4 ways to grow currants - on a trellis, on a trunk, bush, columns
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CURRANT GROWING METHODS - PROS AND CONS
Currant is a berry bush. Obviously? However, over the years of experiments, gardeners as soon as they did not grow this beautiful plant - they formed a stem, and tied it to the trellis, and even made "columns"! Today we have prepared an overview of the most interesting formations for you.
CURRANT ON SPLER
This is a pretty interesting method that has both pros and cons. Let's take a look at them.
Pros of growing currants on a trellis:
- - better lighting of bushes;
- - with a normal planting, the outer branches lie on the ground, and on the trellis they do not get dirty themselves, and the berries remain clean;
- - easier to harvest;
- - it is easier in autumn to remove fallen leaves and dig up the aisles.
Of the minuses:
- - if you pick up the wrong variety, the bushes will thicken;
- - the trellises should be placed in the spring, and removed in the fall (you can try to leave them, but according to gardeners' reviews, the branches left on the trellis will be broken in winter when the snow begins to settle).
However, when planting to the trellis, it is important to follow all agricultural techniques. The distance between the bushes is small, 1, 5 m. Plant only carefully selected varieties: frost-hardy, medium and upright, but not spreading, with moderate vigor. The dessert taste of berries will not be superfluous. What varieties can you recommend? For red currants, these are Yaroslavna, Smolyaninovskaya, Darnitsa, Viksne, Primus, Jonker Van Tete, Stansa. The black one has the Little Prince, the Emerald Necklace, Tamerlane, the Kiev giant, the Jubilee Digging.
Having planted young bushes (2-3 years old), cut the shoots so that 2-3 buds remain on each. For the next year, leave the 4 most powerful shoots and fan them out on the trellis. Remove weak and excess shoots at the base. The main shoots (skeletal) in the next 2-3 years, try not to cut, let them reach the height of the trellis. Fan the side shoots and tie them up. Try to keep them well lit and not thickened.
After 5-6 years after planting, the skeletal branches must be cut off, cutting them off for transfer to a large branch at the base. Or, root shoots can replace old branches.
Growing currants on a trellis is beautiful, practical, but also laborious. If you want a minimum of care for this crop, it is better to plant spreading varieties at a distance of 3 m and let them grow ad libitum. The harvest from such bushes will be comparable to the harvest of "trellis". It is not worth planting closer, otherwise the bushes will thicken, the branches will intertwine and make it difficult to harvest and leave.
And to make your work even easier, cover the aisles with, for example, dry grass. Then you won't have to dig them up.
CURRANT ON STAMP
In Russia, black and red currants are traditionally cultivated in bush form. However, the western fashion is spreading more and more - to grow these plants in standard form.
If you decide to follow the fashion, first study all the subtleties. Including the problems that may arise with this growing method.
A bare trunk 1-1,5 m high, beautifully formed in the European manner, carries the entire crown above the surface of the snow cover. And when the frost is below 25 °, the exposed currant branches can easily freeze over their entire length, while ordinary bushes will safely rest in the snow.
However, in the southern regions it would be interesting to experiment with standard plants - because now you have more resistant varieties at your disposal than those used by our grandfathers and great-grandfathers.
In cold areas, the problem of freezing of "berry trees" can be overcome in two ways. First: to bend the plants down annually for the winter, but this involves a lot of additional work. Especially many problems lie in wait for "trees" in areas with severe frosts (north of the country, the Urals, Siberia).
In these regions, it is worth paying attention to the second method: apply modifications of "trees" with a very short stem 25-35 cm high. Alas, "short-legged trees" lose a bit of the charm of standard plants: they look much less impressive, pruning and harvesting of fruits will have to again - so bent over in three deaths, and weeding the weeds under the crown will not be much easier than under the bushes. At the same time, to create both a high and a low "tree", an expensive and inaccessible seedling is needed, moreover, it will need careful annual pruning for life.
See also: Redcurrant in a standard form (tree form)
CURRANT "COLUMNS"
Yes, and in this way, currants are grown. For example, our author, a gardener from the Novgorod region G.F. This is how Raspopov grew the Valentinovka red currant. This variety is late ripening, with very beautiful, long (15-17 cm) clusters with large berries that do not fall for a long time and upright powerful bushes.
On a small plot of 3 × 3 m, the gardener placed 4 trellises at a distance of 70 cm. I planted currant cuttings along them at a distance of 30-35 cm.
In the spring, I cut it so that each plant had one "stem". These were the most powerful shoots, which Gennady Fyodorovich peeled from branches and leaves from below to a height of 20 cm, and pinched the crown off. After 2 weeks, the bushes started to grow again, when the continuation shoots reached 35-40 cm, they pinched them again. And after a while, it took a third pinch.
Thus, in the first year, the gardener formed currant "columns" about 1 m high. All lateral branches were shortened over the 3-4th leaf.
The next year, from a powerful zero shoot, a second "column" branch was formed (at each bush).
And in the third year, new shoots were left only where there was free space on the trellis.
The harvest with such a "columnar" currant pleased. Individual, most powerful shoots yielded up to 3 kg of berries!
CURRANT BRUSH
And of course, one cannot but say a few words about the simplest and most common way of growing currants - a bush. Black currant bears excellent fruit for 10-15 years, red for longer. Moreover, the first 6-8 years are considered the most productive, then diseases begin, the yield gradually decreases.
It is customary to plant currants in the lower places of the garden plot - where there is more moisture. But frost is harmful, flowers and even young shoots suffer from them. Therefore, it is better to plant higher, in rows, at a distance of 1 -1,5 × 2-3 m. If you are fond of strawberries, then you can plant it in the aisles by increasing them.
