see two side branches growing on each planted stem. As soon as the growth bud at the end of each branch is removed, new side shoots begin to develop from the two buds closest to it, located on the branch below the pruning site. Therefore, in the fall, you will again shorten all the side branches that have grown over the summer, leaving only three buds on each. The same procedure will have to be repeated again. Now you have completely completed the formation of the bush, and instead of 1-3 planted stems, you have a bush with a large number of branches on each shoot coming from the ground.
What to do if the bush is planted incorrectly?
If the bush is young, then you need to insert the shovel deeply on the south side of the bush, lift the bush, tilting the top to the north, pour soil into the resulting cavity and cover the lower part of the stems with soil. It is better to do this in early spring. Shorten all branches by one third of their length.
If the bush is old, then all the lower branches should be pinned to the soil, after making grooves on the bark of the stems with cloves for faster rooting. You can water it with Kornevin. To prevent the rooting site from drying out, add moist soil on top and cover the area with film so that the wind does not blow it away. Stones should not be placed.
There is a special way of planting bushes in standard form, when the bush is specially formed in the form of a tree. Then it is planted vertically, removing all shoots except one. It is shortened immediately upon planting, leaving 3-4 buds above the ground. Then next spring, all branches are shortened again by one third of the length, and the shortening pruning is repeated again next spring.
After 3-4 years, the branches are rejuvenated by cutting out the obsolete ones to the main vertical trunk. Emerging “tops” (vertically growing young shoots from the leaf axils) are shortened by one third. Such a tree will bear fruit for 5-6 years. then it becomes obsolete and the harvest declines. The berry yield on the standard form of the plant is always much lower than on the bush form.
If the root system of the seedling is rather weak, then it is a good idea to water the bush after planting with the Kornevin solution, which speeds up the process of formation of new roots.
The key to success is not only in proper planting, but also in well-prepared soil. Black currants have a shallow root system, so they do not need deep planting holes. It is best to plant currants in one row along the border of the site. Firstly, it will be convenient to care for it, and secondly, it will protect you from the neighbors’ eyes. When planting this way, you do not dig separate planting holes, but dig a continuous trench if you are planting several bushes at once.
If your site is flooded with water, then it is better to place the currant bushes on a continuous ridge, rising above the soil level by about 15-20 cm. It is better to remove the turf removed from the soil or use it to protect the trenches, spreading it along the edges with the turf down. First you need to remove all the roots and rhizomes of perennial weeds from it.
We fill a dug trench with a depth of only 20-25 cm with well-rotted compost or rotted manure. Black currant prefers slightly acidic soils, pH 5.1 -5.5, although it tolerates even acidic soil. If your soil is acidic, and even more so, strongly acidic, then you should add a deoxidizer to the planting hole, which will work in the soil for a long time. Fluff lime is not suitable for this: it dissolves in water all at once and is immediately washed away by rain from the top layer of soil to the bottom. It is better to use dolomite or chalk, gypsum, old cement, old or dry plaster. You can use eggshells, which should be ground first.
If you use ash, you should know that the calcium it contains is also quickly washed out with water and you will have to add ash annually. Deoxidizing materials should be applied according to your soil. How to determine what kind of soil you have and how much and what kind of deoxidizing material should be added to it, I have already written in detail in the book on agricultural technology “As you plant, so you eat.”
Black currant belongs to the group of phosphorus-loving plants. Its total removal from the soil with the harvest of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium from each square meter per season (agronorm) is only 27 g. So it can be classified as an economical plant. The balance (the ratio between these elements in%) is 41: 22: 37. In most plants belonging to the other two groups (nitrogen-loving and potassium-loving), phosphorus consumption does not exceed 15-16% in balance, and in currants this figure is 22%. Therefore, when planting, phosphorus fertilizer should be added to the planting hole. 2 tbsp is enough. spoons of double granulated superphosphate will forge. When planting, it is recommended to add an additional 1 tbsp. a spoonful of urea and potassium, which does not contain chlorine.
