Currant care: pest treatment, pruning, mulching and cultivation

At first glance, it may seem that spring care for currants is a complex and time-consuming process. In fact, each bush will require very little time for each operation in late winter and spring. This work on the principle of "did and wait for the harvest," but everything must be done on time.

How to care for currants in spring

Spring currant care includes:

• disease prevention
• pest protection
• pruning.

First pest treatment of the season

Currants often suffer from insect pests: a kidney currant tick, a glass-case, aphids and others. Fungal and viral diseases, such as leaf anthracnose, also create problems. Therefore, without treatments, the gardener has little chance of a good harvest.

Without spring treatment, currants will be susceptible to various diseases, for example, anthracnose

The first treatment is carried out in late winter or early spring in several ways:

• bushes are poured from a watering can with boiling water. Short-term exposure to hot water does not harm the bark and sleeping kidneys, but it is guaranteed to kill the tick wintering in them, as well as the spores of harmful fungi. The terms of this processing are long and vary by region. For example, in Belarus this can be done in the middle of winter, if there are no snowdrifts covering the bushes, and in the Urals it is better in the spring - until the plant begins to wake up and until the first signs of the beginning of sap flow and swelling of the buds appear. This time is well defined by the appearance of a light green haze on the bush. It is believed that a shock shake with boiling water also enhances the plant's immunity;
• sometimes gardeners add potassium permanganate to boiling water to enhance the effect to a slightly pink color, a tablespoon of salt or 50 g of iron or copper sulfate per 10 l of water;
• if for some reason it was not possible to do the treatment in the early spring, carry it out in late March or early April, always before the kidneys completely swell, with the following solution: 500-700 g of urea (urea) and 50 g of copper or iron per 10 liters of warm water vitriol. This is a very powerful concentration of urea, but it gets quite a bit under the bush and in the future it will work as nitrogen top dressing;
• also apply such a recipe for getting rid of a tick - a solution of colloidal sulfur, 10 g per 10 liters of water.

Video: watering currants with boiling water

Spring pruning

Pruning is carried out in early spring, until the kidneys completely swell. In the southern regions, for example, in Belarus, it is possible to cut bushes throughout the rest period, because there is no risk of freezing the place of cut.

From treatment with boiling water, snow melts on a bush of currant - you can start pruning

Pruning bushes of different ages is different, but there is one general condition. Currant gives the best berries on the growth of last year. They cannot be cut, otherwise the harvest of this year is literally cut off. Currant bears fruit on three-year-old branches, and older, but most large berries are on two-year-olds, which began growing last year. To distinguish them in appearance is very simple - the bark is much lighter than that of older branches.

Spring pruning is carried out every year:

1. In the first year, the newly planted bush is trimmed completely, so that stumps about 5 cm high remain above the soil level. It does not matter when the bush is planted (currants are planted both in autumn, around mid-October, and in spring, before the sap flow). But autumn seedlings have time to take root and spring faster start to grow. Spring seedlings will initially lag, but eventually leveled.
2. In the second year after radical pruning during planting, there is a rapid growth of strong young shoots that will bear fruit well next year. There are disagreements among gardeners about pruning for the second year. Some believe that this year nothing needs to be cut. Others argue that at this age, the skeletal branches should be cut in half by the bush in order to stimulate the growth of young fruiting shoots.
   

   In the second year after planting, the main branches are cut in half
3. In the third year in early spring, the usual sanitary, forming and thinning pruning is carried out. Branches that grow too low, fall to the ground, and also weak, broken and diseased, are removed.
4. On four-year-old and older bushes in early spring, serious pruning is carried out:
   1. Cut from a quarter to a third of an old bush. The same unnecessary branches are removed as in the third year.
   2. On fruiting adult branches, divided into two shoots, one, the weaker one, is removed.
   3. The root shoot is cut out.
   4. Removed completely, under the stump, part of the branches inside the bush, first of all the curves, big-leaved, highly thickening bush.
   5. The number of main branches is not limited, there may be several, approximately equal in size. In summer, the bush with foliage should be well lit and ventilated, but it does not need to be completely exposed.

