Features of growing black currants. Harvesting and storage. Fruit and berry salad with red currants
ALL ABOUT CURRANTS
Currants began to be grown in our country at the beginning of the Middle Ages, when they were used as a wild plant in ancient cities and settlements (11th century).
At this time, interest in black currant as a medicinal plant began to show in Europe (late 17th century). This culture is becoming widespread in countries Western Europe and especially in England.
In the United States of America, blackcurrant culture has not yet received much development.
Currants are one of the most valuable berry bushes and therefore they are very popular among the population. You will find it in every household plot. It is significantly superior to all other berry crops combined. Compared to black currants, the culture of red and golden currants is still less widespread. Recently, there has been a noticeable trend in the popularity of red and golden currants.
Blackcurrant has been in particular demand since it was discovered that its berries contain a natural and complex concentrate of vitamins.
Black currants are second only to rose hips and actinidia in the amount of vitamin C and exceed strawberries by 5 times, raspberries, gooseberries and citrus crops by 7–8 times, apples and pears by 10–20 times, cherries and apricots by 20–40 times, and grapes by 20–40 times. 100 times.
Due to the presence of essential oils, black currant berries have a unique aroma and are therefore actively used to make preserves, jams, juices and wine. Berries of all varieties are suitable for long-term freezing and use during the winter months.
During processing, blackcurrant berries retain vitamin C; it is not destroyed in them or is destroyed to a small extent. Thus, in jam, juice and compotes, vitamin C is retained from 42 to 100%, in frozen berries - from 40 to 70%.
Red, white and golden currants are inferior in composition and accumulation of vitamins to black currants, but in turn have some special qualities that black currants do not have.
Red currant berries, depending on the variety, contain vitamin C from 26 to 83 mg%, and white currant berries - from 34 to 66 mg%. Golden currant berries contain up to 78 mg% vitamin C and up to 5.1 mg% vitamin A.
These types of currants in fresh fruits have ascorbic acid on average no less than strawberries, gooseberries and raspberries, but are seriously inferior to black currants. In terms of vitamin A content, golden currants are in first place in the currant genus.
Analyzing these indicators of the composition of black, red, white and golden currants, we can conclude that there are no significant differences in the nutrient content.
Since the juice of red currant berries is easily squeezed out (on average, 10% more juice is obtained than from black currant berries), it is convenient to use in baby food. Pasteurized red currant juice stimulates children's appetite and is a valuable dietary aid. You can make first-class jelly from red currant juice.
From the berries of red and white currants you can get excellent sweet table and liqueur wine of the highest quality. Particularly valuable wine can be made from white currant berries.
Juice can be squeezed out of the red currant berry well - its pulp is juicy, the skin is thin, but it has relatively large seeds and therefore is rarely used for making jam.
Red currants are characterized by great winter hardiness, resistance to unfavorable conditions and higher yields compared to black currants.
If we take into account that red currants do not suffer much from reversion (doubleness) and bud mites, then in the future gardeners will be happy to plant them on their plots.
Golden currant is a drought-resistant and heat-tolerant crop, quite winter-hardy, produces high yields of berries and is very decorative. Promising new varieties of golden currant make it profitable to grow this crop in the non-chernozem zone.
BIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Black, red, white and golden currants are typical perennial shrubs of the gooseberry family. It grows everywhere as a berry and ornamental crop.
Bush structure. Depending on the variety, currant bushes can have a different crown shape - more or less compressed, compact or spreading. If harvesting is mechanized, then varieties with an upright bush shape are most convenient. The height of the bushes within each type of currant varies significantly from low to high. Thus, in plantings where branches are periodically pruned, red and golden currant bushes do not exceed 2 m in height, and black and white currant bushes do not exceed 1.5 m in height.
Natural replacement of skeletal branches occurs at different times: faster in black currants and slower in golden and red ones, it all depends on the durability of the bushes. Replacement shoots of currants appear from the buds of the base of branches planted in the soil during planting. Depending on the variety and age of the bush, the number of basal shoots varies; young bushes almost do not form basal shoots. Basically, basal shoots appear from four to five years of age, when the aging process of skeletal branches begins.
Shoots and fruiting. Currants grow rapidly in the first year of life, in the second year growth slows down slightly and in subsequent years growth slows down. Varieties of black currant, red, white and golden, having annual basal shoots, do not produce a harvest. Two-year-old branches usually bear fruit, but do not produce a particularly large harvest. However, varieties of the Siberian subspecies of black currant are more early-bearing and produce high yields on two-year-old branches.
New varieties of black currant, obtained by hybridizing European varieties with the Siberian subspecies and spruce grouse, bear very little fruit in the fifth year of life.
Red and golden currants bear fruit longer on skeletal branches; black currants have lower yields. Varieties of black, red and golden currants differ not so much in the type of shoots as in the durability of the fruit formations. All types of currants are characterized by 4 types of fruit shoots: mixed (have a length of 15 to 35 cm), fruit shoots (have a length of 10 to 15 cm), bouquet branches and ringlets. The apical and lateral buds can be either flowering or vegetative. Usually all lateral buds are flowering; the apical bud can be both flowering and vegetative.
The method of formation is most typical for red and white currants, when the bouquet branches are short fruit formations up to 5 cm long, on which flower buds are located closely together, and the apical bud can be vegetative and give rise to a shoot from 0.5 to 20 cm long.
Annual basal shoots are vegetative shoots of black, red, white and golden currants. They can reach a length of 0.5 to 1 m for all currants, except for golden currants, in which their length often exceeds 1.5 m.
Kidney placement and development. Black and golden currants have evenly spaced buds on mixed shoots. The buds of red and white currants are laid less evenly; a particularly large accumulation of them is observed in the upper part of the shoot. This results in higher yields between the first and second years of life.
Typically, currants have three types of buds: dormant, growing and flowering. Dormant buds form at the base of the branches and awaken only in the event of any violation of the integrity of the branch. Such buds are formed in early spring.
Buds for growth are laid in the summer during the phase of increased shoot growth. Such buds are more promising; they have leaf primordia, and in their axils there are up to 20 daughter buds, from which strong shoots subsequently develop.
The rudiments of both vegetative and generative organs are carried by currant flower buds, and they are always mixed.
Blackcurrant flowers are bell-shaped and have a double perianth. Petals are yellowish or greenish.
The flowers of red and white currants are also bell-shaped, but can also be cupped. The petals have the same color as black currants.
The flowers of golden currant are sharply different from the flowers of black, red and white currants. They are much larger and golden yellow in color. The aroma is pleasant and persistent. The flower has a double around the flower bed. The flowers open in a cluster from the base to the top.
Each type and variety of currant berries has its own individual color. Black currants have black berries with different shades, but there are varieties with green berries. Red currant berries can be red, pink or dark red. White currant berries are whitish, yellowish and cream in color. Golden currant berries can be black, red and yellow.
Currant berries of all types have their own individual pulp consistency and differ in taste. The color of the pulp is greenish, reddish or yellowish and has different tastes - from sour to sweet.
Currant berries can be of different sizes and shapes (small, large, round, oval, flattened), have a longitudinal groove and a calyx (dried remains of the perianth) or not. The dried parts of the perianth are well preserved in the berries of some varieties of golden currants, which is their disadvantage.
Not all varieties and types of currants are equally attached to the stalk. Golden currants hold well on the stalks and therefore do not fall off and stay on the bush for a long time.
Leaf structure. Typically, black currant leaves are located in the middle part of the annual growth. After one year of life, the leaves on the wood may be more or less evenly spaced.
Currant leaves are large, medium and small. They can be of different colors: light green, green to dark green, green with a bluish tint, green with a grayish tint.
The surface of the leaves can be shiny or matte, more or less wrinkled. The leaf can be soft and more rigid with varying degrees of pubescence. Most blackcurrant leaves have 5 lobes, of which the upper 3 are more developed than the lower 2, without a notch and with a notch. Along with symmetrical leaves, there are also asymmetrical ones.
Depending on the variety, red and white currants differ quite greatly in their leaves. Red currants are characterized by three-lobed leaves.
The leaves of golden currant are very different; they resemble gooseberry leaves. The leaves are three- and five-lobed. In summer, green leaves turn yellow-red in autumn. The leaves on annual shoots are larger than on perennial branches.
Root system. Currants do not have a main root and are propagated vegetatively. The bulk of the roots can be located more or less deeply, but on average it is located at a depth of 0 to 60 cm.
With such a root system, deep pre-planting tillage is advisable; loosening the soil and applying a large amount of fertilizer are necessary. When cultivating the soil, the root system may be disrupted, but it is restored quite quickly. The roots are restored most vigorously in autumn and spring under conditions of optimal humidity and temperature. In the spring, currant roots always grow; in the summer and autumn, it depends on the weather. In this case, the roots grow in waves.
Typically, active blackcurrant roots overwinter and continue growing the following spring.
The root system is located in a soil layer up to 50–60 cm deep. Vertical roots penetrate deep into the soil mainly through earthworm passages and soil cracks up to 2 m, while the roots that are closest to the center of the bush penetrate the soil most deeply. The total length of roots per bush of black currant is much greater in favorable soil and climatic conditions with sufficient moisture and less in unfavorable dry conditions.
Drought resistance. Black currants have the least drought resistance, and golden currants have the greatest. Red and white currant has average drought resistance.
Blackcurrant historically developed in a moderately humid zone and is therefore more demanding of moisture. Under natural conditions, it grew in moist soils along the banks of rivers, streams and in forest areas with marshy soil.
The reduced drought resistance of black currant is largely determined by its biological feature - to form a root system in the upper soil horizons. And since the root system is located in the upper layers of the soil, it can also grow on rocky soils.
Red and white currant plants have a more powerful root system compared to black currant, so they are less demanding of moisture.
Golden currants withstand drought very well, which may be why they are often found in the forests of the southeastern and southern regions of our country.
A powerful root system, up to 2 m deep, leathery leaves allow golden currants to grow and produce high yields where neither red nor, especially, black currants can grow well.
Winter hardiness. Young, not yet fruit-bearing plantings are more winter-hardy. Currant bushes growing on sandy, loamy and carbonate soils are not resistant to frosty winters.
Branches are considered healthy if the bark and wood are without visible changes. Slightly damaged branches have a slight darkening of the cambium. With moderate damage, the bark is light brown, the cambium is brown and the wood is gray in color.
With a severe degree of damage, the branches have a dark color of the bark, cambium and dark gray color of the wood in longitudinal and transverse sections.
The base of the branches from the soil surface to a height of 7–14 cm is usually not damaged. The bases of skeletal branches located at a height of 14 to 50 cm from the soil surface are often damaged.
The root system is usually not damaged. The spatial arrangement of the bushes matters. Thus, the largest number of blackcurrant branches freeze out on the eastern, northeastern and southeastern sides of the bushes.
A common cause of damage is sunburn, which causes the death of the bark, cambium and parts of the wood on the sunny side due to sharp daily fluctuations in air temperature. The bases and forks of skeletal branches are especially severely damaged.
When planting currant bushes, it is necessary to use frost-resistant varieties, use the strip planting method with the removal of 4–5-year-old branches from the bush after fruiting, and place the stripes from north to south.
To protect against freezing and sunburn, you can cover the bushes with snow or spray them with lime milk.
Red currants are superior in winter hardiness to black currants, gooseberries and strawberries; its bushes do not freeze even in harsh winters. The most winter-hardy are, as a rule, varieties derived from rock and red currant species, and the least winter-hardy are varieties belonging to the common currant species.
Modern varieties of black, red, white and golden currants allow them to withstand harsh winter conditions.
Immunity. Of the pests and diseases that affect currants, the most common are bud mite, terry and anthracnose.
The bud mite damages all varieties of black currant to a greater or lesser extent. The pest especially affects varieties of Western European origin, such as Boskop giant, Goliath, Laxtona, Neapolitanskaya.
In some cases, the bud mite can also damage red and white currants, but it does not cause as much damage here as on black currant bushes.
Viral disease - double flowering, or reversion, damages all varieties of black currant to varying degrees and is not observed on red, white and golden currants.
Varieties of black, red and white currants have varying degrees of resistance to anthracnose. It most strongly affects blackcurrant varieties of Western European origin - Neapolitan, Kent, Boskopsky giant, Lia fertile, Wellington, 8th Davison, Coronation, etc. Blackcurrant varieties Naryadnaya, Pobeda, Golubka, Primorsky Champion, Stakhanovka have increased immunity to anthracnose Altai.
Varieties of red and white currants are sharply divided into two groups according to the degree of susceptibility to anthracnose. The following varieties are weakly or very weakly affected by anthracnose: Dutch Red, Pervenets, Shchedraya, La Tournais, Gonduin, Victoria, as well as English White and Yuterbogskaya. The varieties Versailles red, Red Cross, Faya fertile, Houghton's Castle, as well as Dutch white and Versailles white are not resistant to anthracnose.
Fertilizer. Currants bear fruit well if they are skillfully fertilized. Blackcurrant takes a lot of nutrients from the soil: nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus and therefore requires relatively high doses of fertilizers. They are applied once for the entire life of the plant. On poor soils, three to four months before planting, continuous application of organic, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers is carried out; It is better to use chlorine-free forms of the latter - potassium magnesia, potassium sulfate.
On soils with an average nutrient content, the doses of phosphorus and potassium are reduced by a quarter, and on high soils - by half.
Nitrogen fertilizers are applied annually in the spring along the rows of plants to a depth of 10–12 cm. For young plants, their dose is usually 60 g per 10 sq.m during the period of full fruiting - up to 120 g.
If the soil is highly acidic, liming is carried out, preferably two to three years before planting.
Doses of lime are calculated based on hydrolytic acidity; on average, 4 kg per 10 sq.m. is used.
Attitude to heat. Black currant is a winter-hardy berry crop. Frost resistance depends on the variety, growing area and soil.
During the flowering period, currants suffer greatly from low temperatures. Its growing season begins at 6 °C, in some varieties - at 2 °C, the optimal temperature for growth is 18...20 °C. In hotter weather, currant growth slows down.
Currants love abundant watering and suffer from heat and dry air, the amount of pulp in the berries decreases, and the skin becomes dense. In extreme heat, black currants sometimes shed their leaves.
Attitude to light. Currants grow well and bear fruit with sufficient light. If currants grow between fruit trees, their yield decreases. The spreading shape of the bush and the rapid exposure of the lower parts of the branches indicate that the plant does not have enough light. In the shade, black currants produce a weak harvest and are more damaged by diseases and pests.
Relation to moisture. Black currant is a moisture-loving plant. This is explained by the conditions of its formation in the wild along the banks of rivers, streams and in swampy forests. The high moisture requirement is also due to the fact that the root system of this crop is shallow. It is also demanding on air humidity.
Despite the fact that black currant is moisture-loving, it grows poorly in areas where spring flood waters or summer rains stagnate; the bushes become covered with lichens, quickly age, and stop growing.
Soil requirements. Black currants are demanding of nutrients, so they need fertile soil rich in fertilizers.
Black currants are best cultivated on loose, fertile soils with an optimal acidity of 6–6.5. It reacts to fertilizers more than other berry crops. Increasing nitrogen doses increases berry size and yield. With its deficiency, the leaves become smaller, shoot growth is delayed, and small leaves acquire a red tint in early August. It is advisable to combine nitrogen from organic fertilizers with nitrogen from mineral fertilizers.
Potassium fertilizers also have a strong effect on the blackcurrant harvest. Potassium affects the sugar content of berries. With its deficiency, a yellow border in the form of a burn forms along the edges of the leaves. Potassium chloride can cause burns, so it is better to use potassium sulfate.
Phosphorus fertilizers are also important for this crop. With their deficiency, the fruits become smaller, the yield is reduced, and the leaves are affected by spotting. To obtain a high yield of black currants, it is necessary to apply a lot of organic fertilizers in any form.
BLACK CURRANT
Key Features
Berries with a specific spicy aroma and sweet and sour taste are eaten. The berries are used in confectionery production and home cooking for making preserves, jams, and juice. The main advantage of the fruit is the low content of enzymes that destroy ascorbic acid, so they serve as a valuable source of vitamins. Ascorbic acid is also preserved in frozen berries.
Black currant berries are a storehouse of vitamins, organic acids necessary for the human body, micro- and macroelements.
Berries and even blackcurrant leaves have anti-inflammatory, diuretic, diaphoretic, and tonic effects. In traditional medicine, not only the berries are used, but also the leaves as a diuretic and diaphoretic.
The use of black currant for medicinal purposes is associated with the presence of vitamins, iron, potassium, pectin and tannins, and organic acids. Black currant is used for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, hypochromic anemia, cardiac arrhythmias, heart disease, atherosclerosis, cardioneurosis, colds, infectious diseases, hemorrhagic vasculitis, periodontal disease, glomerulonephritis. Blackcurrant is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry to prepare syrups that improve the taste of certain dosage forms.
The fruits of this plant are included in the diet of healthy children, are used as a vitamin dietary supplement for phenylketonuria (100 g of fruit contains 50 mg of phenylalanine), and 15–20 g of berries provide the daily requirement for ascorbic acid.
Black currant is very useful for vitamin deficiency, cough, bronchitis, renal and hepatic colic, gastritis, atherosclerosis, hypertension. It is very useful to add fresh or dry blackcurrant leaves to tea. For drying, young leaves are collected after harvest. In the spring, when pruning bushes, you need to collect the cut branches and put them in water. The leaves and flowers that bloom on them are useful to put in tea. However, there are also cautions - like all dark-colored berries, black currants thicken the blood, so older people should not rely on them too much. No wonder there is a saying that “grow white currants for yourself, red for your children and black for your grandchildren.”
Currant is a perennial shrub (Fig. 1). During the fruiting period, the bush consists of 12–20 branches of different ages. Depending on the varietal characteristics, the bushes can be spreading or compact.
Growth and mixed buds are typical for currants. Most of all, the bush has mixed (flowering) buds, which have the rudiments of both growth shoots and fruiting organs. Growth buds are less numerous. They are usually located in the lower or uppermost part of the shoot, and vegetative shoots develop from them. Moreover, only basal annual shoots, which can reach a length of 100 cm or more, can be considered typical growth in currants.
The following types of fruit formations are characteristic of currants: mixed shoots, bouquet branches and ringlets.
Mixed shoots have a length from 10 to 35 cm. The apical and lateral buds of such shoots can be either flowering or growth.
Bouquet branches are short fruit formations up to 5–7 cm long, on which flower buds are located closely together. The apical bud can be tall and produce a continuation shoot from 5 to 20 cm in length. This type of fruiting is most typical for red currants.
The shortest fruit formations are ringlets. Their length usually does not exceed 3–4 cm. Up to 2–3 buds can form on the ringlet. Black currant ringlets are usually very short-lived and live for 2–3 years, after which they die, or the apical bud gives rise to a growth shoot.
Five-lobed leaves with a well-developed central lobe and two lateral lobes are typical for black currant.
The color of the berries can be black, brown, or brownish; there are varieties with green berries.
Currants are characterized by a superficial location of the root system. Depending on the soil and climatic conditions and soil preparation, the bulk of the suction roots are located in the upper layers of the soil at a depth of 0 to 40 cm, and can spread up to 60–80 cm.
In the first year of life, the basal shoot of black currant usually does not branch; its branching begins next spring. In the first 2 years of its development, the basal shoot grows strongly and bears little fruit. In the 3-4th year it turns into a branch, with strong lateral branches. Three- and four-year-old branches grow strongly and bear fruit intensively. These are the most productive branches of black currant, since the most abundant harvest in most of its varieties is carried by strong increments of the first and second orders of branching (Fig. 2).
With the onset of fruiting it becomes funny.
These flower buds of black currant form a raceme and 1–2 replacement shoots, on which flower buds are formed again. As long as the growth is strong, fruit buds are laid along the entire length of the shoots, they are well developed and form full-fledged clusters with large berries. In the 5th-6th year, the basal branch still bears fruit, but already has a very weak annual growth - only up to 3-5 cm. With weakening of growth, perennial fruiting branches (fruitlets and ringlets) with shortened replacement shoots are formed on the branches of the higher orders of skeletal branches , on which, although numerous, very weak short clusters with small berries are formed.
Fruiting is concentrated on the upper weak branches of the 4th-5th order and higher. On a perennial branch, all branches of the first and second orders no longer have fruit formations. Since black currant fruits are short-lived and die off en masse after 1–2 years of fruiting, and their growth is weak, the yield of branches older than 5–6 years drops sharply.
