Currant pruning: when and how to do it correctly
To currant retained an attractive appearance and pleased with a good harvest, it requires the correct pruning. This technique is also one of the main in preventing the spread of diseases and pests. It is very important to understand how and when to carry it out correctly, given the phases of vegetation of the vegetation.
Pruning currant bushes
Currant bush forms the bulk of the crop on branches 1-3 years old. Four- and five-year-old shoots grow slowly and practically do not produce berries. It turns out that they only pull useful substances from the plant and thicken the crown, which prevents the development of fruitful growths.
You will be interested to know when and how to prune red currants.
Timely pruning helps to start the intensive growth of root shoots, as well as to activate the branching of young growths in the upper part of the bush. Thus, regular replacement of branches occurs, which contributes to stable annual fruiting.
How to rejuvenate a bush and improve yield
If on the purchased plot there are 10-year-old currant bushes giving a meager harvest, they can be tried to be restored by rejuvenating pruning. It is best to carry out manipulation in 2 stages. First, it is necessary to carry out sanitary pruning. It involves the removal of dried, damaged and thickening plant branches.
Important! Currant bushes yield the crop with the correct pruning for 15–20 years. After this period, they should be propagated by division and transplanted to a new place.
It is best to manipulate in the spring: during the summer season, the gardener will have the opportunity to observe which of the old branches will need to be completely removed (all that give a meager crop or do not bring it at all). When the leaves fall, you should trim the old shoots under the root. With this approach, starting from the next season, it will be possible to begin to form a crown, pinching the tops of annual growths.
Cutting seedlings before planting
Before planting currants, it is necessary to inspect the seedlings. All roots that look dried out, as well as broken, should be shortened. Shoots must be cut to 20 cm; it is important to ensure that each has at least 3 active kidneys. The cut is done obliquely over the kidney, at an angle of about 45 °, as shown in the figure below.
When to prune currants: optimal timing
You can ennoble currant plantings in spring and autumn. But in the spring, gardeners do not always have time to manipulate the pruning, because the buds begin to swell quite early (March). And if circumcision is carried out after the buds open, the vegetation will put all its strength into wound healing, which will negatively affect crop yields. Given this, it is best to carry out the formation in the fall, and to control the result and carry out sanitary pruning in the spring.
Important! To trim, you must use a well-sharpened pruner. You can’t break branches with your hands.
In addition to autumn and spring pruning, sanitary procedures to remove thickening overgrown bushes should be carried out throughout the summer. Shrubs grow fast enough. If you don’t remove the branches lying on the ground and growing in the center during the season, you will have to remove too much ground part in the fall, which will jeopardize the plant’s future life.
Seasonal pruning features
The bulk of the branches are cut in the fall.
Start with sanitary cleaning of branches:
- broken, dry, sick;
- not matured (if they are not removed, then the winter hardiness of the bush will decrease);
- deformed;
- intertwined, growing in the center of the bush;
- lodging.
Learn how to care for currant bushes in autumn.
In the future, they will play the role of replacement branches. If fruitful branches are enough, then you can not leave the shoots of the current year, but cut everything out completely. In spring, the results of autumn pruning are monitored. Before the swelling of the kidneys, the tops frozen over the winter are cut off, as well as branches damaged by mechanical means.
Cropping pattern
As a rule, when forming pruning currant bushes, one scheme is used. It involves the first shortening of branches at the time of planting. In the future, manipulations are performed 2 times a year: in spring and autumn. Pre-prepared garden tool. It is ground and treated with alcohol or 5% concentrate of copper sulfate (500 g of substance are added to 10 liters of water). After trimming each shoot, the secateurs are again disinfected.
In addition to the standard scheme, there are also:
- formation in the form of a stem;
- trimming according to Michurin .
Bush formation
The main stages of formation will be carried out in the autumn period. A year after planting, you need to leave 4-5 basal shoots. At the same time, remove the shoots growing inside the crown. Shorten annual growth by 1/3. For another 2 years, trimmings are performed according to a similar pattern. By the end of the third year of life of shrubs on the site, each should have about 12-15 skeletal branches, aged from 1 to 3 years. From 4 years old, plants begin to rejuvenate.
