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It is hard to imagine a garden without blackcurrants. This tasty berry is consumed raw, used for various confectionery products, harvested for the winter.
At the moment, there are about 200 varieties of blackcurrant of different ripening periods, unequal in resistance to diseases, requiring different care. But for consumers of home-grown berries, perhaps the most important thing is their taste and benefits. In the blackcurrant variety Belarusian sweet, these two qualities are happily combined.
The benefits of blackcurrant berries
The average sugar content in 100 g of this berry is 7,3 g. It is not constant and varies depending on the variety. The record holders have a sugar content of more than 10 g per 100 g of product. Despite the name, according to this indicator, Belarusian sweet blackcurrant is in the middle and does not reach the leaders in terms of sweetness. But its benefits are no less.
- The amount of vitamin C is much higher than that of the vast majority of fruits and berries. Moreover, it is present not only in berries, but also in all parts of the plant: buds, leaves and twigs. In Belarusian sweet currant, the content of ascorbic acid reaches 239 mg for every 100 g of berries, which is a very good indicator, in many other varieties it is much lower.
It is enough to eat only 20 delicious berries to get the daily requirement of vitamin C.
- There are other vitamins in the currant of this variety, but their amount is small.
- She has a very good content of pectin – almost one and a half percent. Their role in the human body is difficult to overestimate. By cleansing the intestines, they strengthen the human immune system, free the body from all harmful substances.
- A large amount of anthocyanins, giving a dark color to the berries, allows us to consider them an excellent preventive and therapeutic agent for viral diseases. Anthocyanins improve human vision, are oncoprotectors.
- Tannins, which cause a peculiar spicy taste of berries, help to improve the functioning of an upset intestine.
- Essential oils, which are so abundant in various parts of the plant, give them a unique aroma and have pronounced anti-inflammatory properties. The phytoncides contained in them also work.
Polls and reviews of gardeners indicate that Belarusian sweet is one of the most common cultivated blackcurrant varieties. To understand why he is preferred, consider the varietal characteristics and draw up a detailed description, a photo of the variety is given below.
How the variety was created
When a scientist from the Belarusian Institute of Fruit Growing A.G. Voluznev created this variety of currant, he crossed the 2D and 4D forms, in which the European and Siberian subspecies were combined, with a selected Far Eastern seedling. The genes of natural species gave the Belarusian sweet endurance and frost resistance. Even during flowering, slight frosts do not harm her.
Shortly after its creation, the Belarusian sweet was included in the State Register of the Republic of Belarus, and it entered the State Register of Our Country in 1979. This berry shrub is suitable for cultivation in almost all regions, with the exception of West Siberian.
Variety Features
The ripening period of the Belarusian sweet currant is medium. The yield of the berry bush is very high, about 5 kg of selected berries can be harvested from it.
Looks like
- The bush of this currant is high, the branches spread out medium.
- Young shoots are pubescent, do not have shine, they are painted pink-violet at the top, and adults are gray and strongly pubescent.
- The kidneys are medium in size, have an elongated shape, end with a sharp tip, greenish in color with a pinkish-gray tint. The middle part of the kidney deviates slightly from the shoot.
- The leaves of this blackcurrant are medium in size, have 5 lobes, the leaf color is light green.
- Strongly wrinkled leaf blades have a horizontal arrangement and small sharp teeth.
- The long petiole is colored green in summer, and in autumn it becomes red-violet upwards.
Generative organs
In the Belarusian sweet currant variety, self-fertility approaches 72%, which ensures good pollination and berry set, and, therefore, a significant harvest.
- Hanging brushes up to 7 cm long consist of flowers that have a yellowish-green color and pink strokes. Possible cluster fruiting.
- The berries of the Belarusian sweet are from medium to large. Their weight ranges from 1 to 1,5 g, since they are not one-dimensional.
- The crop does not ripen at the same time, the berries hang on the bush for a long time, crumble over time.
- Their taste is very good, it is estimated at 4,6 points.
- The use of berries is universal.
The description and characteristics of the variety must be supplemented with information that the Belarusian sweet, like many other varieties of black currant, is affected by fungal diseases: leaf spot, powdery mildew, but to an average degree. It is relatively resistant to bud mites.
What other advantages can be noted in the Belarusian sweet:
- begins to bear fruit very early, berries give already two-year-old seedlings;
- does not suffer from periodic fruiting;
- round oval-shaped berries are distinguished by good consumer qualities;
- bushes age slowly, giving the largest harvest for 5-6 years and not losing productivity up to 12 years.
Currant farming
In order for the harvest of berries to please with size and quality, care for Belarusian sweet currants must be carried out in accordance with all the rules.
How and where to plant
The further successful life of the planted bush depends on the choice of the right place for planting.
What are the requirements for the place and soil of the Belarusian sweet currant:
- It is better if the planting area is illuminated all day, but partial shading is quite possible, this variety does not reduce yield in such conditions.
- The site is chosen well supplied with moisture, but without stagnant water in the spring, groundwater should be low.
- It is advisable to protect the planting from strong winds.
- Currant prefers neutral or close to it soil; when planted in acidic soil, it feels very bad. Such soils need to be limed.
- A good harvest can be obtained on loam or sandy loam with a high content of humus, other soils will have to be improved.
Planting young bushes is best done in autumn, but so that they have time to take root before frost.
Since the Belarusian sweet blackcurrant variety has a high growth force, it is better to keep the distance between the bushes at 1,5 m. In this case, each plant will get the necessary nutritional area, and it will be convenient to take care of them.
Large pits for currants are not needed – its root system is superficial, a deepening of 40 by 40 cm is enough. The topsoil is mixed with a bucket of humus, adding superphosphate – 100-200 g and a half liter jar of wood ash to it. A bush is planted, deepening the root neck by about 10 cm.
The bush needs to be watered, spending a bucket of water. The shoots are cut to a height of about 10 cm above the ground, leaving up to 4 strong buds on them. The area around the bush is mulched with organic material.
For more information about planting blackcurrant, see the video:
Care
It consists of watering, especially necessary during the formation and filling of berries, top dressing: during flowering – with nitrogen fertilizers, during the filling of berries – complex, and after harvesting with phosphorus and potash. Currants respond well to foliar fertilizing with mineral fertilizers with microelements and to the introduction of organic matter.
The soil under the bushes must be kept clean, if it is mulched, the mulch must be updated over time.
Without updating and thinning the currant bush, good yields cannot be obtained. Therefore, pruning and pinching shoots is a mandatory operation. We have already carried out the first pruning when planting a bush. The second occurs a year later, you need to leave up to 4 of the strongest shoots. In the third and fourth years of life, 3 to 6 of the strongest zero shoots are left. An important operation is the shortening of branches for better branching. It is carried out after harvesting, cutting them by about a third. Starting from the sixth year of life, it is necessary to carry out a gradual replacement of old shoots with zero ones. Since the currant of the Belarusian sweet variety is quite durable, and it is 6-year-old shoots that give the largest harvest, it starts such a replacement later by about 2-3 years, depending on the condition of the bush.
Due to the average resistance to fungal diseases, the Belarusian sweet currant needs preventive treatments from them. Even before flowering, the bushes are treated with copper-containing fungicides, following the instructions. In wet years, treatments will have to be repeated.
Reviews
Conclusion
If you want to collect delicious vitamin berries for a long time and in considerable quantities, without updating the bush, plant the Belarusian sweet. The time-tested variety will not let you down, and will provide an excellent harvest every year.