Currants are one of the berry crops that begin their growing season early. The buds of its lower branches begin to grow immediately after the snow melts: 2–3 days after the average daily air temperature reaches above 0 °C. The most intensive growth of shoots is observed in the first half of May.
In the middle zone, currants usually begin to bloom on May 15–20. Its flowering phase is quite short, on average 10–15 days, sometimes from 10 to 23 days. The duration of the flowering phase is mainly determined by the average daily air temperature.
The ovary formation phase of currants continues until the berries ripen, lasting 40–45 days. The duration of this period is affected by fluctuations in air temperature and varietal differences. Early currant varieties usually go through this phase in 35–40 days, late ones in 40–45 days. The beginning of berry ripening can vary greatly, and the difference in timing can be up to 25–30 days. The average duration of ripening for early varieties is 4-7 days, for late varieties - 9-11 days.
Varieties
Memory of Michurin - unsurpassed in taste and the most widespread variety of black currant. The bushes are vigorous, slightly spreading, the average yield per bush is 3–4 kg, the maximum is up to 7–8 kg per bush. The berries are medium in size, weight 1 berry is 0.7–0.8 g, they have a pleasant sweet and sour taste with a strong blackcurrant aroma. The variety is self-fertile, the yield is stable over the years. The ripening period is mid-early. When ripe, the berries fall off. The winter hardiness of the variety is high. Resistant to bud mite and terry (reversion); affected by powdery mildew.
curiosity - early ripening variety; early-fruiting: begins to bear fruit already in the second year after planting. The bushes are vigorous, spreading, requiring a frame fence to protect the ripening berries from contact with the ground. Productivity is high - up to 5–6 kg per bush. The berries are large, the weight of 1 berry is 1.5–1.7 g, and have a good sweet and sour taste. Winter hardiness is above average. Resistance to powdery mildew is quite high, and is moderately affected by bud mites.
Minay Shmyrev - a medium-early ripening variety. The bushes are vigorous, semi-spreading and spreading. Productivity is high; with proper care, 4- and 5-year-old bushes can produce up to 4–6 kg of berries per bush. The berries are large, tasty, sweet and sour, with a strong blackcurrant aroma. The ripening of berries is not simultaneous, but somewhat extended. The variety has high winter hardiness and is not damaged by frost. Resistance to powdery mildew is weak, and resistance to bud mite is above average.
Leningrad giant - a medium-early ripening variety. The bushes are powerful, vigorous, almost spreading, and with timely pruning of the shoots inclined close to the ground, they are compact and erect. Productivity is high, but highly dependent on care. The berries are large, smooth, with thin skin. The taste of the berries is pleasant, sweet and sour. Winter hardiness is high. Resistance to pests and diseases is average.
Karelian (Bredtorts) – a medium-ripening variety. The bushes are of medium height, very spreading, the branches are twisting, causing them to intertwine, creating a curly appearance. Frame fences are required, since the branches bend strongly, lie on the ground and take root over the summer even without digging. The yield is high - 6–7 kg or more from 1 bush. The berries are medium in size, have an excellent sweet and sour taste, with a strong blackcurrant aroma. When ripe, they do not crack or crumble. The winter hardiness of the variety is high. Resistance to powdery mildew is very high. The leaves are always dark green, velvety felt, healthy. Resistance to kidney mite is average.
Black Pearl - a variety of medium ripening, early fruiting. The bushes are medium-sized, spreading. The berries are large and even in size, the weight of 1 berry is 1.2–1.5 g. They have a pleasant sweet and sour taste. The variety is highly resistant to powdery mildew. Winter hardiness is high.
Belarusian sweet - a medium-ripening variety. The bush is medium-sized, slightly spreading. The berries are large, sweet and sour taste. The natural blackcurrant aroma is weak. Ripe berries do not crumble or crack for a long time. The variety's yield is high - 4–5 kg per bush. Winter hardiness is above average. Resistance to powdery mildew and bud mite is above average.
Cantata - a medium-late ripening variety. The bushes are powerful, compact, not spreading, the branches and shoots stand well, without drooping under the weight of ripening berries. The berries are large, with a good sweet and sour taste. The yield is high - 5–6 kg per bush. The ripening of berries is extended, which allows you to extend the period of picking and consuming fresh berries. Winter hardiness is high. Resistance to powdery mildew and bud mite is high.
Mysterious - late ripening variety. The bush is medium-sized, slightly spreading. The berries are very large, the weight of 1 berry reaches 5 g, and are sweet and sour. The winter hardiness of the variety is quite high. Resistance to pests and diseases is average.
Lazy person - late ripening variety. The bush is medium-sized. The berries are very large, the weight of 1 berry reaches 5 g. Pleasant sweet and sour taste. They stick well to the bushes without falling off until October. Winter hardiness is quite high. Resistance to pests and diseases is above average.
White - late ripening variety. The bushes are vigorous, medium spreading. The berries are large, the weight of 1 berry is 1.7 g, have a dessert taste, and ripen at the very latest date. Self-fertility is high. Disease-resistant variety. Drought and winter hardiness are high.
Zusha - early-fruiting variety with mid-early ripening period. The bushes are vigorous. Productivity is high. The berries are large, weight 1.5 g per berry, sweet and sour taste, with a pleasant blackcurrant aroma. The variety is unpretentious and produces good yields with normal care. Quite resistant to powdery mildew and other diseases caused by fungi, resistance to bud mite is average.
Summer resident - early-ripening early-ripening variety. The bush is low-growing, spreading. Productivity is high. The variety is distinguished by large (weight of 1 berry 2.5 g) berries with a very pleasant sweet taste. Increased yield responds to increased nutrition and watering. Unlike others, this variety also bears fruit well on perennial overgrowing branches. Due to abundant harvests, by the age of 8 the bushes become old and need to be replaced with young ones.
Exotic - early-ripening early-ripening variety. The bushes are powerful, the branches are not drooping. Productivity is high. The variety is one of the large-fruited varieties - the weight of 1 berry reaches 3.5 g or more. The taste of the berries is sweet and sour, with a typical blackcurrant aroma. The shoot-forming ability of the bush is weak. Resistance to diseases and pests is average.
Openwork - early-ripening variety of medium ripening period. Productivity is high from the very beginning of fruiting. The berries are large (weight of 1 berry is up to 2.5 g), sweet and sour, suitable for fresh consumption and for various processing. If overloaded with the harvest in the first years, the bush may remain stunted and become obsolete prematurely, so it must be directed to growth in the first year of life. In the future, growth and fruiting are regulated by replacing outdated branches with young shoots.
Miraculous - late ripening variety. The bushes are medium-sized, spreading, with straight, thick, pubescent shoots. The berries are large (average weight 1.1 g, maximum - 2.8 g), black, sour, with thick skin. The yield per bush reaches 3.5–8.0 kg. The variety is demanding of heat and moisture. Winter-hardy. Resistant to kidney mite.
Altai's favorite - an early ripening variety. The bushes are medium-sized, spreading, highly dense, with good shoot regeneration ability.
Reproduction
The main method of propagating currants is vegetative (by lignified cuttings, green cuttings and arcuate layering, by rooting two-year-old branches from the main bush).
The simplest method of propagation, suitable for amateur gardeners, is propagation by layering (Fig. 3). If there is a high-yielding variety in the garden, then using this method of propagation, in one year you can obtain powerful seedlings with a well-developed root system. For rooting, in early spring, choose a two-year-old healthy branch that grows obliquely on the periphery of the bush, which can be easily bent to the ground. Under this branch, dig a hole 10–12 cm deep and bend the branch in an arched manner to the ground so that its middle part is in the hole, and the top, 20–30 cm long, protrudes from the hole.
To ensure that the branch is held well in the hole in the desired position, it is secured in the center of the hole with a wire hook. The hole is then filled with soil and watered regularly throughout the summer. By autumn, the branch takes root well and the result is a full-fledged seedling with a powerful root system and 2-3 thick branches. In the same autumn, the rooted cuttings are cut off from the mother bush with pruning shears and transplanted to a permanent place.
Propagation by lignified cuttings (Fig. 4) is also not difficult and is accessible to every gardener. Propagation by cuttings, although, as a rule, produces weaker seedlings, has a number of undoubted advantages and, above all, allows you to obtain new, desired varieties in the garden, since purchasing cuttings even in winter is not difficult.
Cuttings can be planted in the garden both in autumn and early spring. For planting in spring, cuttings 18–20 cm long are harvested in October-November, i.e. at the beginning of winter, before the onset of severe frosts that can destroy currant buds. They are taken from one-year-old shoots growing from the root or grown on two- or three-year-old branches. It is better to take cuttings from the middle of the shoot. Their thickness should be 8–10 mm.
Immediately after cutting, both ends of the cutting are dipped in melted garden pitch or paraffin. With this treatment they do not lose moisture during storage. Then the cuttings are tied into bundles according to variety, labels are carefully tied, wrapped first in slightly moistened paper, then in plastic film, buried and stored deep in the snow until planting. Can also be stored in home refrigerator on the shelf under the freezer.
In spring, cuttings are planted in the garden as early as possible in specially prepared beds with row spacing of 20 cm and a row distance of 15 cm.
Before planting, the lower end of the cutting with garden varnish is cut off with a sharp knife dipped in water, “in an oblique cut.” In the garden bed, the cuttings are planted obliquely at an angle of 45°, leaving only 1–2 buds on the surface (Fig. 5). Then the beds are watered abundantly and mulched with fine peat, humus or sawdust. Arcs 40–50 cm high are installed above the bed and covered with plastic film or lutrastil. The film is removed when the first leaves appear and watering begins moderately.
Rooting cuttings have very weak roots at first, so watering must be regular: even short-term drying out can be detrimental to plants.
During the summer, the bed is carefully weeded from weeds and kept in a moderately moist state. At the beginning of the formation of shoots from the buds, it is advisable to feed them with mullein. To do this, pour 0.5 buckets of mullein with 4–5 buckets of water, add 0.5 kg of ash and 10–15 g of superphosphate and leave for 2 days. This amount of infusion is enough to feed the planted cuttings on an area of 5 sq.m. By autumn good care seedlings grow with 1–2 shoots 30–50 cm long.
Normally developed seedlings can be transplanted to a permanent place in the same autumn, while weak ones are left for growing and transplanted next autumn. The same is done with cuttings of newly planted varieties.
Propagating currants with green cuttings is a more complex method, and it is only possible if you have a greenhouse or a greenhouse with a fogging device. Mature cuttings are harvested from well-developed shoots. On each cutting 5–10 cm long, two true leaves are preserved. The lower cut is made under the node, and the upper one - under the next node. The grassy top of the shoot is not used for taking cuttings. It is advisable to immerse the bases of the cuttings for some time (12–14 hours) in an aqueous solution of growth stimulants. During rooting, you need to maintain high humidity and a temperature of about 18–24 °C.
You can root black currants in winter to get developed seedlings ready for planting by spring. The cuttings are placed in water at the end of winter. After 10–12 days, roots begin to form. As soon as the largest root reaches a length of 10–12 mm, the cuttings are transplanted into bags with soil, puncturing two holes at the bottom for water drainage. Water the cuttings frequently and abundantly (every 2–3 days), so that the soil has the consistency of sour cream; 7–10 days after planting, soil moisture is reduced to normal. The cuttings are kept at home until about the beginning of May. By this time, the plants reach a height of 50–60 cm. The bags are cut before planting so as not to damage the root system. Plants are planted 10–15 cm deeper than they were planted in bags.
Soil preparation
For black currants on the site, it is better to allocate low, moist, sufficiently lit places, protected from the wind. Traditionally, currants are planted along the fence along the boundaries of the site; this is acceptable taking into account the requirements that have already been mentioned. The distance between the fence and plantings should be at least 1.2–1.5 m.
At the site chosen for planting, it is necessary to carry out careful planning so that there are no deep depressions, holes, etc. The leveled soil is dug up onto the bayonet of a shovel, i.e., to a depth of 20–22 cm, having previously applied fertilizer at the rate of 1 sq.m. : organic - 3-4 kg, granulated superphosphate - 100-150 g, potassium sulfate - 20-30 g. A very good potassium fertilizer for currants is wood ash in the same doses.
Currants are less tolerant of high soil acidity than other berry crops, so at a pH of 4–5.5, lime is added evenly during digging at a dose of 0.3–0.8 kg/sq.m.
Landing
The density of planting currants in the garden depends on the variety, soil fertility, lighting, and the method of forming and pruning the bush. Varieties of black currant with a spreading and powerful crown of the bush should be planted less often, and plants with a compact, upright crown should be planted more often. Usually, black currant bushes are planted in a row at a distance of 1 to 1.5 m. In general, when choosing the size of the gaps between the bushes in a row, the gardener should keep in mind that at short distances from the bush, a smaller harvest is obtained, but more berries from the total area under the bushes . And, conversely, each well-developed bush produces more berries, but there will be fewer bushes in the garden.
Having chosen the most appropriate planting scheme, a place for planting holes or trenches is marked on the prepared area. For autumn planting (the first half of October), you should prepare the site and dig holes or trenches 35–40 cm deep and 50–60 cm wide 2–3 weeks before planting so that the soil has time to settle. This is more important for planting in spring.
When digging a hole, the top fertile layer of soil is placed on one side of it, and the lower, subsoil layer is placed on the other and mixed with fertilizers. 8-10 kg of compost (humus, peat), 150-200 g of superphosphate, 30-40 g of potassium sulfate or wood ash are added to each planting hole or per 1 linear meter of trench at the planting site. It is necessary to ensure that mineral fertilizers do not come into contact with the roots of plants during planting, otherwise burns to the roots will occur and the plants will take root less well.
If the groundwater is located very close (above 0.8 m), then planting holes or trenches are not dug, but the soil is dug up and filled with fertilizers, and a small platform of soil up to 15–20 cm high is made at the planting site.
The future harvest largely depends on the quality of planting material, so the gardener should not be indifferent to what seedlings he uses for planting.
Seedlings that have a highly developed root system take root better and bear fruit well in the future. It should have at least 3–5 skeletal roots up to 15–20 cm long in a lignified state, with yellowed bark, as well as a developed fibrous system. The above-ground part may consist of one or two shoots up to 30–40 cm long, extending from the base of the seedling.
When transporting seedlings, even not over very long distances, the root system must be wrapped in a damp cloth and topped with plastic film or some other dense material to prevent the roots from drying out. Before planting, damaged tips of roots or above-ground shoots are cut off. To avoid drying out, especially in bright sunlight, the roots of plants prepared for planting are dipped in clay or earthen mash or simply temporarily sprinkled with earth. Seedlings with dried roots take root much worse.
Currants can be planted in both autumn and spring, but the best planting time is autumn (the first half of October). The main rule when planting in the fall is to have time to plant the bushes 10–14 days before the onset of persistent frosts. During the autumn-winter period, the soil settles well and becomes compacted around the bushes and root system; the plants heal wounds on the roots and the root system is restored.
When planting in spring, especially in areas where little snow accumulates, as well as when purchasing planting material very late, the roots and above-ground parts of the seedling may freeze. In these cases, the seedlings are pinned down for the winter in an inclined position quite deep, 30–40 cm. In the spring, the buried plants are shaded to protect the buds from blooming. Spring planting begins early, as soon as the soil allows.
Usually, planting is carried out by two people: one holds the seedling, the other adds soil. Plant it in an inclined position, approximately at an angle of 45°. The direction of the tilt is not significant; it is usually done along the row in one direction or the other.
Sloping and buried planting creates conditions for better formation of additional roots and for the emergence of new shoots from the buds of the buried part of the stem and root collar. In this way, a powerful, well-developed bush with a sufficient number of branches is formed. With direct planting, as a rule, a single-stem standard bush is obtained, which is used for compacted intensive culture.
The roots of the seedling are straightened and covered with soil, gradually compacting the soil. Moreover, when planting, the seedling must be periodically slightly shaken so that the soil evenly fills the entire space between the roots and no voids form around the roots. The seedling is slightly buried (6–8 cm above the root collar, see Fig. 6).
When the roots are covered with soil, but the holes are not yet completely filled, you need to water the plants (about half a bucket per bush), after which the hole is filled with earth. After planting, make a hole around the seedling and water again. To preserve moisture, the soil around the bush is mulched with peat or other organic matter; in extreme cases, the hole is sprinkled with dry soil so that after watering a crust does not form on it. In dry weather, especially in spring, 3-4 days after planting, the plants are watered again and the soil is mulched.
Plants weakened by transplantation may freeze (primarily the roots). To protect against winter damage, the seedling is first covered with soil to a height of 10–12 cm, and then the soil around it is well mulched (this is done for about a month after planting).
Plant care
Abundant fruiting of berry bushes is possible only if they grow well. The stronger the annual growth, the higher the yield can be. Therefore, if in the first year after planting they strive to ensure that the planted plants take root well, then in subsequent years they create conditions for their better growth and fruiting. This is achieved by proper soil cultivation, watering, regular fertilization, systematic pruning and other plant care techniques.
Blackcurrant is a moisture-loving crop, so to create an optimal water regime, the soil should be kept loose, moist and free from weeds. To do this, loosen the soil around the bushes as needed (optimally once every 2-3 weeks), preventing crust from forming around the plants and weeds not growing, which greatly dries out the soil.
The active root system of currants is located in the upper loose nutrient layers of the soil. In order not to damage the roots, the soil around the bushes is loosened carefully, to a depth of no more than 6–8 cm. At a considerable distance from the bushes or between rows, loosening or digging up to 10–12 cm is possible. Moisture is well retained if the soil around the bushes is mulched with organic material ( peat, peat compost, grass, etc.). In this case, you can loosen it much less often. Recently, many gardeners have been using synthetic materials for mulching (black opaque film, roofing felt, parchment, germ-protective paper, etc.). This technique allows you to do without loosening the soil during the summer, but in the fall it is advisable to remove the covering in order to improve the air exchange of the soil, apply fertilizers and carry out other work.
In the fall, heavy loams are dug up under the bushes - shallowly and left lumpy for the winter so that moisture is better retained. Digging is carried out between the bushes and rows to a depth of 10–12 cm. If the soil is light and loose enough, you can limit yourself to shallow loosening (up to 5–8 cm) near the bushes. To avoid damage to the roots, it is better to dig up the soil with a garden fork.
After planting, if the plants were planted in the fall, fertilizers other than those that were applied earlier are not applied. If planting was done in the spring, then after 2–3 weeks it is advisable to feed the plants with nitrogen fertilizers at the rate of 13–16 g of urea per 1 sq.m. Fertilizers must be applied to a circle area under the crown with a diameter of at least 1 m and sealed immediately. It is good to water the plants after this. At the end of the 3rd year after planting in the fall, apply 40–50 g of superphosphate, 10–15 g of potassium sulfate and 4–6 kg of organic fertilizers per bush.
The fertilizer application zone is determined by the location of the bulk of the roots. In currants, it is located mainly under the crown of the bush and even a little further. Therefore, in adult plants, fertilizers are applied according to the projection of the bush crown.
Starting from the 4th year after planting, nitrogen fertilizers are applied annually in 1 or 2 doses (2/3 dose in spring and 1/2 shortly after flowering) at the rate of 20–25 g of urea. Organic, phosphorus and potash fertilizers on loamy soils, it can be applied once every 3–4 years in autumn or spring at the rate of 12–18 kg of organic matter, 120–150 g of superphosphate, and 30–45 g of potassium sulfate. On light sandy and sandy loam soils, as well as on peaty soils, these fertilizers must be applied annually in the spring according to the norms for 3-year-old bushes.
On loamy soils of medium and high levels of fertility, you can limit yourself to the main autumn or spring application of fertilizers. On poor loamy, as well as on sandy, sandy loam and peaty soils, additional summer feeding with liquid, organic and mineral fertilizers should be given. It is very useful to combine these fertilizers with watering. The mullein solution is diluted 2–4 times, 1 bucket of solution is used per 1 m2, bird droppings - 8–10 times, 0.5–1 bucket of solution is added per 1 sq.m.
When there are no organic fertilizers, use mineral fertilizers in the form of a Riga mixture at the rate of 1–2 tablespoons per 10 liters of water, spending 1–2 buckets per bush. It is especially important to fertilize immediately after picking the berries, since during this period the formation of fruit buds occurs.
