Currant comes in different varieties and varieties. The colors are: black, white and red. Care and fertilizer for different varieties has no differences. In addition to the usual pruning of bushes after harvesting, currants also need to be fed with fertilizers throughout the year. This procedure is carried out four times during the entire season.
First dressing of currants
Even before the currants have released their leaves and are about to begin to bloom, the very first top dressing of the whole year is made. As soon as new young green shoots begin to form on the bushes, you should immediately start fertilizing. The first dressing of currants in spring is carried out using nitrogenous fertilizers - this is a mixture of 15 g of urea, 35 g of calcium nitrate, and 10 - 15 g of ammonia. This calculation is given for making under one bush. This is a great way to fertilize if she didn't fertilize at all in the fall.
If nitrogen fertilizers were introduced in the fall, then organic fertilizers will be an excellent option for the first top dressing. To do this, dilute the manure in a bucket of water by adding 2 teaspoons of urea to it. This mixture is applied in the amount of two liters per bushcurrants. After completing such top dressing, it is well watered.
Second feeding
Two weeks after the first feeding, you need to start the second. By this time, flowering is already ending on the bushes, and the first berries are beginning to set. During this period, use non-aggressive fertilizers, such as humus, with the addition of rotted manure and one tablespoon of potassium sulfate.
As a full-fledged top dressing of currant bushes in the spring, another method can be used - this is a solution of Berry fertilizer, which is diluted in the proportion: 2 tablespoons per bucket of water. For one plant, 3 liters of such fertilizers are required.
Third dressing
After another two weeks, when green berries form on the bushes, they can be sprayed with a solution of urea diluted in a ratio of 2 teaspoons per 10 liters of water. This will be the last time to feed blackcurrants in spring.
Fourth dressing
Only after the end of the harvest, in autumn, the bushes are pruned and fed for the fourth time this season. For this purpose, the following solution is used: 3 buckets of water, 3 tablespoons of potassium sulfate and the same amount of superphosphate. After watering the bushes with this mixture, it is recommended to additionally pour wood ash and humus under them. After that, one or more waterings are usually performed. On this, the care and feeding of currants in the spring and for the whole year with fertilizers will be considered finished. And it will be repeated only next season.
Foliar applications
Foliar top dressing of currants in the spring with microelements has proven itself well. For this method, it is necessary to prepare a solution of 5 grams of potassium permanganate, 3 grams of boric acid and 40 grams of copper sulfate, diluted in 10 liters of water. Spraying with such a solution not only supplies plants with the necessary trace elements for he althy growth and fruiting, but also prevents many diseases inherent in this crop.
Alternative Methods
If there is no time or desire to breed special solutions, and top dressing of black currants is necessary in spring, then you can use more versatile and low-cost methods, such as planting lupins, peas, vetch in the aisle. These crops are sederial and after they have grown but not yet flowered, they must be mowed and mixed with the soil surrounding the currant bushes. In this way, during the overdrying, they will supply all the necessary nutrients, which will not take much time and financial costs.
Another good way is to apply long-term fertilizer. Top dressing of currants and gooseberries in the spring can be carried out with special briquettes. There are so-called long-term fertilizers on sale for gardeners, which are available in the form of tablets or sticks that need to be stuck near the base of the bush and they will slowly dissolve and feed the plants for a long period.
Feeding currants in the spring with organic fertilizers in the form of dissolved bird droppings will support and strengthen the plants without harming either them or the he alth of the person who eats the berries.
Spring care for currants, raspberries and gooseberries
At the first onset of heat, berry bushes must be sprayed with nitrofen, as well as karbofos. Top dressing of currants and gooseberries in the spring is mandatory when the first leaves appear, and also two or three times, with an interval of one week, it is necessary to spray them with a solution of soda ash and laundry soap, which are taken in equal amounts, 50 grams, per 10 liters of water. This spray helps prevent powdery mildew.
Raspberries and currants are fed in the spring by watering with organic fertilizers such as diluted mullein or bird droppings.
Since time immemorial, experienced gardeners have advised watering the bushes, before the buds swell, with hot water. This helps to get rid of the mites, which later settle in swollen buds, spreading the infestation to he althy bushes, which is very difficult to prevent.
Currant, spring care, top dressing
Spring is an excellent period for the propagation of currants. Usually two methods are used - cutting cuttings or dividing the bush into several shoots with roots and their further jigging. This is the easiest way, and for its implementation you need to prepare the ground in advance. To do this, you need to dig up the site, remove weeds from it,flavor the hole with humus, with the expectation: for one hole for planting one currant bush, add 5-6 kg, it will be enough to add ammonium nitrate there, mix it all with the ground and plant a new plant in this place.
Plant it so that the root is deepened by about 10 centimeters. The distance between adjacent bushes should be one to one and a half meters. Newly planted young seedlings are watered abundantly.
Also use the second method - cuttings or diverting branches for rooting, a good way would be to fertilize the land surrounding the mother plant. This will allow not only to support and feed the main bush, but also to give a good start to the young plant. It is formed much faster when cutting the shoot, if the land is saturated with fertilizers and fertile.
Productive and tasty varietal currants, care in the spring, top dressing with special fertilizers - these are all the necessary components for a good harvest.
