Black currant
Black currant came to us from the forest. It is still in the wild everywhere growing in the forests of Europe and Russia. Hence its requirements for growing conditions: a soil with a sufficient content of humus, weakly acidic or neutral, a small need for mineral elements, resistance to shading, winter hardiness and endurance.
Features of growing
What does black currant like? Low acidity, rich in humus, moisture and air permeable soils, solar location( although it can be tolerated with penumbra), phosphorus fertilizers and, most importantly, moist soil. Therefore, it is regularly watered all spring and early summer, especially in dry and windy weather. Stop watering only after the ovaries have fully grown and begun to stain. At this point, watering is harmful, since the berries can crack directly on the bushes from the excess water in the cell sap.
What does black currant dislike? A lot of lime, so it is better to make it gradually, in the form of watering lime milk once a season, if the soil is acidic. In addition, she does not like top dressing with potassium chloride, large doses of nitrogen, drying out of the upper soil layer, so the soil under the bushes should be kept in a loose state, regularly removing the weeds.
It would be nice to immediately cover the soil with currant in the spring( cover the soil).Usually, mulching materials are recommended to use peat or simply dry lumpy soil. But it can be moss sphagnum, and even just newspapers. Cover the newspapers with the soil under the bushes should be in the period of the appearance of the green cone and detachment of the buds( by the way, this simple technique will not allow pests to leave after wintering from the soil).At the time of flowering, newspapers should be removed, as useful insects come out to the soil surface at this time. After flowering, the newspapers are returned to the bushes, but already with the aim of preventing evaporation of moisture from the soil. Newspapers can be replaced with the remains of the old film from greenhouses, pieces of cardboard, roofing paper, but best of all - black loutrasilom, which allows you to do watering directly on the material. Black materials contribute to the rapid warming of the soil in spring and the awakening of the roots.
The choice of
For the North-West, the most suitable and unpretentious variety is the Karelian steaming( old Finnish grade Breadthorpe) and, accordingly, the grades obtained on the basis of the Karelian steaming. All of them are different in that.that they have a slightly lodging shape, the branches are slightly wavy and far apart. As soon as the branch lies on the ground, it immediately takes root, so the bush can grow very much in all directions. Under it should be propped. But all these shortcomings redeem fertility, large-fruited fruit, good taste qualities of berries, resistance to diseases and pests, genetic resistance of the variety. It still exists without any pruning and leaving on the old Finnish farms abandoned since 1945.At the same time, it fructifies well.
Karelian currant yields always, because the flowering period is stretched by almost two weeks, although some of the flowers go away from spring frosts. In addition, the lower branches bloom and those that are located in the center of the bush are as abundant as the peripheral ones. The ripening of the berries is also stretched, so the harvest has to be taken in several receptions. On the one hand, it is inconvenient for those who sell berries, but, on the other hand, it is very convenient for those who grow crops for themselves and their families. Firstly, berries can be taken off gradually, especially without bothering. Secondly, on the lower branches the harvest is still at the end of August, which makes it possible to weld the kisselek when there are no berries. This variety has one more advantage - it does not remain on the berries of sepals, so they are easy to process.
To early varieties are a good variety Primorsky champion and Seedling Doves. Middle-aged varieties include the Belarusian variety Minai Shmyrev, which has upright tall bushes, good yields, large tasty berries, but sometimes the variety is affected by mites. But it is resistant to most diseases, including to terry.
Medium varieties include Riddle, Izmaylovskaya, Karelskaya, Ornamental, Odzhebin, Pilot Alexander Mamkin and new varieties Volodinka, Binar, Belaya, Detskoselskaya. Almost all of them are resistant to diseases, including to terry, and to the kidney flare. Four last varieties have spreading bushes. More recently, for the Northwest, new varieties of Green Haze and Tralen have been zoned for medium-term maturation. The latest grade is Victory, but in the North-West conditions it is not winter hardy enough. His root system freezes under sudden frost, without snow, after a thaw.
Recently, varieties with exceptionally large, size with cherry, berries appeared. However, they are not yielding enough. This is a variety of Altai breeding, which is quite well established in the Northwest, Galinka and the northern variety of Vologda.
Black currant - a yielding crop, with good care from each bush you can shoot from 4 to 10 kg of berries. Therefore, my advice to you is: less is better, but better. Plant a few shrubs of good varieties and take good care of them, then you will be with a great harvest. For a family of 3-4 people, enough 3-4 bushes.