To ensure adequate nutrition of plants, in addition to basic fertilizers, foliar fertilizing with microelements is carried out in June. In 10 liters of water, dissolve separately 1–2 g of copper sulfate, 2–2.5 g of boric acid, 5–10 g of manganese sulfate, 2–3 g of zinc sulfate, 2–3 g of ammonium molybdate, then mix the solutions and add 1 bucket per bush. Dissolved fertilizers are applied into furrows 10 cm deep, dug around the bushes at a distance of 20–25 cm. After watering, the furrows are leveled, the soil is mulched with peat, any organic materials or dry soil.
Black currant is a rather moisture-loving crop, which is due to its biological characteristics. Lack of moisture causes stunted growth in currant plants, crushing and shedding of berries. Dry conditions during the post-harvest period can lead to freezing of the bushes, especially in harsh winters.
It is very important to water currant bushes during the most decisive phenophases of its development: during the period of intensive growth and formation of the ovary, during the formation of the ovary and filling of berries, and after harvesting. Pre-winter watering is also necessary, especially in dry autumn. The soil is moistened to the depth of the root layer, approximately 40–60 cm. Water consumption per 1 sq.m of soil surface can be 30–50 liters.
It is best to water in grooves 10–15 cm deep, which are made around the bushes at a distance of 30–40 cm from the ends of the branches of the bush.
Bush formation and care
To obtain high yields, currant bushes must be shaped by pruning, which will allow the bush to develop properly, preventing its thickening, creating better opportunities for the growth of young shoots, eliminating conditions for the development of pests and diseases and, ultimately, increasing the yield and size of the berries.
Of all the maintenance techniques, perhaps the most important and at the same time difficult for gardeners to perform is the formation and pruning of bushes. Pruning causes the growth of new strong basal shoots from the underground part of the bush (they are called zero basal shoots, or renewal shoots). When pruning, the branching of basal shoots increases, the growth of annual shoots on perennial branches increases, thickening of the bush is prevented, and the size of the berries increases.
Pruning begins immediately after planting. Each shoot is trimmed, leaving only 2–4 well-developed buds, and the weaker the growth of the seedling shoots, the more they need to be shortened. In some cases, when during the first year of life the plant develops poorly and produces few shoots, you can cut the shoots to the soil level.
If you are very interested in what kind of currant it is and what the taste of the berries is and their size, then you can leave several annual shoots from the seedling without pruning. The next year after planting, single clusters of berries will appear on the bush.
Over the next years, to form a full-fledged bush, only 3–4 well-developed and conveniently located annual basal shoots are left annually, the rest are cut out at the base. First of all, shoots that are weak, thickened and affected by pests and diseases are removed. Older branches are also removed if they are poorly developed, broken or damaged by glassworm or shoot gall midge.
If the bush weakly forms basal shoots, then 1–2 old skeletal branches are cut out, even if they produce a small harvest.
Formative pruning is completed in the 4th-5th year. A well-formed adult blackcurrant bush at the end of the growing season has branches of different ages - from fruit-bearing to zero replacement shoots. It is best to leave 10–15 skeletal branches of all ages in the bush, about 2–4 each, with 1–2 more annual branches left, and 1–2 fewer 4- and 5-year-old branches (Fig. 7).
In an adult fruit-bearing blackcurrant bush, aging 5- and 6-year-old unproductive branches are annually cut out.
The fact that black currant branches are outdated and have lost productivity can be judged by some external signs. In old branches, the terminal growth of most branches is very weak, usually less than 10–15 cm.
If on the branches of a young branch the size of the apical bud is approximately 4–6 mm, then on older branches it is no more than 2–3 mm. On older branches the bark is dark brown, and the older the branch, the darker the bark. In 2- and 3-year-old branches, the color of the bark is yellow and light gray.
The most correct way to determine the age of a branch is by the order of branching. The axis of a basal shoot or perennial branch is zero order and corresponds to the first year of life. The branch from the axis of the branch will be the first order of branching, and the branch will be correspondingly 2 years old, etc. (Fig. 8).
When cutting branches, you need to take into account not only their age, but also their condition. If the older branch is well developed, well located, has strong growths with large flower buds, then it can be left for another year. And vice versa, if a younger branch is poorly developed, shaded and has few fruit-bearing buds, then it is cut out. All unnecessary zero shoots are cut out, primarily weak, thickened and diseased ones, leaving only 5-6 strong, evenly spaced annual basal shoots for regeneration of the bush.
Old branches that have still retained their productivity are pruned into perennial wood, that is, the end parts with weakened growth and weak fruiting branches are removed until there is strong lateral branching.
In gardens you can often find thickened blackcurrant bushes that have grown for several years without pruning. Such bushes are heavily thinned out, cutting out broken, weak, low-yielding branches of all ages. First of all, remove branches lying on the ground and growing inside the bush. Remove weak, annual zero shoots, leaving 2-3 strong ones to replace the aging ones. If few or no renewal shoots are formed, it is necessary to additionally cut out 2-3 strong old branches in different parts of the bush, and on the remaining ones, cut out or shorten the strong growth shoots that have grown from their base in order to encourage the bush to form renewal shoots.
In the old branches that are left, the dying ends are cut back to any strong lateral branch to enhance growth on the remaining part of the branch (Fig. 9). Strong annual basal shoots (if any) and growth shoots on old branches are shortened to enhance branching. However, in one year you should not cut out all the old branches until the bush has formed new ones to replace them. In this case, the plants may produce a small harvest. By correct pruning over the course of 3–4 years, you can restore the fruiting of the bush and then continue pruning in the usual manner.
Pruning black currants is a rather labor-intensive operation, and it takes quite a long time to complete. The best time to prune bushes is in the spring before the buds open. But since currant buds bloom early, the pruning period is significantly reduced. Therefore, it is advisable to postpone some of the pruning work until the fall. In this case, in early autumn, immediately after harvesting, you can begin to remove old fruit-bearing branches, cutting them out at the very base, as well as all unnecessary thickening shoots. And such pruning can be carried out throughout the autumn period until the onset of severe frosts. In the spring, the remaining detailed processing is carried out.
Shedding of currant ovaries is a fairly common phenomenon in the middle zone. Very often, despite the abundant flowering of currants, in the first 10–15 days after its end, the ovaries fall off greatly. One of the reasons for this phenomenon is spring frosts, the so-called morning frosts, which threaten berry gardens almost every year, especially in early spring. In the middle zone, frosts on the soil end only by May 30, but are possible before June 10, i.e., they cover both the end of currant flowering and the period of ovary formation.
During frosts, bushes are protected by smoking and spraying. Good materials for smoking are strawberry leaves and cut raspberry branches, last year's potato tops, straw, and straw manure. This material is piled into piles up to 0.8 m long and wide and up to 0.7 m high. The piles are placed in one line at a distance of 3–4 m from each other on the side of the site from which air flows early in the morning when there is no wind.
Smoking begins when the air temperature drops to 1 °C and ends an hour after the air temperature rises above 0 °C.
A good way to protect flowering currant plants from frost is by spraying with water. If there is a risk of frost, plants are sprayed with water repeatedly (5-6 times). At the same time, not only the bushes are abundantly irrigated, but also the soil under them. The first spraying begins at the first hour of the night, the second - at the beginning of frost, the third - immediately after the second, etc. Even simple watering of the soil under the bushes when there is a danger of frost significantly reduces its harmful effects.
In addition to late spring frosts, weather conditions have a great influence on the berry set of currants. For example, cold and windy weather makes it difficult for insects to bloom during flowering and, as a result, the plant is poorly pollinated. In very hot and dry weather, the stigmas of the pistils dry out and the period of possible pollination of flowers is reduced, so it is advisable to create conditions in the garden for normal pollination of bushes (planting in protected places, selecting varieties, humidifying the air and soil in hot weather, breeding bees).
In currants, the ovaries may crumble when the varieties are fully or partially self-fertile, i.e., due to insufficient pollination of flowers, poor berry set occurs. Varieties with partial self-fertility produce harvests annually, but the fruiting of the bush depends on the degree of self-fertility and pollination conditions.
Varieties with high self-fertility bear fruit better than others, regardless of cross-pollination. The gardener must select exactly these varieties. This will guarantee stable high yields.
In any case, it is advisable to plant plants of not one, but two or three self-fertile varieties, so as to create better conditions for cross-pollination.
Pest and disease control
Kidney mite . The most dangerous pest of currants. The mite itself is microscopic in size, you cannot notice it with the naked eye, but the buds affected by it are clearly visible: in the spring, such buds grow abnormally and become larger, acquiring an unnaturally rounded shape, resembling in appearance a small head of cabbage. During the season, pests produce up to five generations, their number in each affected bud reaches eight thousand. Female ticks overwinter safely in them, so infected buds have to be collected and burned as early as possible in the spring.
Bud moth - a dangerous and insidious pest. In early spring, when there is still snow, the caterpillars that have emerged from hibernation (they are orange-red in color, 2–3 mm in size) gnaw out 5–7 buds each. The buds dry out and look like they are burned. It is difficult to notice the damage; only after the leaves bloom, very bare shoots are visible.
Blackcurrant berry sawfly . Its false caterpillars are dirty white in color, the head is yellowish-gray, the eyes are dark, and the body length is 11 mm. The caterpillars damage the berries at the beginning of their setting, destroying the seeds and some pulp. Damaged berries grow greatly, acquiring a characteristic ribbed shape, and become colored prematurely, as if ripening. After the caterpillars leave, the berries fall off. Spraying shrubs and the soil underneath them during the blooming of flower buds with 3% nitrafen helps to destroy the pest.
Red gall aphid - a very unpleasant pest. Aphid larvae from the very early spring settle on the underside of young leaves, form colonies and suck out the juice. The leaf blade in the feeding sheets grows and forms swellings (galls). They are colored first yellowish and then dark red. The damage is clearly visible from these galls. With severe infection, the leaves dry out and fall off, growth slows down, and the yield decreases.
Currant glass . Often at the end of flowering or the beginning of ripening of berries, wilting, drying out and sudden breaking off of branches are observed. This is damage to branches by a glassworm caterpillar 2–2.5 cm long, whitish, with a brown head. It penetrates inside the branch and gnaws a hole in the core, filling it with a wormhole. A cut of a damaged branch clearly shows the back door in the middle of the branch.
Powdery mildew . A widespread disease that causes great damage to crops. In the spring, after flowering, a white coating of mycelium appears on young leaves, shoots and ovaries, which quickly turns powdery and then takes on the appearance of brown felt. Affected branches stop growing, bend and die. The berries dry out. The disease develops especially quickly in plantings that are thickened and overgrown with weeds. In one summer, up to ten generations of spores are formed. They overwinter directly on the branches of the bush and on fallen leaves. Increasing damage every year ultimately leads to the death of the plants.
Anthracnose . In the first half of June, first yellow, then brown spots and sores appear on the leaves and shoots of blackcurrant. With severe infection, they merge, the leaves become as if burned, curl up at the edges and fall off prematurely. The disease causes especially severe damage in rainy, humid weather: the bushes are completely bare, small brown tubercles appear on the berries, and the yield is sharply reduced. The main source of plant infection is fallen leaves.
Septoria . The brown spots that appear on the leaves turn white over time, and a border with black dots appears along the edges. With severe infection, they merge, the normal development of plants is disrupted, the leaves dry out prematurely and fall off.
Rust . Bright yellow or orange spots and bumps appear on the undersides of the leaves. Later they turn brown and dry out, and the leaves fall off. In the second half of summer, goblet rust spores move from currants to sedge growing in the nearest lowland, where they overwinter, and the next season they return to currants.
Terry (reversion) of black currant . A very dangerous mycoplasma disease that leads to plant infertility. The causative agent of the disease is transmitted to healthy bushes by bud mites, aphids, and also by cuttings from diseased bushes. Characteristic signs are deformation of leaves and flowers. Diseased leaves are three-lobed (instead of five-lobed), elongated, with large marginal teeth, similar to a nettle leaf; the smell of the leaves is lost. The flowers become ugly, thread-like, needle-shaped, purple or green (instead of white), and appear curly (“double”) in appearance. Affected flowers dry out and do not fall off for a very long time. The berries practically do not set, and the bush may be partially or completely without a harvest.
RED AND WHITE CURRANTS
Red currants grow everywhere as a berry and ornamental crop. It is found growing wild in many regions of the country.
Ripe berries are eaten for preparing dessert dishes: jelly, compotes, mousses, fruit drinks. Berries are widely used in the confectionery industry for the preparation of marmalades, marshmallows, jellies, preserves, and jams. Wines, tinctures, and juices are prepared from currants.
Red currant berries are used for therapeutic and dietary purposes.
Thanks to the pectin substances contained in the berries, which, upon entering the gastrointestinal tract, swell, forming mucous solutions that are good adsorbents of intestinal toxins, and the presence of tannins that have an astringent property, currant juice is used for spastic colitis and enterocolitis. In addition, pectin substances have the ability to bind and remove cholesterol from the body, so currant berries are indicated for atherosclerosis. Their use in hemorrhagic vasculitis is due to their high content of vitamin P.
Currant juice is also used to remove uric acid salts from the body, since organic acids, when broken down in the body, form carbonic acid and water, thereby alkalizing the urine.
In traditional medicine, currant berries and their derivatives are used for colds as an antipyretic and diaphoretic.
Key Features
Currant is a perennial shrub. During the fruiting period, the bush consists of 12–20 branches of different ages. Depending on the varietal characteristics, the bushes can be spreading or compact.
Red and white currants prefer to grow in sunny areas, on slightly acidic loams with a pH of 5.5. It grows poorly in shade or partial shade, on too acidic and dense soils, and with close groundwater. Therefore, if the groundwater depth is 50–60 cm, red and white currants are planted on small hills. The distance between the bushes, if you plant several of them, should be 1.5–2 m, since they are quite large. Red and white currants go well with gooseberries, despite the fact that they have common pests, and do not like the proximity of black currants. It is quite tolerant of all other plants in the garden, primarily because its root system occupies an intermediate position in terms of the depth of the sucking roots - between trees whose root depth is lower and those plants whose root system is superficial. Therefore, in front of the red currant bushes on the south side, you can place strawberries, vegetables and herbs with a shallow root system, bulbous annual and perennial flowers.
For white and red currants, as for black currants, growth and mixed buds are typical. Most of all, the bush has mixed (flowering) buds, which have the rudiments of both growth shoots and fruiting organs. Growth buds are less numerous. They are usually located in the lower or uppermost part of the shoot, from which vegetative shoots develop (Fig. 10). Moreover, only basal annual shoots, which can reach a length of 100 cm or more, can be considered typical growth in currants.
Mixed shoots have a length from 10 to 35 cm. The apical and lateral buds of such shoots can be either flowering or growth.
Bouquet branches- short formations up to 5–7 cm long, on which flower buds are located. The apical bud can grow and produce a continuation shoot. This type of fruiting is most typical for red currants.
The shortest fruit formations are ringlets. With a length of 3–4 cm, 2–3 buds are formed on them. Ringed flowers bear fruit for up to 6–8 years.
Red and white currants have three-lobed leaves, rougher and leatherier than black ones. They are odorless; by this sign you can always unmistakably distinguish red currants from black ones.
The berries have a much greater variety of shades than black ones - white, pink, red or intense dark red.
Currants are characterized by a superficial location of the root system. Depending on the soil and climatic conditions and soil preparation, the bulk of the suction roots are located in the upper layers of the soil at a depth of 0 to 40 cm, and can spread up to 60–100 cm.
In an adult fruit-bearing currant bush, the root system is highly developed and the saturation of roots in a relatively small volume of soil is very high. Skeletal, thicker roots branch strongly, grow at first obliquely, almost horizontally, and at a distance approximately equal to the diameter of the bush, almost vertically down and go deep into the subsoil horizons (up to 1.5 m or more).
With the onset of fruiting, mixed flower buds of red currants form a raceme and 1–2 replacement shoots, on which flower buds are again laid. In the 7-8th year, the basal branch still bears fruit, but already has a very weak annual growth - only up to 3-5 cm. With the weakening of growth, perennial fruiting branches (fruitlets and ringlets) with shortened replacement shoots are formed on the branches of the higher orders of skeletal branches , on which, although numerous, very weak short clusters with small berries are formed.
The most productive are 5-, 6-year-old and even 6-, 7-year-old branches.
It is easy to prepare aromatic jelly, compotes, soft drinks, preserves, jams and much more from red and white currants. All these preparations are not only tasty, but also healthy: they quench thirst, increase appetite, and tone the body. And in folk medicine they have long been used as a diaphoretic, diuretic, antipyretic, antiallergic, anti-inflammatory, hemostatic, and antiulcer agent. In some places, redcurrant juice is still considered the best remedy for headaches.
White currant varieties
Versailles white . Medium ripening variety. The bushes are medium-sized, medium-spreading. The berries are medium in size (weight of 1 berry is 0.4–0.6 g), light cream color, dessert sweet and sour taste, do not crumble for a long time. Winter hardiness is good. Resistance to powdery mildew is high, resistance to anthracnose is average.
Dutch pink . Medium ripening variety. The bushes are tall and compact. Medium-sized and large berries (weight of 1 berry 0.5–0.7 g), Pink colour, pleasant dessert taste. Productivity and winter hardiness are high. Resistance to powdery mildew and anthracnose is average.
Varieties of red currants
Chulkovskaya . An early ripening variety that forms a vigorous, slightly spreading bush. Self-fertility is high. The berries are medium-sized (1 berry weighs 0.6–0.8 g), bright red, with a pleasant dessert taste. The yield is high - 8-10 kg per bush. Winter hardiness is high, disease resistance is below average.
Jonheer van Tets . Medium ripening variety. It began to be grown in amateur gardens recently, but thanks to many positive qualities this variety quickly gained popularity among gardeners. The bushes are vigorous, compact, self-fertility is high, the berries are large (weight of 1 berry is 0.7–0.8 g), bright red, with a pleasant dessert sweet and sour taste. Productivity and winter hardiness are high. Resistance to powdery mildew and anthracnose is high.
Beloved . Medium ripening variety. The bushes are medium-sized, semi-spreading. The berries are medium-sized (weight 1 berry 0.6–0.7 g), red, with a pleasant sweet and sour taste. Productivity, winter hardiness and resistance to diseases caused by fungi are high.
Dutch red . Late ripening variety. The bushes are medium-sized, medium-spreading. The berries are large and medium in size (weight of 1 berry is 0.6–0.8 g), bright red, sweet and sour taste. Productivity reaches 8-10 kg from 1 bush. Winter hardiness and resistance to diseases caused by fungi are high.
Vika . The variety has a mid-early ripening period (the berries ripen by July 9), and is characterized by increased winter hardiness, productivity, and disease resistance. The bush is of medium height, straight-growing, dense, with thick, beautiful shoots. The leaves are large, dark green, leathery, with an unusual heart-shaped base. Fruit clusters are dense. The berries are large, purple-red, sweet, and uniform in size.
Niva . A medium-ripening variety (berries ripen by July 16). Soon fruitful, productive, resistant to powdery mildew and anthracnose. The bush is medium-sized, slightly spreading. It begins to bear fruit earlier than other varieties - already in the second year after planting. The berries are large, bright red, and high in vitamin C.
Osipovskaya . Late ripening variety (berries ripen by July 20). Winter-hardy, productive, disease resistant. The bush is vigorous, semi-spreading, with a dense crown. It has a late flowering period, flowers and ovaries are not damaged by returning spring frosts, and the berries set well even on rainy, cold days in the absence of bees.
Red Viksne . The variety has a mid-early ripening period (the berries ripen by July 4), winter-hardy, and disease-resistant. The bush is tall, vigorous, with large leaves. It differs from other varieties in the unusual color of the berries - they are dark cherry, translucent and very tasty, with a high content of vitamins C and P.
Propagation of red and white currants
Red and white currants are propagated by woody shoots, and in late summer - early autumn by layering and green cuttings “with a heel”, that is, with part of a two-year-old shoot. However, any method requires skill and experience, since the ability to take root of this currant, alas, is much worse than that of black currant, so for its rooting it is necessary to use various root formation stimulants.
The simplest and effective method propagation by horizontal layering. Such layerings can be obtained from most shoots of a young (3-, 5-year-old) bush.
In early spring, the soil under the mother bushes is loosened and fertilized with organic and mineral fertilizers.
