Content
Currant is one of the most common berry bushes that many gardeners grow on their land plots. Agrotechnical firms set aside vast territories for currant bushes for harvesting on an industrial scale, as well as for multiplying high-quality seedlings and their further sale to the population. It is possible to achieve significant yields of currants only by following the rules of the technology of planting, fertilizing and feeding.
Our article today is completely devoted to the issues of fertilization and feeding of black, red and white currant bushes in the spring. For novice growers, we have prepared charts - schemes for organizing these works, posted our recommendations and advice from experienced gardeners, and also added useful video clips telling how to do everything correctly and on time.
Nutrition of fruit and berry bushes
A person needs to eat in order to maintain his vitality, efficiency and sound mind, without food he will lose his mind, be exhausted, and as a result, he will die of hunger within 2-3 weeks. The nutrition of a plant plays about the same role in its life, without a constant supply of nutrients from the soil or from the outside, it will wither away and will not bear fruit. Such a plant is not needed in the garden, so it is necessary to learn how to properly take care of it, find out all its needs and constantly carry out a set of measures that will ensure the normal vegetation of fruit crops, and we will be provided with a bountiful harvest.
Soil for currants
Currants get the bulk of their nutrition from the ground., which contains all the necessary substances and trace elements involved in metabolic processes inside the plant. In second place in terms of importance in the nutrition of trees and shrubs are involved climatic conditions: warmth of the sun, abundant but infrequent rains, fresh air. The confluence of all these favorable conditions allows the currant to grow healthy, strong and resistant to various disasters of nature. Even diseases and pests "bypass" such currants.
But ..., as often happens, there are problems that need to be solved by a person, currants have ceased to resist adversity on their own, diseases and harmful insects have overcome it. Let's figure out what's the matter and what to do.
Let's start with the most earthly, that is, from the soil under the currant bushes.
- Before planting currant seedlings, it is necessary to determine the qualitative composition of the soil in the area where you decided to plant them. Favorite soils of currants include loose, good air and moisture permeability, fertile sandy loam or light loam. The acidity of the soil should not be much higher than the minimum value on the acidity scale. If, after checking the soil, it turned out that all indicators are normal, you are lucky, if not, then you need to improve the land.
- It is possible to improve the structure of the soil, make it light and fertile, but this work is laborious, it will be necessary to add compost, sand, lime, a large amount of organic matter (manure), mineral fertilizers to the ground and thoroughly dig up the area several times, using not only a shovel, but also a pitchfork ... Earthworms, introduced together with compost and manure, will loosen the soil, lime and sand will lower acidity, manure and mineral fertilizers, taken together, will ennoble the land and make it more fertile.
Planting seedlings
Having prepared the soil in this way, you can start planting currant bushes. Spring is the most suitable time of the year for planting any crops, because after spring summer will come and the currant bushes will have time to settle down well in a new place and get stronger in order to bring a harvest of berries next year.
In early spring, having planted currants, they make the first pruning of the bush: the top of the main shoot is cut off by 1/3 of the entire height, 2-3 buds are left on the lateral processes, the rest is cut off. After planting, do not feed the young plant for 1-2 months. In order to prevent fungal and other diseases, as well as from pests, they do the first treatment of currants, spraying it with Bordeaux liquid or other fungicides.
During spring, summer and autumn, young seedlings do not need to be overfed with nitrogen fertilizers., they were introduced before planting in the form of manure and are sufficient for the development of a still small bush, with an excess of nitrogen in the soil, the currants can wither and weaken, and die in winter. If currant bushes grow well on their own, then in the first year of life they will not need additional feeding at all, provided that in the spring you have applied all the necessary mineral fertilizers: potash, phosphorus, nitrogen.
Adult plant care
In the early spring of the second year of life, a ripe time begins for currants - the formation of fruits. Fruiting of currant bushes, depending on the variety and variety, lasts from 5 to 10 years. All this time, the fruit shrub needs constant fertilization, top dressing and regular treatments for diseases and harmful insects. Fertilizers are applied at the root or foliar feeding is carried out by spraying currant bushes with compositions containing all the necessary nutrients.
There should be at least 6 annual treatments and feeding of currants, but it is better to do this more often. Experienced gardeners advise doing them about 12 times. For example, we note that large firms for the cultivation of currants carry out processing of currant bushes on their plantations at least 20 times per season. They begin to feed and process currants in early spring and finish in late autumn. When, by what and for what purposes they are carried out, you can find out from the schedule of these works, which we have drawn up based on the advice and recommendations of our experienced gardeners.
