Oxalis berry is a red currant, a very famous deciduous shrub. Currants are often grown in suburban areas. Even novice gardeners cope with its planting and further cultivation. With proper care from one bush of red currant, you can collect up to ten kilograms of berries. Sorrel bushes are very viable and grow in one place for up to twenty-five years.
Varieties of red currants
Ripening period souring, outdoor care and landing depend on the variety, soil and climate in the cultivation area. A huge variety of plant varieties makes it possible to make a choice for every taste.
Despite the fact that most of them are considered self-fertile, gardeners recommend growing several varieties to improve yield and cross-pollination. The taste of acidity depends on the amount of sugar and organic acids in the fruit. Sweet varieties have a pronounced sweetness and a slightly sour flavor. These include:
- "early sweet";
- "sugar";
- "Vika";
- "Dutch pink";
- viksne;
- pink pearls.
As a rule, most of the varieties of red currant are cold-resistant. However, frost-resistant forms are distinguished among them, suitable for planting in places with severe winters. To frost-resistant varieties can be attributed such as:
- "Natalie";
- Jonker van Tets;
- “Beloved”;
- "Red Andreichenko";
- "Dutch red."
Large-fruited varieties:
- “Ural beauty”;
- Ilyinka
- "cascade";
- Rolan
- "alpha".
If you plant early ripening, mid-ripening and late ripening bushes on the site, then you will enjoy the fruits of red currant all summer.
Planting currants in autumn
Acid berry can be planted both in the spring and in the autumn. This plant is not recommended to be grown in areas after gooseberries, as well as after uprooting of old sorrel bushes. In the classical method of bush cultivation, plants are planted at a distance of one meter from each other and with a row spacing of two and a half meters. In the Urals and Siberia, landing is best done at the end of August.
In the southern regions, red currants are planted from mid-September to the first week of October. The main reference point for planting a plant is considered a steady cooling. Red currants must be planted about a month before the cold. Bushes are best placed in open sunny and well-ventilated areas. This will help reduce the risk of fungal infections. Currant is an unpretentious crop and adapts well to harsh climatic conditions.
Planting currants in spring
In the spring, red currants need to be planted before the start of active sap flow. Planting seedlings should be done in a hole with a depth of 40 cm and a diameter of 50 cm, this will make it possible to place the root system well. As a top dressing, you can use compost or manure in the amount of ten liters with the addition of fifty grams of superphosphate, the same amount of potassium chloride and a little wood ash. In the middle of the country, soil and climate are great for planting and growing red currants. Therefore, the bush does not cause much trouble to gardeners.
Watering
Timely watering is considered the key to a rich harvest. Thanks to its well-developed root system, acidic acid is resistant to drought. The lack of water primarily affects the growth, development and fruiting of the plant.
Therefore, during the period of growth and ripening of berries, regular moistening is necessary, which allows you to saturate the soil with moisture 50-60 cm in depth. One bush requires about two buckets of water, which is poured into grooves dug at a distance of about 30 cm from the plant.
Fertilizer application
The first two years after planting the sorrel bush, top dressing is not required subject to the planting technology and making the necessary amount of top dressing in the planting hole. At the beginning of the spring period, as soon as the shoots begin to grow, twenty grams of urea or thirty grams of ammonium nitrate are introduced under each bush.
After flowering, it is advisable to feed it with organics: an aqueous solution based on bird droppings (1:20) or mullein (1:10). A bucket of such a solution is introduced under the currant bush. In addition, red currants can be fed with complex mineral fertilizers at the rate of twenty grams per square meter. In late autumn, it needs mineral and organic fertilizers.
Redcurrant Pests
Diseases and treatment of acidity will be discussed below, and now we will pay attention to the pests that are most often found on the bushes of the plant, and ways to combat them. When parasites appear, it is not necessary to immediately use chemical protective equipment. If there are few of them, then they can be collected manually and destroyed. Pesticides are recommended for use only in emergency. Compliance with the rules of agricultural technology is the key to a good harvest and the protection of plants from diseases. Bushes must be trimmed (how to cut currants, described below), burn damaged parts, carry out autumn digging.