Then shallow (up to 10–12 cm) grooves are made, 1- and 2-year-old well-developed shoots are placed in them, pinned tightly with hooks in several places, and the middle part of the shoot is sprinkled with earth, leaving the upper end above the soil surface. When vertical shoots grow to 8–10 cm, they are hilled up with loose and moist soil, then after 2–3 weeks the hilling is repeated (Fig. 11). During the summer, the soil with layerings is watered abundantly and mulched with organic materials.
In autumn, rooted shoots are separated from the mother bush, while well-rooted shoots are divided into layering, which can be planted in a permanent place. Poorly rooted cuttings are either left near the bush for the second season or transplanted into a garden bed for growing. Plant according to the following scheme: the distance between rows is 50–60 cm, in a row between layerings 20–25 cm. After planting, the soil along the row is compacted, the layering is hilled up to a height of 8–10 cm. In early spring, the layering is cut into 3–4 buds, unearthed, and loosened ; in dry weather, water and mulch. During the summer, the beds with layering are loosened, and watering is combined with organic fertilizing.
Two-year-old seedlings with 3–4 shoots and a developed root system begin to bear fruit 2–3 years after planting in a permanent place.
Red and white currants can be propagated by woody cuttings (Fig. 12). In autumn, annual shoots that grow from the root or grow on two- or three-year-old branches are cut off. It is better to take cuttings from the middle of the shoot. Their thickness should be 8-10 mm. Cuttings are cut 18–20 cm long, placed in moist soil or sand to form root primordia and kept for 45–60 days at a temperature of 2–3 °C. After this, the cuttings are placed in a box or other container and placed in a snow pile until spring. In early spring, cuttings are planted in nurseries or greenhouses under film or glass covers and carried out routine care: watering, fertilizing, weeding.
Soil preparation
Red and white currants can be planted both in spring and autumn, but it is better in autumn (for the middle zone - the first half of October). During the autumn-winter period, the soil settles well and becomes compacted around the bushes. Plants begin to grow early in the spring and take root well.
In areas where there is little snow, the root system may freeze, so it is advisable to plant in the spring. In this case, the seedlings are buried for the winter. To protect the buds from blooming, in the spring the buried seedlings are shaded or pruned short. Plant plants early, as soon as the soil allows.
The area intended for currants is dug up, adding fertilizers: organic - 3-4 kg, granulated superphosphate - 100-150 g, potassium sulfate - 20-30 g.
Before planting, damaged or dried parts of the roots and branches are removed from the seedling, then the roots are dipped in clay mash to prevent them from drying out.
Planting density depends on the variety, soil fertility, pruning and bush formation. Varieties with a spreading crown shape and vigorous-growing ones should be planted more rarely, and plants with a compact, upright bush shape should be planted more often.
Red and white currant bushes are planted in a row at a distance of 1.5 m.
Landing
Planting of red and white currant seedlings is carried out in early spring - before the May holidays - or in autumn - at the end of September - beginning of October. Most often they are placed along paths or along the boundaries of the site. Moreover, it is spacious - one bush is one and a half to two meters from another. Make sure that the planted bushes are not shaded by surrounding trees as they grow.
Holes are dug 60 x 60 cm in size, or even larger if the soil is infertile. The top layer is folded separately, perennial weeds are selected from it and the roots of the seedling are covered with it. Better yet, add one or two buckets of manure humus from two or three years ago or compost from rotted weeds to the top layer of soil intended for backfilling and mix this entire mixture evenly with 200 g of superphosphate and a half-liter jar of wood ash, which contains enough potassium and other important batteries. 6–8 cm below soil level to quickly form a bush with a wide base. With such planting, additional roots are better formed and more shoots of renewal appear from the buds of the buried part of the stem and root collar. When planting a currant seedling without tilting or deepening, a standard bush may grow, in which the regeneration of shoots will be very weak (Fig. 13).
The seedlings are placed in a prepared planting hole, the roots are straightened, they are covered with soil, gradually compacting the soil. When planting, the seedlings are shaken slightly so that the soil evenly fills all the voids around the roots. When the roots are already covered with soil, but the hole is not yet completely filled, it is good to water (about half a bucket per bush). Then the hole is filled with soil, a hole is made around the plant and watered again at the rate of 1/3–1/2 bucket of water per bush. To preserve moisture, the soil around the seedling is mulched with peat or humus; in extreme cases, the hole is sprinkled with dry soil so that a crust does not form after watering. In dry weather, especially in spring, after three to four days the plants are watered and mulched again.
Pruning and shaping the bush
They begin to form a bush immediately after planting: the tops of the shoots are cut off, leaving 3–4 buds at the bottom. In the future, annual growths on the branches are not shortened, since the fruit buds of red currants are formed mainly at the tops. A formed red currant bush should have 15–20 branches of different ages; they produce a harvest up to 6–8 years, and sometimes more.
Red and white currants can also be formed as a trellis crop in the form of a flat palmette, fixing its shoots on two or three rows of wire, as is usually done with a grapevine (Fig. 14). The same shape is given to a bush placed along the wall of a house or barn. True, with such a planting it is necessary to regularly and quite often break off and trim off all the shoots that violate the flat formation.
Sometimes red currants are formed in a standard form (Fig. 15), and then it has the appearance of a dwarf apple tree or a miniature oak with a beautiful round shape. When forming a bush in this way, one vertically growing, well-developed shoot is selected from a young currant, and the rest are all cut directly from the ground. From the abandoned shoot, all branches located below 25–50 cm from the ground are removed, a trunk is created, and the branches located above are somewhat shortened, thus causing them to branch. In the future, pruning is carried out according to the type of pruning of an apple tree: thickening shoots are removed, as well as branches growing downwards, damaged and older than 7–8 years. Every year, shoots appear at the base of the bush, which must be removed immediately, preventing them from growing. When they are still green and very small, you can simply break them out, but when they are partially lignified, you need to cut them as low as possible.
Pruning red and white currants has some differences from pruning black currants. This is based on differences in the biology of their development and fruiting. Fruit buds of red and white currants are mainly formed at the base of annual shoots, as well as on ringlets - perennial fruit branches. Therefore, their older branches are also fruit-bearing, i.e. the red currant bush does not require such frequent anti-aging pruning as black currants. In adult plants, only broken, drying out and old low-yielding branches are removed, and for thinning and lightening, branches that have grown at the very base of the bush are cut out.
Protection from pests and diseases
The basis of pest and disease control is compliance with the rules of agricultural technology. A well-kept garden does not provide conditions for the development of pests and diseases. First of all, the bushes should not be thickened; for this purpose, pruning is carried out in a timely manner and damaged parts of the plants are burned. Autumn digging of row spacing helps to destroy a large number of pests that have prepared for wintering.
Of course, it is also important correct landing. When planted at a distance of 2 x 2 m, powerful bushes develop, they are well lit, ventilated, and pests and diseases rarely develop in them. If pests do appear, then there is no need to start fighting them immediately with the use of chemical pesticides. In the case when there are few pests, you just need to collect them and destroy them manually. For example, moths are easy to collect. It is recommended to use infusions and decoctions of insecticidal plants, as they cause less harm compared to pesticides. And only when absolutely necessary can you resort to chemical protective measures.
The most common pests of red and white currants are aphids, gooseberry moth, sawflies, bud mites, and currant glass beetles. The most common and harmful diseases are powdery mildew (spheroteca) and anthracnose.
Aphids - These are small (up to 2 mm long), sucking pests. They are always located on shoots and leaves in colonies. Aphids usually settle on the underside of leaves and suck out the juices. Damaged leaves are clearly visible: as they grow, they have a characteristic tuberculate structure, often seem to swell and acquire a red or orange color, and in the event of a massive attack by aphids, they simply dry up. Aphids are very prolific: during the first half of summer they can produce up to 5–6 generations. In aphids, which are located on shoots, in the spring the larvae emerge from swollen buds and feed on green shoots and young leaves. The growing shoot bends, the leaves curl down, forming a lump. Instead of a healthy, full-fledged shoot, a thin, twisted one grows, and it needs to be removed. Aphids can be carried from one bush to another by ants that feed on the sweet juice secreted by the aphids. If ants appear in the garden, the places where they accumulate must be destroyed by pouring boiling water over them and destroying their colonies, and the exit points can be sprinkled with boric acid.
Control measures. Early spring (before buds open) spraying with abundant wetting of the bushes and the soil under them with a 3% solution of nitrafen (300 g per 10 liters of water). To destroy aphids, you can successfully use infusions and decoctions of some plants: dandelion, yarrow, tobacco, horse sorrel, marigold, potato and tomato tops. Spraying should be carried out at the first sign of damage. Spray in the evening and in calm weather. When processing, it is important that the areas where aphids accumulate are well moistened: young shoots, and especially the underside of the leaf where the aphids are located. If necessary, infusions and decoctions of plants can be treated up to 3-4 times during the summer with an interval of 7-15 days. Treatment should not be carried out during flowering plants. The last processing time is 5 days before harvest.
Gooseberry moth - the most common pest of currants. Its larvae are 15–18 mm long, light green in color, and very nimble. When danger appears, they quickly wriggle and try to fall to the ground and hide in the soil. The larvae appear at the moment of berry formation and develop for 25–30 days. By entangling the fruit clusters with webs and biting into the berries, they feed. During development, each larva manages to damage up to 10–15 berries.
Control measures. Autumn digging of the soil under the bushes in order to destroy the moth pupae that have prepared for wintering. When numbers are small, berry clusters entangled in cobwebs along with pests are collected and destroyed. If a massive appearance of the pest is expected, then before flowering the bushes are sprayed with an infusion of dry leaves or waste of tobacco and shag.
Currant glass - the most difficult pest of currants and gooseberries to eradicate. 15–20 days after flowering, glass butterflies lay eggs. The hatched caterpillars penetrate inside the young branches and completely eat away the core, gradually moving downwards. There they spend the winter. Branches damaged by glass fiber become brittle, their foliage decreases, the leaves become small, light green, and sometimes the branches die. The bush is greatly weakened and does not bear fruit well.
Control measures. Late autumn and early spring pruning of damaged shoots, their immediate removal and burning; uprooting heavily damaged bushes and burning.
Of the diseases, the greatest damage to currants is caused by powdery mildew and anthracnose.
Anthracnose . In the first half of June, first yellow, then brown spots and sores appear on the leaves and shoots of currants. With severe infection, they merge, the leaves become as if burned, curl up at the edges and fall off prematurely. The disease causes especially severe damage in rainy, humid weather: the bushes are completely bare, small brown tubercles appear on the berries, and the yield is sharply reduced. The main source of plant infection is fallen leaves.
Powdery mildew manifests itself as white plaque on young shoots and leaves. In the second half of summer, it moves to the fruits and covers them in the form of a thin felt layer. The berries do not increase in size and become unsuitable for consumption. The shoots become bent, stop growing, and the leaves curl. The spread of the disease is facilitated by dense plantings and wet weather.
Control measures. The main measures include, first of all, planting disease-resistant varieties of white (Versailles white, Dutch pink), red currants (Jonheer van Tets, Chulkovskaya, Dutch red). Of course, the list of varieties resistant to powdery mildew is not limited to those listed; every year the list can be replenished with new resistant varieties bred by breeders. After flowering, as soon as the first signs of the disease appear, the plants are sprayed with a solution of soda ash (50 g per 10 liters of water) with the addition of 40 g of laundry soap.
An effective remedy and infusion of ash. To prepare it, take 1/3 of a bucket of ash, fill the bucket with water to the top, boil for 1 hour, cool, filter and spray with this infusion. You can also spray with mullein infusion. To prepare the last 1/3 of a bucket of mullein, pour warm water to the top, leave for 3 days, dilute with 3 buckets of water, filter and spray. These sprays also serve as good foliar feeding. If the disease is severely developed, spraying is repeated after 7-10 days 3-4 times. The latter is allowed to be carried out 5 days before harvest.
IN last years An effective and environmentally friendly method for protecting currants from powdery mildew is spraying the bushes with boiling water in early spring. As soon as the snow melts, and the currant buds have not yet begun to swell, the water is boiled, poured into a watering can and the bushes are evenly and thoroughly poured with this boiling water. One full watering can of boiling water is enough for a large fruit-bearing bush. The bush is sprayed very carefully so that drops of boiling water wet each branch from top to bottom.
The peculiarity of this spraying technique is that the bush should be treated in one go. If not even all the branches get drops of boiling water, then spraying the bush again is unacceptable. The fact is that boiling water, burning and killing pathogenic fungi on the surface of branches, shoots, buds, quickly cools down, giving up its heat. And when you re-treat it with boiling water, the bush will already be warmed up, and high-temperature hot water will easily penetrate inside the buds, burn them, and they will die.
It is important that at the time of spraying the buds on the bushes should not begin to swell and become open. To make this procedure easier and to enhance the effect of the treatment, before spraying, the bush must be tied with twine so that it has a diameter of 60–80 cm. If the bushes have not yet been freed from the autumn tight tying, then, on the contrary, they are somewhat freed.
Spring spraying of bushes and pouring boiling water on the soil under them also kills the pathogens of other diseases, and also has a detrimental effect on pest eggs laid on the surface of the branches.
GOLDEN CURRANT
It is a close relative of black currant. It is often mistakenly called a hybrid between black currant and gooseberry. This crop was brought to Russia from North America in early XIX century. The fruits of golden currant contain sugar, acids (citric, malic, succinic), pectin substances, vitamin C. But the most valuable thing about it is its very high content of vitamin A (carotene). In addition, this is a very beautiful plant, especially during the flowering period, when the bush is strewn with bright yellow flowers, the aroma of which can be felt even at a distance of several meters from the plant.
The berries ripen in August and are consumed fresh, but they are especially good for processing into jam, preserves, and compotes.
In folk medicine they are recommended for coughs, whooping cough and colds as a diaphoretic. Golden currant is a perennial shrub with powerful, strong and tall shoots. Every year, annual shoots with generative buds grow, which produce fruits the following year, and replacement shoots with fruits. The leaves look similar to gooseberry leaves. The flowers are collected in inflorescences and emit a strong aroma. The fruits are round, like black currants, of a wide variety of colors: brown, black, red, orange, yellow with an average weight of 5–7 g, with a strong thick skin. The skin of the fruit is dense. The berries taste sweet. Golden currant berries never fall off and remain on long petioles until they dry out. The berry is separated from the branch along with a long stalk and has a long “tendril” - the remnant of the corolla of the flower. Therefore, after picking the berries, they have to be brought (like gooseberries) to “standard”, armed with scissors. But this in no way detracts from the valuable qualities of the berries and the plant itself.
The root system of golden currant penetrates deeply into the soil, so drought is not a problem for it. Based on the biology of fruit formations and their lifespan, it is best to form golden currants in the form of a small tree on a 70-centimeter trunk. You can, however, grow it as a bush. The fact is that the leaves of golden currant are small, and the bush, even with a considerable number of shoots, remains unshaded, well lit and ventilated. Like black and red currants, 15–17 branches of different ages are formed on the bush. Branches older than 7–8 years of age are removed by cutting them at the very base.
Golden currant is undemanding to soils, easily tolerates low-fertility, dry sandy, heavy clay, carbonate, solonetzic, slate and gravelly soils, but grows best on light and medium loams with groundwater not closer than 1.5 m from the surface. Grows well in slightly acidic and almost neutral soils with a pH of 5.5–6.
It is extremely drought-resistant and tolerates low temperatures well, not freezing even at –37 °C. During flowering, it can withstand frosts down to –6 °C without reducing the yield, although flowering usually occurs at a time when the likelihood of spring frosts has passed.
Can grow both in shade and in open areas. Its use is effective for compacting a young garden. In clean planting, to reduce soil tillage, it is better to mulch or sod the row spacing. It does not require watering, but if irrigation is possible, it increases the yield many times over.
We should not forget that there must be at least two varieties of golden currant on the site so that they serve as pollinators for each other. This is a necessary and mandatory condition. Otherwise, there will be only single berries on the bushes, and there will be no mass harvest.
Golden currant propagates well by woody and green cuttings, as well as layering and root shoots.
The planting pattern is 1 X 3 m, the remaining operations for preparing the soil and planting are the same as for black currants.
Without special pruning, golden currant bushes are erect and grow up to 2 meters or more. Unlike other types of currants, golden currants can be grown in standard form in the form of a tree. Golden currants begin to bear fruit in the second year after planting and increase their yield from year to year.
Golden currants are practically not affected by pests and diseases, which eliminates the need to use pesticides and allows you to grow environmentally friendly products.
HARVEST HARVEST AND STORAGE
The time for picking berries depends on many factors: the variety, planting dates, growing season conditions and the duration of the flowering period, ripening, etc., the degree of ripeness and even the subsequent purpose of the product.
You can correctly determine the degree of ripeness and the time of harvesting berries by the color of the skin, the nature of ripening - simultaneity and crumbling, taste and other indicators. The collection period for currant berries can mainly be adjusted by selecting varieties. By growing early, middle and late varieties, you can significantly extend the period of berry picking and their fresh consumption.
Certain varieties of blackcurrant are prone to rapid over-ripening and so-called wet tearing. Therefore, varieties such as, for example, Seedling Golubki, Dikovinka, Heiress, etc., are best collected even slightly unripe.
The best collection time is morning and evening hours, when there is no dew and little sun. In warm sunny weather, the berries should be immediately taken into the shade, placed in a cool basement or in the refrigerator. It is better not to pick berries after rain or watering, as they must be dry and clean.
A convenient container for collecting is a tray in which the berries are arranged in a thin layer and do not wrinkle. You can also use boxes, boxes or regular tetra-pack bags of dairy products.
Currant berries are practically not stored. They are used fresh or for preparing various preparations for the winter (compotes, juices, jams, etc.).
BERRIES PROCESSING
Not only fresh currants, but also their processed products are of great importance for humans. Excellent preserves, compotes, marinades, juices, jam, jelly, etc. are prepared from currant fruits.
Preparing fresh berries
In dry weather, the berries are collected (dry), filled into clean, dry bottles and closed with dry stoppers, previously boiled in water. The cork is tied to the neck of the bottle and then dipped into molten resin, paraffin or sealing wax. Bottles are stored in a cool place, such as a basement, on their side.
Blackcurrant jam
Blackcurrant berries are very good for making jam. Especially high-quality jam is obtained from large-fruited varieties.
First way. For 1 kg of berries take 2-3 glasses of water, 1.3 kg of sugar. Dip large, washed and dried berries into boiling sugar syrup, shake the bowl to ensure even immersion of the berries and leave for 5–6 hours. After standing, cook until tender in one batch, skimming off the foam. When cooked correctly, the result is a soft, buttery, sweet and sour jam that is never sugared.
Second way. Pour hot water over the berries, put on fire and bring to a boil. After holding in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain them in a colander or sieve. Pour sugar with the water in which the berries were blanched (1.3 kg of sugar and 2 glasses of water per 1 kg of berries), bring the syrup to a boil, put the berries in it and cook the jam in one batch until ready.
Third way. Blanch the peeled berries for 3-5 minutes in boiling water, then drain in a colander, and use this water to prepare syrup (1.3 kg of sugar and 2 hundred kanas of water per 1 kg of berries). Place the berries in boiling syrup and remove from heat for 3-4 hours. Then cook the jam in two or three batches for 5-7 minutes from the moment of boiling. Stand for 6-8 hours between cooking.
Fourth way. Sort out the currant berries, rinse in cold water and pour over soda (1 teaspoon of baking soda per liter of water) with water 85°. Pour 1 glass of water into the bottom of the basin and pour in the berries, sprinkling them with granulated sugar. For 1 kg of berries, take at least 850 g of sugar. Let the berries stand so that they release enough juice. You can put it on low heat, let it boil and set the bowl aside until the berries cool. Then repeat the procedure 2 or 3 times.
The goal is that the jam should be cooked, but the berries should remain intact. This jam is very tasty.
Some varieties of blackcurrants have the ability to quickly form jelly. Such berries must be cooked in the following way. When the syrup boils, pour out 1/3 of the syrup, and add berries to the rest and cook. Shortly before the jam is ready, heat the poured syrup, pour it into a bowl of jam, let it boil and remove from the heat. The readiness of the jam is determined at a temperature of 105 °C.
The longer the cooking, the more vitamins are destroyed. Typically, in 1 hour of cooking, from a quarter to half of the original vitamin C is destroyed.