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Do not plant old varieties such as Golubka or Stakhanovka Altai. Do not bother with varieties that are highly prone to mildew disease in your area. In the Northwest is the Leningrad giant, sometimes the Belarusian sweet, in memory of Michurin( a variety is regionalized for the Non-Black Earth Region).Do not plant varieties that degenerate very quickly. These include such varieties as Zhukov's Memory, Vavilov's Memories, Space, Student, Bagheera, Black Pearl and Grape, a relatively new variety of Eureka, despite the fact that the last three varieties are large enough. It is also necessary to avoid such varieties that the kidney mite likes to attack, for it is rather difficult to combat it. To such a variety are varieties Dikovinka, Daughter, Imandra( by the way, this is the most winter-resistant variety), Nina, In Memory of Shukshin, Miraculous. Most importantly, the variety must be regionalized for your region.
Landing
The most suitable time for planting berry bushes and, in particular, currants is the end of August and beginning of September. If you purchased the planting material at the end of September, then follow the weather. If the fall is expected to be warm, then you can plant shrubs even in early October. In berry bushes, the root system continues to grow until late autumn. It will be necessary only to wrap up the soil under plantings, for this purpose it is enough to throw the weeds under weed, bushes of tomatoes or zucchini. If the autumn is cold, with early frosts, then it is better to prick the bushes horizontally until spring. And they should be planted in the very early spring. The planting place should be prepared immediately from autumn. Before planting, any plant should be put in water for a couple of hours so that the roots are saturated with water.
All shrubs, except raspberry and honeysuckle, should be planted obliquely, regardless of whether you plant a thin twig or a 2-3-stalk bush. When planting in the soil, the stems are buried so that there are 3 lower buds in the ground. Above the surface, too, only 3 buds are left. All the rest of the top of the bush is cut with a pruner.
Why is this done? That the bush does not begin to grow old prematurely, when in the spring will begin to open leaves due to nutritious juices in the stems. The root system affected by the transplantation will not have time to take root well and begin to provide the topsoil with the soil solution. Since the owner of each stem is its apical kidney, which pulls all the nutrients on itself, then with a weak root system, nutrition is sufficient only for this apical kidney. The branch does not form short, overgrown fruit twigs-pads, it is bare, the leaves of it are located only at the ends. That is, the bush grows old immediately, in the first year of planting, and therefore pruning is required when planting the bush to reduce the aerial part and remove the apical bud.
In addition, it is very important that several shoots immediately go out of the earth. Out of the buds buried in the soil, these additional shoots will develop. If the bush is planted vertically, then it will have as many shoots as you have planted, even if it is sloughed when planted in the soil. Such a vertically planted bush will not yield large harvests for the first few years.
When the next year, an inclined planted bush will grow new branches, you will see that on each planted stalk grows two lateral branches. As soon as the growth bud at the end of each branch is removed, two lateral shoots begin to develop from the two buds closest to it, located on the branch below the cutting site. Therefore, in autumn you will shorten all lateral branchlets grown over the summer, leaving only three kidneys each. The same procedure will have to be repeated again. Now you have completely completed the formation of the bush, and instead of 1-3 planted stems, you have a bush with a large number of branches on each shoot coming from the ground.
What should I do if the bush is planted incorrectly?
If the bush is young, then it is necessary to deeply insert a shovel from the south side of the bush, raise the bush, tilting the crown to the north, pour the soil into the cavity formed and cover the bottom of the stems with earth. It is better to do it in the early spring. Cut all the branches one third of their length.
If the bush is old, then all the lower branches should be pinned to the soil, first making a carnation groove on the stem cortex for faster rooting. You can pour "Kornevin".To the place of rooting does not dry up, pour a moist soil on top and cover this place with a film so that it does not blow the wind. Stones should not be placed.
There is a special way of planting shrubs in the form of a bush, when the bush is specially formed as a tree. Then he is planted vertically, removing all shoots except one. It is shortened immediately when planted, leaving 3-4 kidneys above the ground. Then next spring again shorten all the branches one third of the length, repeat the shortening trimming again next spring.
After 3-4 years, the branches are rejuvenated, cutting the obsolete to the main vertical trunk. Emerging "tops"( vertically growing young shoots from the axils of the leaves) are shortened by one-third. This tree will bear fruit for 5-6 years.then it becomes obsolete, and the crop falls. The yield of berries on the stem form of a plant is always much lower than on a bush.
If the root system of the seedlings is weak, it is not bad to water the plant with a solution of "Kornevin" after planting, which accelerates the process of formation of new roots.
The key to success is not only in the correct planting, but also in well-prepared soil. Black currant has a superficial root system, so it does not need deep planting holes. It is best to plant the currant in one row along the border of the site. First, it will be easy to take care of, and secondly, it will close you from your neighbor's eyes. With this planting, do not dig individual landing holes, but dig a solid trench, if you plant several bushes at once.
If your area is flooded with water, then it is better to arrange the currant bushes on a continuous ridge that rises above the soil level by about 15-20 cm. Dernina, removed from the soil, is better to be removed or protected by trenches, spreading down the edges of the sod. Previously, it is necessary to remove from it all the roots and rhizomes of perennial weeds.