For the North-West, such a recommendation is not suitable. Potassium and nitrogen, which easily dissolve in water, are washed out of the soil into the lower layers by rain during autumn planting. By spring, these fertilizers will be inaccessible to currant roots. In winter, plant roots do not absorb anything from the soil; they go on a long winter vacation. Therefore, when planting in autumn, only phosphorus should be added. Nitrogen and half the dose of potassium should be added in the spring after spring frosts have passed.
Sometimes it is advised to cover the bushes with earth after planting, especially after late planting. This can be done under the indispensable condition that in early spring, as soon as the weather permits, you unplant the planted bushes. The fact is that currants begin to grow in early spring and young roots will immediately sprout in the hilled part, since it will warm up faster with the soil than the one located in the zone of the main roots. In this case, the growth of the main part of the roots will be delayed. And since this soil quickly dries out, the roots will dry out or freeze out next winter. The currant will lose part of the new root system, which is undesirable for a young plant.
Top dressing
Blackcurrant needs fertilizing at the moment of intensive growth of the ovaries. At this time, all plants mainly need microelements. In addition, all plants, including black currants, should be fed immediately after fruiting, since at this moment they lay down next year’s harvest. Therefore, as soon as the ovaries begin to grow, the bushes must be sprayed with a solution of microelements. Uniflor-micro is best suited for this (2 teaspoons per 10 liters of water). Immediately after fruiting, you should feed the bushes with phosphorus and the second half of the dose of potassium (for each blackcurrant bush you need to add 1 tablespoon of double granulated superphosphate and chlorine-free potassium per 1 liter of water). Fertilizers are added to irrigation if the weather is dry. But if it rains, it is better to scatter the fertilizers dry on the damp soil, and then lightly loosen them into the ground.
What to do if there are no fertilizers, no lime or dolomite? Don’t be upset at all and add a half-liter jar of ash under each bush in the spring, but not in the center of the bush, but along the perimeter of the crown and even 20-25 cm further, because that’s where the bulk of the sucking black currant roots are located. Repeat this feeding in mid-August. And in late autumn (in the North-West at the end of October) add a bucket of rotted compost around the perimeter of the crown of each bush.
Do I need to feed blackcurrants planted with AVA fertilizer? No, because the fertilizer contains everything necessary for the growth and development of the plant, including microelements. The fertilizer does not contain nitrogen, but it is not required, since nitrogen-fixing bacteria living in the top layer of soil sufficiently supply plants with nitrogen. Nitrogen fixers develop especially rapidly in soils when AVA fertilizer is added to them. In addition, black currants do not need large doses of nitrogen.
The next application of this fertilizer will be required only after three years. Then, using the corner of the weed weed, you will make a circular groove around the bush along the perimeter of the crown, 5-6 cm deep, and evenly pour 1 - 1.5 tbsp into the groove. spoons of fertilizer, then work it into the soil. In the next three years, no additional fertilizing with mineral fertilizers will be required. AVA only works in the soil, so the fertilizer should not be spread over the surface. For the North-West, it is especially valuable because it does not dissolve in water and, therefore, is not washed out into the lower layers. The fertilizer slowly melts like candy, gradually releasing everything it contains into the soil solution. In this case, the release of elements occurs only until the soil temperature drops below 8 degrees Celsius, that is, while the roots of the plants are working. In winter, when perennials are dormant and do not take anything from the soil, AVA is not consumed or wasted in vain, as happens with conventional mineral fertilizers.
Planting on Aquadon or hydrogel makes it possible to water the bushes once every two to three weeks for two years, which significantly facilitates work on the site. After two years, the polymer chips that make up “Aquadon” and “Hydrogel” decompose in the soil into carbon dioxide and water.
Reproduction
Black currants are propagated by seeds, last year's cuttings (woody cuttings), green cuttings that grew this year, and layering. You can, of course, divide the bush, but this is the surest way to destroy a good bush.
