It is not a secret that currant is not distinguished by its capricious character and exactingness for careful and regular care. However, even such an unpretentious garden culture should be given enough attention after the harvest in the autumn period, so that next year the bushes will please their rich fruits and vegetables. Next, we will talk about how to properly care for the bushes in autumn and prepare for the winter black, red and white currant.
1 Currant care in autumn: basic procedures and rules
1.1 Soil loosening around shrubs
1.2 Water charging
1.3 Supplementary feeding
1.4 Currant trimming in autumn
1.5 Prevention of currant diseases and pests
2 Preparing currant bushes for winter
Currant care in autumn: basic procedures and rules
A quality autumn currant care involves several procedures, each of which plays a role and helps the shrub to prepare for the winter, safely survive the frost and start growing and bearing fruit next season with renewed vigor.
To fully care for black, red and white currant it is necessary to perform the following activities in autumn:
loosening the soil;
Water charging;
fertilization;
Mulching;
Trimming;
Prevention of diseases and pests.
Let's consider each of the activities in more detail.
Soil loosening around shrubs
Before starting autumn loosening, the old mulch layer (if any) and the fallen, old leaves should be removed. The old mulch and leaves should be removed from the shrub and even better burned to destroy all possible pests and pathogens.
Then loosen the soil around the shrub. The procedure improves the flow of oxygen to the root system, reduces the likelihood of pests (it is more difficult for them to nest in the loosened soil in the winter), and it should be carried out to a shallow depth (not deeper than 5 centimeters!) and the distance from the trunk should be kept (not less than 15 cm). Such a care procedure can be carried out with the help of a pull rod.
When loosening the soil with the draught bar, remove all weeds that grow near the berry crop.
Tip! Once you have loosened the soil around the currant bush, it is advisable to make a furrow around the plant for watering and fertilising. To do this, step back 30 cm from the trunk and make a groove 15 centimetres deep.
After this manipulation, watering, fertilizing and covering the area of the stem wheel of the bush should be carried out. But more details about it are below.
Water charging
Two key moments when the shrub needs generous watering: after fruiting and in preparation for the winter in late autumn. If in the first case everything is clear, you need to know some nuances about the second irrigation.
When a berry bush is being prepared for winter, it is important to help it to prepare and water-charging. It saturates the soil with the necessary amount of moisture, improves the conditions for overwintering shrubs, increases winter resistance, protects the shrubs from drying out shoots and branches, and freezes the roots (because the moistened soil freezes more slowly than the dry ground).
Important: It is not recommended to water underwinter on garden areas with high ground water content and constant overwetting of the ground.
The procedure should also be avoided if the autumn is rainy.
When should I water the berry bush for the winter? Optimal timing for watering currants in the winter: when the fall starts to end, but the frost does not occur yet (i.e. around the middle or end of October). In such conditions the ground is still warm, it is not frozen, the roots continue to grow, but the shoots will not be allowed to grow.
Tip: It is advisable to water the bushes on a warm and dry day.
Norm of water charging currants in autumn - 3-4 buckets for 1 bush (that is, about 30-40 liters). Water should soak the entire dry layer of soil to a depth of 30 cm. More water is needed for blackcurrant than for white and red currant.
When carrying out the care procedure it is very important to remember: you can not apply too much moisture (more than these standards), otherwise moisture will displace the air from the ground, which will lead to the death of the root system.
By the way, it is advisable to water your shrub before fertilising it, so it is best to feed the currants after autumn watering.
After watering, the area of the stem wheel of the shrub should be covered with water.
Supplementary feeding is an essential element of currant care in autumn. It helps the bush to regain strength, improves frost resistance and resistance to adverse winter factors. Thus, using suitable fertilizers in the autumn, you can see a more abundant fruiting in the next season.
Pay attention! This article details when, how and how to feed the berry bush in the autumn.
Currant trimming in the fall
After the currant harvest in the summer it is recommended to carry out the sanitary cutting, and in the autumn to prepare for the winter - rejuvenating and forming the cutting. Of course, you can do it in spring, but the bush wakes up very early, and there is a high probability that the gardener will not have time to do it in time (and in case of violation of the terms of procedure the bush will weaken, fruiting will be weaker).
