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Fertilizing currants with starch in spring is an effective way to increase crop yields and make berries sweeter. In order for fertilizer to bring maximum benefit to plants, you need to know how to properly prepare it and use it in the process of feeding.
Starch is an inexpensive and effective means for feeding berry bushes.
Is it possible to feed currants with starch
Currant loves starch – this is a fact that has long been proven and confirmed by the results of numerous observations. Due to the content of a large number of useful substances, including vitamin C, potassium and glucose, the use of the element as a fertilizer for bushes helps to strengthen plant immunity and get a good harvest of large sweet berries. That is why gardeners recommend feeding currants with potato starch in spring.
The beneficial properties of starch are due to its chemical composition.
What is useful starch for currants
Potato starch contains vitamins A, B and C, amino acids, glucose and minerals – potassium, calcium, sulfur, magnesium, iron and a number of other useful compounds in sufficient quantities for plants. All this makes the potato processing product an ideal raw material for feeding horticultural plants, including currants.
Use of starch as a fertilizer for red and black species:
- activates the growth of green mass;
- helps to increase crop yields;
- promotes an increase in the size of berries and increases their sugar content;
- prevents the appearance of barren flowers and premature fall of flower petals;
- prevents wilting on the bush and shedding of berries;
- increases the resistance of currants to fungal diseases;
- helps to survive drought and temperature changes;
- improves soil structure and saturates it with useful substances;
- increases the air permeability of the soil, which, in turn, provides oxygen access to the roots and reduces the likelihood of developing fungal diseases.
The presence of potassium helps to increase the strength of the shoots, which helps plants to easily endure strong gusts of wind in both warm and cold seasons.
In the list of advantages of starch, one can also write down the fact that it is an affordable and inexpensive means for feeding berry bushes, which can be done not only by an experienced gardener, but also by a beginner.
The product can be purchased at any grocery store.
Terms of feeding currants with potato starch
Fertilize currants with starch, the recipe for preparing fertilizer from which is not particularly difficult, gardeners recommend three times a year:
- in the spring at the beginning of the budding period for the active growth of shoots and the growth of the vegetative mass;
- at the stage of fruit formation to increase the number of ovaries;
- autumn in the process of preparing the plant for the cold season to strengthen immunity and ensure a comfortable wintering.
How to breed potato starch for watering currants
Potato starch for feeding currant bushes can be bought ready-made in the store or you can cook it yourself from potato peels.
In the case of using a purchased substance, fertilizer is done as follows:
- jelly is boiled at the rate of 250 g of starch per 3 liters of water;
- the finished product is diluted with water to obtain a total volume of 10 l;
- the resulting concentrate is once again diluted with water in a ratio of 2 liters of brewed starch to 10 liters of water.
The fertilizer is ready to use. It is recommended to pour 5-10 liters of solution under each bush.
Starch is diluted with water and brought to a boil.
Potato peel dressing
The ideal raw material for fertilizer can be ordinary potato peelings, which always remain as a result of cooking dishes from this root crop.
To make a nutritional composition out of them, you need:
- Pour cleaning with hot water so that it completely covers them, and leave for 5-6 hours until completely softened. Ideally, cover the bucket with a lid, so the water will cool longer, and the cleaning will become softer.
- When the peel is softened properly, crush it or beat it with a mixer until a homogeneous mushy substance is obtained.
The resulting product can be embedded in the soil in this form or diluted with water in a ratio of 1×5 and watered with a solution of bushes.
Considering that a sufficiently large amount of potato peel is needed for feeding, it can be harvested for a long time – dried or frozen.
There are other ways to prepare the nutrient mixture. For example, some gardeners twist the tubers together with the peel in a meat grinder, after which they dilute the resulting slurry with water and pour it under each bush.
Ordinary potato peelings will help improve the taste of currants.
How to feed currants with potato starch
Feeding currant bushes with starch is not particularly difficult. To do this, you will need a pre-prepared nutrient mixture, water for irrigation and a shovel.
blackcurrant
The method of feeding blackcurrants with starch depends on the form of the nutrient mixture used.
In the case of using an aqueous solution, the soil in the root zone of the plants is first cleaned of weeds, after which it is abundantly spilled with ordinary water (at least two buckets for each bush). When the water is completely absorbed into the soil, 5-10 liters (depending on the age of the bush) of a pre-prepared aqueous solution, that is, jelly diluted with water, are poured under each plant.
When using a mushy fertilizer, the soil, as in the previous method, is cleaned of weeds and grooves 10-15 cm deep are made around the bushes. After that, the prepared fertilizer is laid out in the grooves and covered with earth. At the end of the procedure, the soil is abundantly watered with ordinary water at room temperature.
For top dressing to be effective, at least 1 kg of a mushy agent should be placed under each bush.
Simply scattering fresh peelings on the surface of the soil in the area of u5buXNUMXbcurrant bushes will not bring any benefit. In order for the plant to absorb nutrients from such a fertilizer, they need to be buried at least XNUMX cm into the soil, and burying fresh peel is not very convenient. Moreover, naked cleanings can attract the attention of rodents, which definitely will not benefit the currant.
red currant
Starch processing of red currants in the spring is carried out according to the same principle as black dressing.
Experienced gardeners recommend combining several types of fertilizer to feed a crop whose berries are more acidic than those of a dark one. That is, first water the plants with an aqueous solution of starch, and after a few days, embed the slurry from the cleanings into the soil in the root zone.
Any kind of top dressing with starch will benefit currants
Conclusion
Fertilizing currants with starch is a good way to save on expensive fertilizers and get a crop of large sugar berries. Preparing such a mixture is quite simple and fast, so anyone can cope with the task.
Reviews on the use of starch for feeding currants
