How to cut the currant in spring? Black currant: spring care. Care of the currant in early spring

After a cold winter, summer residents renew their care of their garden. Do you grow berry crops, and you are interested in how to crop the currant in spring? Indeed, the care of these bushes in this period is no less important than, for example, in the fall.

Spring care prepares the currant for fruiting. If you want your berry to bring a plentiful harvest and do it regularly, the question: "How to cut the currant in the spring?" Will be very relevant. It is not difficult to care for a bush, however it is necessary to conduct necessary measures and adhere to certain rules.

Why do this?

If you have a black currant growing on the site , spring care for it will bring an abundant harvest. Pruning causes a strong growth of shoots in the underground part of the bush. Such processes are called basal, zero, or shoots of substitution. After pruning, the branching and growth of annual shoots growing on perennial branches increases, the thickening of the bush is prevented, as a result - the size of the berries increases.

Annual spring pruning of currant branches will help to form a bush and not only. This procedure gives a guarantee of the harvest. The fact is that this shrub has a feature: in the main, the crop is formed on the branches of three to four years of age. When this time passes, the crops are sharply reduced. Timely pruning of branches provides for a currant a gain of fruit bearing wood - that is, new radical shoots appear.

Sanitary measure

Care of the currant in the early spring includes sanitary measures. Pruning refers to one of them. If there is no proper care, the growth of the currant bush will be sick and weak. Perhaps the accumulation of harmful insects, which can subsequently lead to the death of the plant itself.

How to properly cut currant bushes?

To begin with, you should remember the basic rule: pruning shrubs of this berry should be carried out in the early spring, when the buds have not yet blossomed buds and sap flow has not come.

If the seedling of the currant is planted recently, it should shorten its shoots, thereby contributing to its bushiness. Pruning is done so that each seedling has a pair of three-kidneys left. Then in the autumn the currant will have three or four new shoots. If the growth of the seedlings is very weak, the shoots should be shortened more quickly, in some cases it should be cut almost to the ground, leaving only the stump. Now you know how to cut the currant in spring. However, this does not end with care. Shrub continues to develop.

A year later the pruning is again included in the care of the currant. In the early spring first of all, the so-called zero, young shoots are removed. As a result of such actions on the plant, there remain four or five of the strongest branches that form the basis of the bush. It is necessary to cut off the tips of young shoots on branches, leaving two or three buds on them. Thanks to this prishchipke formed so-called fruit pads - special fruit twigs, which grow on old shoots.

Care of young shrubs

Continuing the topic "How to cut the currant in spring", it is worth noting that when the berry is three to four years old, the gardener should act similarly. Again, you need to remove excess zeros, leave only five or six of the most powerful and strong branches. In addition, in the densest places of the bush, you need to cut thin and diseased branches. If this is not done, weak new branches will grow, which will necessarily affect the quantity and quality of the future harvest. Be sure to pinch the tops of annual shoots.

Shoots of two or three years of age should be cut off, leaving at the same time a pair of three-kidneys. This will stimulate the appearance of lateral fruiting shoots. The correctness of the spring annual cropping is checked as follows: on any bush from one year to six years old, about 15-20 strong and healthy branches should be left.

Black currant more than other shrubs in need of pruning and very quickly reacts to it. However, care of the currant in the early spring should take into account the features of fruiting and berry growth. During the first year of life, as a rule, the radical shoot does not branch out. But next spring the shoot starts to grow actively, but at the same time it fructifies very poorly. For the third or fourth year, this process turns into a strong perennial branch with lateral branches. While the annual growth is strong enough, flowering buds are pecked and laid throughout the shoot. They form brushes with full-bodied large berries. The most productive of the black currant three and four-year branches.

How to care for currant bushes, which are more than five years old

In the fifth or sixth year the basal branch grows a little more fruitful, but the growth greatly decreases, amounting to about 3-5 cm. At the weakened ends of the skeletal branches appear fruit perennial branches (rings and pads) with shortened shoots. On them quite numerous short brushes with small berries are formed.

Similar fruit plots in the black currant are short-lived, after one or two years of fruiting they die. Growth in them is also very weak, and the yield of branches after reaching the age of six significantly decreases. As a consequence, the greatest harvest is collected from the periphery of the bush.

The above method answers the question: "How to properly cut black currant?"

Tips for trimming

Buying new currant bushes, the gardener does not always know what kind of variety it is, what flavor the berries will have, what size. If you have a black currant on the site to find out, you can leave a pair of shoots without trimming. Next summer, there will be several single brushes with berries.

After two or three years, you need to leave only 3-4 conveniently located and well-developed annual shoots. All the rest must be cut at the base of the bush. First, remove the weak, sick and thickened. At the same time, cut out old branches if they are damaged by pests or poorly developed. If the root shoots form a bush weakly, we can stimulate their growth, cutting one or two two-three-year branches, even if they bear fruit. The main rule of trimming is to cut off branches at the very bottom.

Growth of the current year

For a gardener, the growth of the current year is the main indicator that it is time to trim. If the shoots are weak and small (about 10 cm), you should go down the branch down to the point where a strong top or a lot of fruit grows. Now, up to this point, you need to cut off the top of the branch. The future crop is affected by the growth of the previous year, it is on it that the blackcurrant bears fruit. Care in the spring begins with the inspection of branches: the fruit-bearing part will be much lighter than the other branches.

The difference between an old and a young stem

Old stems have a gray bark, moreover, there are almost no berries on the old shoot. This is especially noticeable in the spring: there are no flower brushes on the "elderly" shoots. You can try to consider the rings on the branches - this is the number of years. If the branches are older than five or six years, it is desirable to remove them, otherwise the yield of the bush will fall.

Rejuvenate the old bush. How to do it correctly

It should immediately be noted that if the shrub is already more than 21-25 years old, it should be uprooted and burned. Here, no operations can help. However, if the bush is 15-18 years old, you can cut it to the ground approximately by one third. When there are shoots of substitution, you should cut them all except the three strongest. Next year, cut another third of the oldest branches and again leave three new escape shoots. And already in the third year the remaining old stems are cut out. It is undesirable to cut off all the bush at once, although in exceptional cases it is possible.

If you are growing on the site, not only the black berry, but also its red and white "sisters", you should know that the options for pruning these shrubs are slightly different.

We have already considered how to cut black currants in spring . However, in the spring, red currant also needs to be taken care of. This shrub has some differences in pruning. Let us consider them in more detail.

How correctly to cut a red currant?

In general, the pruning technology is similar. However, the red "relative" pinching the tops of branches is not carried out. In this shrub, the fruiting kidneys are located precisely on the apical parts of the branches of two and three years old.