When is it better to carry out the care procedure? Optimal timing of currant trimming in autumn is the period after the fall of all leaves.
For autumn currant trimming it is necessary to use a sharp pruning shear which has been disinfected beforehand. It is also recommended to disinfect the tool after each bush.
Cut the currant in the autumn according to the following scheme:
Remove all dry, sick, damaged, rotten shoots (cut completely).
Remove any branches that lie on the surface of the ground, or are too inclined to the ground, or weave together.
All old branches older than 4-5 years are cut off completely (under the root without hemp). Adult branches have a darker shade (black-brown) than all other shoots, and they are also thicker.
Annual young shoots should be removed, leaving 3-6 of the strongest shoots with the largest number of buds (they should be shortened one third above the buds for better branching). The rest of the fine brushwood (especially the brushwood that grows inside the bush) should be cut under the root without leaving any stumps.
It is necessary to shorten the tops of the new growth on the 2-3-year-old branches (second-order branches) in autumn, cut above the buds. It is especially important to shorten them if the length is more than 50 centimeters.
By the way, the tops left over from the trimming of annual branches can be used to breed a bush using the cutting method. To do this, the cut tops are used as cuttings and are rooted for the winter.
After trimming, the adult currant bush should have 12-15 shoots of different ages. Cut it carefully, do not overly "cut" the bush, and do not leave too much "ballast", which will thicken the shrub.
After pruning, all plant remains should be burned immediately: cut shoots, fallen leaves, old mulch.
Pay attention! If you see a black core in the middle of the cut when you shorten the escape, it means that the escape is struck by a glass core. This escape must be completely removed to the bottom.
Prevention of currant diseases and pests
The most important stage of preparation for winter and care of black, red and white currant in autumn is the preventive treatment of bushes against pests and diseases. The berry bush needs to be treated even if it looks healthy, such an event will help to protect the plant from unwanted gardeners in the next season.
Tip! For maximum efficiency, you need to spray not only the shrub itself, but also the stem circle.
For the prevention of currants from fungal diseases, you need to treat the bushes with a solution of fungicide, for example, Hom, Topaz, 1%-bordeaux fluid. If on the bush were identified signs of fungal diseases, it is recommended to conduct a second treatment again in 10 days after the first one.
And to disinfect the soil it is possible to spill the soil with a solution of Fitosporin-M biofungicide.
It is important to make any solution and treat it strictly according to the instructions.
Treatment of currants against pests should be carried out only if signs of pests are detected. From aphids can be used, for example, the drug Aktar, Biotlin, from currant gallicia - Bitoxibacillin, Lepidocid, against the glass - Lepidocid, Inta-vir, Fitoverm, from the kidney mite - Fitoverm, Aliot.
Preparing currant bushes for winter
Black, red and white currant are distinguished by their winter resistance and resistance to adverse environmental factors. However, in order to prepare the bushes for the winter, it is necessary to carry out some care measures that will benefit the berry crop.
So, how to prepare currant bushes for the winter, so that they normally endure frost and enjoy good fruiting in the next season?
First of all, it is necessary to cover the stem circle of the shrub. It is better to do this after watering and fertilizing, but all the moisture should be completely absorbed into the ground. Such preparation for winter helps the shrub to survive the frost easier, because mulch protects the root system from the cold, keeps moisture in the soil.
As a mulch for currant is best used, for example, hay, peat, humus, compost, and overflowing sawdust. The thickness of the mulching layer is about 10 centimetres.
It's important! Mulch shouldn't touch the bush trunk. Keep a distance of approx. 5 centimetres.
Smorodina is a frost-resistant culture, so the bush is not covered in winter. However, if the berry crop is grown in a region with frosty and windy winters, something should be done. In this case, you can carefully pull down the soft spiral squirrels in preparation for winter, so that they do not break under the influence of strong winds and bad weather.
And when the rain falls, it is recommended to apply snow under the bush and trample. If there is a lot of rainfall, it is recommended to cover the shrubs completely with snow.
Taking care of black, red and white currant bushes is very easy. Having performed simple measures in autumn, you can provide yourself with abundant fruiting, tasty and healthy harvest.
By the way, autumn is a good time to plant currants in the open soil. This article describes the timing, rules and schemes of autumn planting of currants.