Seeds should be sown immediately after picking the berries so that the area is not clogged with weeds. In the fall of next year, young seedlings can already be planted in a school until they bloom and produce berries. Then it is necessary to select according to the taste and size of the berries. Splitting occurs in the offspring, so you can get something completely different from what you sowed.
Last year's cuttings are taken in early May from the ends of branches, that is, from last year's growths. They should be as thick and as long as a pencil. The lower end is cut off obliquely, and the upper end is cut straight. Remove all leaves. They are planted obliquely in a specially prepared cuttings, with the three lower buds buried in the sand. Then all the cuttings are covered with a film stretched over the arcs. The main thing is that the cuttings should not be located in the sun and there should be constantly moist air and soil. To do this, the sand is watered every evening and the cuttings are sprayed with water. As soon as new leaves appear, the cuttings have taken root and the film can be removed. In the fall they can already be transplanted into place. With this method of reproduction, all parental properties are, of course, preserved.
Green cuttings are taken from the current year's growths at the end of July and planted in the cuttings in the same way. But after the film is removed, the cuttings are not replanted, but are left to grow until next autumn in the same place. Typically, plants grown from cuttings bloom in the second year.
How to make cuttings? Choose a suitable place in the shade or partial shade. Dig up, selecting the roots and rhizomes of perennial weeds. Add well-rotted compost or manure. Water generously. Pour washed sand about 10-12 cm high on top. We will stick the cuttings into this sand.
You can bend one of the lower branches and pin it to the soil, after making a few scratches on the bark. You should not press the branch with stones, you need to make wooden slingshots. The digging area should be kept in moist soil at all times. Therefore, you need to sprinkle it with moist soil on top and cover it with film so that it does not dry out. The upper part of the buried branch is not cut off. The next year, the rooted branch is separated from the mother bush and replanted in place. The cuttings bloom in the same year.
Care
First of all, watering is necessary - at least 2-3 buckets per bush per week in the absence of rain. I remind you that all plants should be watered in the evening so that moisture has time to penetrate into the root zone overnight. If you water the plants in the morning and, especially, during the day, the moisture will evaporate from the surface of the earth without having time to be absorbed into the soil. This type of watering can only be recommended as exercise. In addition, you should not pour water into the center of the bush. Firstly, there are no sucking roots, and secondly, gaps form in the soil around the stems, through which water will penetrate in the fall and then freeze in frosts, which will have a bad effect on the well-being of the plant. Watering should be done around the perimeter of the crown.
Firstly, immediately when planting the bush, add 1 glass of Aquadon, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of granular AVA fertilizer and 1 cup of ash. Then water well, but do not wash it all away with water. Plant the bush obliquely, as mentioned above, and carefully, slowly, water it again. “Aquadon” makes it possible not to think about watering for three weeks, and AVA fertilizer is generally applied once every three years, so about fertilizing, including microelements.
The soil under the bushes is not mulched and organic matter is not added to them in the fall. Why? Yes, because they don’t pull out the weeds, but cut them off with a Fokin flat cutter, burying it about 2 cm into the soil. The cut weeds are left right there, under the bushes and around them, just raked them a little from the center of the bush to its periphery.
For this work, you can use any other suitable tool, but it must be well sharpened, since it is very difficult to shave weeds with a blunt tool, but easy with a sharp one.
What does this give? Cut weeds become a kind of mulch and protect the soil from drying out and from unnecessary watering. The cut top layer of soil replaces loosening the soil under the bushes. The weeds left under the bush, gradually rotting, provide organic fertilizer, and there is no need to apply organic matter under the bushes in the fall. In addition, there is no need to weed weeds and take them to the compost heap. Experience clearly shows that the easiest way to combat perennial weeds is by suppressing them, that is, constantly cutting off the above-ground part. They die within just one season. Weeding leads to their increased reproduction, since from each piece of weed root or rhizome remaining in the soil, new plants immediately begin to appear again.