"Fresh" or "raw" jam
The most popular is “fresh”, or “ raw jam" It is prepared as follows. The berries are cleared of debris, washed and crushed with a wooden pestle. The resulting mass is thoroughly mixed with granulated sugar at the rate of 1 kg of berries per 2 kg of sand. Then the mass is put into glass jars and the jam is stored in a cool place. Sometimes the berries are not crushed, but simply sprinkled thoroughly with granulated sugar, then lightly tamped with hand or pestle, avoiding pressing too hard, sealed and stored in the cold. In this case, take 2–2.5 kg of granulated sugar per 1 kg of berries.
Redcurrant jam
Large-fruited varieties of red currants are preferred for jam. The berries are washed, dried, and removed from the brushes.
Place the berries in boiling syrup (1 kg of sugar and 0.5 cups of water per 1 kg of berries), shake the basin so that the berries are submerged evenly, and cook the jam over medium heat. After 20 minutes from the moment the berries boil in the syrup, remove the bowl from the heat and take a sample: tilt the spoon with the cooled syrup, and if the syrup does not pour out of the spoon, but remains in the form of jelly, then the jam is ready.
Redcurrant jam-jelly
Mash 1 kg of red currants, pour in 1 glass of water, boil, strain through cheesecloth, squeeze out the juice well. Pour 1.25 kg of sugar into the juice and cook over high heat for 30 minutes from the moment it boils, then make a test: if the juice thickens after 10 minutes, it means the jelly is ready, but if the juice remains liquid, cooking must be continued. The jelly should be thick, like regular jelly with gelatin. Cool the finished jelly and transfer it to jars.
Canned food without sugar
The washed, dried berries are placed in jars, covered with sterile metal lids, placed in a pan of water on a stand and begin to heat. When the temperature rises to 40–53°, the berries give juice and the contents in the jars decrease in volume. Berries from two jars are combined together, the jar is covered again with a lid, heated to 80–85° and a half-liter jar is kept at this temperature for 20 minutes, and a liter jar for 25 minutes. After this, the jar is rolled up, turned upside down in this position and left until cooled.
You can do it differently. Blackcurrant berries are placed in an enamel pan, pouring 50 g of juice or water per 1 kg of berries, and heated, stirring continuously, to 96°. Then the berries are immediately transferred to the ones taken out hot water jars and roll up with hot metal lids. Return the jars upside down and leave them in that position until cooled.
Compotes from currants
First way. Place selected large berries in jars up to the shoulders, pour in sugar syrup (300–400 g of sugar per 1 liter of water), place in a pan with cold water and heat. When the temperature reaches 80 °C, heat half-liter jars for 8 minutes, liter jars for 14 minutes in boiling water for 4 and 6 minutes, respectively. Then remove the jars, roll them up and turn them upside down until they cool.
Second way. For diabetics, you can prepare compotes without sugar. Pour boiled water without sugar or pure juice squeezed from currants, other berries or apples over the berries in jars.
Third way. Fill the jars with blackcurrant berries, sprinkling them in layers with granulated sugar (for a half-liter jar, take 100 g of sand and 2 tablespoons of water), gently tapping them on the table. Cover the jars with berries, place in a pan with cold water and heat: at 80 ° C - 20 minutes, in boiling water - 10 minutes.
Fourth way. Pour sugar and berries into an enamel bowl (400–500 g of sugar per 1 kg of berries), add 1–2 tbsp. spoons of juice or a few crushed berries. Put all this on the fire, cover with a lid and heat to 85 ° C, stirring from time to time. Maintain the mixture at this temperature for 5 minutes. Then fill hot sterile jars right up to the lid and roll up.
Fifth way. Blackcurrants can be preserved without sugar. Place the berries in an enamel pan, pour water or juice on the bottom (0.5 cups per 1 kg of berries) and then do everything as indicated in the fourth method.
Smokva
The washed berries are mixed with granulated sugar at the rate of 3 kg of sugar per 5 kg of berries and 150 g of water. Cook this mass over low heat until the mass leaves the bottom of the pan when stirred.
Then it is laid out on a dish previously moistened with water. The dried mass is cut into cubes, diamonds, etc., sprinkled with powdered sugar and placed in glass jars, which are tied with parchment paper.
Jelly
You can make jelly from black, red and white currants.
Juice is squeezed out of clean berries and thoroughly mixed with granulated sugar (a glass of sand or more is taken per glass of juice). Then the mass is poured into jars and sealed with sterile metal or plastic lids.
Blackcurrant puree (pectin preparation)
Black currants contain a lot of gelling substances, which makes it possible to prepare pectin preparations from them.
Wash the ripe berries, let the water drain, put the berries in a saucepan, add water (1 cup per 1 kg of berries) and put on fire. At a water temperature of 70 °C, the mass takes on a mushy appearance. Quickly rub this mass through a sieve. Add sugar to taste to the resulting liquid puree, mix thoroughly, pour into sterile jars, cover them with metal lids and heat at 85 °C: half-liter jars - 15 minutes, liter jars - 20 minutes; in boiling water - 7 and 10 minutes, respectively. Then roll up the lids and turn the jars upside down until they cool.
Blackcurrant pectin can be prepared in half with gooseberries.
You can make jelly from pectin preparation. To do this, heat 1 kg of pectin mixture, add 600 g of sugar to it, let it boil and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Then pour the jelly into glasses, cool and seal with parchment paper.
Jelly can be prepared in another way: take 1 kg of granulated sugar for 1 liter of pure blackcurrant juice, put on fire and boil, stirring. While hot, pour into clean half-liter jars, after cooling, seal with parchment paper.
Redcurrant jelly
Raw redcurrant juice can be used to make a beautiful, brightly colored jelly. For 1 faceted glass of red currant juice, take a thin glass of granulated sugar (250 g of granulated sugar per 200 g of juice), stir until completely dissolved. Pour the mixture into a small container, cover with parchment and tie.
A more aromatic jelly is obtained by mixing the juice of raspberries, red, white and black currants. For 3 parts red currant juice, take 1 part black currant juice and 1 part raspberry juice.
The jelly turns out faster if the jars are placed in a cool place. This jelly keeps well until spring.
Raw blackcurrant jam
All varieties of blackcurrants are suitable for making jam, but it is best to make them from large, thin-skinned berries that are richest in vitamin C.
Mix the berries and granulated sugar (1–1.5 kg of granulated sugar per 1 kg of berries) thoroughly and place tightly in clean, dry half-liter jars, pour a layer of granulated sugar on top. Wrap the jars with parchment paper. Store at 8 °C. Raw jams retain up to 50% of the original vitamin C for 8 months.
Juice
To obtain juice, blackcurrant berries should be crushed with a wooden masher in an enamel bowl. Then add one and a half glasses of water heated to 80 °C to 1 kg of pulp.
The resulting mass is heated to 60 °C and kept at this temperature for 30 minutes under the lid. Then the juice is squeezed out, heated to 85 ° C and poured into bottles, closing them with cork stoppers, which are tied to the necks of the bottles. The latter are placed in a pan with hot water, on the bottom of which a stand is placed. The juice is pasteurized at a temperature of 85 ° C in bottles with a capacity of 0.5 liters for 15 minutes, and 1 liter for 20 minutes. Then the bottles are removed and placed on their sides until cooled. The corks are filled with resin or paraffin.
Juice can be prepared in a slightly different way. The squeezed juice is heated to 95 °C in an enamel pan and quickly poured into hot bottles to the edge of the neck. Then the bottles are tightly closed with cork stoppers, filled with resin or paraffin and left to cool. Store juice bottles in a dark place.
Use of waste after squeezing juice
The resulting waste is heated to 96 °C, then placed in jars (preferably with a capacity of 3 liters), rolled up with metal lids, turned upside down and left to cool. If you use half-liter jars, then after filling they are pasteurized at a temperature of 75 ° C for 15 minutes, and liter jars for 20 minutes.
Wine
Good wine is made from the juice of any currant. For this purpose, the fruits are collected when they are fully ripe, washed by immersing them in water for 1–2 minutes, and then crushed.
To make the juice easier to squeeze out, add 150–200 g of water to 1 kg of currant pulp obtained from berries and heat it to 70 °C. To obtain alcoholic fermentation, a starter is added to the prepared juice. To prepare the starter, the juice of the berries is diluted with water 2–2.5 times.
Add 200 g of sugar and 0.3 g of ammonium chloride to 1 liter of juice diluted with water. When the sugar has dissolved, the juice is poured into a liter bottle, filling it 3/4 full. Then the bottle is placed in a pan of water, with a wooden circle placed at the bottom, and boiled for 20 minutes. After this, the juice is cooled to 25 ° C, poured halfway into a test tube with wine yeast, shaken to wash off yeast deposits from the solid medium, and poured into a bottle. Subsequently, the bottle is kept at a temperature of 20–24 °C. After 3-4 days, the starter will be ready for use. To prepare 100 liters of wine, you need 3 liters of this starter.
You can make your own yeast. To do this, collect 2 cups of ripe raspberries or white currants, crush them without washing them, place them in a bottle, pour half a glass of water into it, add half a glass of granulated sugar, shake, cover with a cotton plug, place in a dark place and keep at a temperature of 22–24 °C. After 3-4 days, they begin to prepare the sourdough in the manner described above.
The berry juice obtained after squeezing to make wine is poured into a glass bottle or wooden barrel, 1.2 liters of water are added to 1 liter of currant juice (from this amount it is necessary to subtract the water added when squeezing the juice into the pulp) and 580 g of previously dissolved in the squeezed juice Sahara. On the fourth and seventh days, add another 90 g of sugar, on the tenth - 80 g. To prepare wine from white and red currants, add 1.2 liters of water to 1 liter of juice (subtract the water added to the pulp) and 490 g of sugar. On the fourth, seventh and tenth days, another 50 g of sugar is added.
After 3-4 weeks the wine will clear up. If it turns out sour, add 100–160 g of sugar per 1 liter. The wine is drained from the sediment and bottled, which are sealed with cork stoppers and filled with paraffin.
Blackcurrant wine
Fill the bottle with blackcurrant berries. Prepare sugar syrup at the rate of 125 g of sugar per 1 liter of water, cool and pour into a bottle with berries, filling it 3/4 full. Add yeast starter, place a stopper with a water seal and keep at room temperature. When vigorous fermentation is over, add sugar at the rate of 125 g per 1 liter of wort, dissolving it in a small amount of water. After 3-4 months, pour the wine into a smaller bottle, cap tightly and place in a cool place. After another 3-4 months, bottle the wine.
Redcurrant wine
For 1 liter of currant juice take 1 kg of sugar, 2 liters of water.
Wash the red currants, remove the branches, grind with a wooden masher in a deep bowl and squeeze out the juice well. Pour into a bottle, add sugar and water and leave to ferment for 3-4 weeks. The contents of the jar are stirred somewhat with a clean wooden spoon. When the juice is clear, strain through a thick cloth or filter paper, pour into bottles and seal tightly.
Fermented currant juice
For a 10-liter bottle, take 8 kg of black or red currants and sugar at the rate of 100–150 g per 1 kg of berries.
Sort the berries, removing damaged ones. After rinsing the berries 2-3 times in water, let them drain and then mash in a colander placed over the pan. Pour the resulting pulp and juice into a large bottle. Cover the neck with gauze and place in a warm place for 2–4 days. When the pulp floats to the surface and the juice is released in the lower part of the container, pour it into another container, add sugar and leave for fermentation under a water seal for 12–20 days (until fermentation stops completely), after which the juice is drained from the sediment using a siphon.
Place the fermented juice in a cold place for 1.5–2 months so that the tartaric acid and dregs fall out. Pure clarified juice is drained from the sediment using a siphon, poured into bottles and sealed well.
To completely extract extractive substances from the remaining pulp, add as much 30% sugar syrup into the container as the fermented juice was drained. After 3-4 days, pour this syrup into a bottle and squeeze out the pulp. Place the juice obtained again for further fermentation under a water seal for 20–30 days (until fermentation is complete). Afterwards, drain the juice using a siphon, pour into bottles and seal.
Redcurrant champagne
Fill the bottle halfway with red currants, add water to the neck and place in the coldest place. Shake the bottle vigorously every day. After a week, you can try to see if the water has infused well; if not, leave it for another 3-4 days. Then filter the water and pour it into champagne bottles. Add 200 g of sugar, 30–50 g of rum (you can use alcohol or vodka, but it will be worse), 70–100 g of champagne and 3 raisins to each bottle. Seal the bottles tightly, if possible, tar them and bury them in sand, preferably in a cellar or at least just in a dark place. You should try it in a month. If it doesn’t “play”, wait another week or two.
Champagne made from blackcurrant leaves
100 g blackcurrant leaves, 15 l water, 3 lemons, 1.2 kg sugar, 3 tbsp. l. yeast.
Place fresh currant leaves in a bottle and fill with cold boiled water. Remove a thin layer of zest from the lemons. The pulp, previously peeled and pitted, is cut into pieces along with the zest. Place in a bottle. Add sugar and place in a warm place, preferably just in the sun. Every day the bottle needs to be shaken well several times. When the sugar is completely dissolved, add yeast. 3 hours after the start of fermentation, transfer the bottle to a cold place.
It is necessary to ensure that the drink does not freeze and keep it for 7 days. Then strain through a linen and bottle. Cork well, tar and place the bottle horizontally in a strong box. The box can be stored in the cellar on ice or in the bottom of the refrigerator, but not in the freezer.
Cucumbers canned with red or white currant juice
The most suitable cucumbers for pickling and canning are dark-colored cucumbers with dense pulp, rough skin, a small number of seeds and a possibly higher sugar content.
Soak the cucumbers in salted cold water for 6 hours, then wash thoroughly and trim the ends. Take 1 leaf of horseradish and tarragon, a small umbrella of dill, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 bay leaf, 3 leaves of black currant and cherry, 5 black peppercorns, 1 bud of cloves, 2-3 pods of bell pepper. Wash the greens and leaves in running water, peel the garlic cloves. Cut the pepper and blanch (heat) for 1 minute in boiling water, then cool in cold water.
Place prepared cucumbers, spicy herbs and leaves into three-liter jars that have been thoroughly washed and scalded twice with boiling water. Pour boiling water over the cucumbers to the very top, cover the jars with boiled lids and a towel. After 4 minutes, remove the lids and drain the water from the jars through a colander. Pour boiling water over the cucumbers again and cover, let stand for 4 minutes and drain again. Then pour in a third time, but not with water, but with pouring, cooled to 85 °C. Immediately seal the finished jars with boiled lids and place them on their sides until cooled.
Prepare the filling at the rate of 400 g of red currant juice (white currant can be used), 50 g of salt and 600 g of water. Boil the mixture for 1 minute.
Assorted vegetables, canned with paint or white currant juice
Prepare the cucumbers in the same way as in the previous recipe. Blanch cauliflower florets and carrots in boiling water for 5 minutes, bean pods for 4 minutes, and then cool in cold water. To blanch, add 10 g of salt and 2 g of citric acid to 1 liter of water.
For one liter jar you will need 500 g of cucumbers, 170 g of cauliflower, 50 g of onions, 50 g of chopped carrots, 40 g of green beans or green peas (fresh or canned). Prepare the filling at the rate of: 200 g of red or white currant juice, 250 g of water and salt to taste. Sterilize the finished canned food for 10 minutes.
Garlic marinated in red or white currant juice
Peel the garlic heads and separate them into individual cloves. To make it easier to peel them, soak the cloves for 2 hours in warm water. Rinse the peeled cloves in a colander with cold water and place them in a pan of boiling water for 2 minutes, removed from the heat and cooled to 80 °C, and then again in a pan of cold water. Place the garlic prepared in this way tightly into half-liter jars. Prepare the filling at the rate of: 600 g of water, 400 g of red or white currant juice, 50 g of salt and 50 g of sugar. Boil the filling for 2 minutes, removing the foam. Sterilize jars filled with garlic with a lid in low-boiling water for 5 minutes from the moment of boiling or pasteurize for 10 minutes at a temperature of 85 °C. Roll up the finished canned food and place it on its side until cooled.
Pickled black currants
Fill the jars up to the shoulders with large currants. Prepare a marinade mixture from 450 g of water, 100 g of 9% vinegar, 400 g of sugar and spices (5-6 pieces of allspice and cloves, a small piece of cinnamon). Boil water, sugar and spices, cool, strain, add vinegar and pour this marinade over the berries. Cover the jars with lids, place in a saucepan with cold water, bring the water to a boil and keep in boiling water for 3 minutes (jars of any capacity). This marinade is good served with meat dishes.
USING CURRANTS IN COOKING
Salads and snacks
Vegetable sandwich “Mosaic”
Small beets - 1 pc., carrots - 1 pc., turnip - 1 pc., radish - 1 pc., radishes - 2 pcs., zucchini - 2-3 slices, fresh cucumber- 3 slices, pumpkin - 1 slice, dill, parsley or celery, fresh currants, cranberries, blueberries, raspberries - 15-20 pcs.
Vegetables are peeled, washed and cut into thin slices. The universal seasoning is prepared as follows: put the cottage cheese in an enamel bowl, grind, gradually adding sour cream and mayonnaise, until smooth.
Vegetable slices are coated with universal seasoning and decorated with fresh or canned berries and green leaves.
Redcurrant salad with apples
Red currants - 0.5 cups, apples (sour) - 2 pcs. For the sauce: yolks - 2 pcs., granulated sugar - 1 tbsp. spoon, cream - 0.5 cups, grated lemon peel.
Combine currants with diced apples. Grind the yolks with sugar, season, add cream. Pour the sauce over the fruits placed in a bowl. Before serving, keep in a cool place.
Currant and carrot salad
Black currants - 0.5 cups, carrots - 2 pcs., parsley - 1 tbsp. spoon, sour cream - 1-2 tbsp. spoons, salt.
Grate carrots, preferably carotel, on a coarse grater, add half a glass of peeled black currants, a little parsley, salt and season with sour cream.
Currant salad with nuts
Red or white currants - 2.5 cups, granulated sugar - 2.5 tbsp. spoons, sour cream - 0.5 cups, peeled nuts - 2.5 tbsp. spoons.
Remove the washed currants from the cuttings, mix with granulated sugar, put in a bowl, pour in sour cream, sprinkle with crushed nuts.
Fruit and berry salad with red currants
Red currants - 3 cups, gooseberries - 1 cup, prunes - 1 cup, apple (sour) 1 piece, melon - 2-3 slices, berry syrup or sweet sour cream sauce - 1 cup.
Cut the plums into 4 parts, remove the pits. Cut the berries in half, remove the seeds from the grapes, grate the apple, cut the melon into cubes, separate the currants from the cuttings. Place fruits and berries in layers in a glass bowl, pour berry syrup or sweet sour cream sauce.
Fruit salad “Sunny”
Currants - 100 g, apricots - 200 g, plums - 200 g, yellow cherries - 200 g, mayonnaise - 200 g, condensed milk - 100 g.
Remove pits from apricots, plums and cherries, cut into pieces, mix with currants and season with mayonnaise mixed with condensed milk.
Soups
Currant soup with semolina porridge
Currants - 300 g, water - 5 glasses, semolina - 2 tbsp. spoons, milk - 1 cup, granulated sugar - 0.5 cups.
Sort the berries, remove the branches, mash with a wooden spoon, dilute with 4-5 glasses of water, add sugar, boil, strain and cool. Place semolina porridge cooked in milk on a plate moistened with water and cool, then cut it into pieces of the correct shape (squares, diamonds), arrange on plates and pour over the prepared berry broth.
Currant and peach soup
Currants (black or red) - 300 g, peaches - 500 g, granulated sugar - 1 cup, potato flour - 1 tbsp. spoon.
Sort the currants, rinse, mash in a saucepan. Pour 5 cups of boiling water, stir and cover with a lid, and after 10-15 minutes strain through cheesecloth. Then put the pan with the juice on the fire, add the peaches, but first cut them into slices and remove the pits. Add sugar and, when it boils, add potato starch (as is done for making jelly).
Pies, cookies, dessert
Currant pie
Wheat bread - 400 g, milk - 2 cups, currants - 1.5 cups, butter or margarine - 2 tbsp. spoons, granulated sugar 0.5 cups, breadcrumbs - 1 tbsp. spoon, egg - 1 pc., powdered sugar - 1 tbsp. spoon.