Pests of redcurrant:
- Currant goldfish feeds on the core of acidic branches. To combat it, it is recommended to cut and burn shoots, and it is also necessary to carefully select planting material.
- Spider mite damages red currant leaves. For destruction, immediately after flowering, the bushes are treated with Fitoverm at the rate of two milliliters per liter of water.
- Currant moth kidney damages the kidneys and fruits of the sour berries . When infecting bushes, it is necessary to cut damaged shoots under the root and burn them.
- Gooseberry ognevka is a fairly common pest that affects currant berries. If early colored berries are found, well before ripening, they should be collected and destroyed. It is also recommended to dig the soil around the shrub in the autumn.
- The pale-legged sawfly, as a rule, damages the leaves of sour acid. In spring and summer, it is necessary to remove the larvae from the leaves of the bush, and also spray it with a decoction of tobacco and wormwood.
- Gooseberry moth eats leaf blade, as well as veins of bushes. To combat it, you should use a tincture of pharmacy chamomile, a decoction of shag and tobacco.
- Glass currant is one of the most dangerous pests. It damages the core of the branches, as a result of which they dry up and die. To avoid this, pruning the bushes in early spring while the buds are sleeping. In addition, soil and shrubs can be treated with Fitoverm.
- Pigeon aphids are also very common. To combat this pest, spray bushes with a 10% solution of “Karbofos” before the dissolution of the buds.
Diseases of Sour
Another problem for gardeners is redcurrant disease. Both treatment and signs of disease are described below.
- Powdery mildew is quite rare. When infected, a white coating forms on young leaves and fruits. To fight, it is necessary to spray red currants with a solution of pharmacy iodine. With timely treatment, the disease can be defeated quite quickly.
- Anthracnose is a fungal disease caused by a humid climate. If dark spots are detected, fungicides are recommended.
- White spotting is considered quite common, because of it the leaves fall, the bush stops growing and the crop dies. For the treatment of sour berries, it is necessary to treat with copper sulfate. For the purpose of prevention, monitor the moisture of the soil and remove fallen leaves in time, as well as dig the soil in the fall and early spring.
- Column and glass rust. With these diseases, bright orange growths form. It is treated with fungicides, and the plant can also be sprayed with 1% Bordeaux fluid.
Pruning redcurrant bushes
When growing shrubs, it is important to know how to prune currants correctly. There is a shaping and sanitary pruning. Trimming red currants should be at the beginning of the autumn period, as well as after harvesting.
Clean old, broken, diseased branches and extra zero shoots. In the spring you can carry out sanitary pruning. You can not cut the tops of the branches, where there is a large number of berry branches. A well-formed plant has approximately twenty branches.
Useful properties of red currant
The use of currant fruits helps to absorb animal proteins, improves appetite, and also relieves constipation. The composition of sour berries includes a special substance - oxycoumarin, which has an excellent effect on blood coagulation. In addition, the fruits have a large amount of iron, which increases hemoglobin, and also regulates the water-salt balance and normalizes the functioning of the heart. The fruits of red currant are an excellent tool for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.
Pectins contained in the fruits of sour acid prevent inflammatory processes and remove harmful substances. Redcurrant strengthens the immune system. Fruit juice or sour juice is used for nausea and toxicosis in pregnant women. Red currant is an excellent source of energy, as the complex contains vitamins B and sugars. Normal consumption of fruit juice from sour berries normalizes the level of hemoglobin in the blood. The beneficial properties of redcurrant leaves are a diuretic and bactericidal effect. And also in the leaves of sour acid contains ascorbic acid. The great advantage of red currant is that it can be eaten by allergy sufferers, however, in the presence of poor blood coagulation, ulcers, hemophilia, it is better to refuse it.
Finally
From time immemorial sour sour (currant) has been called a health berry, for this reason the plant has gained widespread distribution in summer cottages.
Currant care is simple, but you need to pay attention to timely watering, top dressing, pruning and protection from pests. Subject to all the rules, red currant will delight you with an abundant harvest for many years.