If you don't believe me, check it out. Cut off one of the two dandelions growing nearby, burying the tool 2-3 cm into the soil, and dig up the second with a shovel and pull it out along with the root. In three weeks, look at what you have grown. You will see that in the place of the cut dandelion one plant has grown, and in the place of the dug up - a whole company. In addition, observations show that digging up the soil is generally harmful, and doubly so under bushes and trees.
Why then is it recommended to dig up tree trunk circles? Mainly to get rid of pests overwintering in the soil under the plants. Also to loosen compacted soil. Loosening retains moisture in the soil and allows you to reduce watering, so loosening is also recommended to be done several times during the summer. Regular loosening forces the roots to go deeper into the soil.
However, both loosening and digging up the soil under plantings cause undoubted harm to the sucking part of the root system of plants, especially those like black currants, whose roots are located shallow from the surface. Moreover, all this work is far from easy, but they can be avoided if you systematically (about three times per season) cut off the weeds growing under and around all plantings. This also requires labor, but the amount is much less than the work that is usually recommended to be done on the site. If you look under the cut weeds after a couple of weeks, you will see a large number of earthworms that have come to feed on the decaying remains of the plants and their roots. You will undoubtedly notice that the soil under the cut weeds is loose and moist. This approach significantly simplifies work on the site.
Blackcurrant pruning
It is better to do all pruning in spring or at the very beginning of summer, but not in August or early September, because with early autumn pruning the ends of the branches will go into
growth of young shoots that will die in winter. When pruning in late autumn, in November, frostbite in the wood may occur through the wounds. In both cases, the ends of the branches will have to be cut off again next spring. Why do double work? But you can do pruning in October.
If the branches grow inside the bush, then they only thicken the bush, but do not bear fruit, therefore, they should be cut out. If the branches intersect, then one of them should also be cut. If the basal shoots do not grow, then you need to make a strong pruning of several branches, shortening them by about a third of the length. If such shortening pruning does not help, you should upset the balance between the above-ground part and the roots by cutting out one or two weak branches all the way to the ground. The roots will be more powerful than the above-ground part, and in order to restore balance, they will immediately push a new root shoot out of the soil.
An adult blackcurrant bush (5-6 years old) should have approximately 12-15 shoots of different ages. How to achieve this? Regular (annual) cutting out old stems. As soon as you cut the old stem to the base, without leaving a stump, a new root shoot appears from the soil, which must be shortened next spring, leaving only three or four buds above the ground. If too many root shoots appear, then no more than two should be left annually, the rest should be removed.
The main indicator for pruning is the current year's growth. If it is weak and small (about 10 cm), then you need to go down the branch to the place where there are many fruits growing or a strong top is growing (it always appears if things are not going well in the upper part of the branch), and cut off the upper part of the branch until this place. Black currants bear fruit mainly on last year's growth. They are clearly visible - they are lighter than the rest of the branches.
How to distinguish an old stem from a young one? First, it has old gray bark. Secondly, there are practically no berries on the old shoot. This is clearly visible in the spring, since there are no flower clusters on the old shoots. Rings are visible on the branches - indicators of the number of years. Branches older than 5-6 years must be removed annually, otherwise yields will fall.
How to rejuvenate an old bush? If the bush is more than 20-25 years old, then it must be uprooted and burned; no amount of rejuvenation will help. If the bush is about 15-17 years old, then first you need to cut out about a third of the stems, right down to the base. Of the replacement shoots that appear, the three strongest should be left and the rest should be cut out. Then the next year you need to cut out another third of the old branches and again leave no more than three new replacement shoots. And only in the third year remove all the remaining old stems. It is not advisable to cut off the entire bush at once, although it is possible.
If frail root shoots grow in the center of the bush, then they must be cut out immediately, without leaving stumps. Weak, thin branches must also be removed, cutting them to the point of attachment to a thicker branch. Now you should carefully look at this branch, or more precisely, at its upper part. If the upper part of the stem has few fruitlets (small fruiting branches located throughout the stem), then it must also be cut off.
