Autumn Care For Black Currants According To The Rules. Pruning, Processing, Feeding. Photo

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Autumn Care For Black Currants According To The Rules. Pruning, Processing, Feeding. Photo
Autumn Care For Black Currants According To The Rules. Pruning, Processing, Feeding. Photo

Video: Autumn Care For Black Currants According To The Rules. Pruning, Processing, Feeding. Photo

Video: Autumn Care For Black Currants According To The Rules. Pruning, Processing, Feeding. Photo
Video: How to Prune Your Blackcurrants For High Yields 2024, March
Anonim

The vast majority of gardeners, especially summer residents, after the end of the berry picking season, forget about their bushes until next spring and, at best, feed them after the snow melts with a handful of nitroammofoski or weed them, removing the rapidly growing wheatgrass. This is the fate of the black currant. Although outwardly the culture appears to be a healthy and robust bush, it also requires care and attention. And especially in the fall, when there is a long and possibly harsh winter ahead.

Adding fertile soil to the black currant bush
Adding fertile soil to the black currant bush

Content:

  • Regular care is the key to fruiting currants for decades
  • Autumn pruning of black currant
  • We process the bite zone of black currant
  • Moisture charging irrigation
  • Top dressing of black currant
  • Adding soil
  • Preventive treatment of black currant
  • Mulching the bite zone of black currant
  • Possible reproduction of black currant

Regular care is the key to fruiting currants for decades

If the concern for the bush is minimized, then the gardener then begins to complain about the poor health of the black currant bush, its frequent illnesses, low yields, small and tasteless berries. In the end, it goes to the breeder who "again brought out the wrong thing." Usually, such an attitude towards black currants ends with the fact that after just a couple of years of fruiting, the bush is ruthlessly uprooted and replaced by a new one, although in fact he can live with a good owner, giving productive yields, up to one and a half decades and even more (with periodic rejuvenating pruning) …

So, the autumn care for black currants is simple, but, meanwhile, very important. It consists in simple things - in pruning, in careful processing of the bust area, water-charging irrigation, in top dressing, and of course, in preventive treatment, combined with soil mulching and the possible reproduction of dying bushes.

Autumn pruning of black currant

In the autumn, pruning black currants can be done quite calmly, but if your soul hurts a lot for the cuts left, then cover them with garden varnish or garden paint, there will definitely be no harm from this. Pruning can begin in September and be sure to finish before the first severe frost.

First of all, carefully examine the currant bush, remove all broken shoots that remained after inaccurate harvesting, cut out those that are devoid of foliage into a ring. Perhaps this is a sign of a disease, remove the shoots that literally lie on the ground or touch its surface (remember what kind of dirty berries you collected from them, you didn't even want to put it in a common container with a clean berry).

Next, move on to the blackcurrant shoots, which are dark, almost black in color. These are old shoots, they need to be cut out at the base along with young branches on them, leaving no more than two or three of this age on the plant.

By the way, when cutting off shoots, inspect the core on the cut, it should be clean, light green, but if it is gray-black, then this is a sign that a pest has wound up in the plant. Perhaps it struck most of the shoots, and then, no matter how sorry, but the plant will either have to be cut short, leaving only shoots with a clean core, or, if you do not find clean ones, then you should uproot the black currant bush completely.

Don't forget to remove excess root growth. Many people know that it serves to renew the black currant bush, but there should not be too much of it (no more than three or four powerful young shoots per season). Also check to see if the root growth's core is clean.

Be sure to remove all shoots directed deep into the crown of the bush, their growth provokes the thickening of the black currant bush, leads to a decrease in its illumination, wind blowing, increases the risk of fungal infection and "transfers" the crop to the periphery of the crown.

When pruning, be sure to use sharp garden tools - this is a garden saw and a garden pruner, a garden knife was previously used, but it is not safe and it can be seriously injured if handled carelessly. For this reason, this instrument has a place on a museum shelf, and not in your hands.

All blackcurrant shoots that you cut down, no matter if they are healthy or sick, are best burned, and the ashes are used as fertilizer (wood ash), this is a good source of potassium and trace elements.

If you do not carry out the autumn pruning of black currants, then you can allow the wintering of various pests and diseases on the shoots, which are activated with the first rays of the sun in spring.

We process the bite zone of black currant

After pruning, it's time to pay attention to the bite area. First of all, you need to free it from fallen leaves, fruits, twigs, and various debris, sending all this to the fire, from which wood ash, excellent in nutritional value, and, among other things, completely safe, can also be obtained.

Further, when the bite zone of the black currant is absolutely clean, you can dig it to a shallow depth. A depth of 7-8 cm is quite enough, so you will definitely not damage the roots and you can turn a number of wintering pests and diseases to the surface that will freeze in winter. In addition, you will enhance the air and water exchange of the soil, because, despite the fall, the suction roots continue to absorb moisture little by little, contributing to its accumulation in the tissues. This will increase the immunity of black currants and allow them to adequately survive the harsh winter, saving the shoots from desiccation, that is, evaporation of moisture from the shoots located on the south side.

