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Amateur gardeners pay great attention to currants. As berry bushes we grow black, red or white varieties, and golden is often used as an ornamental plant for creating hedges. It is interesting that in Kazakhstan and the USA it is bred to produce berries on an industrial scale. Black currants are the most fragrant, while red and white, differing only in the color of the fruit, withstand cold winters better and get sick less often.
Berries contain many vitamins and microelements, they are used to prepare delicious juices, preserves, jams, compotes, marmalade. Black currant contains essential oils, its fruits, leaves, twigs of the first year of life are considered healing (red also has a whole list of medicinal properties). But in order to get a good harvest, you need to properly care for the berry. One of the most important points of maintenance is pruning currants in the fall. For beginner gardening enthusiasts, we will give simple recommendations.
currant bushes
For proper pruning of currants, you need to have an idea about the structure of its bush. It is very important to understand which branches bear fruit best, so as not to remove them with the advent of autumn and not lose the crop.
Beginning gardeners can clearly see the difference between the fruits of black and red currants, they can easily distinguish one plant from another due to the bright aroma of the leaves or its absence. But why currants should be cut in different ways, they do not always understand. Watch this video to answer this and many more questions:
Black or red currant is a shrub up to one and a half meters high, depending on the variety with a sprawling, compact or compressed crown. In some cases, the plant reaches 2,5 m, but such dimensions create difficulties in harvesting, so the selection is on the path of creating less tall cultivars.
Black currant
In one place, a blackcurrant bush grows well and bears fruit for 15-20 years, and with good care – all 30. It consists of a large number of branches of different ages. The most powerful are skeletal, they grow from buds located on an underground stem, and are called zero-order shoots.
At the base of the bush there are sleeping eyes, which do not germinate in the first years after planting the currant. Above are the buds that form lateral, mostly vegetative shoots of the second and third order. It is on them that short twigs of ringlets-fruits grow, yielding a crop of 2-3 years, and then dying off. Most of them are located in the upper part or outside the bush.
There are no berries on five-year-old shoots or there are very few of them, and the ensuing currant becomes smaller. Yielding shoots are displaced to the periphery, growing either from basal buds or from dormant buds located at the base of old skeletal branches.
Red currant
Red and black currants belong to different species, but to the same genus, which in turn belongs to the Gooseberry family. They have much in common, and the differences are mainly in the aroma of berries and leaves, as well as the life span of the branches. The difference between red and white currants is only in the color of the fruit. They require the same care, growing conditions.
Red currant forms a less sprawling bush than black currant, it is more winter-hardy, less likely to get sick. In general, this plant is not capricious, it is easy to care for it even for novice gardeners. Redcurrant fruits are collected together in several pieces and evenly distributed throughout the bush. They are more durable than black varieties, each bears fruit for 4-5 years, and on fertile soils and with good care – up to 8. Skeletal branches can grow for 6-8 seasons, only then they need to be removed.
Currant Cutting
The formation of a currant bush must begin from the moment of planting and continue throughout life. Constant care, regulation of the required number of fruit-bearing branches and replacement shoots is the most important measure for plant care. Pruning blackcurrants in autumn allows you to get a good harvest of high-quality berries. This applies equally to red or white varieties.
Pruning of a young currant
Usually we bring a two-year-old rooted seedling or young currant bush to the site and plant it in a suitable place. If it was not pruned in a nursery or mall, shorten all the branches, leaving 10-15 cm with 3-4 developed buds. This will help the plant to survive the stress of the transplant, it is better to take root.
Usually, in the first year of life on a new site, the currant gives only 2-3 normally developed basal shoots. We leave them to form skeletal branches, while the rest are cut off at ground level.
It happens that there is simply no strong growth in the first year, only a few thin twigs appeared from under the ground, which slightly stretched out and stopped growing. What to do? The answer is simple – they need ruthless pruning at the root. Nothing good will grow out of these twigs anyway, and they will draw out the reserves of nutrients and strength from the currant. If the bush is viable, then next season it will give good zero-order shoots, but if not, replace it.
annual autumn pruning
Beginning gardeners can easily cope with autumn pruning only if it is carried out annually. You need to start forming a bush when the summer is over, the temperature has dropped, the growth processes have slowed down, the foliage has fallen or dried up, but frost has not yet come. Choose a fine autumn day, as pruning is not possible in rainy weather.
Let’s look at the blackcurrant pruning process in the form of a simple algorithm.
First year
Plant a two-year-old bush or a rooted cutting, shortening it to 10-15 cm.
Second year
In the spring, several zero-order shoots appear. In autumn, choose among them 4-5 strong ones with good growth and leave to form a bush. The rest must be cut at ground level. Last year’s branches, which have already begun to form into skeletal ones, do not need to be shortened if they are not damaged by diseases or pests.
Comment! Often in the first year there is nothing to choose from, it is good if you can leave 2-3 developed zero-order shoots. This is fine.
Third year
In autumn you have a blackcurrant with several branches of the first and second years of life, as well as already numerous shoots. Leave 4-5 strong zero shoots this year. They should be well located, that is, directed not into the bush, but outward, not to cross, not to interfere with each other’s growth. The rest need pruning at the root.
Carefully inspect two- and three-year-old shoots. They have already acquired branches of the second, and possibly third order. Cut off all the young growth that goes not outside, but inside the currant bush, therefore, thickening and shading it. Even a novice gardener can do this. The cut should be made as close as possible to the skeletal branch, being careful not to damage it and not leave a stump.
The tops of young shoots do not need to be shortened, unless they are well matured and not affected by pests or diseases. To keep the currant healthy, monitor its development during the vegetative period, timely carry out preventive treatments with chemicals or folk remedies. For example, an aphid breeding ground can be easily identified by its curved tops.
Fourth year
It is no different from the third, only now there will be more work, it will be more difficult to complete it. If there is not one, but several bushes in the berry bush, by this time you will have already filled your hand a little.
Fifth year
In addition to the usual removal of excess growth and sanitary pruning, a new stage of caring for currant bushes will begin. The productivity of the branches of the fifth year has fallen, they need to be removed. This will be easy with a ratchet pruner or lopper.
In the future, a kind of cycle will take place – the old five-year-old branches are removed, and the strongest zero growth (replacement shoots) is left annually. And so every year for all 30 years of the life of a currant bush. A properly formed adult plant consists of 15-20 branches of various ages.
Pruning old bushes
If you yourself and properly looked after the berry plant from the moment of planting, then taking care of old bushes will not cause problems. But in the case when pruning was not carried out at all or was done somehow, it will be difficult even for an experienced gardener to put them in order.
Watch a video to help you complete this task, or read our article on rejuvenating old currant bushes:
What is the difference between pruning black and red currants
By and large, pruning of black and red currants is carried out according to the same principle. It is only necessary to take into account that it is undesirable to cut off the tops of the first one, since the main part of the berries is located in the upper part of the bush. Elongated shoots of red currant can be shortened as you like.
It’s easier to take care of her. The life span of the skeletal branches of the red currant is 6-8 years, the fruits are 5, and with good care, all 8. This means that they should be cut under the root no earlier than in the seventh year. In addition, red or white varieties give fewer replacement shoots, less branching than black. Therefore, cutting their bushes is easier.
Conclusion
The main thing in pruning currants is self-confidence and a firm hand. Even if something goes wrong in the first year, the next season will delight you with new growth, and you will not repeat the same mistakes.