Planting and caring for blackcurrant

Planting of black currant

In order for currants to give good yields for many years, it is important to initially choose a good place for it and plant it correctly.

Place

A convenient option is to plant currants along the fence. Many summer residents do this, but do not take into account one nuance – they plant it almost close to the fence. And after a couple of years they realize that it is almost impossible to harvest: half of the branches climbed to the neighbors, and you can only approach the plants from one side. Keep your distance – bushes should be planted no closer than 1 m from the fence. Better yet, step back 1,5 m.

Another option is to plant currants between apple and pear trees. Under their shade, it grows beautifully. But only if the bushes are located 2 m from the tree trunks.

Before planting currants, you need to consider 2 more points.

First, the site must be flat or slightly sloping. It is impossible to plant currants in hollows: cold air stagnates there in spring, which can destroy flowers (1). This means there will be no harvest. Not suitable for this berry and open hills. 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.

Secondly, groundwater should not be closer than 1 m from the soil surface. Otherwise, the plants will die.

Rules of landing

In the area where you plan to plant currants, you must carefully select all the rhizomes of wheatgrass. Or treat it with herbicide. Otherwise, it can drown out young plants. And in adult bushes, this weed takes a lot of moisture, the currant berries become smaller, the yield decreases, and the plants themselves develop worse.

Pits for currants should be 45 cm deep and the same diameter. In each, 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. Mix all fertilizers thoroughly with the ground.

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) is at the level of the soil. But in currants, the root neck must be deepened! Already by 8 – 10 cm! With such a landing on the stem, which will be underground, many additional roots are formed. They will provide the plant with additional nutrition, and the bush will turn out to be powerful, with a large number of shoots.

Before landing in the center of the pit, a mound must be poured. Put a bush on it. Spread the roots along the slopes of the mound, then fill the hole with earth with fertilizers, constantly tamping it. After that, the currants should be watered (about 0,5 buckets per bush) and mulched with humus or peat.

Care of the black currant

In order for the currant to give a bountiful harvest, it needs to provide only 2 pleasures in life – to feed and drink. But here it is important to follow the regime.

Watering

In currants, the roots are close to the surface of the earth, so in hot weather, plants suffer from drought. In general, blackcurrant is the most moisture-loving among berry crops (2). Apparently, therefore, some gardeners advise watering it almost every day. This, of course, is overkill. In rainy summers, currants do not need watering at all. And in a dry summer, 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).
• The rate of water consumption is 5 – 7 buckets per bush.

So that the moisture does not evaporate, the trunk circles must be mulched – with humus, compost, peat, and even ordinary grass with a layer of at least 4 cm (3), but better – 5 – 10 cm.

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

Feeding

Currants should be fertilized 4 times during the season:

• 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 1 bush, fertilizers should be scattered around the bush and watered;
• at the end of October – 0,5 buckets of rotted manure under a bush.

To make the harvest higher and the berries tastier, it is useful to give currants several foliar top dressings:

• 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”.

Trimming

The scheme of fruiting 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, 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 the 4th year.

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 asked questions about growing blackcurrant agronomist-breeder Svetlana Mikhailova.

Sources of

1. Emelyanov F.A., Kruglova A.P., Kulikov V.A., Sazhin N.S., Gryazev N.D., Kinkovskaya N.I., Berkut O.D., Molchanov A.I., Khramov P .BUT. Fruit and berry garden and vineyard // Saratov, Saratov book publishing house, 1955 – 472 p.
2. Egorov V.I., Nazaryan E.A. Handbook of gardening // M.: Profizdat Publishing House, 1957 – 264 p.
3. Kamshilov A. and a group of authors. Gardener’s Handbook // M .: State Publishing House of Agricultural Literature, 1955 – 606 p.