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Man has been using blackcurrant for over 1000 years. In the wild in Ancient Our Country, it grew everywhere, preferring the banks of rivers. Few people know that once the Moscow River was called Smorodinovka, thanks to the thickets of this berry along the banks. Currant cultivation in Our Country began in the XNUMXth century. But most modern varieties were created not so long ago – in the second half and at the end of the twentieth century. There are already several hundred of them. Among this variety there is always a variety that meets the requirements of any gardener. It happens that consumers are unanimous in their assessment of a variety and leave excellent reviews about it. This is the opinion they have about the blackcurrant Izyumnaya. Many people like it for its unpretentiousness and high quality of berries. To understand what other advantages are inherent in the variety, we will compose its description and characteristics. Photo variety.
History of creation
Blackcurrant Izyumnaya was created by the All- Research Institute of Lupine under the leadership of Alexander Ivanovich Astakhov. To do this, he crossed the currant of the variety Dove Seedling and the form 37-5. The result of the work has been in the State Register since 2007. Currant Raisin is recommended for cultivation in the Central region, but gardeners are happy to plant it in many other places.
Blackcurrant Izyumnaya has features that are rarely seen in other varieties.
Varieties
This currant is unpretentious and easily adapts to any weather disasters: spring frosts and lack of moisture.
Appearance
The blackcurrant bush Raisin is compact, low – no higher than 1,5 m, not inclined to scatter.
Three-lobed leaves have medium-sized notches. Leaf blades are large, leathery, wrinkled, dark green in color, have a convex shape. At the base of the leaf is a deep notch. The edges of the leaf blades end with blunt teeth.
Flowers and fruits
This early variety blooms in the first decade of May.
- The brush at the currant Raisin is quite long and contains from 7 to 11 pale yellow large flowers.
- Already in early July, weighty berries ripen – up to 3,3 g of berries, which have a rounded shape and a black color without shine.
- The taste qualities of berries in the blackcurrant of the Izyumnaya variety are very high. Numerous reviews of gardeners say that this variety is dessert and has a real sweet taste. With a small amount of acids – only 1,8%, the sugar content is high and amounts to almost a tenth of the weight of the berry. There is also a lot of ascorbic acid in it: for every 100 g of pulp – 193 mg.
- A feature of this particular variety is that the ripe berries do not crumble and hang on the bush almost until autumn, while raisining. It is this ability that gave the name to the variety.
- The harvest of the blackcurrant of the Raisin variety is quite worthy – up to 2 kg per bush. But so many berries can be harvested only with good care.
The important advantages of the variety include its good resistance to such serious currant diseases as bud mites and American powdery mildew.
This variety has only one minus – it is difficult to propagate, since lignified cuttings take root poorly.
How to care
Currant Raisin is an unpretentious variety, but it also has its own care requirements that will have to be observed.
- Raisin blackcurrant should be planted in a well-lit place, it should be ventilated so that dampness does not accumulate, but a strong wind is contraindicated for currants.
- This berry shrub prefers loose and moisture-permeable soil, best of all – loam or sandy loam enriched with organic matter.
- For blackcurrant varieties Izyumnaya, the correct indicator of soil acidity is very important. It should have a neutral or close reaction to it. On acidic soil, the bushes are oppressed, the berries become smaller, and the yield decreases.
- Where they are going to plant Raisin currants, there should be no accumulation of water after the snow melts. If the groundwater is high, the roots will get wet and the currant bush will die.
Landing
You can plant bushes of blackcurrant Raisin both in autumn and in spring. Reviews of gardeners say that autumn planting is preferable. Why? Before frost, the blackcurrant bush will have time to take root, in the spring, with the beginning of the growing season, the roots will already begin to supply nutrients to the growing above-ground mass. There will be no delay in the growth and development of the plant. The period of time during which blackcurrants of the Izyumnaya variety can be planted in spring is very short, since her buds bloom early. A bush that has begun vegetation can only be planted if it is grown in a container. The most important time for spring growth will be spent establishing.
Proper planting of blackcurrant Raisin is the key to the good development of the plant and its longevity. In the currant of the Raisin variety, the bush is compact, therefore a dense planting is also possible with a distance between plants of a little more than a meter.