The berries become smaller, therefore, the bush ages if new root shoots (zero-order shoots) do not appear from the ground. Their appearance is caused by severe pruning. After any pruning, all cut parts must be burned immediately.
Pests and diseases
Typical diseases
The most terrible disease is an incurable viral disease - terry disease. It is easy to identify during flowering. Typically, black currant flowers have white rounded petals, but in bushes that are sick with doubleness, the flowers are deformed and the petals resemble narrow squid tentacles stretched forward, dirty pink in color. The ovary formed from them is torn apart. You should not just cut out a branch with such flowers - you must immediately uproot the entire bush and burn it. Black currants cannot be planted in this place for 4-5 years. If you leave a diseased bush, there is a high probability of destroying the entire plantation, since the disease is carried by insects with their saliva from one plant to another.
Another widespread disease is American powdery mildew (spheroteca). It appears primarily on young leaves that grow in mid-summer (in the North-West in July), in the form of a white coating. Then it spreads to berries and old leaves, which darken, curl and die. This is a fungal disease. The fungal spores overwinter on the affected parts of the bushes. The easiest way to combat any disease is good care. Mainly weakened plants are affected.
In the spring, on young leaves, and then two weeks later on young ovaries, the bushes can be sprayed with one of the chemical preparations: “Vectra”, “Topaz”, “Colloidal sulfur”, which are diluted according to the instructions, or a 0.1% solution of copper sulfate , or Bordeaux mixture, or copper oxychloride (1 teaspoon per 5-7 liters of water). You can use iodine, for which one bottle of 5% iodine (10 ml) is diluted in 10 liters of water. Make a small birch broom and “spank” the bushes from top to bottom with an iodine solution. After three days, the “execution” is repeated (the iodine solution can stand for several days in a closed container), or the bushes are sprayed with a “Fitosporin” solution. As mentioned above, “Fitosporin” is not a chemical preparation and it is not absorbed by leaves and berries (they can be washed and eaten directly after spraying). Therefore, this drug, along with iodine, is preferable to others. Spraying is carried out systematically, once a month, starting in mid-May.
If you have fresh manure, especially horse manure, you can avoid diseases and pest attacks. In June, simply throw one shovel of manure into the center of the bush from above, in which bacteria develop that destroy powdery mildew pathogens. There is another harmless old-fashioned way: regularly wash the tops of the bushes with a soap-ash solution, or kefir diluted in water, or whey from yogurt. Before flowering and immediately after flowering, you can spray the bushes with a solution of drinking or soda ash (3 tablespoons of either of them per 10 liters of water). Since blackcurrant leaves are poorly wetted, for better adhesion you should add a little soap (40 g) to the solution.
The disease is promoted by introducing nitrogen under the bushes and watering the weeds with infusion (one shovel of manure in the center of the bush does not make a difference). The ends of branches affected by powdery mildew are clearly visible - they turn black. They must be cut off in early spring, since they died anyway, but at the same time they are a breeding ground for spheroteca. Since powdery mildew begins on young leaves, at the ends of the branches, as soon as the berries begin to ripen, pinch the ends of the branches (plucking out the growth bud).
In early spring, immediately after the leaves have fully blossomed, goblet rust, which usually overwinters on sedge, can migrate to black currants. It appears as raised orange warts. The spores ripen on the underside of the leaf and then disperse further. There is another similar disease - columnar rust, which overwinters on coniferous crops, mainly pine. It appears as small yellow-orange dots on the leaves. If no measures are taken, the fungal spores can spread throughout the entire leaf, and the entire leaf will turn yellow and then fall off. The control measures are the same as for glass rust.
