Currants are an invaluable generous gift of nature to people, a rich source of vitamins and microelements, which are practically not destroyed during heat treatment. Therefore, currant berries are valuable both fresh and as blanks.
The currant bush is unpretentious, yields a crop regardless of the vagaries of nature. Each bush lives for about 15 years. Over time, it becomes necessary to update old berry fields or increase the planting area.
Currant is a berry crop that multiplies well, gives a lot of planting material, and, which is especially important, almost all of it takes root. Therefore, you should not rely on luck when buying planting material on the side. It is much easier to get it from your bushes, especially if you are satisfied with the yield and taste of the berries. The easiest way to reproduce is to plant currants with cuttings in the fall.
Preparation of planting material (+ video)
An important stage is the preparation of planting material. Depending on its quality, you will get high-yield currant bushes at the exit. You should carefully consider the choice of the mother bush from which you will cut the cuttings.
The currant bush must be healthy and strong, the cuttings will be weak at first, so you should not expose them to additional risk. Plants from cuttings will completely repeat the qualities of the mother plants.
Lignified cuttings are harvested in autumn. They are taken from annual shoots that have developed from the root zone. The entire shoot is cut off completely above the soil level. In spring or autumn, you can combine two processes: pruning the currant bush and harvesting planting material.
Two-year-old shoots are not suitable for grafting, just as the annual shoots that have formed on them are unsuitable. Currant cuttingsprepared from such shoots are too weak, they have few nutrients, as a result of which they take root poorly and are more often infected with diseases.
It makes no sense to make the blanks shorter. This will mean that there are too few nutrients in the short cuttings for subsequent rooting. Too short workpieces may not take root. Let the cuttings be few, but they will be with a guarantee of complete rooting.
Before proceeding with the preparation of planting material, inspect the tool. The pruner must be well sharpened and disinfected so as not to bring dangerous viral or fungal diseases to the cut site.
For disinfection, use a dark pink solution of potassium permanganate, ferrous sulfate, alcohol or kerosene. The secateurs are dipped in liquid and wiped dry with a rag. You can also use a special preparation "Pharmayod" - an effective means for disinfecting garden tools.
A well-sharpened tool should make an even cut, not wet or crush the shoot. The cut is made above the kidney, stepping back about 1 cm at an acute angle. The upper part of the cutting is cut at right angles. For cuttings, take the middle part of the shoot or its base; the top of the shoot is not suitable for blanks. The suitability of the shoot is checked by bending it. It should be flexible, breaking only when bending sharply.
Another sign of the high quality of currant cuttings is their color on the cut, it should be a light green hue.
A round kidney is a sign of a tick infestation. We, however, require completely healthy planting material from currants.
So that there is moisture in the shoot, choose the right time for cutting the cuttings. It can be early morning if the weather is hot, but a cloudy day in late September or early October is best. At this time, the kidneys go into a state of rest, fall asleep.
The degree of rooting of cuttings increases. As a rule, the time is chosen 2 weeks before the onset of the first frost. Timing may vary from region to region. In the southern regions, they move towards the beginning - mid-October, in the Urals and Siberia by mid-September. Focus on the weather conditions in your area.
After the currant cuttings have been cut, they are tied into bunches, wrapped in a tight damp cloth, and then in a piece of polyethylene if they are to be stored. Before planting, it is recommended to lower the lower part in a solution of a root formation stimulator for a day. The following drugs are used: "Zircon", "Heteroauxin", "Kornerost", "Kornevin" and others.
Watch a detailed video on how to prepare and plant cuttings:
Planting cuttings
Planting currants with cuttings can be carried out before winter. For black currants, a slightly lowered place of the site is chosen, but well-lit and protected from the winds, for example, along the fence. The plant loves well-moistened soil, but does not tolerate moisture stagnation in plantings. Acidic soils are also not for black currants. Take care in advance to deacidify the soil with lime, ash, chalk.
For planting black currants, heavy and medium-heavy loams are preferable, for red and white currants - light sandy loams and loams.
Consider which plants were growing before the fall planting of cuttings. It is better to plant currants after their predecessors: cereals and annual grasses. The cuttings will have the worst after raspberries and gooseberries. Black currants and gooseberries have the same pests and diseases, and raspberries are capable of producing shoots for a long time, even if they were uprooted, while taking away nutrients from young plants, clogging up the plantings.
Next, you should dig up a bed, to a depth of 30 cm.This is an important point, since in the process of digging up the soil, insect pests, their larvae and eggs, which are prepared for wintering, will appear on the surface and die from the next frost. They will no longer be able to hide again, since they are in a dormant state.
Further, the area for planting currant cuttings should be well cleaned of weeds and their roots, leveled, fertilized with humus, compost or peat. Or add fertilizing from mineral fertilizers: double superphosphate - 50 g and potassium sulfate - 20 g per 1 sq. m landings. It is better to prepare the soil 2-3 weeks before the planned planting.
Then shallow trenches are made at a distance of about 40 cm from each other. This distance will allow you to conveniently care for currant cuttings or then dig them up for planting in a permanent place of growth. Cuttings of currants are planted in trenches at an inclination of 45-60 ° at a distance of 15-20 cm from each other, to a depth of 6 cm, so that the lower bud is at the level of the soil. In total, 2-3 buds remain above the soil surface. The soil around each cutting of the currant is carefully crushed so that no air voids form. Water well.
Then the ground under the plantings is covered with mulch. You can use peat, straw, humus, with a thickness of 5-10 cm. Or use non-woven black agrofibre, on which a hole is made above each currant handle with scissors. Mulch or agrofibre helps to retain moisture, which in turn promotes rooting. If the weather is dry and warm for a long time, then the planted currant cuttings should be watered.
With the onset of spring heat, at a temperature of + 10 + 15 °, autumn seedlings start to grow, grow roots and green mass. By mid-May - end of May, their leaves are blooming.
Watch a video on how to plant black currants with cuttings:
Cuttings of currants harvested in the fall can be planted in prepared containers filled with fertile soil based on garden soil, with the addition of humus, peat, compost and river sand in equal proportions. Flower pots, boxes, cut plastic bottles, as well as bags for juices and dairy products are suitable for planting containers. Be sure to make a drainage hole at the bottom of the container at hand.
Cuttings of currants are planted in a sod mixture, leaving 2-3 buds on the surface, the soil is pressed with hands around the cutting, well spilled with water. The containers can be placed on the windowsill. Regular care will consist of watering currant cuttings.
So, it is possible to successfully grow currants by cuttings in room conditions before the start of the planting season. In spring, when daytime temperatures are at least + 13 + 15 ° C, seedlings can be planted in a permanent place of growth. Although it is better to let them grow on a separate site until autumn, giving them the opportunity to gain strength to easily endure the coming winter.
The method is good because all autumn cuttings, without exception, take root, in contrast to planting in the winter. In the middle lane, the autumn period is too short before the onset of frost, many currant cuttings do not have time to adapt to new living conditions and die as a result of the onset of cold weather.
If the cuttings turned out to be unclaimed in the fall, then they can be stored dormant until spring in the refrigerator, and with the onset of spring heat they can be planted in open ground.
Conclusion
A delicious aromatic berry grown on your site will bring much more health benefits than a purchased one. To have enough currants, you should increase its planting. There are several ways to propagate black currants in the fall or spring. The most affordable and reliable way is autumn cuttings. So, you can quickly increase the number of productive and rare varieties. How to plant currants with cuttings, the issue should be given close attention. However, the result will please. Next year, you will have young currant bushes from which you can get the first harvest. Planting currants with cuttings is profitable from an economic point of view, since it does not require additional costs.
