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If there is a garden or vegetable garden on the site, currants will definitely grow there. Black, red, white, and recently even pink berries can be eaten directly from the bush and frozen. And how many jams, jams, compotes with currants the average person eats in his life! And it is very good that the berry is not only tasty, but also healthy. In order to list all the vitamins, trace elements, pectins and other useful substances contained in the currant, or the diseases that it can alleviate, a separate article will be needed.
Do you know that this berry has been growing wild near us since ancient times, but no one paid attention to it because of its sour taste and small berries? For the first time, currants were talked about as a medicinal plant. When they learned that its berries are suitable for making wine, the selection of large-fruited varieties with improved taste and large fruits began. Today, one of our favorite berries is the currant. Pruning in the fall, rejuvenation of the old bush, the scheme of which will be discussed in detail, will be the topic of our article.
Why cut currants
In order to get a good harvest, any plant needs to be properly looked after. For both black and red currants, annual pruning is part of a set of measures that ensure its health, abundant fruiting and long life.
Carefully groomed bushes grow and bear fruit in one place for up to 30 years, but if you let their development take its course, the life span will be reduced to 15, the harvest will be poor, the berries will be small. In addition, even what grows on an old uncut currant will be difficult to collect due to tangled branches. A thickened berry is a breeding ground for diseases, it is difficult to fight pests in it. Yes, and looking at untidy bushes is unpleasant.
When is it better to cut currants
Both in autumn and early spring, currant bushes can be pruned. Just before the onset of frost, gardeners have more time. The autumn thinning of the bushes begins when the temperature has dropped, the growth processes have slowed down, and the leaves, if not fallen, have already turned yellow.
In the spring, you need to have time to cut the currants before the start of sap flow, and she wakes up early, often when the snow has not yet melted. If you do not have time, the branches will “cry”, not as much as grapes, but this will not lead to an increase in yield, and it will not add health to the plant. In addition, in the spring there is a lot of other work, and pruning, which could be successfully done in the fall, is a waste of time and effort.
Types of pruning currants
Strictly speaking, all types of pruning are included in the comprehensive care of berry bushes. It is impossible to say: “Today I carry out sanitary measures, and tomorrow – formative ones.” Red and black currants most often simultaneously rejuvenate, save from diseases, give the crown the desired shape. It would just be nice to know for what purpose you cut off this or that branch. In addition, during the growing season it is often necessary to intervene in the natural development of currant bushes.
Sanitary pruning
Blackcurrant usually gives a lot of shoots, forms a spread, a highly branched bush, and often gets sick. If you do not remove weak, broken, intersecting, fungal or pest-affected twigs, then soon we will see an untidy plant with tangled shoots and a poor crop of sour small berries.
Red currants do not branch as much and give less zero-order growth, but also need sanitary pruning. Timely removed diseased branches prevent lichens and fungi from infecting the entire plant. Thickened branches are easily affected by pests.
Shrub formation
In order to get a good harvest, bushes should not grow as they should. It is necessary to form them so that the berries are well lit, ventilated – their taste and size directly depend on this. Choose a specific shape, then trim your currants accordingly.
It is often advised to give the bush the shape of an open bowl. So it will not only be well lit, but harvesting will be simplified. Usually the natural sprawling shape of a blackcurrant bush makes it easy to give it the exact shape of a bowl. The situation is somewhat different with white, pink or red varieties. Not always, but very often their crown has a compact shape, in order to cut it in the form of a bowl, you will have to work hard. Is it worth it? Follow nature, form a bush with a cone.
The desired shape of black or red currant is achieved precisely by pruning. You can even form it on a trellis, but this requires a certain skill.
Spring pruning
In the spring, it may be necessary to pick up a pruner even if you cut the currants in the fall. Repeated sanitary measures are being taken: all branches broken by bad weather and frozen branches are removed.
summer pinching
Sometimes, for one reason or another, currants produce a large number of young shoots on old branches. Most often this happens if you overdo it with fertilizers in the previous year. In order to ensure access of air and light to the berries, as well as to prevent the development of diseases, it is necessary to carefully pluck the green branches thickening the bush, without waiting for the autumn pruning.
During the growing season, you will have to regularly remove broken or diseased shoots.
Rejuvenating pruning
In fact, any pruning rejuvenates the currant, as it stimulates the formation and development of young shoots both at the base of the bush and on old branches. Here we are talking about the formation of a plant that bears fruit abundantly and on all shoots. Bushes older than five years old should be rejuvenated annually, removing all fruit-bearing branches. They only pull nutrients from the plant, thicken it, are a breeding ground for diseases and a haven for pests.
If you properly cared for currants from the moment of planting, then rejuvenating pruning will be easy to do. But if the bushes grew on their own or you purchased a plot with a running berry bush, you will have to work hard.