If you live in Siberia and regions with a similar climate, where there is heat, drying wind, then you can apply this method of planting. Do not cut the currant bushes, but deeply deepen, leaving branches 3-5 cm long and more above the ground. Such a seedling does not suffer from bad weather, quickly and easily takes root, forming a rather strong bush by the fall, which pleases with the harvest the next year.
In order for the seedling to take root well, careful care is necessary, including frequent watering, loosening, mulching and fertilizing (preferably humus with a small amount of ash). However, in the first year of the seedling's life, fertilizers, especially mineral fertilizers, should be used very carefully. Better bring them in from the second year of life.
It is customary to form currants, we had separate articles about this. And now let's note the successful experience of our gardening readers, when they do without pruning at all. Nature sometimes copes well with this itself.
The usual technology for growing currants is as follows: for the first 5-7 years, currants bear fruit, then with the help of rejuvenating pruning, its fruiting is prolonged for another 2-3 years, then the plantation is uprooted, planting again 1-2-year-olds.
You can do otherwise. Lay off each 3-year-old currant bush at a distance of 1,5 m, so that a second, parallel row forms along the main one. 2-3 years after the creation of a branch (parallel to the main) row, old bushes of the main row can be removed. If you have one row of currants, then you can make 2 branch (parallel). Dig up the soil in the place of the old row, apply full fertilization and immediately lay the branch row in the place of the old one.
Here is the experience of M. Makarov, a gardener from Krasnoyarsk. He writes that for 15 years of such an alternation of rows, there were no pests and diseases, and young, healthy, strong currant plants gave 10-15 kg of large berries from a bush.
Currants are very moisture-loving, therefore, every 7-10 days, especially in a drought, it is necessary to water it thoroughly so that the entire root layer of the soil is saturated with water.
If you don't like pruning, you can limit yourself to the minimal: cut only diseased and broken branches. The earth, too, can not be loosened, since the roots of the currant are shallow. Apply fertilizers only superficially or in liquid form. The soil under the currant bushes after such an introduction of organic matter is fertile, "rich", a mass of roots is formed that feed the plant. Naturally, with such care, there is no need to talk about a bad harvest.
See also: Gooseberries and currants on the stem
AVAILABLE AND SIMPLE - CULTIVATION OF CURRANT. VIDEO
© Author: L. ROMEYSKAYA
Below other entries on the topic "Dacha and garden - with their own hands"
- Pruning black currant - how right?
- Features of growing currants in Siberia - varieties and care
- Currant rejuvenation according to the scheme "2 - early, 2 - medium, 2 - late"
- Red currant on the site (photo) benefit, cultivation and care
- Cultivation of golden currant (crandal) - planting and care
- Redcurrant variety "Sugar" my reviews and care
- Black currant in Siberia - varieties, planting and care (Irkutsk)
- Planting blackcurrant - pit preparation and further care
- Description and name of the best varieties of blackcurrant (photo) and their care
- Autumn planting of black currant - advice from a candidate of agricultural sciences
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It’s good when the vegetation at your dacha not only produces harvests, but also pleases the eye, including shrubs. They must be healthy and neat looking. For example, my husband and I formed red currant bushes in the shape of a fan.
With this formation, the branches are arranged in one row, so each leaf and berry receives enough sunlight. As a result, yields have increased dramatically, and picking berries has become much easier.
We formed our “fan” bush for two years.
The main thing is to plant an annual seedling on the south side of the fence. After this, we cut off the main stem with pruning shears, leaving it 15-20 cm high. We cut it down to two strong side shoots, which are directed in opposite directions. Then the husband stuck two bamboo sticks into the ground near the bush at an angle of 45 and tied a corresponding side shoot to each with wire.
In the summer, three strong branches were selected from the main stem and tied in the same way, continuing to form a fan. The following spring, the skeletal branches were cut in half, and the lateral branches were shortened, leaving one bud.
Now every spring we shorten the shoots a little to maintain the fan shape.
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To make currants or gooseberries grow like a small tree, I found an easy way. When planting an annual plant, I put a tube made of polyethylene or other material that does not transmit light on it. I bury its lower end 10 cm into the ground, and leave the upper end on the surface at the desired height above the soil. With this method, the bushes can be planted much closer to each other than usual.
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Few people know that black currants love starch. To make the bush happy with the harvest, you can prepare a special top dressing from the potato peel.
Pour boiling water over dried cuttings of tubers and let it brew. This top dressing is best applied during the flowering period. 1 liters of infusion should be poured under 3 bush.
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I really respect the currant. The best variety, in my opinion, is Vigorous, because it is resistant to many diseases and is not capricious in its care. But once, however, Yadrenaya malfunctioned. And it happened when we had a strong flood in the spring. The bushes sat in the water for several days and then became covered with powdery mildew. This was the first time this happened to them. What to do?
Since I try not to use chemistry until the last opportunity, I decided to treat it with a microbial solution of Bessarab for the sake of experiment. It is not for nothing that so many summer residents sing praises to him. And it turned out that he really deserved it! A couple of times I treated the bushes, and the disease disappeared. Now this drug is also in service with me.
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Blackcurrant has unexpectedly taken a time out this season. The berries were only on 2 bushes of a large-fruited late variety Dochka. And in the early varieties - several berries per bush. The conclusion is obvious: to acquire varieties of different ripening periods, so as not to be left without a crop at all.
And of course, it is imperative to carry out annual pruning and treatment for diseases, as well as fight kidney mites. After all, this pest carries a dangerous disease - the terry black currant, which leads to a complete lack of harvest.
But the red currant of the Uralskaya beauty variety was strewn with ruby berries so that three families were harvested from one bush. I just had to hide it from the birds under a thin covering material so that the crop would not "fly away".
N. VORONTSOVA