When the bite zone is neat, so as not to damage the roots, dug up and turns out to be loose, you can water the black currant, but not simple, but water-charging.

By the way, before proceeding to such watering, I would like to make a comment. Digging the soil is important and necessary, but rather in the central regions of Russia, where it is possible not to use mulching, if you live to the north and you will certainly carry out mulching in the future, then you do not need to dig the soil, but only loosen it a little with a rake.

Black currant bush after pruning
Black currant bush after pruning

Moisture charging irrigation

Moisture-charging irrigation has a lot of advantages: it enriches the soil with moisture to a great depth, inhibiting its rapid freezing and defrosting during provocative thaws in winter. It promotes the growth and development of the suction root system, and at the same time creates moisture reserves in case there is not enough moisture in the spring.

It is possible to carry out water-charging irrigation of black currants already in September, as soon as the entire crop is harvested and active leaf fall begins. Usually 3-4 buckets of water are poured under the bushes up to five years old, and twice as much under the bushes of older age. Make sure that all water is absorbed and not spread over the site.

Hose irrigation or sprinkling can be used for this (when the soil is sandy and the roots can be washed out by watering the roots). Care should be taken to water-charging irrigation, if there are heavy rains, then it can be safely halved, and if the soils on your site are very dense and clayey, then watering can be reduced by three times.

Top dressing of black currant

The next step is the application of fertilizers, it is extremely important not to use those fertilizers that contain nitrogen in their composition. After all, even heat and nitrogen fertilizers can activate growth processes, and then the plants may well die, starting to grow and not having time to lignify by winter.

The best option is to apply 25-30 g of superphosphate and 15-20 g of potassium sulfate under each bush of black currant, younger than five-year return, in dry form, and twice as much of the same fertilizers under older bushes.

Adding soil

After fertilizing, once again carefully inspect the blackcurrant bushes: maybe by water-charging irrigation or rains, in some places the roots were washed out on the plants, then they must be sprinkled with fresh and nutritious soil and compacted with a shovel so that no voids, even the most insignificant ones, remain … It is quite permissible to mix the soil in equal proportions with wood ash, as well as wood or stove soot.

If you do not want to apply mineral fertilizers, then you can use organic matter. So, under each bush of black currant, they often bring half a bucket of well-rotted manure, but there is no need to rush with this. It is better to add overripe manure at the end of October, it will also serve as a layer of mulch (in colder regions), that is, it will protect the roots from possible freezing if a severe frost falls on the bare ground.

Preventive treatment of black currant

When the bushes are cut and sprinkled with the compulsory compaction of the bedding, you need to wait a little until the foliage (more than 80% of all leaves) completely fall off, or collect it from the branches with your hands and burn it outside the site. It is advisable to carry out preventive treatment of black currant bushes from various fungal diseases; for this, you can use two or three percent Bordeaux liquid.

The bushes must be completely treated with liquid, that is, each branch and it's okay if the liquid gets on the soil, so you get rid of the wintering stages of fungal diseases, if not completely, then with the highest degree of probability.

Blackcurrant bushes after autumn preparation
Blackcurrant bushes after autumn preparation

Mulching the bite zone of black currant

That's practically all. It remains for us to mulch the soil of the bite zone of our black currant plants. Mulch will retain the moisture that we used for water-charging irrigation and save the root system from possible frost when the soil is not yet covered with snow (in addition to adding soil mixed with wood ash).

As we said, for mulching you can use everything that is at hand: healthy dry leaves, sawdust, small twigs, shavings, even pieces of cardboard or covering material. The main thing is that in the spring all this must be removed as soon as possible so that the soil warms up faster.

Possible reproduction of black currant

In conclusion, I want to talk about the sometimes necessary and important reproduction of black currant by lignified cuttings. This may well be included in the category and topic of care for the simple reason that often a disease or pest, at least the same glass, can infect most of the plant, and uprooting and throwing a favorite variety in the trash can be insulting to tears. And reproduction by lignified cuttings of black currant can save the situation, and in the process of caring for the plant, you will save the life of this particular variety.

Do not rush to throw away the diseased blackcurrant bush, delve into its annual growth, maybe you will find one or two shoots, or maybe a dozen, and then there is every chance that this variety will continue to grow on your site. All that is needed is to cut them (healthy ones) to a length of 15 cm and make a small bed in the garden, well loosening and watering the soil. Next, obliquely, at an angle of 45 degrees, so that the barrel is heated by the sun, plant the cuttings, deepening them so that only a couple of buds remain on the surface. Plant them … and wait for the buds to awaken in the spring. From a bunch of awakened cuttings of black currant, you can leave everything or choose only the strongest and most well-developed ones, and pull out the rest, thinning the micro-plantation. Thus, caring for currants on the site will turn into a real salvation of a dying variety.

As we can see, caring for black currants in the autumn period is no different. We'll have to spend a couple of days to work on the site, but you can also look at it from the other side: winter is coming and we won't see our favorite site for six months, so enjoy the "extreme" days of warmth and simple, but such extremely useful work!

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