Autumn pruning of currants and gooseberries - how to properly prune these shrubs. Currant care in the autumn season

Care for gooseberries and currants should begin in the spring.

First and important work after the snow has melted in the spring, currant and gooseberry bushes are pruned. It must be carried out before bud break, and only after severe winters is it transferred to more late dates- the period of leaf blooming, when the frozen parts of the plants will be clearly visible. Currants and gooseberries can grow without pruning and give a good harvest in the early years. But with age, the yield begins to decline,

the berries become small, the bushes thicken, pests and diseases accumulate in them more; such plants are more difficult to care for and harvest, they age faster. Inside unthinned bushes, shoots and buds do not ripen and freeze. The purpose of pruning is to keep the plant productive. Productivity depends on age: for black currant the productive age of branches is 5 years, for red currant and gooseberry - 6-8 years. The essence of pruning is the constant replacement of unproductive old branches with young productive ones.

In the first years after planting, pruning is aimed at forming a bush and boils down to the following: in the year of planting, all shoots are cut short, leaving only two to four buds on each. In the second year, from the grown root shoots, three or four of the strongest and located at some distance from each other are left, all the rest are removed at the very surface of the soil; the left shoots are shortened by 1/3 or 1/4 of their length (for red and white currants, the shoots are not shortened).

In the third year, three or four basal shoots are again left, the rest are removed and this is done every year until they form a bush. In black currant, the formation of a bush is completed by the age of five, in red currant and gooseberry - by six to eight years. In the future, maintenance pruning is carried out, which consists in removing old branches (for black currant, branches older than five years are removed, and for red currants and gooseberries - older than six to eight years). Old branches differ from young ones in the color of the bark (the older the branches, the darker the bark), in short, weakened one-year growths, and in weakening, drying out fruit formations.

Should be paid Special attention for the presence of basal shoots in the bush, as they determine its vitality. If there are no basal shoots in the bush or there are very few of them, then their growth must be caused by removing one or two fruit-bearing branches.

When forming bushes and pruning, they also remove broken, damaged by pests and diseases, weak, drying out, growing inside the bush, crossing branches lying on the ground; frozen ones are cut to a healthy, green part (such pruning is called sanitary). In bushes affected by powdery mildew, diseased shoot tips are removed; branches are also cut out severely affected by a bud mite.

Thickened (not formed, not cut) bushes with low yields and small berries can be restored. To do this, sanitary pruning is carried out, and then unproductive old branches are cut out at the very base; if there are many such branches, then half are removed in the first year, and the rest in the next year. After such pruning, young basal shoots appear, from which the bush is re-formed. If there are no old branches in the bush, but there are many productive branches and they greatly thicken the bush, then it is necessary to remove some of the less productive ones and those that, from the cutting of which, there will be more light in the bush. When pruning large branches (more than 2 cm in diameter), the sections should be painted over with paint - ocher or red lead, diluted with natural drying oil.

Gooseberry pruning is carried out in general in the same way as currants, but has some features. Gooseberry bushes have many basal shoots, which greatly thicken the bush, which makes it difficult to care for the plant and harvest. Therefore, it is necessary to strictly ration their number, leaving only three or four of the strongest and most successfully located shoots. In order to accelerate fruiting and increase the yield of gooseberries, summer pinching can be used, which consists in removing the tops of annual growths. Under our conditions, this work should be carried out in the first half of August.

Due to the fact that gooseberry bushes are prone to strong thickening, and its shoots are prickly, caring for them and harvesting them are associated with certain difficulties. Therefore, some gardeners form bushes on a small stem (stem) or grow a bush consisting of two or three perennial branches.

When growing bushes on a bole, pruning is carried out in the following way: when planting in a zone of 15 cm from the soil surface, all branches are removed, above - three to five young shoots are left, which are shortened by 2/3 of their length, making a cut to the outer bud. In the second year, six to eight branches are selected, which will form the basis of the skeleton of the bush, shorten them by 1/2 of the length, and all other shoots are cut short, leaving them only 3-5 cm long, which contributes to the formation a large number fruit buds.

When forming a bush from two or three perennial branches, two or three of the strongest branches are left in the bush, and all basal shoots that appear during the summer are removed. Cut ends in spring annual shoots and thin out inner part bush. Each of these perennial branches can produce up to 3 kg of berries.

For the winter, currant and gooseberry bushes are tied with twine, and in places where a thick layer of snow accumulates, the plants are fenced with an umbrella made of strong stakes. For the winter, the bushes are spudded with snow. In the spring, the plants are freed from the snow crust, and with the onset of warmer days, the strapping is removed. As soon as the young currant and gooseberry bushes begin to grow, a shallow groove is dug around each of them (at a distance of 35–45 cm from the base of the bush), where an aqueous solution of slurry, mullein or nitrogen fertilizers (15–20 g of urea or ammonium nitrate per 10 liters of water), then watered. After 4-5 hours, the grooves are leveled, the soil is mulched with manure.