Soak the wheat bread crumb in milk, grind, add melted butter or margarine, mashed with the yolk. Separately beat the egg whites and mix everything. Grease a baking sheet with margarine, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, place 2/3 of the prepared bread mass on it in an even layer, put currants on top, grated with sugar, cover with the remaining bread mass, place small pieces of butter or margarine on it. Bake in the oven. Sprinkle the finished pie with powdered sugar or sand.
Crumbly cookies with currants
Flour - 0.5 faceted glass, margarine or butter - 40 g, powdered sugar - 50 g, currants - 50 g, milk (additive), almonds - 12 pcs.
Sift the flour. Grind margarine with powdered sugar, beat into a light creamy mass. Add sifted flour, currants and a little milk to the mixture. Knead the dough and form it into 24 balls. Place the balls on a lightly greased sheet, leaving enough room for the product to expand. Sprinkle the balls with blanched almonds. Bake in a moderately heated oven at 180°C for 15 minutes.
Blackcurrant filling
Blackcurrant - 1.5 cups, granulated sugar - 0.5 hundred cana, apple - 1 pc., potato starch - 1 tbsp. spoon.
Mash the currants with a wooden pestle, add sugar, grated apple, starch, bring the mixture to a boil and cool.
Currant mousse
Currants - 1 cup, granulated sugar - 3/4 cup, gelatin - 15 g.
Sort and rinse the berries (fresh or frozen) in cold water, mash with a spoon or wooden pestle in a porcelain bowl and rub through a hair sieve. Pour the berry pomace into 2 cups of hot water, boil and strain. Add sugar and soaked gelatin to the resulting juice. Stirring all the time, bring the syrup to a boil. Place berry puree into the cooled syrup and beat with a metal whisk until a foamy mass forms. As soon as this mass thickens slightly, quickly pour it into molds or vases and cool.
Currant jelly
Currants - 150 g, potato flour - 60 g or starch - 60 g.
Sort the prepared berries, rinse with hot water, mash with a wooden pestle or spoon, add half a glass of boiled cold water, mix and rub through a sieve or squeeze through cheesecloth. Pour the berry pomace into two glasses of water, place on the stove and boil for 5 minutes. After boiling, strain, place sugar into the prepared broth, bring to a boil and pour in potato flour, previously diluted in boiled cold water, or starch prepared in the same way, let it boil again.
You can add berry puree to the prepared hot jelly, mix everything well and pour into glasses.
Pumpkin and currant juice jelly
Pumpkin - 1.1 kg, milk - 1 l, granulated sugar - 150 g, starch - 100 g, vanillin, juice - 200 g.
Peel the pumpkin and grate it on a fine grater. Dilute starch with cold milk and pour into hot milk. Bring to a boil, stirring continuously. Add vanillin, granulated sugar, salt, grated pumpkin, stir and heat.
Serve with redcurrant juice.
Compote "Bogatyr"
Red currants - 50 g, black currants - 40 g, apples - 150 g, pears - 150 g, peaches - 100 g, raspberries - 75 g, plums - 40 g, apricots - 100 g, cherries - 50 g, cherries - 50 g, watermelon - 1 pc.
For syrup: granulated sugar - 200 g, Madeira - 50 g, water - 700 g.
Remove seeds and cores from apples, pears and peaches, cut into slices and cook in syrup with wine until tender. Process plums, apricots, cherries, but do not cook. Sort raspberries, red and black currants and rinse with cold water. Cut the top of the watermelon around the circumference, remove the pulp with a spoon, leaving 1 cm on the walls. Cut the pulp into cubes (without grains).
Carefully place watermelon pulp, plums, apricots, currants, raspberries into an empty watermelon and pour in cooled compote of apples, pears, and peaches.
When serving, place the watermelon on the table, cover it with the crown, and place a ladle nearby to pour the compote.
Rainbow in a glass
Red juice - 1 glass, yellow juice - 1 glass, gelatin - 25 g, cream - 1 glass, sugar.
Pour half the gelatin with redcurrant juice, the other half with pumpkin juice and let it swell. Then heat each liquid separately, adding sugar, until the gelatin dissolves.
Pour 3-4 cm of red liquid into tall glasses, place in the refrigerator and when the jelly has hardened, pour in a layer of yellow liquid, put in the refrigerator again and when the jelly has hardened again, fill the glasses with the remaining red liquid.
Decorate the completely frozen jelly with whipped cream.
Currants with sweet cream
Currants - 2 cups, sugar - 0.5 cups, gelatin - 1 tbsp. spoon, cream - 0.5 cups, powdered sugar - 0.25 cups.
Mash the washed and pitted currants and squeeze out the juice. Pour 3 cups of boiling water into the squeezed pulp, boil for 25–30 minutes, then strain. Pour sugar into the liquid, boil, add dissolved gelatin and squeezed juice, stir. Pour the jelly into the mold and cool.
Serve with cream whipped with powdered sugar. You can make strawberry jelly in the same way.
Ice cream with waffles
Vanilla - 1 stick, lemon - 1 piece, heavy cream - 1 cup, simple cream - 3 cups, red currant jam - 0.7 cups, sugar - 400 g, salt - 1.2 kg, ice.
Bake waffles. Boil granulated sugar, cream and a vanilla stick, cut lengthwise, to one third, rub through a sieve, place in cold water or on ice, begin to beat with a spatula, adding, drop by drop, lemon juice from half a lemon. When the mixture thickens and turns white, add a glass of heavy whipped cream and stir. Put a layer of this mass on a baking sheet, a row of waffles on it, grease them with red currant jam, then a layer of creamy mass and so on until the end. Place to the very top, close tightly with a lid, cover with unsalted butter, cover with ice and salt for two hours. Before serving, place the ice cream out of the mold onto a plate.
Blackcurrant fudge
Pour sugar into boiling water, stir and heat the syrup over high heat. When a sugar solution boils, foam forms on its surface. The container with boiling syrup should be moved to the side of the stove so that the syrup boils only on one edge, while removing the foam. If the foam is not removed, then as it cools, the sugar around it will begin to crystallize and the fudge will turn out rough and gray. After removing the foam, you need to increase the heat, since with low heat the fudge becomes dark in color.
During boiling, sugar crystals form on the walls of the container from splashes of syrup, which, falling back into the container, cause crystallization of the syrup. To avoid this, while cooking the fudge, it is necessary to remove the splashes with wet gauze wound on a stick.
Add 1-2 tablespoons of natural currant juice or 1-2 tablespoons of blackcurrant jam syrup, or a tablespoon of blackcurrant liqueur or liqueur to the fudge. Acidify to taste and tint dark red.
Zvonarev Nikolai Mikhailovich
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Blackcurrant berries also contain vitamins B (thiamine), P (citrine) and provitamin A (carotene). 100 g of black currant berries contain from 44 to 354 mg of vitamin C, red and white currants - up to 30 mg.
The content of a large number of various vitamins in the berries and other parts of the plant (buds, leaves and flowers) makes black currant a valuable raw material for the vitamin industry. Depending on the variety and growth conditions, black currant berries contain up to 13% sugars and up to 4% citric and malic acids. Black currant berries are rich in phosphorus and iron salts, which are essential for the human body.
Currant berries are eaten fresh, in the form of preserves, jams, juices, jams, jellies, and used to prepare various liqueurs and tinctures. The berries keep well frozen. High-quality jam is prepared from black currant berries, in which vitamin C is well preserved. Black currants, canned fresh, are a particularly valuable product.
Red currants are more productive than black currants. White currants produce higher yields than red currants, and their berries are tastier. Red and white currants are consumed both fresh and processed.
Red currants are inferior to black currants in terms of fruit quality, but their berries ripen in the cluster almost simultaneously and remain on the bush, without falling off, for over two weeks. Cultivation of red currants is less labor intensive. Red currants produce a very valuable product - jelly. Its berries contain a lot of pectin, so the jelly can be prepared even without cooking with full preservation of the vitamin content.
A hot decoction of young blackcurrant leaves is drunk as tea for general ailments, colds, bladder diseases and kidney stones (as a diuretic), as well as for rheumatism, gout and joint diseases. For scrofula, the decoction is recommended to be given to children. The leaves and berries are an old folk remedy against scurvy.
Juices and syrups obtained from black currant berries are used to treat diseases of the throat (hoarseness, whooping cough), stomach (catarrhal condition, ulcers) and intestines. Blackcurrant berries, fresh, dry or canned raw (ground with sugar), as well as currant buds, have the same medicinal properties as the leaves.
Juices and fruit drinks from red and white currants improve appetite in patients, help reduce fever, have a beneficial effect on the functioning of the stomach, intestines, and urinary tract and cause increased excretion of salts in the urine.
Currants can bear fruit in the harshest climatic conditions, as they tolerate frost well, especially under the cover of snow. Wild black and red currants are found far in the north, even beyond the Arctic Circle. Cultivated varieties of black currant are available in the south of the Murmansk region and are successfully grown in the Vologda, Arkhangelsk and other northern regions.
Currants reproduce easily, begin to bear fruit earlier than fruit crops, and produce a good harvest every year. Currants begin to bear fruit, as already mentioned, in the 2-3rd year after planting, and full fruiting occurs in the 5-6th year.
Features of currants
The berries of black currants are black in different shades, red ones are red in different tones, and white ones are whitish-yellow. The bulk of currant roots are located in the soil at a depth of 10-40 cm and extend 50-60 cm to the sides of the bush. Individual thick roots go 2 m or deeper into the soil, which makes the currant more resistant to temporary drought.
Currant buds bloom early in spring and are therefore sometimes damaged by frost. The flowering period of currants lasts about two weeks, depending on weather conditions. Ripening time of currant berries different varieties vary between 30-40 days, which makes it possible to extend the period of fresh berries consumption.
Black currants are more moisture-loving than red currants. Therefore, under natural conditions, it grows in damp places (on river banks, along ravines), and easily tolerates slight excess soil moisture. It reacts negatively to soil acidity and positively to liming, and does not tolerate waterlogged or overly damp areas.
Red currant is a more heat-loving plant; it does not tolerate shading and excess moisture in the soil, so it grows well only in warm, protected areas.
Currant flowers are bell-shaped: in red and white - usually self-pollinating, in black - need cross-pollination, since not all varieties are self-fertile. The fruits (berries) are round or somewhat elongated (in some varieties), collected in more or less long clusters.
Currants, gooseberries and other berry crops during flowering are very valuable honey plants, from which bees take bribes in May, when few other plants are blooming and the bees are in dire need of pollen and nectar.
Flowers of berry crops live for several days and produce a large amount of nectar during their life. In the black currant flower, nectar is released within 4 days, red and white currant - 3 days.
Reproduction
The best red and white currant seedlings are obtained when cuttings are planted in late August - early September.
The cuttings are planted obliquely (at an angle of 45°), so that 1-2 upper buds remain above the soil surface, and then watered with water. Watering is especially necessary during spring planting; it is repeated in dry weather. To retain moisture, the soil after watering must be mulched - covered with manure, humus or peat.
Cuttings planted in the fall may bulge out of the ground during frosts. In this case, in the spring they should be straightened and sprinkled with earth. During the summer, the soil in this area is loosened 3-4 times and weeding is carried out at the same time; Liquid fertilizers are applied 2-3 times. By autumn, the cuttings give good growth - about 50 cm or more. Such bushes with a good root system and 2-3 shoots are planted in a permanent place.
Propagation by green cuttings makes it possible to speed up the production of seedlings and currants, since already one-year-old plants have an excellent fibrous root system and a well-branched aerial part. When propagated by green cuttings, the transfer of glass and bud mites to young areas is excluded.
For cutting cuttings, choose powerful, healthy bushes. From a 5-6-year-old mother bush, cuttings can be taken 2-3 times over the summer, cutting them from the tops of all branches of the bush: the first time - around the beginning of July (at the beginning of semi-lignification of the cuttings), the second - only after new regrowth and preferably from the sides branches, the third - in early September from all shoots (these cuttings are left in greenhouses for the winter).
The cuttings should be planted obliquely, almost close to each other, at a distance of 3-4 cm row from row. Up to 950 cuttings can be placed under the greenhouse frame. There should be a free space of 15-20 cm high between the frame and the cuttings. After planting, the cuttings are carefully and abundantly watered from a watering can with a very fine strainer. It is very important that the water does not flow in a continuous stream, but splashes. After watering, the greenhouse is covered with frames (the glass of the frames must be whitened to protect the cuttings from sunburn).
The main care for cuttings consists of regular watering (at first it is important that the air in the greenhouses is warm and humid) and thorough ventilation of the greenhouses when the temperature in them rises above +25 ° C.
In 15-20 days, cuttings in greenhouses will take root well. After this, the greenhouses should be opened slightly during the day, and then, when the cuttings have undergone some hardening, they should be left open overnight. 7-10 days after rooting of the cuttings, the frames must be removed.
Three-week cuttings and currants at proper care form a good fibrous root system. The survival rate of cuttings in some varieties reaches 70-100%.
Rooted green cuttings are planted for growing in a separate area in the same way as rooted cuttings with the horizontal method of propagation. As soon as the bushes take root, they are liquid fed with nitrogen mineral fertilizers (30 g of ammonium nitrate per bucket of water) or slurry diluted with water 6-8 times.
During the summer, the soil is loosened and weeded, and in dry weather the soil is watered abundantly. Next autumn, currant and gooseberry bushes are dug up. Bushes suitable for planting must have well-developed roots and strong shoots.
Reproduction by layering. On the mother bush in the spring (before buds bloom), 10-12 well-developed healthy branches aged from 1 to 5 years are selected, located so that they can be deflected and bent to the ground. For fruiting, 2-3 strong branches are left on the bush. On branches selected for propagation, annual growths are cut off by ⅓ of their length. This promotes better germination of lateral buds and the formation of strong shoots with well-developed roots.
After trimming the top, each branch is bent to the ground, placed in pre-dug grooves 6-8 cm deep and pinned tightly. The grooves are not covered with earth, but are left open until vertically growing shoots appear. For faster rooting of shoots, the soil should be moist. When the young shoots reach a length of 8-10 cm, they are hilled to a height of 5-6 cm with loose soil with humus. After two weeks, re-hilling is carried out to a height of 8-10 cm. Throughout the summer, the soil in the mother area should be loose and free of weeds. As needed, the cuttings are watered abundantly. To retain moisture, the soil after watering is mulched with humus or peat.
At the end of September, when the growth of shoots ends, the bent branches are cut off at the base with pruning shears (garden shears), dug up and cut according to the number of rooted cuttings.
After digging, the plants are sorted. The roots are shortened to 5-7 cm, and the shoots are cut to ¼ length. Sorted plants for growing are planted for one year in a separate area.
The site for planting is chosen to be level, with well-developed and fertilized soil, preferably from under vegetable crops and closer to the water. Layers are planted in autumn in grooves 6-8 cm deep, obliquely to the soil surface, under a cord in one or two rows. For single-line planting, the row spacing should be 70 cm, and the distance between plants in a row 20-25 cm; for double-line planting, the row spacing should be 60-70 cm, the distance between lines 40 cm, and between plants in a row 20-25 cm.
When planting, the roots are covered with a layer of earth 5-6 cm thick, then the soil is well watered and mulched with a layer of humus 3-4 cm thick. In dry weather, watering is repeated. In early spring (before the buds open), the shoots are pruned, leaving 1-2 buds above the surface of the ground. Cut shoots are used for planting cuttings, which in turn will increase the amount of planting material.
With normal development, currant layering will form good seedlings by autumn, suitable for planting in a permanent place.
To obtain layering, the mother bushes are cut short in the third year after planting in early spring, leaving stumps 15-20 cm long. Good care and abundant fertilizer ensure the production of a large number of young shoots. The first hilling should be carried out when the shoots reach a height of 10-15 cm (from the base). It is recommended to cover the center of the bush tightly with earth to prevent the branches from getting closer together. After 20-25 days, the shoots are once again covered with earth; it is better to do this after rain. In dry weather, the bushes must be watered before the second application. The cuttings are separated from the mother plant in the fall or early spring the following year.
When transplanting, the shoots are cut short, leaving 2-3 buds above the roots. When propagated by vertical layering, fewer seedlings are obtained than by horizontal layering.
Reproduction by dividing the bush. This method is less perfect, since the resulting new plants do not always have the same vigor of growth and fruiting as when propagated by other methods. Reproduction by dividing a bush is used mainly when transplanting valuable varieties from an old site to a new place.
To do this, they dig up the bushes, cut out all the old branches, leaving young, vigorous ones, shake off the soil from the roots and cut the bush with an ax into 2-4 parts, depending on its size. When transplanting, plants should have good, young, strongly developed roots, old roots are removed, the rest are trimmed, branches are trimmed, leaving stumps 15-20 cm long.
Landing
Currants are a perennial plant and grow in one place for up to 20-25 years. A successful choice of place for planting a berry bush promotes good growth and fruiting of plants, and vice versa, in an unsuccessfully chosen area the bushes become sick and even die. For berry gardens, you need to choose areas with fairly fertile soil, free from weeds, especially rhizomes (wheatgrass), level, with slight slopes, well protected from winds, with groundwater no closer than 1-1.5 m from the soil surface.
Low places with excessive moisture without radical improvement are unsuitable for planting currants, since the bushes there become covered with lichens, wither, quickly age and stop bearing fruit. Open bumps should also be avoided. It is best to plant currants after perennial legumes (clover) and row crops.
Black currant grows well and bears fruit in low, fairly moist, but not wet areas, with loamy and sandy loam soils, but poorly in open, high and dry areas (the berries fall off). It is more frost-resistant than other berry crops and therefore can grow on northern and northeastern slopes.
Red and white currants are planted in drier and well-lit areas with light soils. The best for them will be the southern and southwestern slopes.
If the plants are planned to be planted in the spring, then in the fall, immediately after harvesting the previous crop, the area must be plowed to the full depth of the arable layer. On soils with a small arable layer, a subsoiler should be used, which deeply loosens the soil without turning the subsoil to the surface. In the spring, on heavy soils, plowing or deep loosening with cultivators is carried out, followed by harrowing.
When planting in autumn after row crops or vegetable plants, plowing followed by harrowing should be carried out no later than 15-20 days before planting.
The quality of planting material is of decisive importance when planting berry fields. A plant grown from good seedlings begins to bear fruit 2-3 years after planting.
Currant planting material must be pure grade, so it must be purchased from nurseries and farms that have a varietal certificate. Two-year-old seedlings with a well-developed root system are suitable for planting. Skeletal roots should be 20-25 cm long. The above-ground part should have 3-4 healthy shoots at least 40 cm high.
When transporting planting material, the roots of the seedlings must be kept from drying out; to do this, they should be covered with wet burlap or matting, and upon delivery to the site, immediately opened slightly and watered abundantly. If it is found that the seedlings are very dry, they are immersed in water for 2-3 days (no more).
Currants can be planted in a separate area and between young rows (in personal plots). Planting is done in early spring, before the seedlings bud, and in the fall - until mid-October. Before planting, the area is broken up using a cord and stakes, then planting holes are dug 40-50 cm wide and 30-40 cm deep.
Planting holes should be of such a size that the roots can fit freely into them. Before planting, the roots of the seedlings are trimmed (damaged roots - to a healthy place), the shoots are shortened to 10-15 cm, leaving 2-3 buds on each shoot (for better branching of the bush), and in order for the seedlings to take root better, they are dipped with their roots in soil mash with clay.
Currants are planted with a distance between plants in a row of 1.25-1.5 m. All planting work is organized in such a way that the roots of the seedlings are exposed to the open air as little as possible (not weathered).
When planting, the plants are lowered into holes, the roots are carefully straightened so that they do not bend upward, and they are covered with earth, and the soil around the bushes is trampled down with feet so that there are no voids between the roots. The bushes are planted 5-7 cm deeper than they grew in the nursery. It is better to plant obliquely (at an angle of 45° to the soil surface), while part of the shoots, covered with soil, gives additional roots, which enhances the growth of the bush.
After planting, the seedlings are watered (at the rate of 1 bucket per 5 bushes), and the surface of the hole is covered (mulched) with a thin layer of dry earth, humus or peat. To protect the bushes from freezing in winter, the holes after autumn planting are covered with a layer of manure, humus or peat 3-10 cm thick.