In mid-summer, red-brown spots usually appear on blackcurrant leaves, which then merge into solid spots. The leaves, starting from the lower ones, turn brown and fall off prematurely. This is anthracnose. The fungus that causes this disease overwinters on the remains of leaves. Therefore, they should be sprayed with Fitosporin immediately after the onset of the disease and sprayed again at the end of summer. It is usually recommended to either remove the leaves or bury them in the soil under the bushes. I simply spray in late autumn, when the temperature drops to 8 degrees Celsius, the entire garden, including blackcurrant bushes, as well as the soil under the bushes and trees, with a very high concentration of urea solution (700 g per 10 liters of water). This spraying destroys pathogens of fungal and bacterial diseases, as well as all pests overwintering in the forks of branches and in fallen leaves. Spraying should be repeated in early spring, even before the sap begins to flow (in the North-West - at the end of March - beginning of April).
As mentioned above, it is very useful to spray all shrubs in the spring, on young leaves, with Zircon and Epin-extra.
Take 2 drops of each and dissolve in 1 liter of water. Spraying with Zircon should be repeated at the end of summer. "Zircon" increases the resistance of plants to any diseases, and "Epin-extra" - to any adverse weather conditions.
Sometimes, especially on old bark, small orange dots appear. This is a fungus that settles on dying wood. You just need to cut out the aging branches and burn them.
Attention! All spraying should be done in the evening, in calm weather, without wind or rain. There should be no rain for at least three hours after spraying. The widespread practice of pouring boiling water over bushes in early spring is titanic work and completely useless.
Major pests
A kidney mite, the females of which burrow into the kidneys, causing them to swell. These round, thick, large buds are clearly visible on bare branches in the fall, after the leaves fall, and in the spring, before they bloom. So collect them from the branches and be sure to burn them. This is the simplest and most effective method. If there are a lot of buds on a branch, then it should be cut out entirely and burned. If a large part of the bush is infected, then it must be cut off completely, at the root, and also burned. A new bush grown from replacement shoots in this place is usually without a bud mite. If you miss the moment when the buds on the currants open, then strays will emerge from them and move to new buds. It should be said that one kidney can contain up to 5-10 thousand tick larvae!
You can cover each bush with a film, tying it around the base of the bushes, and set fire to a sulfur bomb inside. You can spray the bush with one of the chemical absorbable anti-tick preparations: Apollo, Neoron, Danitol, Mavrik, which, of course, is extremely undesirable on a small plot of six acres. You can use one of the biological products: “Fitoverm” or “Agravertin” (“Iskra-bio”). Mites are completely unaffected by external, leaf-wetting preparations against gnawing insects: “Inta-vir”, “Kinmiks”, “Karate”, “Decis”, “Sumi-alpha”, “Fury” and the stronger “Sherpa”, “Tsimbush” " and so on. So don’t poison the world around you and yourself, which is completely in vain.
Among other pests, the blackcurrant sawfly most often attacks currants. The pest appears when large ovaries form and lays eggs on them. The larvae develop inside the growing ovaries, eating away the seeds in them. The berries ripen prematurely, they are clearly visible at this moment. We must collect them and destroy them. If this is not done, the caterpillar will gnaw through the peel, come out, descend on a cobweb to the soil and go there for the winter. Since the larva develops at the moment when there are already green berries, no pesticides can be used, but you can use “Fitoverm” or “Agravertin” if you don’t have time to collect prematurely ripened large ribbed berries.
Another common pest is the gooseberry moth. Moth pupae overwinter in the top layer of soil, right under blackcurrant or gooseberry bushes. Just before flowering, butterflies hatch from them, come to the surface and lay eggs on the flowers. The larvae bite into the ovaries and eat them, then move on to the next berries, and each of them can damage up to 6-8 gooseberries or up to 10-15 black currants. These berries. entwined with cobwebs are clearly visible, the main thing is to collect them in time. If significant damage was caused by the moth in the previous summer, then in the spring, just before flowering, the bushes can be treated with Karbofos, or the soil under the bushes can be covered with newspapers or film to prevent the butterflies from coming to the surface. But immediately after flowering begins, the shelter should be removed to release beneficial insects.