Dug a trench with a depth of only 20-25 cm fill with a well-rotten compost or the manure. Black currant prefers weakly acidic soils, pH 5.1-5.5, although it even tolerates acidic soil. If your soil is acidic, and even more strongly acidic, then in the landing pit should be made deoxidizer, which will be long in the soil to work. For this, lime-puschka does not suit: it dissolves in water all at once and is immediately washed out by rains from the upper soil layer to the lower ones. It is better to use dolomite or chalk, gypsum, old cement, old or dry plaster. You can use the egg shell, which should be pre-grinded.
If you use ashes, you should know that the calcium contained in it is also quickly washed out with water and you will have to make ash every year. Deoxidizing materials should be made in accordance with your soil. How to determine what you have for soil and how much and what deoxidizing material you need to make in it, I already wrote in detail in the book on agricultural technology "How to plant, so sing".
Blackcurrant belongs to the group of phosphorus plants. The total removal of it from the soil with a yield of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium from each square meter per season( agronorm) is only 27 g. So it can be attributed to economical plants. Balance( ratio between these elements in%) 41: 22: 37. In most plants belonging to two other groups( nitrogen-lovers and potassium-lovers), the consumption of phosphorus does not exceed 15-16% in the balance, and in the currant this figure is 22%.Therefore, when planting in a landing pit, phosphorus fertilizer should be introduced. It is enough 2 tbsp.spoons of double granulated superphosphate. When planting it is recommended to make an additional 1 tbsp.a spoonful of urea and potassium, which does not contain chlorine.
This recommendation is not suitable for the North-West. Potassium and nitrogen, which are readily soluble in water, are washed out from the soil into the lower layers during autumn planting. By spring, these fertilizers will not be available for currant roots. In winter, the roots of plants do not absorb anything from the soil, they have a long winter vacation. Therefore, during autumn planting, only phosphorus should be added. Nitrogen and a half dose of potassium should be added in spring after the spring frosts pass.
Sometimes it is advised to land the bushes after planting, especially after a late planting. This can be done with the indispensable condition that in the early spring, as soon as the weather permits, you will unravel the planted bushes. The fact is that the currant starts growing early in spring and the young roots will sprout immediately in the incubated part, since it will warm up more quickly with soil than the one in the zone of the main roots. At the same time, the growth of the main part of the roots will be delayed. And because this soil will quickly dry through, then the roots will dry up or become frozen the next winter. Currant will lose some of the new root system, which is undesirable for a young plant.
Top dressing
In dressing, black currant needs a moment of intensive growth of the ovaries. At this time, all plants generally need micronutrients. In addition, all plants, including black currant, should be fed immediately after fruiting, because at that moment they lay the next year's crop. Therefore, as soon as the ovaries began to grow, the bushes should be sprinkled with a solution of microelements. The best is for this purpose "Uniflor-micro"( 2 teaspoons per 10 liters of water).Immediately after fruiting, you should feed the bushes with phosphorus and the second half of the dose of potassium( under each bush of black currant you need to add 1 tablespoon of double granulated superphosphate and chlorine free potassium to Yul water).Fertilizers are applied to watering if dry weather is available. But if it rains, it is better to spread the fertilizer on wet soil dry, and then slightly to loosen it in the ground.
What if there is no fertilizer, lime or dolomite? It is absolutely not to be upset and bring under each bush in spring on a half-liter can of ashes, but not in the center of the bush, but along the perimeter of the crown and even 20-25 cm further, because that's where the bulk of sucking roots of black currant is located. In mid-August, this dressing will be repeated. And late autumn( in the North-West in late October) sprinkle the perimeter of the crowns of each bush in the bucket of pereprevshego compost.
Should I feed the black currant, planted on the fertilizer AVA?No, because fertilizer has everything necessary for the growth and development of plants, including microelements. There is no nitrogen in the fertilizer, but it is not required, since the nitrogen-fixing bacteria living in the upper soil layer adequately supply the plants with nitrogen. Particularly turbulent nitrogen-fixing agents develop in soils when fertilizer AVA is introduced into them. In addition, black currant in large doses of nitrogen does not need.
The next application of this fertilizer will take only three years. Then you will make a circular groove around the bush along the perimeter of the crown with a depth of 5-6 cm and evenly pour into the groove 1 - 1.5 st.spoons of fertilizer, then seal it in the soil. In the next three years, no additional fertilizing with mineral fertilizers will be required. AVA works only in soil, so fertilizer should not be spread over the surface. For the North-West it is especially valuable in that it does not dissolve in water and, therefore, does not wash out into the lower layers. Fertilizer slowly melts like a candy, gradually giving everything that it contains, to the soil solution. In this case, the return of the elements only occurs until the temperature of the soil has dropped below 8 degrees of heat, that is, while the roots of the plants are working. In the winter, when perennials are at rest and do not take anything from the soil, the AVA is not wasted and is not lost in vain, as is the case with conventional mineral fertilizers.
