Currant is a very tasty and healthy berry that adults and children love. They eat it raw, and also make jam, stewed fruit, use it in baking, dry it, make wine. Medicinal tea is made from currant leaves.
Today, this shrub with dark green curly leaves grows in almost every garden area. What has earned such popularity blackcurrant? How to plant and how to care for this plant?
The benefits of currants
Currant has a huge number of useful properties: it contains many vitamins, micro and macro elements that can strengthen the immune system and protect the human body from being infected with viruses that cause colds. In addition, delicious jam, stewed fruit, cakes, pies and other homemade sweets are prepared from berries.
It is not so difficult to grow a bush if you know when and how to plant black currants, as well as about the peculiarities of care. This is what will be discussed later.
When to plant black currants?
Many beginning gardeners have a question about when they plant currants. Experts say that this can be done throughout the growing season. And when to plant black currants - in the spring or in the fall? There is not much difference when landing at different times of the year.
When to plant in the spring?
Spring planting should be done when the soil warms up. The best time is considered the end of March. And the soil is not frozen, and you do not need to water the seedling, and the shoots will not begin to grow quickly, which will allow the plant itself to take root well.
If you plant currants closer to summer, the appearance of berries will have to wait a very long time.
When to plant in the fall?
In the autumn, the seedling is better taken root, because its aboveground part is at rest, so all the nutrients remain in the roots. But here it is important to guess the time when you can plant black currants in the fall. If planted too early, and the weather will stay warm for a long time, the buds may begin to bloom (biological failure begins in plants). If you are late in time and a sharp cold snap, the plant will not have time to take root and, most likely, will freeze. The rooting period of a blackcurrant seedling is two to three weeks, red and white - up to 25 days. Therefore, planting is best done about 3 weeks before frost on the soil.
Therefore, the question of when to plant blackcurrant seedlings, the answer is this: the second half of October is the most optimal time.
Benefits of Autumn Planting
Autumn planting currants has several advantages:
- there is a quick rooting of seedlings;
- no pests at this time;
- the plant adapts well to the soil;
- the emergence of friendly spring shoots;
- the crown is actively formed.
But such results can only be obtained by observing the technology for planting currants in open ground and ensuring proper care of the plant after planting. Equally important is the choice of the most suitable place. It must be chosen so that on the windy side it is covered by a fence or other shrubs. Before considering how to plant black currants, we will learn how to choose the right planting material.
A selection of good seedlings
It is important to approach the selection of a seedling with all responsibility. The desired plant variety can be obtained in several ways:
- by cuttings from an old fruiting bush;
- purchase of an annual seedling of a suitable variety;
- to grow shoots from the grafted plant yourself.
Of course, it is advisable to plant already proven varieties that have taken root well in your area. For this, a young shoot is cut from an old plant and landed on a prepared place.
If a currant seedling will be bought, then when choosing it, it is worth paying attention to the following parameters:
- the presence of two or more shoots;
- the root should be woody and have a small amount of pile;
- there should be no external signs of disease;
- the seedling should be free of clipped parts or broken roots.
You need to buy currant bushes only from trusted suppliers or in the nursery, where they will help you choose the right variety that can take root well and fully develop in your region.
With this choice of plant, you will definitely get fast bush growth, good yield and disease resistance (at least for the first time).
Landing place
In order to grow a large and healthy bush, it is important to choose the right place where it is better to plant blackcurrant. A well-lit area that is not obscured by the sun is best suited for this plant. You can choose a low place with good humidity, which will allow:
- quickly develop the bush;
- bloom profusely without a hollow stem;
- get large berries;
- have an increased yield.
The soil is better suited with low acidity. In rooting a seedling, friability also plays an important role.
White and red currants also prefer light areas, but can grow well in partial shade. The main thing is that there is no acidity in the soil. The place is better to choose on a hill.
What to plant blackcurrant next to? This plant does not really like neighbors. But, despite this, it gets along well with honeysuckle, homemade hops, plums, gooseberries, onions and garlic.
The soil
Currants love fertile, slightly acidic or neutral soil. Loams are most suitable for the plant. It is necessary to plant black currant from the southwest or south side, on a sunny, sheltered from the wind site. Groundwater should not exceed 1.5 m.
Spring planting of black currant
Consider how to plant black currants in spring. Despite the fact that experienced gardeners claim that it is better to plant a plant in the fall (in their opinion, it takes root better), planting can also be carried out in the spring. To do this, choose the time when more or less warm weather sets in. Usually this time falls in mid-April.
How to plant a bush of black currant? They begin to prepare the site for the plant in the fall: they dig the soil onto the bayonet of a shovel, adding 8-10 kg of humus, 100 g of superphosphate and wood ash to each square meter. When planting this shrub, in no case should you use fresh manure or bird droppings, since these organic fertilizers decompose, releasing a large amount of nitrogen compounds and creating a rather high temperature, which can damage the roots of the crop.
At what distance can black currants be planted from each other? The density of planting depends on the variety. For example, non-spreading or upright growing varieties can be planted at a distance of 1-1.5 m from each other, while the row spacing is up to 1.5 m. Between wide bushes make a distance of one and a half to two meters.