You can use the biological products “Fitoverm”, “Iskra-bio” (or “Agravertin”). Try another old-fashioned way. In late autumn, the bushes need to be hilled up or mulched with peat to a height of 8-10 cm, and in the spring, immediately after flowering, they need to be mulched.
There is another fairly common common pest of gooseberries and black currants - the gooseberry moth. An elegant, white day butterfly, with a scattering of black and yellow spots on the wings. It appears in June-July and lays eggs on the underside of the leaves. Hatching caterpillars eat leaves, mainly on gooseberries, but do not disdain the leaves of black and red currants. The caterpillars are grayish, with a yellow belly and characteristic black quadrangular spots on the back. They pupate in mid-summer in cobweb cocoons that hang on bushes. The simplest thing is to remove the cocoons and destroy them. A good method of combating moths is to spray the garden with urea in the fall. Of course, you can preventively spray currants and gooseberries with Fitoverm as soon as a noticeable butterfly appears or you find its caterpillars.
A very nasty pest of black currants is the glassberry, the breeding ground for which is the common bird cherry. Therefore, you cannot keep it on or near the site. However, it is possible to grow hybrid bird cherry trees on the site - Verginskaya and Red Chinese. The massive flight of this inconspicuous small butterfly occurs during raspberry flowering. At this moment, protective measures should be taken. To do this, it is enough to spray the blackcurrant bushes with any decoction or infusion with a strong odor, for example, pine needles, tansy, onion peels, wormwood, tomato stepsons. You can place tomato shoots among the blackcurrant bushes or put pine branches. (They can be stored until this time in the shade on the north side of the house after you have removed them from roses, clematis and other cover crops.)
A foreign smell, mixed with the familiar smell of the host plant, the breadwinner, disorients the pest, and it flies past your bushes. The pest also loves its offspring and does not want to condemn them to starvation by laying eggs on a plant with a dubious odor. What if it’s not suitable for his beloved children? Therefore, it is better to look for a reliable provider for the offspring.
Females lay up to 60 eggs each, usually near cracks or damage to the bark of branches. The hatching caterpillar gnaws through the wood and then eats away at the core of the branch, gradually descending to the very bottom. During the first winter it usually hibernates inside the branch. In spring, a damaged branch is immediately visible because the flowers or berries on it dry out, and then the branch itself begins to wither and dry out. If you begin to gradually cut off such a branch with pruning shears, you will see the black core. Gradually cut the branch until you reach clear wood that the caterpillar has not yet reached.
Somewhere among the cut pieces it is located. All pieces of branches must be burned; if desired, the caterpillar can be found inside the cut stems. It is quite large, about 2-2.5 cm, white, with a beige head. If you cut the stem down to the ground and there was a black pith in it the entire time, then the caterpillar has already left the stem and gone outside to pupate. Spraying with Fitoverm after blackcurrant flowering helps greatly against this pest. So if you notice drying flowers or berries and find a black core on the cut of the stem, then simply spray the bush and, especially, the drying branch with Fitoverm.
The gall midge is a small mosquito, the adult larvae of which overwinter directly under the bush, in the soil. The flower gall midge emerges during the budding period, the leaf gall midge emerges at the beginning of flowering, and the shoot gall midge emerges during the mass flowering of black currants. All types of gall midges, when infested in large numbers, severely depress the bush, causing a cessation of growth and development of shoots, and then drying out of the branches. The flowers usually acquire a reddish color and fall off without producing ovaries. Before flowering, the bushes can be sprayed with Karbofos or Fufanon, and during the growing season use Fitoferm.