The procedure involves the complete removal of four-year growth. If the bushes are so renewed, productivity can be significantly improved. In red and white currants, the crop continues to be actively formed on branches up to 8 years old. Accordingly, rejuvenating pruning shrubs begin to spend from 7-8 years of life on the site. Over the period from 3 to 7-8 years, supporting pruning is performed, that is, they make sure that the vegetation does not thicken.
Did you know? One hundred years ago in the USA it was banned to grow currants, believing that it spreads a fungal disease that is dangerous for other crops. Subsequently, this law was repealed, but blackcurrant is still banned in some states - but its golden variety is welcome everywhere.
Bushes formed by the standard method look very impressive. The vegetation is shaped like a sprawling mini-tree. The bottom line is that after planting, instead of 3 shoots, leave only one, growing vertically. For this method of formation, only those varieties that give a minimum amount of basal shoots are suitable.
The sequence of formation of the stem:
- Choose 1 vertically growing shoot and shorten it to a height of 80–100 cm. Cut the remaining growths under the root.
- Wrap the surface of the stem, up to the top 3-4 kidneys, with an opaque film or put a piece of plastic pipe on a branch. The plant is tied to a support, because a thin shoot will not be able to hold on its own in an upright state.
- Lateral sprouts, formed from the left apical buds, cut over the 5th sheet after a year. This will provide an incentive for the formation of branches of the second order.
- A year later, on second-order growths, shorten the 3rd kidney.
- Throughout the entire life cycle, completely remove all root shoots and branches that thicken the crown.
When growing currants on an industrial scale, the Michurin pruning style is used. With this approach, the procedure is not carried out for 5 years after planting. After this period, 50% of the currant plantation is mowed under the root and fertilized abundantly. After a year, 20 pieces of the obtained one-year-old shoots are left, all the rest are cut off. After another year, they do the same with the remaining 50% of the plantation.
We advise you to learn how to prune currants in spring.
After such intensive rejuvenation, the crop can be harvested for about 3 years. Then all the bushes uproot and replace them with new plants. When using this technique, the fruiting level increases by 3 times. Regardless of what style of formation of the bushes was chosen by the gardener, all wound surfaces on the branches must be dusted with wood ash, and then covered with garden var.
Errors during the procedure
Many gardeners make mistakes when pruning currant bushes. Because of this, part of the vegetation often fades and becomes infected by pests. The main mistake is the untimely conduct of the manipulation. In addition, vegetation requires the organization of quality care, since such manipulations are stressful.
List of errors during the procedure:
- Partial removal of branches affected by diseases and pests - the infected parts of the plant must be cut completely, to the very base, even if there are healthy kidneys in the lower part.
- Poor processing of equipment with disinfectants.
- Neglect of sanitary pruning during the summer season.
- Removing branches after budding - with this approach, a large amount of juice flows out, the bushes require more time to heal, and the risk of contracting diseases and pests increases.
- Neglect of the rules for the treatment of wound surfaces after manipulation.
Video: proper pruning
Caring for plants after pruning
After pruning and disinfection, it is very important to organize the proper care of the plants, depending on the stage of vegetation. In the autumn after these manipulations, water-charging irrigation is carried out - 20 liters of water per bush. 20 g of potassium salt and 30 g of superphosphate are added to the water for humidification for each plant. After a day, the soil around the bushes is gently loosened to a depth of 5 cm and mulched with a layer of compost to a height of 10 cm.
Did you know? In Russia, currants were originally grown only at monasteries, which is why it was called "monastery berry." Mention of it in the annals dates back to the 11th century, and only after another 5 centuries the plant began to be cultivated in private households.
After the procedure in question, watering is also carried out in spring (10 liters per bush). 1 l of liquid mullein or 20 g of urea per plant is added to the water. After this, loosening and mulching is carried out to a height of 5 cm. During this period, hay, sawdust or peat mixed 1: 1 with sand can be used as mulch.