Spring care for currants and gooseberries

Fruit-bearing currant and gooseberry bushes also require careful care. When growing blackcurrant, it is very important constantly select the most productive, healthy bushes and ruthlessly uproot diseased, low-yielding plants. In the spring, during bud break and the appearance of the first rudiments of leaves, the bushes are examined. If there are excessively swollen, swollen, head-shaped buds on the branches (they contain ticks), then they are plucked, collected in a bucket and poured with boiling water. If there are a lot of such buds, then the bush is heavily infected with mites and it is immediately uprooted.
During mass flowering currants carefully examine the flowers and find out the infection of plants with terry. In diseased bushes, the flowers are deformed, have a terry appearance, bluish color, almost do not set berries (crumble). Such bushes are also uprooted. Before the first picking of berries, the bushes are examined and the low-yielding, diseased bushes are discarded.

In spring and in the first half of summer, shrubs respond well to the introduction of slurry, an aqueous solution of mullein, bird droppings and for soil mulching with manure and compost. When caring for gooseberries, take into account that it reacts positively to the introduction potash fertilizers, rotted manure, but does not tolerate the use of preparations containing sulfur. Currant and gooseberry bushes are sprayed 2-3 times (with an interval of 7-8 days) against powdery mildew soda ash solution and laundry soap(50 g of soda and 50 g of soap per 10 liters of water). Spraying is started at the beginning of the appearance of a powdery coating on leaves, shoots, berries.

Watering care for currants and gooseberries - at least 3-4 times during the summer. Shrubs are especially demanding for watering during active growth shoots, during the period of increased growth in the mass of berries and after harvesting.

Usually, even before the onset of mass ripening of berries, a few of them become black. Before others, the berries, damaged by moths, turn black and become entangled in cobwebs (they contain greenish caterpillars). Such berries are collected in a bucket and poured with boiling water. The branches of currants and gooseberries gradually bend down due to the weight of the berries, fall into shading, which negatively affects the quality of the products. To prevent this, props are installed under the heavy branches. Currant berries are removed in 2-3 doses as they ripen. Gooseberries are harvested for cooking jam in an unripe, still solid state, and for consumption in fresh- ripe berries. Do not allow them to overripe, crack and shed.

Caring for currants and gooseberries after harvesting berries

Immediately after harvesting, currant bushes are pruned: broken, blackened stems (4-5 years old), drooping and thickening branches are removed. Annually, 3-4 young, strong shoots that have grown at the base of the bush are left to renew the crown. 15-20 branches are left in each bush different ages. Fruiting gooseberry bushes are pruned in the spring, as some branches may freeze during the winter. When pruning, remove branches older than 7-8 years, diseased, twisted stems, as well as thickening thin shoots that appear at the base of the bush. At the same time, strong, long annual growths are carefully preserved.

Phosphorus, potash fertilizers and manure for shrubs are applied after harvesting (before digging the soil). nitrogen fertilizers apply in two steps: immediately after picking the berries (before watering) and early in the spring (before the first loosening of the soil). Currant bushes are used for 10-12 years, gooseberries - 14-16 years and uprooted. By this time, a new plantation is being laid in another area.

Most auspicious time for planting gooseberries and currants - autumn, but many gardeners, fearing damage to seedlings winter frosts prefer to hold these events in the spring. Do not forget that planting and caring for currants and gooseberries provide for the mandatory treatment of bushes from pests and diseases. By paying enough attention to caring for plants, you can count on a rich harvest.

Currants and gooseberries are best planted in the fall, during leaf fall, but you can plant and transplant in the spring. However, planted in the spring, they take root somewhat worse. For spring planting and caring for gooseberries and currants, warm days are suitable when the earth warms up enough. At the same time, the buds should not bloom on the seedlings by this time. For this reason, the gardener has very little time to plant. For planting, choose unshaded places, but these shrubs still withstand weak shading and light waterlogging of the soil. red and white currant more thermophilic, does not tolerate waterlogging at all. Black currant belongs to frost-resistant and high-yielding crops.

Currants and gooseberries grow well on fertile loose neutral soils, they do not tolerate dense and acidic soils, wetlands. When planting these crops, if ground water located closer than 1 m to the ground, drainage must be performed.

The distance between the bushes is maintained on average 1.5 m, and between the rows - 2-2.5 m. For planting, a hole is dug about 50 x 50 X 50 cm. It is advisable to put drainage on the bottom, after which it is necessary to add 0.5 buckets of humus, 0.5 cup wood ash and mineral fertilizers(superphosphate and potassium).

It is better to prepare a pit for spring planting of currants or gooseberries in advance in the fall. And if you dig a hole in the spring, then do it 2 weeks before planting.

Everything is thoroughly mixed, 1 bucket of water is poured into the pit. When the water is absorbed, the seedling is lowered into the pit (it should be at an inclination of 30 to 45 ° with a south direction), the roots are straightened and covered with the remaining earth. The seedling must have at least one long shoot, which, after planting, is shortened to 2-3 buds. The root neck is covered with earth by 5-7 cm.