Schedule of treatments
Currant vegetation period | Month (approximately) | purpose | Facilities | How to do |
Before bud break | March, April | Prevention of diseases and pests | Bordeaux mixture, Aktofit, Fitoverm, | Spray with drug solutions 2 times with an interval of 7 days |
Swelling and budding | April | First root dressing | Complex mineral fertilizers containing potassium, phosphorus and calcium, organic fertilizers | All fertilizers are applied to the root of the currant when watering, manure and compost are embedded in the soil when digging |
Before flowering | April May | Pest control | Akarin, Iskra, Fitosporin-M, copper sulfate, Bordeaux mixture | Spray drug solutions on branches and treat the soil |
During flowering | May | Second feeding | Do not use nitrogen-containing fertilizers, phosphorus, calcium and potassium are enough | Water the currant bushes once a week with solutions of complex fertilizers |
After flowering and during fruiting | June July August | Prevention of pests and diseases, feeding | Basically, folk remedies are used so as not to disrupt the ecology of the garden and not to destroy beneficial insects: wood ash, ammonia, potato peelings | Currants are watered and sprayed with infusions and broths, the potato peel is placed under the bushes or hung on the branches of the plant, such dressings and treatments are carried out regularly, at intervals of 7-10 days |
After harvest | September October | Pest and disease control | Refer to point one | Also |
Tips and recipes from the people
Experienced gardeners, that is, people who have experienced many ways of feeding and processing currants, advise beginner amateurs:
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To improve the quantity and quality of the currant crop, in the spring it is necessary to add enough cattle manure to the soil, but if it is not there or very little, then chicken manure or urea can be used for feeding.
Recipe 1: take a bucket of warm water (7-10 liters) and add chicken droppings (dry - 1 matchbox, fresh - 1 glass), stir thoroughly, leave for 24 hours, then dilute the infusion again: make 2 from one bucket. Water must be 1 time a week under the root, if you strain the tincture, then you can spray the entire upper part of the plant.
Recipe 2 (from pests and diseases): 700 g of urea (urea) plus 100 g of copper sulfate, dilute in 10 liters of water, stir, strain. Using a sprayer, treat all currant bushes in early spring before budding, pour the soil around from a watering can with small holes with the same composition. This tool helps not only in the fight against insects, but also saturates the soil with the necessary nitrogen. -
Make currant berries tastier and sweeter feeding the shrubs with carbohydrates, which are found in large quantities in starch, helps. With the composition prepared from it, currants are fed during flowering and in the stage of coloring the berries.
Recipe 3: from 300 g of starch powder (potato, corn), cook the jelly as you usually prepare it, without adding sugar. Pot volume up to 4 liters. Cool the jelly and dilute to 10 liters with water. For 1 currant bush, 2-3 liters of diluted jelly are enough. -
In early spring, currants can be fed with dry fertilizers, applying them around the bushes and embedded in the soil at the root. These fertilizers may well replace manure, which can be difficult to obtain at the right time. These types of fertilizers include granular superphosphate and powdered potassium sulfate.
Method of application: scatter granules of superphosphate (40-50 g) near the roots of currants within a radius of 0.5 meters from the center of the bush, scatter potassium sulfate powder (20-30 g) in the same place, dig up the soil or loosen it. Gradually dissolving, dry dressing will supply the plant with the necessary nutrients for a long time.
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Currant can be fed in spring with potato peelings, which contain starch, and, therefore, carbohydrates. This method is economical; you do not need to buy starch powders. You need to use such fertilizer in dried or frozen form.
Recipe 4: dried or frozen potato peel is crushed and an infusion is prepared from it: 1 kg per 10 liters of hot water, insist for a day, cool, then water the currants at the rate of 5 liters of infusion per 1 bush.
The beneficial effect of proper plant nutrition
Constant feeding of currants plays an important role in many aspects of plant life:
- currants do not lack nutrients, which means they are provided with energy for growth, flowering and fruiting;
- its yield increases due to the regular supply of the necessary trace elements for the formation of a large number of fruit ovaries, the development and growth of the mass of berries, the taste is significantly improved;
- top dressing strengthens the plant, it is able to independently resist diseases and pests, it tolerates winter cold and spring temperature drops more easily than weakened bushes that did not receive fertilizers in time;
- in the fed currant bushes, a good annual growth of young shoots is formed - this is the guarantee of future bountiful harvests.
The land on which our plants grow is full of useful substances and for the time being it is able to satisfy the needs of currant bushes, nourishing them with its juices, but, as they say, "nothing lasts forever", and the time comes when the earth's reserves are depleted, and this can lead to disastrous results. Apply top dressing regularly, do not bring the currants to such a state.
Conclusion
All plants in the garden and in the gardens are entirely dependent on the "goodwill" of their owner. A caring and diligent gardener or gardener, eating himself, will never forget about feeding his green pets, just as a skilled cook invents new dishes for people, and a diligent plant breeder comes up with recipes for feeding currants and other plants so that they are useful and do not harm the garden and garden.
