Currant - growing in a summer cottage, subtleties and nuances

Currant is the favorite of every summer resident and gardener. Produces great fruit with proper care. The method of growing currants is quite simple, if you follow certain rules, take into account some subtleties and nuances. Our most favorite varieties of currants, namely red and black, have about the same growing rules.

Currant berries have a whole range of useful vitamins, macro- and microelements. The need for berries per person in our area is equal to four kilograms.

Currants are a great source of inspiration for the hostess. On its basis, jams, preserves, compotes and juices are prepared. She is an excellent assistant to home winemakers. Currants are also used in medical practice, as well as in the pharmaceutical and food industries. It is interesting that currant has a useful property not only the fruits themselves, but also the leaves. They are used in tea, decoctions and tinctures are made on their basis.

Features of growing currants

Currants are one of the most common and useful berries that grow in our summer cottages. Previously, currants were exclusively forest berries, but now everything has changed. It was domesticated, adapted to grow in our regions. Breeders have bred many types of currants, which differ from each other not only in the type and size of berries, but also in the requirements for growing.

Growing currants - despite the huge difference in the varieties of currants, there are certain rules that will help grow currants in our summer cottages.

- The correct algorithm for planting currants - depending on the variety and size of the shrub. And you also need to know the rules of planting, fertilization, soil preparation for planting currants, the rule of a bush garter.

- How to properly feed with fertilizers, which fertilizers to choose. Depending on the purpose, or rather, on the type and quantity of the crop, the correct feeding regime should be observed. If you neglect the fertilization of currants, you may not even wait for a good harvest. Only by correctly applying fertilizers, you can count on a bountiful harvest.

- Prevention of diseases and protection from enemies. It is worth saying that currants are a rather vulnerable dacha culture. To avoid diseases and prevent crop damage, you must always be on the lookout. The basic law is to do everything on time. Prevention is the key to success. If your plant is still attacked by insects or bacteria, you need to immediately start treatment. If the pest has just attacked, the main thing is not to waste a minute, you can still save the berries.

- Proper watering of the plant.

- Timely pruning.

Only a competent attitude to culture can guarantee that you will get an excellent harvest, and at the same time, your currant bush will delight you for more than one year at your summer cottage.

The currant is a fairly independent and self-sufficient plant that does not require the location of a number of pollinating plants. She is self-pollinating.

It can be planted along fences and fences, thus creating the effect of a hedge. They usually retreat no more than one and a half meters and start landing.

The plant needs good lighting.If you place your bush in the shade, it can become highly vulnerable to the harmful effects of pathogens and earth parasites.

Growing currants from cuttings planting in the ground

Currant is a shrub that can perfectly propagate by cuttings. But, if you want a good harvest as soon as possible, then the cultivation of currants is tedious to start with planting seedlings that have already acquired a root system. If you decide to stop planting seedlings, see that they have normal shoots and developed roots.

The soil

The most optimal time for planting shrubs is autumn. To begin with, you need to carefully consider the choice of a landing site. Growing currants is assumed only in well-lit and dry conditions. Waterlogged, humid and acidic soils will not work. But, if you have waterlogged soil everywhere in your summer cottage, you can go to the trick. Manure must be added to the prepared hole. If the soil is acidic, it can be neutralized with lime, ash. Although currant does not belong to picky plants, it does not tolerate an acidic environment.

Landing

To plant a seedling, you need to form a hole, with a total size of 50 cm * 50 cm. The depth of the hole should also reach 50 cm. At the bottom of the hole, you need to pour the soil, which we mixed with manure, then place the seedling. To form a good root system, it is necessary to plant the seedling at an angle of 60 degrees.

It is necessary to very carefully sprinkle the seedling with earth, try not to damage the lower buds. It is believed that to stimulate the growth and development of the shrub, and in particular, for the formation of lateral buds, you can cut off the upper shoots of currants.

Growing currants should start with planting a seedling in the fall, but it is better to replant in the spring. This is necessary so that our bush has time to take root and adapt, before the frosty winter. Because a poorly formed root system will not be able to withstand such stress and the plant may die.

Top dressing

Currant is a shrub that loves organic feeding. In particular, horse or cow manure is used.

