How to grow currants in a summer cottage

Recommendation points

• Selection of varieties
• Choosing a place for planting currants
• Black currant
• Red and white currants
• How to plant currants
• Propagation by vertical layers
• Reproduction by dividing the bush
• Planting seedlings
• Caring for black currants after planting
• Caring for red and white currants after planting
• Currant diseases and methods of struggle

Not a single personal plot is complete without currants, about the benefits of which a lot has been said. What is the difference between varieties of black currant and red and white, how to grow and care for it, how to increase productivity? This and much more will be discussed in this article..

Black currant – the leader in the content of ascorbic acid. The bush can bear fruit for up to 7 years. Susceptible to damage by pests, does not tolerate frost.

Red Ribes – the berries contain a lot of vitamin A, unpretentious in care, frost-resistant. Fruiting for at least 12 years.

White currant does not occur very often. Its berries are like grapes, it is sweeter than red. More resistant to disease, tolerates frost well.

Golden (silver) currant, often called yellow gooseberries, the berries are very sweet. Its bushes are often used as a hedge and to decorate the site..

Selection of varieties

All varieties multiply in different ways and require individual care. Therefore, it is important to know which varieties are preferable to choose, how to plant, care for and fight diseases and pests..

The most popular early varieties of black currant

Variety	Description of berries	Characteristic	Frost resistance	Disease and pest resistance
Curiosity	Oval berries, medium size up to 2 g	The bush is sparse, semi-spreading. Productivity is high	It is resistant to frost. Poor drought tolerance	Resistant to powdery mildew
The little Prince	Berries are dark, juicy up to 1.8 g	The bush is low, medium spreading	Tolerates frost and heat well	Resistant to all diseases
Overture	Berries are dark blue, small up to 1.2 g	The bush is compact, not spreading	Not afraid of frost, does not tolerate drought	Affected by spider mites
Aleander	Berries are large, dark up to 3.2 g	The bush is large, spreading, arched branches	Frost-resistant, drought-resistant	Rarely affected by spider mites

Popular mid-late blackcurrant varieties

Variety	Description of berries	Characteristic	Frost resistance	Disease and pest resistance
Openwork	Berries black, oval up to 2.7 g	The bush is tall, slightly spreading, with thick strong branches	Resistant to frost, weather changes, does not suffer from heat	Resistant to anthracnose, powdery mildew. Affected by a kidney mite
Bolero	Berries are black, large up to 2.4 g	Medium-sized bush, thickened, spreading	Frost resistant	Resistant to anthracnose, powdery mildew. Affected by a kidney mite
Black Pearl	Berries are large, odorless up to 2.5 g	Medium bush with small leaves	Frost resistant	Anthracnose resistant. Affected by powdery mildew and terry

The most popular late varieties of black currant

Variety	Description of berries	Characteristic	Frost resistance	Disease and pest resistance
Daughter	Large oval berries up to 6.5 g	Low bush, slightly spreading	It tolerates frost and drought well	Disease resistant
Dubrovskaya	Berries are black, large, up to 2.5 g	The bush is low, compact	Resistant to all weather conditions	Occasionally affected by powdery mildew
Bagheera	Berries are round, small, sweet, up to 1.2 g	Medium bush	High frost resistance	Resistant to anthracnose and terry. Affected by powdery mildew

Popular varieties of red and white currants

Variety	Description	Specifications	Sustainability
Natalie	The berries are red, large and medium. Vigorous bush thick shoots	Mid-season	Winter hardy, resistant to fungal infections
Smolyaninova	Berries are white, medium-sized, sweet and sour	Mid-season	Winter hardy, resistant to pests and diseases
Yuterbogskaya	Cream colored berries. Dense bushes	Mid-season	Resistant to frost and disease
Generous	The berries are red, small, sweet and sour	Early ripe	Not resistant to disease, afraid of severe frosts
Early ripening	The berries are red, small, sweet and sour	Early ripe	Winter hardy, high yielding, disease resistant

Choosing a place for planting currants

Black currant

Despite the fact that black currant is winter-hardy, it is afraid of cold winter winds and hot dry winds, so the most successful place for planting it will be a garden, or another place on the site where there are still shrub plantations. It should be noted that black currant does not like shade, despite the requirement for the neighborhood of other shrubs.

This is interesting: before, black currants were called waterlogs, because they grew along the banks of rivers.

It is recommended to grow it in places with slight swampiness, but it is undesirable to plant it in areas above 1 m from the groundwater level. The same applies to wetlands without runoff and those where water is retained after precipitation..