This annual pruning rejuvenates old bushes and prolongs the active fruiting of currants.

Video: spring pruning

Frost protection

Currant flowers are very sensitive to frost. Therefore, in the northern latitudes of central Russia (in particular, in the Urals) it is not recommended to plant varieties that bloom too early. But even late-flowering varieties can suffer from return cold weather, and sudden frosts occur in warmer regions, including Belarus. In this case, you need to have a light non-woven covering material with which you can close the flowering bush during frosts without damaging the flowers and young leaves. This material is guaranteed to save from frost up to -2 ° C.

Delicate redcurrant flowers are afraid of frost, so in case of frost they need to be covered with non-woven material

Mulching and cultivation

The root system of the currant is located very close to the surface, so loosening and weeding is carried out very carefully, to a depth of not more than 1-3 cm. In the spring this is enough to destroy all the weeds, because at that time they are still poorly developed and did not have time to take root deeply .

After loosening and weeding, the soil should be covered with mulch - it will not allow the earth to dry out and drown the growth of weeds. But you cannot do this too soon. It is necessary to wait for heat so that most weed seeds germinate and the soil warms up for the normal growth of currants. Under the mulch, the soil will remain icy for a very long time after winter. Therefore, weeding, cultivation and mulching are carried out in late spring, when the earth warms up well to the depth and most of the weeds will germinate.

Mulching of currants in spring can be carried out only when the earth warms up well in the depths

In cold regions (in particular, in the Urals), the surface roots of currants can freeze out. They winter well under a thick layer of snow that has fallen before severe frosts. Since such weather conditions are not always present, many gardeners shelter mulch ground under a bush in the fall. If the bush wintered under the mulch, in the spring it is removed as soon as possible in order to let the earth warm up faster, and then a new one is poured, already for protection against weeds.

Fertilizer application

Currants are demanding on organic matter, therefore it is better to use rotted manure, humus or compost as fertilizers.

Currants respond well to organic fertilizers

In addition to top dressing during planting, each spring currants are fed with nitrogen fertilizers:

• carbamide (urea),
• ammonium nitrate,
• ammonium sulfate (ammonium sulfate).

Fertilizers are scattered on the surface before weeding and loosening at the rate of 15 g per 1 sq. m

You need to know that in its properties ammonium sulfate is an acid fertilizer, it can significantly acidify the soil if not at one time, then over the years, and currants need a slightly acidic soil with a pH of about 6.5. Therefore, it is advisable to add ammonium sulfate with lime powder, dolomite flour or wood ash, which quench the acid.

Reviews gardeners

In the spring, rarely anyone succeeds in cutting currants. Usually when you are already in the garden, there are swollen buds on it. We cut currants in late autumn - in October. By the way, and from cropped annual branches, good planting material. We make a hole and stick in it pieces of 5 cuttings of cut annuals in a circle. Next year they will give good branches, and in a year they will bear fruit.

Ninulia//www.tomat-pomidor.com/newforum/index.php?topic=6419.0

You need to pour boiling water at the end of February. Boil a bucket of water. Gently pour into a watering can. While we carry to the bushes, there the water will already be about 80 degrees. From the watering can with a strainer, we water the bushes from above, so that the water gets to all the shoots.

elsa30//www.tomat-pomidor.com/newforum/index.php/topic,6419.20.html?SESSID=no1qdvi8k4o4fhu1huj43igrc6

The second year I pour boiling water over currants and gooseberries. The result is visible. Besides the bush, I spill the earth beneath it. Watering can last for 2-3 not very voluminous bush. In addition, during the course of the season I pour water from a watering can with diluted manure and kefir - 1 liter per 10 liters of water.

Tiffany//www.tomat-pomidor.com/newforum/index.php/topic,6419.20.html?SESSID=no1qdvi8k4o4fhu1huj43igrc6

Spring care is very important for currants, as it is the prevention of many problems of the bush. It is important to carry out spring work in a timely manner, only then they will be of use.