How to grow blackcurrant

Planting of black currant

It seems that it could be easier – I dug a hole, stuck a bush, sprinkled it with earth, and in a year you can enjoy the harvest. But not everything is so simple. There are several nuances that should be considered when planting blackcurrant.

Plant under apple and pear trees. There is always not enough space in the garden, so it makes no sense to allocate a separate area for blackcurrant, as many do: it grows well under fruit trees. And the best neighbors for her are apple and pear trees. The main thing is not to plant it close to the trunks – you need to retreat a couple of meters.

Choose a flat area. Or with a slight slope of 5 – 8 ° (1). In no case should currants be planted in hollows – cold air stagnates there in the spring, which can ruin the flowers. This means there will be no harvest. In the same way, open hills are not suitable for this berry. In winter, snow is blown away from there, which protects the bushes from frost. In summer, the winds dry the soil a lot. And currants do not tolerate drought well.

Consider the height of the groundwater. They should be no closer than 1 m from the soil surface. Otherwise, the plants may die.

Remove all wheatgrass rhizomes. In the area where you plan to plant currants, you must carefully select all the rhizomes of this plant. Or treat it with herbicide. Otherwise, it can drown out young currants.

And in adult bushes, this malicious weed takes a lot of moisture, because the bulk of the roots of blackcurrant is at a depth of 10 – 40 cm (2). And with a lack of moisture, the berries become smaller, the yield decreases, and the plants themselves develop worse.

Place fertilizer in the planting hole. Pits for currants should be 45 cm deep and the same diameter. In each, you need to add 1 bucket of humus or compost, 0,5 cups of superphosphate and 2 matchboxes of potassium sulfate. If the soil is acidic, it is useful to add 1 cup of dolomite flour or lime. All fertilizers must be thoroughly mixed with the ground.

Bury the seedlings. Currants should be planted differently than other horticultural crops. For example, in apple and pear trees, it is important that the root neck (the place where the roots go into the trunk) are at ground level. But for currants, it must be deepened by 5 – 7 cm. With such a planting on the stem, which will be underground, many additional roots are formed (3). They will provide the plant with additional nutrition, and the bush will turn out to be powerful, with a large number of shoots.

Plant 3 seedlings per hole. Then the currant bush will be even more powerful and productive. Seedlings are evenly distributed around the circumference, tilting to the edge of the pit by 45 °. Deepen the root neck also by 8 – 10 cm.

The harvest from such communal bushes is 2-3 times higher than from single ones.

Water and mulch the bushes. After planting, the currants must be watered (about 0,5 buckets per bush) and mulched with humus or peat so that moisture remains in the soil longer. In this case, the seedling will take root faster, it will hurt less.

Care of the black currant

Caring for this culture is not difficult, but it should be.

Watering

In currants, the roots are close to the surface of the earth, so in hot weather, plants suffer greatly from drought. And some gardeners advise watering it almost every day. This, of course, is overkill. Moreover, the amount of watering depends on the weather.

In dry summers, currants should be watered once every 1 weeks.

In a typical summer, you can get by with 3 waterings:

• during the growth of shoots and the formation of ovaries (late May – early June);
• when pouring berries (June);
• after harvest (August-September).

Water consumption rate – 5 – 7 buckets per bush.

If the autumn is dry, you will need another, winter watering – at the end of October.

To prevent moisture from evaporating, the trunk circles must be mulched: with humus, compost, peat or ordinary grass with a layer of 5–10 cm.

In rainy summers, currants do not need watering. Currant, of course, is a moisture-loving crop; in nature, it often settles along river banks and ravines (4), but it does not like excessive stagnant moisture.

Feeding

Feed mature plants 4 times per season. In the first year after planting, currants do not need top dressing – enough of the fertilizers that were laid in the pit. But starting from the second year, follow the schedule:

• as soon as the buds open – 2 tbsp. spoons of ammonium nitrate per 10 liters of water, consumption rate – 1 bucket per bush;
• in mid-July – 1 liter of mullein infusion per 10 liters of water or bird droppings infusion – 0,5 liters per 10 liters of water, consumption rate – 2 – 3 buckets per bush;
• in late September – early October – 0,5 cups of superphosphate and 2/3 cups of potassium sulfate per bush (fertilizers should be scattered around the bush and watered);
• at the end of October – 0,5 buckets of rotted manure under a bush.

In addition, foliar top dressing will be useful for currants:

• during flowering – dissolve 0,5 teaspoon of boric acid and 1 teaspoon of manganese sulfate in 10 liters of water (it must be heated to 40 ° C) and sprinkle the bushes – after such treatment, the growth of shoots increases by 3 times, and the yield from the bush – 6 kg;
• during the formation of ovaries – 3 tbsp. Dissolve tablespoons of urea and 1 glass of superphosphate in 10 liters of water, sprinkle the bushes – this dressing will make the shoots powerful, the leaves will be large, and the berries will be more tasty and fragrant.

Foliar top dressing can be done only in cloudy weather or in the evening. Then the solution stays longer on the leaves, does not dry out and is completely absorbed by the plants.

And when spraying, try to get the solution on the underside of the leaves – nutrients are absorbed better from the inside.

Pruning of black currant

The fruiting scheme of blackcurrant is quite simple. Every year, several new shoots grow from the ground. In the second year they give lateral branches. This is where the berries ripen. That is, the main crop is given by biennial shoots. Slightly less – three years. And in the fourth year there are very few berries on them.

Therefore, the pruning scheme should be like this:

• for 2 years after planting, 3-4 of the strongest annual shoots should be left in the bush and cut off their tops (so that they branch better next year), and cut the rest of the shoots;
• for the 3rd year, you need to choose another 3 – 4 strong shoots, also cut off the tops of them, cut out the excess growth again;
• for the 4th year, everything is the same: leave 3-4 shoots, cut off the tops, cut out other annuals, and you also need to cut out those 3-4 shoots that were left in the 2nd year.

Well, then you need to repeat everything that was done in 4 years.

Thus, in each currant bush at the same time there should be 9 – 12 shoots aged from 1 to 3 years. Only in this case, the yields will be large, and the berries will be large.

Popular questions and answers

We talked about growing blackcurrant with agronomist-breeder Svetlana Mikhailova.

Sources of

1. A team of authors, ed. Andreeva P. Fruit and berry garden and vineyard // Saratov, Saratov book publishing house, 1955 – 472 p.
2. Fisenko A.N., Serpukhovitina K.A., Stolyarov A.I. Garden. Handbook // Rostov-on-Don, Rostov University Press, 1994 – 416 p.
3. Kamshilov A. and a group of authors. Gardener’s Handbook // M .: State Publishing House of Agricultural Literature, 1955 – 606 p.
4. Lavrik P.I., Rybitsky N.A., Gavrilov I.S. Gardener’s desk book // L.: Lenizdat, 1972 – 568 p.