After a cold winter, summer residents resume caring for their garden. Do you grow berry crops and are you wondering how to cut currants in spring? Indeed, caring for these shrubs in this period is no less important than, for example, in autumn.
Spring care prepares currants for fruiting. If you want your berry grower to bring a bountiful harvest and do it regularly, the question is: “How to prune currants in the spring?” - will be very relevant. It is not difficult to care for a shrub, but it is imperative to take the necessary measures and adhere to certain rules.
Why do this?
If you have blackcurrant growing on your plot, caring for it in the spring will bring a bountiful harvest. Pruning causes strong growth of shoots in the underground part of the bush. Suchshoots are called basal, zero or replacement shoots. After pruning, the branching and growth of annual shoots growing on perennial branches is enhanced, the thickening of the bush is prevented, as a result, the size of the berries increases.
Annual spring pruning of currant branches will help form a bush and more. This procedure guarantees the harvest. The fact is that this shrub has a peculiarity: basically, the crop is formed on branches of three to four years of age. When this time passes, crops are drastically reduced. Timely pruning of branches provides an increase in fruit-bearing wood for currants - that is, new basal shoots appear.
Sanitary measure
Caring for currants in early spring includes sanitary measures. Pruning is one of them. If there is no appropriate care, the growths of the currant bush will be sick and weak. Accumulation of harmful insects is possible, which can subsequently lead to the death of the plant itself.
How to prune currant bushes?
To begin with, you should remember the basic rule: pruning of the bushes of this berry should be carried out in early spring, when the buds have not yet blossomed on the branches and sap flow has not yet begun.
If a currant sapling has been planted recently, its shoots should be shortened in order to contribute to its bushiness. Pruning is done so that each seedling has a couple of buds left. Then in autumncurrants will appear three to four new shoots. If the growth of the seedling is very weak, the shoots should be shortened more, in some cases it should be cut almost to the base, leaving only a stump. Now you know how to cut currants in spring. However, her care does not end there. The shrub continues to develop.
A year later, pruning is again included in currant care. In early spring, the so-called zero, young shoots are removed first. As a result of such actions, four or five of the strongest branches remain on the plant, forming the basis of the bush. It is also necessary to cut off the tops of young shoots on branches, while leaving two or three buds on them. Thanks to this pinching, the so-called fruitlets will form - special fruit twigs that grow on old shoots.
Caring for young shrubs
Continuing the topic “How to cut currants in spring”, it is worth noting that when the berry grower is three or four years old, the gardener should act similarly. Again, you should remove the extra zero shoots, leaving only five or six of the most powerful and strong branches. In addition, thin and diseased branches should be cut off in the densest places of the shrub. If this is not done, weak new branches will grow, which will certainly affect the quantity and quality of the future crop. Be sure to pinch off the tops of the annual shoots.
Shoots of two or three years of age should be cut off, while leaving a couple of buds. This will stimulate the appearance of lateral fruitingshoots. The correctness of the spring annual pruning of currants is checked as follows: on any bush aged from one year to six years, about 15-20 strong and he althy branches should be left.
Blackcurrant more than other shrubs needs pruning and reacts very quickly to it. However, caring for currants in early spring should take into account the characteristics of fruiting and growth of the berry. During the first year of life, as a rule, the basal shoot does not branch out. But next spring, the shoot begins to grow actively, but at the same time bears fruit very weakly. In the third or fourth year, this shoot turns into a strong perennial branch with lateral branches. As long as the annual growth is strong enough, flower buds hatch and are laid along the entire shoot. They form brushes with full-bodied large berries. The most productive blackcurrants have three- and four-year-old branches.
How to care for currant bushes that are over five years old
In the fifth or sixth year, the basal branch still bears a little fruit, but the growth decreases greatly, amounting to about 3-5 cm. Quite numerous short brushes with small berries form on them.
Similar fruits of blackcurrant are short-lived, after one or two years of fruiting they die off. Their growth is also very weak, and the yield of branches after reaching the age of sixdrops significantly. As a result, the largest harvest is collected from the periphery of the bush.
The above method answers the question: "How to prune blackcurrant?"
Trimming Tips
When buying new currant bushes, the gardener does not always know what kind of variety it is, what taste the berries will have, what size. If you have a blackcurrant on your site, to find out, you can leave a couple of shoots without pruning. There will be a few single bunches of berries here next summer.
After two or three years, only 3-4 conveniently located and well-developed annual shoots should be left. All the rest must be cut at the base of the bush. First, remove the weak, diseased and thickened. At the same time, old branches are cut out if they are damaged by pests or poorly developed. If the basal shoots form a bush poorly, their growth can be stimulated by cutting off one or two two- to three-year-old branches, even if they bear fruit. The basic rule of pruning is to cut off the branches at the very base.
Growth of current year
For a gardener, the growth of the current year is the main indicator that it is time to prune. If the shoots are weak and small (about 10 cm), you should go down the branch to the place where a strong top or many fruits grow. Now to this place you need to cut off the top of the branch. The growth of the previous year affects the future harvest, it is on it that blackcurrant bears fruit. Leaving in the spring begins with an inspection of the branches: the fruiting part will be much lighter thanother branches.
Difference between old and young stem
The old stems have a gray bark, besides, there are practically no berries on the old shoot. This is especially noticeable in the spring: there are no flower brushes on the "older" shoots. You can try to consider the rings on the branches - these are indicators of the number of years. If the branches are older than five or six years, it is advisable to remove them, otherwise the yield of the bush will fall.
Rejuvenate an old bush. How to do it right
It is immediately worth noting 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, it can be cut to the base by about a third. When replacement shoots appear, all but the three strongest should be cut out. The following year, cut another third of the oldest branches and again leave three new replacement shoots. And already in the third year, the remaining old stems are cut out. It is undesirable to cut off the entire bush at once, although in exceptional cases it is possible.
If you have not only black berries growing on your plot, but also its red and white "sisters", you should know that the pruning options for such shrubs are somewhat different.
We have already covered how to prune black currants in spring. However, red currants also need care in the spring. This shrub has some differences in pruning. Let's take a closer look at them.
How to prune red currants?
In general, the cutting technology is similar. However, the red"relatives" pinching the tops of branches is not carried out. In this shrub, fruiting buds are located precisely on the apical parts of the branches of two and three years of age.