If seedlings are not planted in a permanent place in the fall, but are left until spring planting, then they should be buried for the winter. In the area selected for digging, a ditch is dug in the direction from west to east, 50 cm deep and 60 cm wide. Along the inclined wall, the plants are laid in one row close to each other with branches facing south. When the ditch is filled with seedlings, they dig up the next one next to the first one and the soil taken from it is filled with the roots of the bushes in the first ditch, etc. This is how all the planting material is dug in.
Formation and pruning of bushes
Obtaining high and sustainable currant yields depends not only on the variety, tillage and fertilizer, but also on other agricultural practices, which include, in particular, systematic pruning of the bush. Pruning is one of the most important plant care jobs. The main objectives of pruning are: shaping the bush, regulating fruiting and improving lighting conditions for all parts of the bush.
When planting, the bush is pruned, leaving 2-3 buds on the shoot. By the end of the first year, the bush will have 5-6 or more annual shoots. All weak shoots are cut out near their very base, leaving no stumps. The bush is formed gradually - over 4-5 years. Currants have the most fruit buds on two-year-old wood. Old shoots produce small berries and in small quantities. Black currant branches bear fruit for 4-6 years.
Old branches at the age of six years should be cut out completely at the very base of the bush, leaving in return the same number of the strongest annual shoots. A fully formed and fruiting blackcurrant bush should have 3-4 branches at the age of 1-5 years.
Many young shoots appear annually from the root collar of the blackcurrant bush, of which 6-8 of the strongest and correctly located are left, and the rest are removed. Then an annual pruning of all stems older than 4-5 years is carried out, clearly distinguishable from young ones by their almost black color:
- all the drooping branches lying on the ground;
- shoots growing inside the bush and strongly intersecting;
- all the extra shoots coming from the root collar and the tops frozen over the winter;
- all dry and diseased stems.
It is necessary to ensure that the blackcurrant bush has 15-20 branches of all ages (from 1 year to 5 years), since, compared to branches of other ages, the best fruiting usually occurs on one-, two- and three-year-old branches.
You can prune bushes both in the fall - after the leaves fall, and in the early spring - before the buds open.
To obtain high yields of blackcurrant next year, at the end of June - beginning of July, young shoots are pinched, removing the tops. Pinching promotes the formation of new side shoots, which are then covered with fruit buds, and causes the formation of fruit branches (fruitlets) on old wood.
By pinching bushes with strong young shoots in summer, you can regulate the ripening time of black currant berries. With early pinching they ripen earlier, with later pinching - later.
Red and white currants bear fruit most of all on shortened branches (fruitlets) 2-3 years old, located in the upper part of the shoot, so they should not be pruned or pinched.
Full formation of fruit-bearing red and white currant bushes ends at 5-8 years.
All old (over 7-8 years old) non-fruit-bearing branches are cut out in the same way as for black currants, completely at the very base of the bush.
A fully formed fruit-bearing bush of red and white currants should have 2-3 branches at the age of 1-8 years, and in total the bush should have 20-25 branches of different ages.
When pruning currants, it is necessary to systematically thin out the shoots inside the bushes for better and uniform illumination of all branches.
Neglected currant bushes often experience a cessation of fruiting. In this case, unless the bushes are too old, they are rejuvenated: all old branches are removed, and the remaining young ones are shortened to 10-15 cm. With good soil cultivation and the application of fertilizers (manure and nitrogen minerals), the bushes produce abundant shoots, from which then they form a bush.
With careful care, currants can bear fruit well in one place for up to 15-20 years. Currant areas must be cleared annually of diseased, weakly fruiting bushes and bushes with double flowers.
Watering
Currants are watered 4-5 times during the summer: during the flowering period, strong growth of shoots, at the beginning of the browning of the berries, immediately after picking the berries and in the fall (before winter). The average watering rate is 5 buckets per 1 m² of tree trunk circle.
Water according to the slope of the soil. If the slope is strong, then make a small earthen roller around the bush and pour water into it. If the slope is small, then at a distance of 50-60 cm from the bush on both sides, make grooves 10-15 cm deep and pour water into them.
You can water it in another way, making wells 40 cm deep and 20 cm wide between the bushes in the rows. These nutrient wells are filled with water. They are also used for deep feeding of plants.
Care
To obtain high yields of currants, careful care of the plantings is necessary: good and timely tillage of the soil in rows and between rows, application of organic and mineral fertilizers, and control of pests and diseases.
With good tillage, the soil in the rows and inter-rows is kept in a loose state and free from weeds. The main inter-row tillage should be carried out mainly in autumn, avoiding the formation of split furrows and shafts. In the rows and near the bushes, the soil must be dug up to a depth of 10-12 cm, while avoiding damage to the roots, and at the same time organic fertilizers must be placed in the tree trunk circles.
The cultivation of berry fields should begin as early as possible in the spring, and should be carried out 4-5 times during the summer, and always immediately after harvesting. In the rows near the bushes, loosening is carried out to a depth of 6-8 cm. After this, the soil is mulched with manure, peat or compost. In dry weather, bushes need to be watered regularly. It is not recommended to hill up bushes in the spring-summer period, since they dry out more strongly and are affected by diseases. Hilling is carried out only in the fall to combat wintering pests, and in early spring the plants are unearthed.
Between the rows of plants in the first 2-3 years after planting, berries can be planted at a distance of no closer than 75 cm from the bushes. To combat creeping wheatgrass and other weeds in the rows and inter-rows of fruiting areas of currants, the herbicide simazine is used (800-2000 g of the drug per 100 liters of water). On sandy soils the rate is reduced to 500-600 g per 100 liters. Consumption: per 10 m² of berry area, 1 liter of solution is required.
Fertilizer
The introduction of organic and mineral fertilizers into the soil is of great importance for the development of currants and obtaining a high and sustainable yield. Manure and other organic fertilizers (humus, peat or other composts) are applied for plowing 4-5 kg per 1 m².
Mineral nitrogen fertilizers are applied in the spring, and phosphorus and potassium fertilizers in the fall. Mineral fertilizers are applied under the bush, and for each m² you will need: ammonium sulfate - 0.01 kg, superphosphate - 0.013 kg and potassium salt (30%) - 0.007 kg.
When applying organic and mineral fertilizers together, the rate of both can be halved. Acidic soils during autumn plowing should be limed per 1 m²: sandy soils - 2-3 kg, light loams - 3-4 kg, heavy loams - 4-5 kg of lime.
Good results are obtained when applying fertilizers to planting holes for currants. Fertilizers are added to each hole measuring 40x50 cm: manure - 8-10 kg, a mixture of peat with manure and peat with other organic fertilizers - 2 buckets, 20% superphosphate - 0.25 kg, a mixture of superphosphate with phosphate rock - 0 .4 kg, wood ash - 0.3 kg, potassium sulfate - 0.04 kg, potassium chloride - 0.02-0.03 kg, ground limestone - 0.10-0.15 kg, dolomite - 0.10- 0.15 kg.
The mixtures are made in the following proportions: peat with manure (3-10 parts peat + 1-2 parts manure); superphosphate with phosphate rock (1 part superphosphate + 2 parts phosphate rock); manure with superphosphate or phosphate rock - for 10 kg of manure (1 bucket) 200-300 g of superphosphate or 400-500 g of phosphate rock.
During the summer, currants need to be fed with mineral and organic fertilizers, especially if the bushes do not develop strongly enough. Slurry, bird droppings, feces, mullein and mineral fertilizers are the best materials for liquid fertilizers.
To prepare solutions, take old barrels, bury them halfway into the ground, fill ¼ of the height with fertilizers (put more mullein, and less bird droppings and feces), add water to the very edge and stir the contents several times a day.
For watering, the prepared solution is diluted with water: mullein - 4-5 parts, bird droppings - 10-12 parts, and slurry is diluted with water 6-8 times before application. For each bush they spend one bucket of solution. It is applied into grooves 9-10 cm deep, cut on both sides of each row of bushes. The first feeding is best given after flowering, and the second after harvesting. Fertilizing after flowering has a beneficial effect on the formation of berries, and after harvesting - on preparation for winter and the formation of flower buds for next year's harvest. Mineral fertilizers can be used for liquid fertilizing immediately after dissolution, and in wet weather they are applied in dry form.
A solution of mineral fertilizers is prepared at the rate of 30-40 g per 10 liters of water and used immediately after preparation. Organic fertilizers are applied in the rows under each bush, and mineral fertilizers are applied over the entire area occupied by plants.
If peat is available, peat-potassium composts, which are valuable fertilizers, can be prepared from it. It is also necessary to use all types of local fertilizers: wood and peat ash, slurry, household waste, etc. If there is a lack of organic fertilizers, it is recommended to use green fertilizers. To do this, lupine, peas or vetch are sown between rows and, when plowing or digging, they are embedded in the soil in a beveled or rolled form.
Harvesting
Currant berries begin to ripen in July: first red and white, and then black. The berry picking period can be long and depends on the selection of varieties. The berries are collected in the morning (after the dew has dried) in baskets or sieves with a capacity of 3-4 kg. It is impossible to pour berries from one container to another, as this reduces their commercial quality.
Blackcurrant berries are harvested only when fully ripe, but they do not ripen simultaneously on the entire cluster, so they have to be picked one berry at a time in 3-4 steps, with the exception of some new varieties.
Red and white currant berries for fresh consumption and processing are collected in whole clusters in a state of consumer ripeness when they have achieved their characteristic color and taste. After picking, the berries are stored in a refrigerator, on an icebox, or in well-ventilated cellars or barns until consumption.
Garden work schedule
- April. Cut out dry, broken branches, as well as branches with an insignificant amount of growth of young shoots or with growth shorter than 8-10 cm. Check for bud mites, scale insects, cushion flies and whiteflies. Treat the bushes with nitrafen - 300 g per 10 liters of water, 3% Bordeaux mixture with the addition of 25 g of actellik. Pick up fallen leaves and harrow the soil. Collect kidney mites.
- May. Carefully collect the bud mite, fertilize the soil around the bite circle with humus or compost - 1.5 kg, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers - 2 units, nitrogen - 4 units per 1 m². After flowering, treat with colloidal sulfur - 100 g per 10 liters of water or garlic infusion - 200-300 g per 10 liters. Spray with karbofos (30 g) against ticks, gall midges and aphids. Water, the norm is 3-4 buckets per 1 m² of bite circle. Press down branches for rooting.
- June. Continue caring for the soil, fight emerging aphids, spray the bushes with mustard solution (80 g mustard and 30-40 g laundry soap per 10 liters of water). After 7 days, repeat spraying. Collection of nesting boxes. Watering.
- July. Weeding, harvesting, fighting aphids, glass beetles, and pillowweed.
- August. Weed the weeds and continue the fight against aphids. Fertilize: phosphorus and potassium fertilizers - 5 units each, nitrogen fertilizers - 2 units each, humus 3 kg (once every 2 years) per 1 m².
- September. Plant young currants. Check for damaged bushes; uproot severely damaged ones. In open areas, bend the bushes to the soil.
Preventive measures to combat pests and diseases
Before the buds swell. Cutting and burning dry, weakened and bud mite-infested branches against bud mites, currant moths and other pests.
Spraying bushes and soil under bushes, inside bushes, in rows and between rows with fallen leaves with 3% nitrafen (0.15 l per 1 m²) against wintering aphids, scale insects and other pests, anthracnose and septoria. To spray bushes and soil under bushes, you can also use a 4-5% solution of iron sulfate. If there are a lot of egg-laying leaf rollers on the bushes, then spray with a 5% mineral-oil emulsion (50 g per 10 liters of water).
The leaves begin to bloom. Start extension of the clusters of black currants. Spraying with a 1% sulfur suspension (100 g of sulfur per 10 liters of water).
Before flowering. Spraying bushes with 1% Bordeaux mixture or 0.5% copper oxychloride with the addition of 0.2% chlorophos against rust, anthracnose, sawflies, gooseberry moth and other pests. Cutting out and burning shoots weakened by currant glass.
Bloom. Selection of bushes affected by terry and their destruction.
After flowering. Spraying with 1% Bordeaux mixture or 0.5% copper oxychloride with the addition of 0.2% chlorophos, or 0.1-0.2% karbofos against anthracnose, rust, septoria, aphids and leaf-eating pests. Spraying is repeated after 12-15 days.
After harvest. Cutting out and burning shoots weakened by glass. Spraying with 1% Bordeaux mixture or its substitutes against anthracnose, septoria and sawflies.
Late autumn period. Cutting shoots infected with bud mites. Collecting and burning fallen leaves. Digging the soil under the bushes and plowing the rows against currant bud mite, moth, sawflies, gall midges, anthracnose and septoria.
If there is a currant bud mite during the period of extension of flower clusters, spray with a 1% suspension of colloidal sulfur. Spraying is repeated after flowering.
The name of the berry with a pronounced aroma comes from the ancient Slavic “currant” - a strong, pungent smell. Each variety of currant has its own smell, different from others - in total there are up to 150 varieties of it in the world (there are 36 of them in Russia).
The homeland of currants is considered to be Europe, Siberia and Asia Minor. The first mention of this amazing berry in Rus' dates back to the 11th century. In the 15th-17th centuries, Muscovy was already buried in gardens in which not only apple, pear and cherry trees bloomed, but also aromatic medicinal berries. It is curious that the Smorodinovka River is mentioned in ancient chronicles. According to some historians, this is what the Moscow River was previously called because of the berries that bloomed in abundance along its banks.
Black currant bush
Preparing the site for planting
Wild currants try to choose the wettest areas of the forest - they grow mainly in hollows, ravines and floodplains of streams and rivers. This unpretentious, shade-tolerant, but very healthy berry can take root in fairly dense deciduous and not too dense spruce forests.
Garden currants also prefer slightly acidic soils rich in moisture. However, in areas that are too wet, to prevent root rotting, the soil should be drained before planting by digging a drainage ditch up to half a meter deep along the site.
A year before planting bushes, areas with heavy podzolic soils and a small fertile layer are dug up with the addition of organic fertilizers - peat, manure or compost, lime, phosphorus flour and calcium chloride.
Black currant loves damp areas
Planting black currants
The best place for growing this berry is in sufficiently moist areas, protected from the winds. Plants planted in the fall in October three weeks before the onset of cold weather take root most easily.
It is also possible to plant in early spring (in the European part of Russia in the first or second half of May) at a time when the buds have not even hatched yet.
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IMPORTANT! Cuttings should be rooted into the ground with a slight slope of 45°. After the plant enters a humid environment, the buds begin to develop first. The formation of roots always occurs more slowly and only when the soil warms up above 10°, and the earth first warms up from above.
When planted at an angle, the lower part of the cutting, deepened into the ground, is in a more comfortable zone, warmed by the spring sun, so its roots form more intensively.
Care
Watering and loosening are necessary
Currants love not only fertile, but also loose, air-rich soil. In spring in May and autumn, after picking the berries, the soil of each bush is loosened, trying not to damage the roots - the depth of loosening should be no more than 6-8 cm.
The soil between the rows can be cultivated a little deeper - up to 12 cm. During the summer, at least 3-4 such loosening should be carried out with careful removal of all weeds. To protect the root system from freezing after the last autumn weeding and loosening, the ground near the roots should be mulched with compost or peat.
During the period of rapid vegetation growth, the berry really needs moisture. Even in a normal, not too dry summer, currants growing in central Russia should be watered at least 4 times - 2 times when they gain color, 1 time during the ripening period, and 1 time immediately after harvesting. If the spring is too dry, currants are watered more often.
To replenish the supply of nutrients in the spring, 10-15 organic fertilizers and 30 ammonium nitrate are applied annually to each bush. Currants respond best to the fractional application of nutrients: it is better to apply them the first time immediately after flowering, and the second time after picking the berries.
It is better to apply potassium chloride and superphosphate in the fall. Starting from the fourth year, when the bush increases significantly in size, the amount of fertilizer increases by 1.5-2 times. It should be remembered that nitrogen fertilizers (ammonium, sodium and calcium nitrate) significantly lengthen the development phase of the plant, and if they are applied too late, the plant may go green before winter and die in frosts.
Don't forget about fertilizers, but know when to stop them!
Currant propagation
This berry is propagated very rarely using seeds - most often during selection. Dividing the bushes is possible only if there is a lack of planting material. The most common method of propagating currants is cuttings using lignified cuttings:
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Formation of a young bush. Rejuvenation
The roots of the plant are not yet sufficient to feed a plant that is too large, so in the spring of the year following planting, only 3-4 of the most well-placed shoots that appear are left, and excess branches are mercilessly removed at the base.
Proper pruning stimulates fruiting
Subsequently, for 5 years, 2-3 new branches coming from the root (zero) are left in the bush every year. At the end of this period, the bush is considered formed.
In an adult bush, all branches older than 5 years of age should be pruned annually. They are easily recognized by their short apical growths. There is no need to feel sorry for the old ones - the yield on them drops, while they take up a lot of space and shade the bush.
Broken and frozen branches, as well as thin dead growth, are also subject to pruning. There should be from 15 to 20 of the healthiest and strongest branches left on the bush, located as far as possible from one another.
You can try to rejuvenate old and low-yielding shrubs. Their pruning is carried out within 2-3 years. In the first year after harvesting, a third of the unproductive old shoots are removed (they are darker in color), leaving no stumps; in the second and third years, the rest are removed.
Such pruning will give a powerful increase in new young zero shoots, the best of which (no more than 2-3 per year) are left.
The most dangerous currant diseases
Kidney mite
Shoot affected by bud mite
One of the most dangerous pests of this berry is the bud mite, which can seriously reduce the yield of bushes. The first sign of the development of the disease is the appearance of large swollen buds, at the fracture sites of which disfigured leaf buds are visible.
The second sign of infection is a change in color, darkening and deformation of the leaves. These tiny creatures also carry an equally dangerous infection - terry disease.
It is impossible to completely get rid of pests. Moreover, gusts of wind can blow ticks into neighboring areas. Unfortunately, the most effective method of combating such a scourge is the complete uprooting of diseased bushes and their subsequent burning.
If the disease spreads to adjacent areas, it must be combated only simultaneously with neighbors.
Novice breeders, trying to fight the bud mite, annually collect damaged buds by hand. The mite population is slightly decreasing, but it is impossible to completely destroy it either by old-fashioned methods by spraying with ash, garlic water, or by using more modern preparations (colloidal sulfur, lime-sulfur decoctions, ethersulfonate or tedione) - they can only temporarily reduce its spread.
American powdery mildew
Powdery mildew on currants
The rapid development of this disease occurs at temperatures above 28°C and high air humidity, while a grayish-white or brown fungal coating forms on the foliage, and then the leaves begin to curl. If the disease spreads widely, shoots may also die.
The fungus overwinters safely on fallen leaves and old shoots, so the fight must begin with their removal and burning. In the fall, the soil is carefully dug up to destroy spores. Since the ideal condition for the reproduction of the pest is the presence of nitrogen, during the years of infection the dose of fertilizers containing it is reduced. Potassium and phosphorus, on the contrary, contribute to better plant resistance.
To combat the disease during the growing season before flowering, currants are treated with fungicides, for example, Topaz or colloidal sulfur. A more gentle way is to spray with soda with the addition of laundry soap.
Anthracnose. Septoria
These diseases are not so common, but are no less dangerous. Anthracnose usually appears in July when air humidity rises - yellow spots with dark tubercles appear on the leaves.
With septoria, the disease appears in the form of round spots with small black dots. In order to destroy fungi, plants are sprayed with “Skor” or “Tilt” twice - the first time in May, the second time after flowering.
Anthracnose on currant leaves
Currant aphid
When currant aphids appear on the bush, the upper parts of the shoots become wrinkled and gather in clumps. Colonies of light green insects can be seen on the underside of the leaf. Young shoots in case of severe damage stop growing.
When dangerous insects are first detected, the plants are treated with Fitoverm, Komandor, Aktelik or any other pesticide. Quite effective folk remedies are infusions of tobacco, onion peel or dandelion.
Ants and aphids are eternal allies
However, the fight should be carried out not only with aphids, but also with ants - they are the ones who breed its colonies as a kind of “cash cows” (ants feed on the sweetish liquid secreted by aphids).
To destroy insect eggs in early spring, bushes are doused with water heated to 70°C. During blossoming, the buds are additionally sprayed with fufanon or Inta-C-M solution.