After planting seedlings, the soil is mulched with peat or straw in order to keep it loose. In addition, this and extra cover to protect the root system from frost. Full fruiting of currants and gooseberries is observed in the third and fourth years of plant life.

When caring for currants and gooseberries, the ground around the bushes must be loosened every year. In addition, weeds should be removed in a timely manner and the soil should be mulched, mineral and organic fertilizers, not forgetting to carry out autumn watering.

Top dressing of currants and gooseberries in spring period the most efficient. Used as fertilizer aqueous solutions manure, bird droppings, and also mulch the soil with manure or.

Gooseberries are best fed in the spring potash fertilizers, and the use of sulfur-containing products should be avoided. Also, gooseberries prefer not fresh, but well-rotted manure.

How to deal with pests and how to spray currants and gooseberries

Processing currants from pests - a pledge good growth and high yield shrub. The same goes for gooseberries.

Before spraying currants and gooseberries, in the spring you should carefully examine the bushes, all diseased and low-yielding plants should be uprooted. Healthy and high-yielding bushes, on the contrary, must be identified and carefully looked after.

Signs of infection of currants and gooseberries with ticks are too large, swollen buds in which these insects hibernate. If there are not too many such kidneys, you can pinch them off and pour boiling water in a separate container. In the event that you do not know how to deal with pests of gooseberries and currants, and the bush is severely affected, it should be removed from the site.

In early spring, when the temperature is set at 5 ° C, and the snow has completely melted, you can spray the shrubs with nitrafen. This drug destroys pests that overwintered on plants, such as mites, viruses, bacteria.

Among insecticidal preparations, karbofos is most often used for spraying during the awakening of plants. This is a broad-spectrum drug, effective against pathogens of fungal and putrefactive diseases.

How to treat currant and gooseberry bushes from diseases

When currants and gooseberries bloom, you can determine the presence or absence of terry lesions in plants.

If the disease has affected the bush, the flowers look damaged, turn blue, fall off, and the berries do not set. In this case, all infected plants, without applying any treatment, must be uprooted. If you do not know how to treat currant and gooseberry bushes for diseases, use insecticide spraying as a preventive measure.

Against powdery mildew, currant and gooseberry bushes are well sprayed with the following solution: take 50 g of laundry soap for 50 g of soda ash, dissolve in 10 l hot water. The solution is applied to the affected areas of the plant 2-3 times during the spring season once a week.

In order for gooseberries and currants to grow and bear fruit well, it is not enough just to apply fertilizers, it is also necessary to create certain conditions for their better assimilation by plants. For this, it is necessary that the soil contains a sufficient amount of moisture, air and heat. Therefore, the soil in the plots of currants and gooseberries should be kept in a loose and weed-free state throughout the entire growing season, especially in the first half of summer, when shoots grow intensively and a crop is formed. The soil around the bushes

currants and gooseberries are dug up in autumn to a depth of 5-7 cm within a radius of 10-30 cm from the bush, 9-12 cm to the periphery; At the same time, the layer is not broken, since moisture is better absorbed into the blocky soil. In spring, on heavy soils, digging is repeated, but to a shallower depth, and on light, loose soils, digging is replaced by loosening.

During the summer, the soil near the bushes is loosened (to a depth of 4-7 cm) and weeds are removed as needed. In the second half of summer (August), tillage is temporarily (until autumn) stopped in order to allow plant tissues to mature, on which the success of overwintering depends.

An effective technique that maintains a loose, moist state of the soil and suppresses the growth of weeds is mulching the soil under the bushes. various materials(manure, humus, peat, sawdust, dry grass, film, paper, etc.). Mulching is usually carried out after the first spring loosening or digging; autumn mulching protects plant roots from freezing. It is especially important to mulch young plantings, which contributes to better plant survival, and in fruit-bearing plants, it improves growth and fruiting.

On young plantings of currants and gooseberries, for the first 1-2 years, the free area can be used for planting vegetables.

Often during the growth and development of currants and gooseberries there are dry periods when it is necessary to apply watering. The lack of moisture leads to a delay in the growth of bushes, to crushing and shedding of berries, which negatively affects the next year's harvest. It is especially important to provide currant and gooseberry plants with moisture during the period of growth, formation of ovaries, pouring berries and after harvesting.

The soil is moistened to the depth of the root layer (30-40 cm), the approximate water consumption is 20-30 liters per 1 m 2 trunk circle. Watering is carried out in grooves 10-12 cm deep, which are made around the bush at a distance of 30 cm from the ends of the branches. Adult, fruit-bearing bushes are watered along the furrows made on both sides of the bushes along the row. After watering, when the soil begins to dry out, it is loosened so that a crust does not form.

Neat and well-groomed currant and gooseberry bushes will easily fit into the landscape of your site. What to do if there is a desire to equip and green the site, but there is no time to do it yourself? You can order design landscape design Petersburg, as well as in other major cities, from specialists who will do this job better than you.