Landing on "Aquadon" or hydrogel makes it possible to water bushes once every two to three weeks for two years, which greatly facilitates the work on the site. After two years, the polymer crumb, from which "Aquadon" and "Hydrogel" consist, decomposes in the soil into carbon dioxide and water.
Reproduction of
Black currant is propagated with seeds, last year's cuttings( lignified cuttings), green cuttings that have grown this year, with layers. You can, of course, divide the bush, but this is the surest way to ruin a good bush.
Seeds should be planted immediately after picking berries so that this place is not scored by weeds. In the autumn of next year, young seedlings can already be planted in a schoolchild until they do not bloom and give berries. Then it is necessary to make a selection according to the taste and size of the berries. In the offspring there is a splitting, so you can get at all not what you sowed.
Cuttings of last year are taken in early May from the ends of branches, that is, from last year's increments. They should be thick and long with a pencil. The lower end is cut obliquely, and the upper end is cut straight. Take off all the leaves. In a specially prepared anthrax they are planted obliquely, by dipping the three lower buds into the sand. Then all the cuttings are covered with a film stretched over the arcs. The main thing is, the shroud should not be located in the sun and there must always be moist air and soil in it. For this, sand is watered every evening, and cuttings are sprinkled with water. As soon as new leaves appear, cuttings have taken root and the film can be removed. In autumn they can already be transplanted. With this method of reproduction, all parental properties are, of course, preserved.
Green cuttings are taken from the current year's gains at the end of July and planted in a dumplings in the same way. But after the film is removed, the cuttings are not transplanted, but left to grow until the next fall in the same place. Usually plants grown from cuttings bloom for the second year.
How to make a cherry? Choose a suitable place in the shade or in the penumbra. Dig up by selecting the roots and rhizomes of perennial weeds. Add a well-rotted compost or manure. Abundantly watered. On top of pour washed sand height of about 10-12 cm. Here in this sand and we stick sticks.
You can bend one of the lower branches, pinned it to the ground, making a few scratches on the bark beforehand. Do not press the branch with stones, you need to make wooden slingshots. Place prikopki must always be in moist soil. Therefore, you must top it with a damp soil and cover it with a film so that it does not dry out. The upper part of the prikopannoy branches are not cut. The following year, the entrenched branch is separated from the mother's bush and transplanted into place. The brood blossoms in the same year.
Care
First of all, you need watering - at least 2-3 buckets per bush a week in the absence of rain. I remind you that watering all the plants should be done in the evening, so that during the night moisture can penetrate the root zone. If you water the plants in the morning and, especially, in the daytime, the moisture, before it has absorbed into the soil, will evaporate from the surface of the earth. Such watering can be recommended only as a physical exercise. In addition, do not pour water into the center of the bush. Firstly, there are no sucking roots, and secondly, in the soil around the stems gaps are formed, in which the water penetrates the fall and then freezes into frosts, which will have a bad effect on the plant's health. Watering should be done around the perimeter of the crown.
First, immediately when planting a bush, put directly under the roots 1 cup of "Aquadon", 1 tbsp.a spoonful of granulated AVA fertilizer and 1 glass of ash. Then it is good to water, but so that it does not wash off all this with water. Plant the bush obliquely, as mentioned above, and once again gently, slowly, water it."Aquadon" gives an opportunity to not think about irrigation for three weeks, and AVA fertilizer is generally introduced once every three years, so that about fertilizing, including micronutrients.
The soil under the bushes is not mulched and fall in the fall do not bring them organic. Why? Yes, because weed is not weeded out, but cut off with Fokine's flat-top cutter, burying it in the soil for about 2 cm. Cutted weeds are located right there under the bushes and around them, only slightly shoveling them from the center of the bush to its periphery.
Any other suitable tool can be used for this work, only it should be well sharpened, since it is very difficult to shave the weeds with a blunt tool, and it is easy to sharp it.
What does this give? Cut weeds become a kind of mulch and protect the soil from drying, from unnecessary watering. Cut off the top layer of the earth replaces the loosening of the soil under the bushes. The weeds left under the bush, gradually rotting, give organic fertilizer, and it is not required to bring organic materials into the bushes in the fall. In addition, do not weed the weeds and carry them on the compost pile. Experience quite accurately shows that with perennial weeds it is easiest to fight, depressing them, that is, constantly cutting off the aboveground part. They are dying already in one season. Weeding leads to their increased reproduction, since from each remaining fragment of the root or rhizome of the weed immediately new plants begin to appear again.