Black, red and golden currants contain many vitamins: A (carotene), B 1 (thiamine), B 6 ( folic acid), C (ascorbic acid) and a group of P-active substances. In addition, they are rich in sugars, organic acids and mineral salts containing iron, calcium, manganese, and phosphorus. Currant berries are used medicinally in the treatment of peptic ulcers and hypertension. They play a significant role in the prevention of heart attacks, as they contain many coumarins, which reduce blood clotting. In the form of decoctions or raw jam, they are prescribed for C- and P-hypovitaminosis, atherosclerosis, a number of infectious and colds, intense mental and physical work, and are used for processing into jam, jellies, juices, syrups, marshmallows, marmalade, jam, in which up to 70-80% of vitamins are preserved. The high content of pectins promotes the removal of heavy metal salts from the body.
According to the Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, the annual consumption rate of currants is 5.1 kg per person, of which 4.5 kg of black and 0.6 kg of red and golden currants.
Currant is a temperate climate plant. It can be successfully cultivated almost throughout the entire territory of the Non-Black Earth Zone. It produces good harvests even beyond the Arctic Circle in the Murmansk region, but the most favorable areas are located between 47 and 60° N. w.
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Currant bushes quickly begin to bear fruit - in the 2-3rd year after planting; maximum yields are produced in the 5-6th year. With thickened plantings, the yield reaches 20.5 t/ha in the 3rd year instead of 5.0 t/ha at usual distances.
Thanks to the long-established healing properties of berries, buds, leaves, shoots, black currant has become widespread here and abroad and is in great demand and popularity.
Red currant, despite the high yield and usefulness of the berries, has not become widespread in the Non-Black Earth Zone. In such regions as Arkhangelsk, Bryansk, Tver, Kaluga, Oryol, Yaroslavl, it is absent in the breed-varietal zoning. In other areas, it is allocated 2-10% in relation to black currant. Golden currant is even less common.
All previously cultivated varieties of black and red currants were representatives of local selected wild forms or were varieties imported from Western Europe. Selection work was also carried out on the use various types black currants from Siberia and Far East. As a result, the almost homogeneous currant assortment has been enriched with many different forms, differing in both morphological and biological characteristics.
The existing currant assortment has great potential to ensure high yields. To realize the potential, each variety must be given a growing area and the appropriate cultivation technology.
currant bush
Currant is a typical shrub consisting of several branches of different ages. The height of the bush is from 1 to 2.5 m. Depending on the variety and the agricultural technology used, it can consist of 10-25 branches. The bushes have a compressed or spreading and even semi-creeping (Bredthorp) shape. Most varieties of red currants have a more compressed bush shape compared to black ones. Black currant varieties of the Western European type are also characterized by compact bushes. Many hybrid and Siberian varieties are characterized by a spreading form. The strong spreading nature of the bush is a disadvantage of the variety, as it makes it difficult to care for the plantings and harvest the berries using a mechanized method.
The vitality of the bush is determined by annual increments, which vary in length and nature of formation. These are basal shoots (null and replacement shoots), growing from the buds of the underground stem and having their own root system and branches of different orders. In the year of their formation, basal shoots grow intensively, reaching a height of 1 m or more. As a rule, they grow vertically and usually branch the following year. In the most early ripening varieties, the shoots branch in the same year.
Starting from the 2nd year, basal shoots continue to grow in length from the apical bud, and first-order branching is formed from the lateral buds. In subsequent years, growth in length continues from the apical bud, and new branching orders arise from the lateral buds. The amount of growth in length decreases annually and at 4-6 years of age does not exceed several centimeters. Then the branches begin to dry out from the top to the base. At the same time, the fruitlets die off from the base of the branch to its top.
The age of a currant branch is determined by its annual growth, which is separated from each other by clearly defined traces (rings, notches). Annual increments also differ in the color of the bark. Last year's (annual) growths stand out especially sharply - they have the lightest color in the bush. With age, the color darkens.
The lifespan of a currant bush with good care can reach 25-30 years. The productive period of each individual branch is shorter: for blackcurrant, depending on the variety, it is 4-6 years; the red one is 7-8 years old. With age, the fruiting of the branches weakens and they gradually die off. To replace them, basal shoots grow annually in the bush, which are the basis of the future branch (with all its branches). Thanks to them, old weakly fruiting branches are replaced with new ones.
Currant buds are formed only on annual growth. They are different in the nature of education and differentiation. On zero shoots there are dormant ones, which are formed in the spring around the root collar and at the base of the shoot, growth ones - located directly above the dormant ones, and flowering ones. In varieties such as Golubka, Primorsky Champion, Stakhanovka Altaya, Leningradsky Giant, flower buds can be formed along the entire length of the zero shoot, even at the base. This is a sign of early fruiting of the variety. Such varieties are especially valuable for intensive blackcurrant cultivation, since these shoots bear fruit the very next year after they grow. All black currant buds, except for dormant ones, are highly excitable and, if the growth correlation is disturbed, they are able to begin to grow in the year of establishment. But usually they all awaken the next year after their formation.
Rice. 1. Location of flower buds in currants:
1 - black currant (uniform arrangement of buds);
2 - red currant (clustered arrangement of flower buds at the boundaries of growths)
Flower buds of red currant are numerous, most of them are concentrated at the boundaries of the growths (Fig. 1). In this regard, pruning the tips of red currant shoots is not recommended.
The main blackcurrant crop is formed on annual fruits of the 1st and 2nd orders of branching. A smaller and lower quality part of the harvest comes from older fruits.
Black currant fruits live 1-3 years depending on the variety and die off after 1-2 years of fruiting; Their death occurs especially quickly on shaded branches. The highest yield of basal branches is confined to the 3-4th year of their existence, since during this period currants produce strong annual growth.
The main harvest of red currants comes from perennial fruits at the boundaries of growths of different years. Annual fruit trees also bear fruit. All these features of currant growth must be taken into account during cultivation.
currant leaf
Currant leaves are alternate, three- or five-lobed, on petioles of varying lengths. The leaves of different varieties of black and red currants differ sharply in appearance: shape, size, venation, color, location in relation to the shoot, depth and shape of the petiole notch, etc. They serve as one of the reliable approbation signs. On the underside of the blackcurrant leaf blade there are sessile ethereal glands that have a sharp, specific odor. Such glands are located on annual shoots, as well as on berries. Red currants do not have ethereal glands. Therefore, there is no specific smell. By this feature alone, red currants can be easily distinguished from black currants.
Vegetation phases
According to the development phases, currants are among the breeds that awaken early from winter dormancy.
Near St. Petersburg, currants begin to grow in early April at an air temperature of about 6°C. The buds of the lower branches heat up faster from the ground and bloom earlier.
Of the common blackcurrant varieties, the first to begin to grow are Primorsky Champion, Golubka, Koksa, Altai Dessertnaya, Naryadnaya, i.e. hybrid varieties obtained with the participation of currant-grouse and forms of the Siberian subspecies. They finish growing early. The last to begin to grow are the European varieties - Neapolitanskaya, Lakstona, Liya fertile, Non-shattering, Pobeda. Their shoots take a long time to grow, and at the tops of such shoots underdeveloped weak buds are formed. In harsh winters, the shoots of these varieties freeze heavily.
The growing season of red currants begins later, but ends much earlier than that of black currants. Annual redcurrant growths usually ripen already in August, and well-developed group (up to 10-15) buds are formed at their ends, from which flower brushes and growth shoots appear the following year. Most of these shoots are shortened and turn into fruits. In subsequent years, these fruits can branch, becoming complex, branched, like “bouquets”. Due to the shorter growing season, red currants are more winter-hardy.
Black and red currant flowers are dim, small or medium in size. They are bisexual, i.e. in one flower, in addition to 5 petals and 5 sepals, there are 5 stamens and one pistil. The flowers of golden currant are much larger. They are bright, golden yellow, with a pleasant, persistent aroma.
The currant inflorescence is a raceme consisting of 3-15 or more flowers, depending on the variety. The number of berries, as a rule, is less than the number of flowers in the cluster. This depends on the conditions of flowering and fertilization.
Currants usually bloom in May - early June. Only beyond the Arctic Circle do currants bloom in June - July. In the more southern regions of the Non-Chernozem Zone, currants bloom a little earlier. The flowers in the raceme bloom sequentially: the lower flowers bloom first (at the base of the raceme), and the apical ones bloom last.
The currant flowering phase is short-lived: 7-11 days. It can be shorter or longer depending on air temperature and precipitation.
Currants ripen in July - early August, 50-65 days after flowering. Weather conditions can influence the onset of ripening in one direction or another. The difference in the timing of the beginning of ripening of early and late varieties of currants (black and red) is on average 15 days. Of the blackcurrant varieties, the first to ripen are Primorsky Champion, Zoya; The Pobeda and Neapolitanskaya varieties complete the ripening period.
In red currants, the Chulkovskaya varieties ripen first, then Victoria, Pervenets, and English White; the last ones are Dutch red, Varshevich. The lower berries of the cluster ripen first, the top berries last. The lower berries are usually the largest. Ripe berries of red and white currants can hang on the hands for a long time without falling off, while their taste not only does not deteriorate, but often even improves due to the increase in the amount of sugars. This is a great advantage of red currants, allowing you to take your time picking and use fresh berries for a long time. Ripe blackcurrant berries cannot hang on the bush for a long time, and in some varieties obtained from Siberian forms or with their participation, the berries fall off immediately after ripening.
Productivity, pollination, self-fertility
With the correct selection of varieties and good agrotechnical care, currants can produce high yields. In the middle zone, with good care, you can get more than 10 t/ha. For individual varieties, the maximum yield of black currant is 22.9 t/ha, red currant - 26.9 t/ha. The most productive red currants (varieties Dutch red, Pervenets, Shchedraya, Varshevicha, Victoria; of the white-fruited varieties - Yuterbogskaya variety). The potential of blackcurrant varieties is very great. Thus, a flower count of the Baldwin (Kent) variety showed that 89 million flowers are produced per 1 hectare, which can provide a yield of 50 t/ha (with a typical berry size for this variety). However, the actual yield of currants is significantly lower than possible, since before the berries ripen, their premature fall is observed, which depends on various factors - agronomic, climatic, soil, pathological and genetic. Falling occurs to varying degrees in all varieties. There are 2 types of abscission of black currant ovaries: shedding of unfertilized flowers, which reaches its maximum 3 weeks after flowering, and premature (pre-harvest) abscission during berry development. In conditions near St. Petersburg, abscission of the first type (shedding of unfertilized flowers) is very pronounced.
All varieties of currants are divided into self-fertile (capable of setting berries from pollination with their own pollen) and self-sterile (self-sterile), unable to set berries from self-pollination. The formation of berries in self-sterile varieties is possible only through pollination with pollen of another variety, which is carried out with the help of insects, mainly bees, whose share falls on 60-90% of pollinated flowers.
Self-fertile varieties are of greatest value, since under unfavorable weather conditions during the flowering period, when bees and other insects do not fly, self-sterile varieties do not produce a harvest. 3 weeks after flowering, unfertilized flowers (ovaries) fall off. Self-fertile varieties are less dependent on pollinators, thereby ensuring annual yields.
All released and promising currant varieties are self-fertile. However, the self-fertility of the variety does not exclude cross-pollination, but complements it. In order to make the most of the possibility of cross-pollination, it is necessary to create all the conditions for this: protect the area from the winds, during the flowering period of currants on the plantations you need to have hives with bees, etc. Cross-pollination makes it possible to increase the yield and quality of berries. Therefore, regardless of the degree of self-fertility, several mutually pollinating varieties should be planted on plantations. The berry set of red currants is higher than that of black currants, due to the good self-fertility of the varieties and better attendance by bees.
A sharp decrease in blackcurrant yield is observed due to the destructive effect of low temperatures during the flowering period. In some years, as a result, there is practically no harvest. Late spring frosts cause flowers, buds, and ovaries to freeze. Long-term low positive temperatures also have a negative effect during the flowering period, at which the growth of pollen tubes slows down even in self-fertile varieties. They die before reaching the embryo sacs. While the mechanisms of flower resistance to spring frosts have not been determined, many researchers believe that only late-flowering varieties have the least likelihood of flowers freezing. However, in collection and experimental plantings near St. Petersburg, the early flowering variety Primorsky Champion bears fruit well every year for 25 years. The annual yield of this variety is determined by a high degree of self-fertility. Thanks to its early flowering, this variety generally avoided damage from late spring frosts. When the timing of flowering coincides with frost, the harvest is determined by the presence of a large number of flower clusters (from each bud and fruit), which bloom non-simultaneously and are thus partially exposed to negative temperatures.
The same type of formation of flower clusters is also characteristic of other varieties - Stakhanovka Altaya, Leningradsky Giant, Golubka, which bloom in the early-medium and middle periods. A location protected from the winds is of great importance for the preservation of flowers and for their fertilization. Thus, the Naryadnaya variety bears fruit annually in a protected place even in unfavorable years. In open areas, fruiting deteriorates sharply. Varieties with a large number of flowers in the raceme, which are in different phases at the time of frost (from buds to the formation of ovaries), under such conditions give guaranteed yields. We also assume that a number of varieties are characterized by flower resistance to low temperatures and, probably, varieties differ in their need for positive temperatures necessary for the rate of pollen germination. To obtain an annual harvest, varieties of different flowering periods should be planted.
Due to the abundance of fruit formations that form at the same time, as well as the large number of flowers in the cluster of red currants, a sharp decrease in yield from spring frosts is rarely observed.
According to the color of the berries among black currants, there are varieties that are green-fruited, brown and brownish-black (Vystavochnaya, Pilot A. Mamkin), black (Neapolitanskaya, Liya fertile, Karelian and other European varieties), black with a bluish bloom (Primorsky Champion, Zoya, Golubka) ; for red currants - white-fruited (Yuterbogskaya, Versailles white), pink (Flesh), red of various shades (Pervenets, Dutch red, Shchedraya, Victoria, Feya fertile, Red Cross), dark cherry (Varshevich). Golden currant berries can be yellow, orange, brown, brown-red.
Very important signs, especially during mechanized harvesting, are skin strength, dry tear-off and berry attachment strength.
Chemical composition of berries
Currant fruits are rich in sugars, organic acids, and vitamins. Blackcurrant berries grown in Pavlovsk contain 13.0-26.4% dry matter (depending on the variety and year conditions). The amount of sugars ranges from 5.7 to 13.7%. Total acidity (in terms of citric acid) is 1.8-4.3%. The high content of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is of great value. The amount of it in fruits depends on the variety and conditions of the year. The average content is 96.2-241 mg/100 g. Depending on weather conditions, the amount of vitamin C can reach 354.4 mg/100 g or drop to 45.7 mg/100 g. The highest vitamin C (on average more than 200 mg/ 100 g, in some years more than 300 mg/100 g) are the varieties Coronation, Laxtona, Liya fertile, Belorusskaya sweet, Neapolitanskaya. The water content in black currant berries ranges from 74.5 to 87%.
Red currant berries contain slightly more water than black currants (76-89%), and slightly less dry matter (11-24%).
The total acidity in red currant berries is, according to average data, 1.8-3.7%. In terms of vitamin C content, red currants are inferior to black currants, but its content in the berries is no lower than in strawberries, and higher than in citrus crops - orange, lemon, tangerine, grapefruit. Depending on the variety and weather conditions, red currant contains vitamin C 30-69 mg/100 g, and in some years it can reach 188.6 mg/100 g or decrease to 18.9 mg/100 g. Most red currant berries contain known varieties contain an average of 40-50 mg/100 g. In addition, they accumulate a fairly high amount of coumarins (1.7-4.4 mg/100 g).
Golden currant berries are distinguished by a high sugar content - 8.45-17.39%, of which glucose accounts for 7-15%, which provides valuable medicinal properties berries The total acidity in berries is 0.6-2.1%. The content of vitamin C varies by year and by variety from 23.5 to 199.9 mg/100 g. Golden currant berries contain provitamin A 0.73-7.0%. Yellow-fruited varieties are high in this vitamin. Tocopherols (vitamin E) are also found in them. All varieties of golden currants are rich in phosphorus, potassium, sodium, magnesium, and calcium.
Currant berries are used for processing and fresh. Dessert varieties include Belorusskaya sweet, Lakstona, Leningradsky giant, Pamyat Zhuchkovu, Pilot A. Mamkin, Nina, Bredtorp, Pobeda blackcurrant varieties. The varieties Pervenets, Shchedraya, Yuterbogskaya Red Cross have a good taste of red currant berries. Sour berries of the Dutch Red and Varshevicha varieties are used for processing. Among the golden currant varieties, Kishmishnaya and Dustlik stand out due to their pleasant combination of sugar and acids.
Attitude to external environmental conditions
Winter hardiness. Black and red currants are plants of temperate climates. In areas of the Non-Chernozem Zone, the winter hardiness of industrial varieties of currants is quite satisfactory. Frost damage to vegetative parts and flower buds is observed in severe winters with little snow, when plants are affected by powdery mildew and when planted in open areas. Created on the basis of frost-resistant forms of wild currant and Siberian currant, most varieties of black currant overwinter safely. Currants suffer most from low temperatures during the flowering period.
Good overwintering of plants is facilitated by the presence of snow cover, windbreaks and the absence of diseases and pests.
Red currant plants finish their growing season early, so they are superior to black currants in winter hardiness.
Currant is a light-loving plant. This applies to both red and black currants. There is a misconception that black currants can be grown in shaded areas. In the shade, it produces a weak harvest and is more damaged by diseases and pests.
Black currant is one of the berry crops that begins its growing season early. The buds of its lower branches begin to grow as soon as the snow melts. According to the observations of N.M. Pavlova, their growth in the spring can begin in 2-3 days as soon as a positive average daily temperature is established. Under the conditions of Izhevsk, black currant buds bloomed from April 25 to May 1. At higher elevations, the beginning of the growing season was observed on April 21-28. In the Perm region, most blackcurrant varieties enter the growing season on April 20-26, and in the Kirov region - in the 2nd-3rd decade of April.
In the conditions of the south of Western Siberia, the initial phases of currant development take place in very harsh climatic conditions, often with a sharp lack of heat. At the same time, it was noted that the more hereditary characteristics of Siberian grouse currant are manifested in a variety, the less heat is required for vegetation and flowering. The Primorsky Champion variety began to grow first, then the Koksa and Druzhnaya varieties, a little later - the Golubka variety, and the last of this group of varieties to bloom were the Altai Dessert and Stakhanovka Altaya varieties. During the observation period from 1968 to 1978. the earliest date of bud break was observed in the Primorsky Champion variety (April 17), the latest in the Golubka and Stakhanovka Altaya varieties (May 17).
Shoot growth usually begins in the first half of May. In the Cis-Ural region, basal plants began to grow in the first or second decade of May at an air temperature of 6-9°C. In the middle zone, the usual time for black currant to begin flowering is May 15-20. Depending on weather conditions during the spring growing season, fluctuations in the timing of currant flowering can be very significant.
In the Leningrad region, the average currant flowering date was May 20. Blackcurrant blossoms in most cases under extremely unfavorable meteorological conditions, with strong winds and often sharp drops in temperature. On average, the flowering of black currant varieties near St. Petersburg begins at 11 - 14°C, and average daily temperatures during the flowering period range from 10.4 to 16.4°C.
The flowering phase of black currant is quite short, on average 10-15 days, sometimes from 10 to 23 days. There is usually no big difference between varieties in the duration of the flowering period, only in early varieties it is somewhat shorter than in later ones. The difference between flowering times in different years for some varieties does not exceed 1-2 days, for others it reaches 5-6 days.
The duration of the flowering period is mainly determined by the average daily temperature, but sharp deviations also occur. Flowering is sometimes delayed or continued due to a sudden and sharp cold snap or strong winds, predominantly from the north or northeast. In Udmurtia, currants begin to bloom on May 19-24, in some years from May 15 to 22, the flowering period lasts 14-17 days, the end of flowering occurs on June 3-10. At the same time, currants bloom in the Perm region. In the Kirov region, the flowering time of this crop occurs somewhat later, at the end of May - beginning of June.
In the conditions of Western Siberia, from the beginning of buds to the beginning of flowering, it takes from 15 to 40 days. This period can be quite long in years with early and cold spring. Just like in central Russia, it begins in the 2nd-3rd decade of May. The earliest flowering was observed in the Primorsky Champion variety - May 11; in the varieties Golubka and Chernaya Lisavenko - May 13; the latest flowering period for the first variety was observed on May 31 and for the two second varieties - on June 5. Flowering lasts on average 2 weeks, but its duration in some years ranges from 8 to 22 days.
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