If there is enough organic matter, they process the entire area of future blackcurrant plantings, closing up the applied fertilizers during digging. For each square meter you need to pay:
- from 7 to 10 kg of rotted compost or humus;
- about a liter of wood ash, if it is not available – 80 g of potassium salt;
- from 80 to 100 g of superphosphate.
With a lack of organic fertilizers, food is applied directly to the pits. Their preparation is best started in the season preceding planting.
- They dig a cubic hole with a rib size of 40 cm.
- 20 cm – the thickness of the upper fertile layer. This soil is mixed with a bucket of humus or mature compost, superphosphate (200 g), wood ash (400 g) or potassium sulfate (70 g). To deoxidize the soil, you can add 200 g of ground limestone.
- Fill the hole 2/3 with soil mixture, pour half a bucket of water into it.
- A blackcurrant seedling Raisin is installed, tilting it 45 degrees and deepening the root collar by 7-10 centimeters.
On heavy soils, seedlings are buried less.
- Carefully straighten the roots, cover them with the prepared soil mixture so that there are no air bubbles in it. To do this, the seedling is slightly shaken.
- The earth is slightly compacted and half a bucket of water is poured out.
- The soil surface under the blackcurrant bush must be mulched. For this, any organic matter and even dry land is suitable. Do not neglect mulching, it will help to retain moisture in the root zone longer and improve the survival of the seedling.
- When planting in spring, currant branches are cut off, leaving 3-4 buds. This will cause new shoots to grow from the root collar.
- If planting is carried out in the fall, pruning is transferred to early spring. When planting in the autumn, the currant bush must be spudded. In the spring, excess soil is removed.
Watering
Although the Raisin currant is drought tolerant, it still needs watering. Roots can only absorb nutrients from moist soil, so the root layer should not suffer from a lack of water.
How to water blackcurrant Raisins:
- Watering should be done only in the evening. During the night, moisture is well absorbed into the soil and absorbed by the roots. With daytime watering, most of the water will go to evaporation, the plant will have very little left.
- According to experienced gardeners, for this blackcurrant variety, the best watering is from a sprayer with a small nozzle. If the weather is dry, it should be carried out at least 2 times a week, the duration of irrigation is from 1 to 2 hours. Such watering is possible only for varieties that are not threatened with powdery mildew, and Raisins are resistant to it.
- It is important not only to water the currant bushes, but also to make sure that the moisture in the root layer is retained as long as possible. For this, the best helper is mulch. In summer, there is no shortage of various waste that we get from weeding grass, mowing, cutting the stems of ornamental plants. All this can be put to work.
Feeding
In the year of planting, and with fertile soil and the next year, top dressing of currant Raisins is not needed. In the future, the bushes are fed as follows:
- in spring, plants need nitrogen, for young bushes – from 40 to 50 g of urea. After 4 years of life, they do not need more than 40 g of urea, and this amount is given in the form of double feeding with some interval;
- after flowering, top dressing is carried out in liquid form with a solution of complex mineral fertilizer, 10 liters of water are poured under each plant, in which 10 g of nitrogen and potassium fertilizers and 20 g of superphosphate are dissolved;
- top dressing is repeated during the pouring of berries;
- when the crop is already harvested, one more top dressing will be required, but without nitrogen – superphosphate in the amount of 50 g and 20 g of potassium sulfate, it can be successfully replaced with a glass of ash.
In autumn, currant bushes are covered with manure or compost – up to 6 kg for each, retreating 15 cm from the root neck. According to gardeners, Izyumnaya currants can be grown without mineral fertilizers with regular application of organic matter, ash, herbal infusions.
Currant loves starch very much and responds positively to burying potato peelings under a bush.
Formation
Why does a gardener prune currant bushes:
- To achieve the correct ratio of shoots of different ages. To do this, 2-3 strong zero shoots are left annually at an already formed bush and the same number of old ones that are 5-6 years old are cut out.
- To achieve maximum branching of the shoots, on which the harvest will be appropriate. To do this, pruning of zero branches is carried out in July, stimulating the growth of second-order branches. It is enough to shorten them by 10 cm.
In the video you can see how the spring formation of the currant bush is carried out in practice:
Reviews
Conclusion
Black currant is one of the main sources of vitamin C. You should have it in every garden. In currants, raisin undoubted benefits are combined with an excellent dessert taste. And this is doubly pleasant.