Do not believe me - check. Cut one of the two dandelions growing next to each other, dipping the instrument 2 to 3 cm into the soil, and dig a second with a scoop and pull it out with the root. After three weeks, see what has grown. You will see that on the site of the cut dandelion one plant has grown, and on the place of the excavated - the whole company. In addition, observations show that digging up the soil is generally harmful, and under bushes and trees - doubly.
Why, then, recommend to dig trunks? Basically, then, to get rid of pests that hibernate in the soil under the plants. In addition, to loosen the compacted soil. Loosening retains moisture in the soil and allows cutting irrigation, so loosening is also recommended to do several times during the summer. Regular loosening forces the roots to go into deeper layers of the soil.
However, loosening and digging up of the soil under plantings undoubtedly harms the sucking part of the root system of plants, especially such as black currant, in which the roots are located shallow from the surface. And all these works are far from easy, and in fact they can be avoided if we systematically( approximately three times per season) cut weeds growing under all plantings and around them. This also requires labor, but in a much smaller amount than those that are usually recommended for doing on the site. If you look under the cut weeds in a couple of weeks, you will see a large number of earthworms that came to feed on the decaying remains of plants and their roots. You will undoubtedly notice that the soil under the weeded weeds is loose and damp. This approach greatly simplifies the work on the site.
Pruning black currant
All pruning is best done in the spring or early summer, but not in August or early September, because with early autumn pruning at the ends of the branches will go to
growth of young shoots that will die in winter. When late autumn pruning, in November, through the wounds can be frostbite. And in either case the ends of the branches will again have to be cut off next spring. Why do double work? But in October, you can do pruning.
If the branches grow inside the bush, they only thicken the bush, but do not bear fruit, therefore, they should be cut. If the branches cross, then one of them should also be cut. If root shoots do not grow, then one must make a strong pruning of several branches, shortening them by about a third of the length. If this shortening does not help, it is necessary to break the balance between the above-ground part and the roots, cutting one or two weak branches to the ground. Roots will be more powerful than the aerial part, and in order to restore balance, they will immediately push out of the soil a new radical shoot.
In an adult bush of black currant( which is 5-6 years old) there should be approximately 12-15 shoots of different ages. How to achieve this? Regular( annual) cutting out of obsolete stems. As soon as you cut out the old stem to the ground without leaving a hemp, a new root shoot appears from the soil, which should be shortened next spring, leaving only three or four kidneys above the ground. If too many root offspring appear, then you should leave no more than two years per year, the rest should be deleted.
The main indicator for pruning is the increase in the current year. If it is weak and small( about 10 cm), then you need to go down the branch to the point where a lot of fruit pads grow or a strong top grows( it always appears if the top of the branch does not matter) and cut the top of the branch tothis place. Black currant fruit mainly on the gains of last year. They are clearly visible - they are lighter than the rest of the branches.
How to distinguish an old stem from a young one? First, he has an old gray bark. Secondly, there are practically no berries on the old shoot. This is clearly visible in the spring, as there are no flower brushes on the old shoots. On the branches you can see the rings - indicators of the number of years. Branches older than 5-6 years must be removed annually, otherwise the crops fall.
How to rejuvenate an old bush? If the bush is more than 20-25 years old, then it must be uprooted and burned, no rejuvenation can help. If the bush is about 15-17 years old, then first you need to cut out about a third of the stems, to the very bottom. From the appeared shoots of substitution it is necessary to leave the three strongest, the rest to cut. Next year, another third of the old branches should be cut out and again no more than three new replacement shoots should be left. And only in the third year to remove all the other old stems. Cut the entire bush immediately undesirable, although it is possible.
If in the center of the bush grow thin, radical shoots, then immediately they must be cut without leaving hemp. Weak, thin twigs must also be removed, cutting them to the point of attachment to a thicker branch. Now you should carefully look at this branch, more precisely, on its upper part. If the upper part of the stem has few pads( small fruit branches located along the entire stem), then it must also be cut off.
Berries grow smaller, therefore, the bush grows old, if new root shoots do not appear from the ground( shoots of zero order).Their appearance causes a strong pruning. After any pruning, all cut parts must be burned immediately.
Pests and diseases
Typical diseases
The most terrible disease is an incurable viral disease - sweating. It is easy to determine during flowering. Usually, the flowers of black currant with white rounded petals, and in patients with the swallowing of shrubs, the flowers deform and the petals resemble the narrow tentacles of squid, dirty-pink, stretched forward. The ovary that forms from them is stripped. You should not just cut a branch with such flowers - you must immediately uproot the whole bush and burn it. At this point, you can not plant black currant for 4-5 years. If you leave a diseased bush, there is a high probability of ruining the entire plantation, as the disease is carried by insects with their saliva from one plant to another.