Wells for planting currants make it quite spacious. Their size in width and depth is approximately 50 x 50 cm. If an adult bush is planted, the pit must be made much more spacious so that the roots of the culture are not intertwined and not damaged. Water is poured into the prepared pit (about half a bucket), a seedling is placed in it at a slope of 45 g. Sapling roots are well spread, sprinkled with soil, slightly compacted. After that, another half bucket of water is poured again under the seedling. In order for the moisture not to evaporate under the influence of the bright spring sun, the root zone near the bush is mulched with sawdust, fallen leaves or peat.
It is recommended to plant currants so that the two lower buds are located in the ground. They will release new additional roots, thanks to which the bush will better and more securely strengthen in the ground. Some experienced gardeners advise crop pruning during transplanting. So the plant will be able to avoid unnecessary waste of nutrients that are necessary for the good development of the root system.
Planting blackcurrant in autumn
So, now we will consider how to plant blackcurrant in the fall. One year before planting seedlings, rotted manure or compost is brought into the ground. Immediately before planting, the plant undergoes special processing. Dry and damaged branches and roots are removed from it. Then the root system is dipped into a "talker" made from clay diluted in water.
The density of currant planting depends on the variety and species. When placing the seedling also take into account the shape of the crown of bushes and soil fertility. More tall and spreading varieties are planted less often than plants of compact form. The recommended interval between the bushes is 1-1.5 m.
One of the main features of planting currant seedlings is that their root neck should be buried 6–9 cm below the ground. In this case, the landing of planting material is carried out in an inclined position. This method contributes to the rapid formation of a spreading shrub with a wide base. In addition, the inclined position of the seedlings contributes to the appearance of additional shoots and roots. If it is necessary to obtain a standard plant, then the seedling is planted in an upright position without deepening. In such currants, the resumption of shoots will be weaker.
So, how to plant blackcurrant in the fall? Before landing of planting material, pits are prepared, on the bottom of which a rotted humus or compost is poured. After planting the seedlings and spreading all the roots, they are sprinkled with soil, compacted, watered abundantly and completely covered with earth. Then the plant is watered again. Around the stem, the soil is mulched with humus, rotted leaves, peat or compost. This procedure will retain the necessary moisture and prevent crusting.
Planting red currants
So, we examined how to plant black currants. The planting procedure for red and white varieties is the same as the planting of black species. Under these plants choose bright places with high humidity of the earth. The distance between the seedlings of red and white varieties of currant is 1.5 m.
Features of blackcurrant care in the spring
Awakening of blackcurrant in spring begins quite early, so it is very important to have time to prune diseased or broken branches before the buds swell, as well as remove mite-damaged kidneys. If there are too many buds on the bush in which the pests have settled, it is necessary to trim the entire plant to the very bottom. In the spring, in addition to sanitary pruning of bushes, a formative one is also carried out. If the bushes are bogged down for the winter, the soil should be removed from them.
The soil around the bush should be dug up and mulched with a layer of manure or humus with a thickness of about 5-10 cm. As the weeds begin to appear, they must be removed immediately.
Blackcurrant is a moisture-loving culture, so it is very important not to forget to water it, especially if there was no snow in the winter and rain in the spring. After watering, it is recommended to weed the site and fertilize the plants with nitrogen fertilizers with further loosening of the soil.
Since this culture begins to enter the stage of active growth early enough, opening buds can be damaged by return frosts, so you should be prepared to protect the currants from a sharp cold snap with plastic wrap or smoke.
When flowering begins, it is necessary to inspect all the bushes and cut branches that are affected by terry (reversion). Also, if necessary, supports are installed.
Features of summer care
In early summer, black currants are well watered, weeds are weeded and a plot around it is loosened. Root dressing of bushes with organic fertilizers is also carried out. The culture also responds well to foliar top dressing (spraying with micronutrient solutions on the leaves).
When a moth butterfly appears, it is necessary to destroy its nests. If some of their berries begin to prematurely turn brown and deform, this is a sign of vital activity of sawflies, so you should be prepared to process plants from them.
In mid-summer, the berries begin to ripen. Black currants are harvested selectively, according to individual berries, and red - with whole brushes. The best utensils for picking berries are trays or boxes in which the crop will not be remembered.
After harvesting, currants need abundant watering, and after drying the soil, it must be loosened.
Features of autumn care
In the last days of September or in the beginning of October, mineral and organic fertilizers are applied, then the plot is watered and then dug up to plant fertilizers in the soil.
An important event for the autumn care of black currant is the sanitary pruning of bushes.
Top dressing
If the planting of blackcurrant was carried out correctly, the plant will not need additional nutrition during the first year. Starting from the second year in the spring, it will be necessary to distribute 50 g of urea for each bush or treat the bush with its 7% solution before sap flow. Currants, which are more than 4 years old, are fed urea in smaller doses (30-40 g of nitrogen fertilizer per bush) and in 2 divided doses.
In the autumn, every two years, organic matter (compost, manure or bird droppings) and mineral fertilizers (potassium sulfate and superphosphate) are added.