Red and white currants

Red currants love sun and free space. It can be planted in the garden itself or in other open areas and even on well-ventilated hills. If you decide to plant red or white currants in rows, then the distance between the bushes should be at least 1.5–2 m. Neighborhood with black is undesirable, but it does not conflict with other varieties of red, white currants and gooseberries.

Red currant prefers slightly acidic loamy soils and enhanced fertilizing with potash fertilizers.

How to plant currants

Like gooseberries, currants propagate by cuttings and layering: horizontal, arcuate, and by dividing the bush.

Propagation by vertical layers

In spring or summer, young branches are chosen on the bush, cut them, leaving 5-10 cm from the soil level. Shoots will soon appear from the shortened column (from the lower buds). After the shoots have reached 15 cm, they must be covered with fertilized moist soil. As the new stem grows, additional hilling is carried out.

Care is required throughout the season: watering, loosening and weeding. In the fall, roots will appear on the stalk covered by the ground. The bush is dug up and a new shoot with roots is cut off with a secateurs.

Reproduction by dividing the bush

In the fall, the currant bush must be dug out, separated (broken / cut) young stems together with the roots and immediately transplanted to a permanent place.

Planting seedlings

Currants can be planted in the fall, when the seedlings already have strong roots and stems. There are no particular differences in planting red and black currants. Pits should be prepared in advance, 3-4 weeks before planting. In addition to the fact that the soil in this area must be fertilized from the summer, the pits (60×60) must be filled with humus (not compost), mineral fertilizers must be added, all this must be covered with earth removed from the top layer when digging a hole – it is the most fertile. Then fill the prepared areas with water until mushy, mix with a shovel and sprinkle with dry leaves.

After 3-4 weeks, you can start planting. Saplings are suitable for one / two years old, with roots 15–20 cm and sprouts no higher than 30–40 cm. The bushes are planted at a slight slope, the stems should be fan-shaped. A seedling with pre-cut dried roots, put in a hole (on top of the fertilized layer), pour unfertilized soil on top and water. After the bush takes root, it must be cut off, leaving 3-4 healthy buds. Before the onset of cold weather, the bushes should be watered periodically, and with the onset of frost, covered with straw.

The formation of a bush and pruning of stems is of great importance for the currant harvest. This increases the plant’s resistance to diseases and does not allow the fruit to shrink. In the first year, currants are not pruned.

Watering seedlings every 2-3 days at the rate of one bucket per bush.

Video how to plant black currants

Caring for black currants after planting

Tillage around the bushes should be started in April when the ground is still cold. By loosening the soil by no more than 5 cm, we extract from the warm environment hibernating insects-pests that die when they find themselves in the cold.

The main task of caring for currants is proper tillage and correct pruning. The bushes should be shaped to form a bowl shape. The middle of the bush should be free. Shortening branches individually:

• there are more berries on long branches, but they are small;
• on cut ones – the amount is less, but the berries are large (this does not affect the taste).

Spring pruning of black currant, video

Caring for red and white currants after planting

The first 3 years, caring for red and white currants consists in loosening the soil under the bush, watering, applying fertilizers and hilling the roots that stand out from the ground. In the 4th year, when the root system gets stronger, intensive growth of the aerial part will begin.

The stems are shortened according to the same scheme as for the black one. You also need to free the middle of the bush from excess sprouts. In the fall, cut out completely old stems, leaving only young ones. With proper care, red, white and silver currants can bear fruit for up to 20 years.

Currant diseases and methods of struggle

Red (white) currants are more resistant to common diseases. Very rarely, it is affected by powdery mildew. The list of black currant diseases is much more:

1. Anthracnose.It is treated with fungicidal agents, copper sulfate 2 times a month, Bordeaux liquid and colloidal sulfur.
2. Septoria.Spraying with copper sulfate helps.
3. Goblet rust.Blooming leaves, color and emerging ovaries are striking. Bushes are treated with fungicides or Bordeaux liquid (1%).
4. Powdery mildew.The bush and the soil under it are subject to treatment with nitrophene or a solution of ferrous sulfate (3%).
5. Spheroteka.The bushes are processed with iron sulfate.
6. Terry and striped mosaic. These diseases are difficult to determine at an early stage, and when it is already clear what kind of disease it is, then it is too late to treat. To avoid contamination of healthy bushes, a diseased plant is dug up and burned..

Pests and methods of dealing with them are exactly the same as those of gooseberries..