Another common disease is American powdery mildew( spherote).First of all, it appears on young leaves growing in the middle of summer( in the North-West in July), in the form of a white coating. Then goes on to the berries and old leaves, which darken, twist and die. This is a fungal disease. Spores of the fungus hibernate on the affected parts of the bushes. The easiest way to fight any diseases is good care. Damaged mainly weakened plants.
In spring, on young leaves, and then two weeks later on young ovaries, bushes can be sprayed with one of the chemical preparations: Vectra, Topaz, Colloidal Sulfur, diluted according to instructions, or with a 0.1% solution of coppervitriol, or Bordeaux liquid, or copper chloride( 1 tsp for 5-7 liters of water).You can use iodine, for which one bottle of 5% iodine( 10 ml) is diluted in 10 liters of water. Make a small birch whisk and "spank" the bushes from the top to the bottom with a solution of iodine. Three days later, the "execution" is repeated( the iodine solution can stand for several days in a closed container), or the bushes are sprayed with a solution of "Phytosporin".As already mentioned above, "Fitosporin" is not a chemical preparation and it is not absorbed by leaves and berries( they can be washed and eat right after spraying).And because this drug, along with iodine, is preferable to others. Spraying is carried out systematically, once a month, starting in mid-May.
If you have fresh manure, especially horse, then you can avoid disease and attack pests. In June, just throw in the center of the bush from above one shovel of manure, in which bacteria develop that destroy pathogens of powdery mildew. There is another innocuous old-fashioned way: regularly wash the tops of bushes with a soap solution, or diluted in water kefir, or whey from curdled milk. It is possible before flowering and immediately after flowering to spray the bushes with a solution of drinking or calcined soda( 3 tablespoons of any of them for 10 liters of water).Since the leaves of black currant poorly wet, then for better adhesion in the solution, add a little of any soap( 40 g).
Disease contributes to the introduction of nitrogen under the bushes and watering infusion of weeds( one shovel manure in the center of the weather bush does not).Affected powdery mildew ends of branches are clearly visible - they turn black. They must be cut off early in the spring, because they still perished, but at the same time they are a breeding ground for the spherote. Since powdery mildew begins on young leaves, at the ends of branches, then, as soon as the berries begin to ripen, make a pinch of the tips of branches( plucking the growth bud).
In the early spring, immediately after the leaves are fully blossomed, the goby rust can migrate to the black currant, which usually hibernates on the sedge. It manifests itself in the form of convex orange warts. Spores mature on the underside of the leaf, then spread out further. There is another similar disease - columnar rust, hibernating in coniferous crops, mostly on pine. It manifests itself in the form of small yellow-orange dots on the leaves. If no measures are taken, the spores of the fungus can spread throughout the leaf, and it will turn yellow whole, and then fall off. Control measures are the same as with a glass of rust.
In the middle of summer red-brown spots usually appear on the leaves of the black currant, which then merge into solid spots. The leaves, starting from the lower ones, become brown and fall prematurely. This is anthracnose. The fungus that causes this disease hibernates on the remains of leaves. Therefore, they should be sprinkled immediately after the appearance of the disease with "Phytosporin" and repeat the spraying at the end of the summer. Usually, the leaves are recommended to either clean or bury them in the soil under the bushes. I'm just spraying late autumn, when the temperature drops to 8 degrees Celsius, the whole garden, including black currant bushes, and the soil under bushes and trees with a very high concentration of urea( 700 g per 10 liters of water).This spraying destroys the pathogens of fungal and bacterial diseases, as well as all pests that winter in branch forks and fallen leaves. Spraying should be repeated in the early spring, even before the beginning of the sap movement( in the Northwest - in late March or early April).
As mentioned above, all shrubs are very useful in spring, on young leaves, sprayed with "Zircon" and "Epin-exstra."
Take each of them 2 drops and dissolve in 1 liter of water. Spraying "Zircon" should be repeated at the end of summer."Zircon" strengthens the resistance of plants to any disease, and "Epin-extra" - to any unfavorable weather conditions.
Sometimes, especially on the old bark, small orange dots appear. It's a mushroom that settles on dying wood. You just need to cut out the aging branches and burn them.
Attention! All spraying should be done in the evening, in calm weather, without wind and rain. Rain should not be at least three hours after spraying. Widely used dousing of bushes with boiling water in the early spring - the work is titanic and completely useless.
The main pest of
The mite, whose females penetrate the kidneys, causing their swelling. These round, thick, large buds are clearly visible on the bare branches in autumn, after the fall of the foliage, and in the spring, before it bursts. Take them from the branches and burn them. This is the simplest and most effective method. If there are many kidneys on the branch, then it should be cut out entirely and burned. If the most part of the bush is infected, then it must be cut off all under the root, and also burned. Growing from the shoots of substitution on this site a new bush usually happens without a mite. If you miss the moment when the buds on the currant will open, then out of them will come vagrants who will move to new kidneys. It should be noted that up to 5-10 thousand mite larvae can be present in one kidney!