Do I need to pinch or shorten the tops?
This burning question interests both beginners and experienced gardeners. Let’s look at it separately for black and red currants. Here you need to know the features of each.
Blackcurrant forms berries mainly on the top of the bush. Its fruits live for 2-3 years, then die off, therefore, either young branches or a one-two-year growth of old ones are fruit-bearing. It is located not inside the bush, but on its periphery. In addition, blackcurrant branches well. By pinching or cutting off the ends of young branches, we, firstly, lose part of the crop, and secondly, we strengthen the already excellent branching of the bush. And then we heroically remove the excess shoots with sanitary or formative pruning.
Redcurrant branches less, it has little overgrowth, and the crop is evenly distributed over the bush. But is it worth it to stimulate the formation of new shoots from scratch, if there are already enough old ones? This is only appropriate if the branches do not give lateral growth, because of which the crop suffers, or the bush has grown to such a height that it is difficult to pick berries.
Naturally, all tops affected by pests are removed. Especially often they are deformed by aphids that lay eggs in young growth.
Anti-aging pruning technique
All currant bushes need rejuvenation, black – starting from the fifth year of life, red and white – from the sixth to the eighth. It consists in removing old skeletal branches. It is at this age that the shoots lose productivity and significantly reduce the yield, or, in general, stop bearing fruit.
The best time for anti-aging pruning is a fine autumn day, when the currant leaves have already flown around. You need to complete it before the onset of frost.
Prepare garden pitch and clean, sharp tools for pruning currants:
- secateurs – regular and with a ratchet mechanism;
- delimber;
- hacksaw.
The further scheme of actions will depend on what care was taken for the bushes in previous years.
Rejuvenation of well-groomed bushes
If you carried out sanitary pruning on time, left only 4-5 of the strongest zero shoots annually, and correctly formed a bush, then currant rejuvenation will present absolutely no difficulties. Even an inexperienced gardener can easily do it.
The photo clearly shows the difference between the branches of red currant of different ages.
You just need to cut off the old (five-year-old for blackcurrant and sixth – eighth year for red) branches right at the surface of the ground with a secateurs or a hacksaw, trying not to leave stumps. Most importantly, do not forget, when rejuvenating currant bushes, treat the wound surface of the shoots with garden pitch.
Rejuvenation of neglected bushes
Unfortunately, not everything is always as simple as described in the previous paragraph. Very often we neglect sanitary measures and catch ourselves only when currant rejuvenation becomes not a planned event, but a necessary measure. It simply stops fruiting or produces a meager crop of small berries.
Currant bush before and after pruning
Sometimes we bring the currant to such a state that it is simply impossible to bring it back to normal in one year. It is comforting that, once faced with the problem of rejuvenating pruning of a neglected bush, gardeners are trying to prevent such a situation from now on.
But whatever the cause of the deplorable state of the currant, the situation must be corrected. The algorithm for rejuvenating neglected bushes has been worked out for decades. Below we present a plan of action.
- Assess the general condition of the currant. If, despite a poor harvest, the bush is strong, healthy, zero shoots are powerful, then rejuvenating pruning can be done at a time. With a general depression of the plant, weak shoots or its complete absence, it may take several years to restore currants. Only bushes of reproductive age rejuvenate. Up to 30 years, currants live only with good care. Careless attitude cuts this period in half. You know the age of your plants better and you can independently determine whether it is worth saving the bush or planting new currants in the fall.
- Assess the quality and quantity of zero-order shoots.
- Mark 2-3 well-developed, well-placed old branches that you want to keep. Start removing the rest, starting with those that are easier to reach. It is here that a lopper with long handles and a powerful blade will be especially appropriate. When a neglected currant bush is rejuvenated, they don’t think about the height of the hemp. You can trim it to the desired level later. Do not forget about stumps, because if their height is more than 3 cm, tops can form – unproductive fast-growing shoots that deplete an already weakened currant bush.
- If you have selected at least a few strong branches of the zeroth order, you can cut off all the skeletal ones, except for the intended ones. In the absence of a well-developed shoot, leave 2-3 more old shoots, cutting them off to a strong side branch located in the lower part of the currant bush. If a glass case is damaged, make a cut below, or select another branch.
- Remove any diseased, broken, growing inward or lying on the ground shoots from the currant bush. In essence, you need sanitary pruning on a global scale. Just remove no more than a third of the bush, as it may not be possible to rejuvenate it in one year. Continue next fall, but you will see the first positive results in the spring.
Watch a video demonstrating a simple cropping method:
Conclusion
There is nothing difficult in currant rejuvenation, especially if it was cared for systematically. Good luck and good harvest.