2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Black currant (Latin Ribes nigrum) - berry culture; a representative of the Currant genus of the Gooseberry family. Under natural conditions, black currant grows in moist deciduous, coniferous and mixed forests, along coastal thickets, along the edges of swamps, along the banks of rivers and lakes and on wet floodplain meadows in the European part of Russia, the Urals, Siberia, Kazakhstan, China and northern regions. Mongolia.
Description
Black currant is a deciduous shrub not exceeding 2 meters in height and bearing branches covered with brown bark. Young shoots are pale, with pubescence. The leaves are three or five-lobed, equipped with petioles, with jagged edges, arranged alternately, up to 10 cm wide, on the outside the foliage is green, on the inside it is pale green, pubescent. When rubbed, the foliage emits a specific smell.
The flowers are bell-shaped, contain five sepals, can be lilac or pinkish-gray in color, collected in drooping racemose inflorescences 3-8 cm long. Pedicels are fluffy or glabrous, 3-8 mm long. Bracts are oval or linear-lanceolate. Flowering takes place in mid-May. The fruit is a multi-seeded berry, up to 1-1.5 cm in diameter, it can be black, brownish-black or black-purple with a glossy skin. The fruits ripen in mid-July.
Every year, currant branches stop forming new growths, and naturally the yield decreases every year. The productive period of black currant branches is 5-7 years. Instead of old branches, the culture forms basal shoots, which give low yields for several years. On average, the bush bears fruit for up to 15 years, sometimes a little longer.
Features of cultivation
Black currant is a moisture-loving crop, grows well and develops well in well-moist, light, loose, permeable, loose, neutral or slightly acidic soils. The culture does not tolerate dry, poor, strongly acidic and heavy soils. Black currant is sun-loving, develops slowly in the shade, blooms little and forms tasteless berries. Most varieties of crops are cold-resistant, begins to grow at a temperature of 6C.
Soil preparation and planting
Planting of black currant seedlings is carried out either in early spring or in autumn. Pits for planting are prepared in a couple of weeks, and the diameter should be about 70-90 cm, the depth - 30 cm. 1/3 of the pit is filled with a substrate consisting of nutritious soil, humus and compost and fertilized with mineral fertilizers.
Planting material is purchased only in special nurseries, it is advisable to give preference to 2-year-old seedlings, the shoots of which reach a length of 30-35 cm. It is not forbidden to use annual seedlings, but in this case they must have a sufficiently developed root system.
Saplings are planted obliquely, some of the branches should be slightly below ground level. This is necessary in order for the process of forming new shoots from the buds to start. The voids in the pit are filled with soil, tamped, thoroughly moistened and mulch applied. The distance between plants should be 1-2 m. Thickened plantings are undesirable, this can cause small yields and frequent damage by pests and diseases.
Care features
Crop care consists of procedures that are standard for many berry crops. Immediately after the snow melts, sanitary and formative pruning of the shrub is carried out. Every year 1-3 strong zero shoots are left and very old ones (6-7 years old) are removed. By the age of four, the currants should have formed a bowl-like shape. Immediately after pruning, the bushes are sprayed with hot water. Such a procedure is preventive, it will reduce the likelihood of being damaged by pests and diseases.
Currants require regular and abundant watering, especially in drought. After harvesting, the watering of the crop is continued in the same mode, since at this moment the flower buds are laid on the plant. When the berries come to ripeness, the branches do not support their weight and sag strongly, this can lead to their fracture. To prevent this from happening, it is important to install props under the fruiting branches. It is also important to ensure that the branches do not overlap each other, otherwise, after the rain, the fruits will begin to sour, and the plant will be susceptible to fungal infections.
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