You can cover each bush with a film, tying it around the base of the bushes, and inside burn the sulfur checker. You can spray the bush with one of the chemical sucking drugs against ticks: Apollo, Neuron, Danitol, Mavrik, which, of course, is highly undesirable in a small area of six hundred. You can use one of the biopreparations: "Fitoverm" or "Agravertin"( "Iskra-bio").On ticks, there are absolutely no external anti-gnawing insects: Inta-vir, Kinmix, Karate, Decis, Sumi-Alpha, Fury and stronger Sherpa, Tsimbush" and so on. So do not poison the world around you and yourself, which is completely in vain.
Of other pests, most often black currant sawfly attacks the currant. The pest appears at the time of the formation of large ovaries and lays eggs on them. The larvae develop within the growing ovaries, eating seeds in them. Berries prematurely ripen, they are well visible at this moment. We must collect and destroy them. If this is not done, the caterpillar will gnaw out the peel, come out, go down on the cobweb to the soil and go into it for the winter. Since the larva develops at a time when there are already green berries, then no pesticides can be used, but you can apply "Fitoverm" or "Agravertin" if you do not have time to collect prematurely ripened large ribbed berries.
Another common pest - gooseberries. Pupae of fireflies hibernate in the upper layer of the soil, right under the bushes of black currant or gooseberry. Before the flowering, butterflies emerge from them, which come to the surface and lay their eggs on the flowers. The larvae bite into the ovaries and eat them, then go on to the next berries, and each of them can damage up to 6-8 berries of gooseberries or up to 10-15 berries of black currant. These berries.braided by cobwebs, are clearly visible, the main thing is to collect them on time. If in the previous summer the fire was damaged significantly, then in the spring, before the flowering, the bushes can be processed with "Carbophos", or cover the soil under the bushes with newspapers, film, so as not to let the butterflies come to the surface. But immediately after the beginning of flowering the shelter should be removed in order to release useful insects.
You can use the biologics "Fitoverm", "Iskra-bio"( or "Agravertin").Try another grandfather's method. In the late autumn, bushes should be rounded up or covered with peat to a height of 8-10 cm, and in spring, immediately after flowering, they should be bored.
There is another common common pest for gooseberries and black currants - gooseberry moth. Smart, white day butterfly, with a scattering of black and yellow spots on the wings. It appears in June-July, laying eggs on the underside of the leaves. Nascent caterpillars eat leaves, mostly on gooseberry, but do not disdain the leaves of black and red currants. Caterpillars are grayish, with a yellow belly and characteristic black quadrangular patches on the back. Pupation in the middle of summer in spider webs that hang on bushes. The simplest thing is to remove the cocoons and destroy them. A good method of fighting with moths is the autumn spraying of the garden with urea. Of course, you can proprietarily spray currants and gooseberries "Fitoverm", as soon as a noticeable butterfly flashed or you discovered its caterpillars.
Very bad wrecker of black currant - a glass beet, a breeding ground of which is common bird cherry. Therefore, you can not keep it on or near the site. However, it is possible to grow on a site hybrid bird cherries - Verginskaya and Red Chinese. Mass flight of this inconspicuous little butterfly goes during the flowering of raspberries. At this point, and should take protective measures. To do this, it is enough to sprinkle black currant bushes with any decoction or infusion with a strong smell, for example, pine needles, tansy, onion husks, wormwood, stepchings of tomatoes. It is possible to spread out among the bushes of black currant stepson tomatoes or put coniferous branches.(They can be stored until this time in the shade from the north side of the house after you removed them from roses, clematis and other cover crops.)
An alien smell, mixed with the familiar smell of the host plant, the breadwinner, disorientates the pest and it flies bypast your bushes. The pest also loves his offspring and does not want to doom him to starvation, laying his eggs on a plant with a dubious smell. And what if it is not suitable for his favorite children? Therefore, it is better to look for a reliable breadwinner for the offspring.
Females lay up to 60 eggs each, usually near cracks or damages on the bark of branches. The nascent caterpillar gnaws through the wood and then eats out the core of the branch, gradually descending to the very bottom. The first winter, it usually hibernates inside a branch. In spring, the damaged branch is immediately visible, as the flowers or berries on it dry out, and then begins to wither and wither itself. If the pruner begins to gradually cut off such a branch, then a black core is visible. Gradually cut the branch until you reach the clean wood, to which the caterpillar has not yet reached.
Somewhere among the cut pieces she is. All pieces of branches should be burned, if desired, the caterpillar can be found inside the cut stems. It is quite large, about 2-2.5 cm, white, with a beige head. If you cut the stem to the ground and all the time it had a black core, the caterpillar already left the stem and went out to pupate. Spraying "Fitoverm" after flowering black currant is excellent against this pest. So if you notice shrunken flowers or berries and found a black core on the stalk cut, then simply spray the bush and, especially, the shrinking branch of "Phyto Vertex".