Spring transplant

For this, a seedling planting hole is formed when the ground warms up a little. A week before planting, a hole is dug, as previously written, fertilizers are applied and sprinkled with earth before planting. One important feature is that for adult plants, the size of the pit should be larger, this is necessary in order not to injure the roots of the bush.

Currant growing conditions

Rules and composition of feeding

When sowing seedlings, lime is placed in the soil. Further, organic fertilizer is applied - horse or cow manure in the amount of 4 kilograms. Then there are inorganic fertilizers such as phosphates in the amount of 200 grams and potassium salts in the amount of 25 grams.

Currant bushes are very fond of fertilizers, especially nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers. Steamed horse manure is very rich in this. It should be added that currants are very sensitive to chlorine. He has a detrimental effect on her. Based on this, if you purchase a complex fertilizer, do not be lazy, read the composition.

There is another type of top dressing - the husk after peeling the potatoes. To do this, it must first be soaked at the rate of 1 kg of peel - a bucket of water (10 liters). There is another trick - during the flowering of currants, spraying the currants with fresh milk has a beneficial effect. It is preliminarily diluted with tap water in a ratio of 1 to 10. An interesting fact is that it is this feeding with milk that allows you to increase the flowering time, and also makes it possible to collect more crops.

How to water properly?

Although the plant does not like excess moisture, it is impossible to dry out the soil in any way. This will affect not only the harvest that will grow this year, but also the harvest next year. Weak buds will be set, the berries will become small and sour, it is possible that they will crumble earlier than we expect.

It is important to control so that the currants do not dry out. During the formation of berries, the bush is most in need of watering. And also, do not forget about watering the plant in the fall. Root growth continues throughout the summer and warm autumn, so in the fall it is worth watering 2 times more often.

Protection against diseases, treatment of currants

For the prevention of diseases, as well as protection from enemies, the shrub should be watered with insecticides and fungicides. But, if you grow eco-products, this is not worth doing.

Prevention and treatment rules:

- You need to carefully consider the acquisition of seedlings - only through stores.
- Growing currants by cuttings only from a healthy plant.
- For 3 buds, the seedling is cut after planting.
- If you notice signs of infection on one of the bushes, it is better to completely remove it from the site, in order to avoid infection of the rest.
- If the buds have blossomed, they need to be sprinkled with a solution of garlic
- Change the topsoil annually.
- In early spring, the treatment of the shrub with hot water (around 70 degrees) is excellent.
- For prophylaxis - every week they are treated with an ash solution.
- Watering plants with boiling water helps to get rid of pests and their larvae on tree branches.

Currant pruning: when and how to do it correctly

Best of all, currants tolerate pruning in early spring or late autumn. The main thing is that there are no leaves on the plant. The main formation of the bush comes from 20 branches, their age may be different. Annually, zero shoots are left on the currants in the amount of 3 pieces.

General rules for cutting currants:

- Inspection of the bush, removal of crooked, tangled branches
- Young twigs cannot be damaged, inflorescences can form on them, and in the near future, a wonderful harvest
- If the cut is more than 8 cm, it must be treated with an antiseptic
- Large branches in the places of pruning, dried with garden solution.

If you want to prolong the youthfulness of your tree, then you should pay attention to anti-aging pruning.

It is carried out for plants over 12 years old. It is carried out in two stages. First, half of the old branches are cut, and after a year the second half. Young shoots grow from old sections throughout the year. At the end, the bush should consist of 20 young twigs.

A cut of old branches is made under the very base, then young growth grows from them. This procedure will keep the plant young and increase the fruiting time up to 8 years.

Black and red currant growing conditions and differences

These two types of currants differ from each other in their taste and appearance, but practically do not differ in planting technique.

As such, there are no differences in principle. The most common currant is black. It grows more often in private plots and gardens. Unlike black currant, red currant is more sun-loving, tolerates sunlight well. She is also more sensitive to moisture, or rather, to its absence. But, red currants are not rejuvenated by pruning. This is due to the peculiarities of the location of the buds on the bush.

These are all the differences in the cultivation of black and red currants. The main difference, of course, is the flavor, size and appearance of the berries. Black currant is more aromatic, it contains more vitamin C, sugars of natural origin. But red currant, on the contrary, is a smaller and sour berry in taste. But, her currant berries are surprisingly tasty and healthy.
It is also worth adding to the comparison that the black currant bush is larger than the red bush.

Currant care and cultivation photo