Shoot aphids can also attack currants. Strong chemical poisons should not be used against aphids. Aphids are sucking insects, so absorbable preparations should be used against them, and Fitoverm or Iskra-bio are best suited for this. But you can get by with simple means. Since aphids have very delicate integuments, it is enough to burn them to kill them. You can use an infusion of pine needles for this purpose or take 3 tbsp. spoons without top of urea and add potassium permanganate until bright pink and spray. Better yet, just wash all the ends of the branches, since aphids always suck the juices from the youngest leaves and shoots, and they are located at the ends. Aphids cannot be killed in one go. A flying female will fly in from somewhere and immediately lay hundreds of eggs, from which adults will grow within a week and also lay hundreds of eggs, so you need to fight aphids weekly, except in the case when Fitoverm is used. This drug is absorbed and keeps the defense against all sucking and gnawing pests for about three weeks.
Aphids have natural pests: predatory gall midges, as well as ladybugs and their larvae. As soon as there are too many aphids, ladybug larvae immediately appear. Gardeners often mistake them for pests and destroy them. The larvae are about 7-8 mm long, black or dark gray, with orange speckles on the sides. They, like ladybugs themselves, eat aphids and their eggs. These are our greatest helpers. If the bushes are sprayed with Fitoverm, then the pests that have tasted the leaves or juice stop feeding within two hours after spraying, since Fitoverm causes paralysis of the gastrointestinal tract, and after two days they die from hunger. If ladybugs or other beneficial insects or birds eat such insects, nothing will happen to them, but if we use pesticides in the garden to combat any pests, including aphids, this will certainly lead to the massive death of our helpers. Populations of pests, and especially aphids, will recover much faster than populations of beneficial insects, and especially birds. So when you try to poison your enemies, you poison your friends!
Among the pests of black currants there is a false scale insect, which sucks juices from the bark. It is clearly visible on the branches in the form of convex commas of a lighter color than the bark. If you scrape it off with a knife, don’t forget to lay a piece of film under the bush in the shape of a baby’s bib, so that you can then collect and burn the fallen scale insects. If this is not done, they will again crawl from the soil to the ends of the branches. Scale insects have a strong chitinous shell that protects them from enemies and pesticides, but it does not save them from Fitoverm. It also does not save you from spraying with a concentrated urea solution in late autumn.
Blackcurrant is quite frost-resistant. Its crown and growth buds can withstand frosts down to -40 degrees, flower buds - up to -35 degrees, but the roots can withstand only -15 degrees of frost. The buds are preserved up to 5 degrees below zero, and open flowers - up to 3 degrees. The most vulnerable are young ovaries, which can withstand only 2 degrees of frost. If, after a frosty winter, the cut wood is dark, then it died from too low a temperature and the branch should be cut gradually until it reaches healthy white wood.
Beneficial features
Black currant berries are a storehouse of vitamins, organic acids necessary for the human body, micro- and macroelements. Berries and even blackcurrant leaves have anti-inflammatory, diuretic, diaphoretic, and tonic effects. Black currant is very useful for vitamin deficiency, cough, bronchitis, renal and hepatic colic, gastritis, atherosclerosis, hypertension. It is very useful to add fresh or dry blackcurrant leaves to tea. For drying, young leaves are collected after harvest. In the spring, when pruning bushes, you need to collect the cut branches and put them in water. The leaves and flowers that bloom on them are useful to put in tea.
However, there are cautions: like all dark-colored berries, black currants thicken the blood, so older people should not rely too heavily on this berry. No wonder there is a saying that you should grow white currants for yourself, red ones for your children, and black ones for your grandchildren.
On a note
There is an elegant relative of black currant - golden currant. It got its name from the yellow flower petals. In spring, long clusters of yellow flowers look very elegant. The leaves of this currant are smaller and more rounded. This currant has no pests and is practically not affected by diseases. Everything would be just wonderful, but
only it does not have the taste or aroma of blackcurrant. Clusters of small, mediocre-tasting berries do not produce a large harvest. In addition, golden currant is a cross-pollinated plant. So if you want berries, please plant at least two bushes nearby. It is usually used as an ornamental shrub rather than a berry plant.