Gallitis is a small mosquito, adult larvae of which hibernate directly iodine bush, in the soil. Flower gall midges fly out during budding, leafy - at the beginning of flowering, and shoot - during the mass flowering of black currant. All species of gall midges strongly inhibit the bush, causing the growth and development of shoots to cease, and then the shrinking of the branches. Flowers usually acquire a reddish color and fall off, not giving ovaries. Before flowering bushes can be sprayed with "Carbophos" or "Fufanon", and during the growing season, use "Phyto-farm".
Escaping aphids can also attack the currant. Do not use strong chemical poisons against aphids. Aphids are sucking insects, so sucking drugs should be used against it, and "Fitoverm" or "Iskra-bio" is best suited for this. But you can do with simple means. Because aphids have very delicate covers, it's enough to burn them to destroy it. You can use for this purpose infusion of pine needles or take 3 tbsp.spoons without the top of the urea and add the manganese to a bright pink color and sprinkle. And even better, just rinse all the ends of branches, as aphids always suck the juices from the youngest leaves and shoots, and they are at the ends. Tlie can not be destroyed at once. The flying female will fly from somewhere and immediately lay off hundreds of eggs, of which adults will grow in a week and also lay off hundreds of eggs, so it is necessary to fight aphids weekly, except when using "Fitoverm".This drug is absorbed and keeps the defense against all sucking and gnawing pests for about three weeks.
Aphids have natural pests: predatory gall midges, as well as ladybugs and their larvae. As soon as the aphids become too much, larvae of the ladybug now appear. Often gardeners take them for pests and destroy them. Larvae about 7-8 mm long, black or dark gray, with orange spots on the sides. They, like the ladybugs themselves, eat the aphid and its eggs. These are our greatest assistants. If the bushes are sprayed with "Fitoverm", pests that have tasted leaves or juice, after two hours after sprinkling, cease to feed, as "Fitoverm" causes them paralysis of the gastrointestinal tract, and two days later they die from hunger. If ladybugs or other useful insects or birds eat such insects, nothing will happen to them, but if you use pesticides in the garden to fight any pests, including aphids, this will certainly lead to the mass death of our assistants. Populations of pests, especially aphids, will recover much faster than populations of useful insects, let alone birds. So, when you try to poison enemies, you poison friends!
Among the pests of the black currant is a false fence, which sucks the juices out of the bark. It is clearly visible on branches in the form of convex commas of a lighter color than the bark. If you scrape it with a knife, then do not forget to spread a piece of film in the form of a baby bib in the bush so that the fallen shards can then be collected and burned. If this is not done, then they again crawl from the soil to the ends of the branches. The scabbards have a strong shell-chitinous cover that protects against enemies and pesticides, but it does not save them from "Fitoverm".It also does not save from spraying with a concentrated urea solution in late autumn.
Black currant is quite frost-resistant. Its crown and growth buds can withstand frosts to -40 degrees, flower buds - up to -35 degrees, but the roots stand only -15 degrees below zero. Buds are stored up to 5 degrees below zero, and open flowers are up to 3 degrees. The most vulnerable young ovaries, which can withstand only 2 degrees of frost. If, after a frosty winter, the wood on the cut is dark, then it died from too low a temperature and the branch should be cut gradually, to a healthy white wood.
Useful Properties
Black currant berries are a storehouse of vitamins, organic acids, necessary for the human body, micro- and macro elements. Berries and even leaves of black currant have anti-inflammatory, diuretic, diaphoretic, fortifying effect. It is very useful for black currant with beriberi, cough, bronchitis, kidney and liver colic, with gastritis, atherosclerosis, hypertension. It is very useful to add fresh or dry leaves of black currant to tea. For drying, young leaves are harvested after harvesting. In spring, when trimming bushes, you need to collect the cut branches and put them into the water. Blossoming on them leaves and flowers is useful to put in tea.
However, there are also caveats: like all dark-colored berries, black currant thickens the blood, so elderly people should not be too bent on this berry. It is not without reason that there is a suggestion that the white currant grow for itself, red for the children and black for the grandchildren.
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There is an elegant relative of black currant - golden currant. Its name is for the petals of flowers, having a yellow color. In spring, the long yellow flower brushes look very elegant. The leaves of this currant are smaller and more rounded. Currant this one does not have pests and is practically not affected by diseases. Everything would be just fine, but here
only it does not have the taste, nor the aroma of black currant. Grapes of small, mediocre taste of berries of a big crop do not give. In addition, the golden currant is a cross-pollinated plant. So if you want berries, please plant at least two bush. It is usually used as a decorative shrub, not berry.