How to feed currants in the fall to get a rich harvest?

Why do you need autumn feeding of currants?

There are a number of important reasons for feeding red, black and white currants after harvesting in the fall:

• The most important reason for fertilizing in the fall is that in the summer of the next season you will be able to see more lush and abundant fruiting.
• The quality of the harvest will not be left aside - the berries will be larger and sweeter.
• Bushes weakened by summer fruiting will be able to regain strength and gradually and smoothly be saturated with nutrients.
• With proper feeding, currant bushes will become more frost-resistant and will be able to survive the winter more easily.

If you feed currants only in the spring, ignoring the autumn care procedure, then the event will not be so effective. It is better to perform the procedure both in spring and autumn.

Features of preparation for winter

Depending on the variety of currant, autumn care and preparation for winter may differ slightly.

Black currant

Blackcurrant pruning includes: sanitary (standard for all varieties of crops) and basic. Old shoots that need to be cut out when rejuvenating a bush are considered to be branches older than 5 years. They can be distinguished from younger ones by the dark color of the wood and thickness. To stimulate branching, shoots are shortened by 1/3 of their length. After rationing the number of shoots, there should be no more than 6...8 pieces left. Black currant responds well to pre-winter watering.

Preparing blackcurrants for winter: video

Red Ribes

The basic shaping of red currants differs from that of black currants. In this case, shoots that have reached the age of 7...9 years are called old branches. Severe shortening of the shoots remaining after sanitary cleaning reduces the yield of red currant bushes - this variety forms a larger number of fruits at their tops. The optimal number of shoots remaining after cleaning is considered to be 10…12.

White currant

The features of preparing white currants for winter are similar to those given above for red varieties of the crop.

When is the best time to feed currants in the fall: optimal timing

The time at which you apply fertilizer plays a big role in ensuring good nutrient absorption. The optimal time for autumn feeding of currants is the end of September and the beginning of October.

Advice! It is necessary to carry out the activity before the onset of persistent cold weather. Otherwise, if you fertilize the berry crop when the ground freezes in late autumn, the nutrients will be less absorbed.

Transplantation and propagation of cuttings

In a cold climate zone, transplantation is carried out in the spring; the bush may not withstand stress (survival rate and disease resistance are reduced). In the fall, the bushes are replanted before the first frost, so that the plant has time to adapt to new conditions.

The procedure for autumn planting of currants is carried out no later than mid-September:

• the site is chosen to be southern or southwestern, flat, without slopes;
• 2 weeks before transplantation, the bush is pruned;
• the distance between holes is at least 1 m;
• a layer of drainage (broken red brick, expanded clay) is evenly scattered into a planting hole measuring 40 by 70 cm;
• Fill the planting hole to a third of the volume with the prepared soil mixture (manure, compost, superphosphate, potassium fertilizers);
• the substrate is spilled with water;
• carefully move the bush, straighten the roots, fall asleep, carefully filling the voids;
• After planting, the bushes are thoroughly watered with 10-15 liters of water for each transplanted plant.

The easiest way to propagate currants is by planting woody cuttings:

• annual shoots are cut only from a healthy bush;
• young one-year shoots are divided into cuttings;
• make an oblique cut above the kidney, at a distance of 1-2 cm;
• shoot diameter – at least 6 mm, cutting length – from 15 cm;
• in the fall, when the buds are dormant, the cuttings are planted in trenches;
• substrate for planting - a mixture of compost and rotted manure;
• With regular, abundant watering, the cuttings quickly take root.

Types of fertilizing: root and foliar

In gardening, there are 2 methods of applying fertilizers:

• Root feeding - fertilizers are applied at the root (in dry or liquid form). This method is the main way to feed garden crops.

• Foliar feeding - spraying of the aboveground part of the plant (leaves, trunk). The plant absorbs nutrients, but the beneficial effect of feeding has a shorter period. Technology is auxiliary to the first method.

Note! In autumn, it is better to feed currants using the root method, because it has a prolonged effect and slowly nourishes the bush.

What fertilizers to feed currants in the fall

The most important elements required for currants in the fall after fruiting are phosphorus and potassium . Phosphorus-potassium fertilizers increase resistance to adverse conditions and cold, strengthen the root system, increase immunity to disease, and also help to obtain more tasty berries in the next season.

What is the best way to feed currant bushes in the autumn? You can use mineral, organic fertilizers, or use folk remedies. They can also be used in dry (granulated) or liquid form.

Important! Currants do not need nitrogen . It will only disturb the bushes and force them to grow green mass. Because of this, the plants will not be able to properly prepare for winter and can easily freeze out during frosts.

Preparations and fertilizer recipes for root feeding of currants in the fall:

• An excellent phosphorus-potassium fertilizer is potassium monophosphate : In dry form, 15 grams per bush.
• In liquid form, 15 grams should be dissolved in 10 liters of water.

Advice! To achieve maximum efficiency, it is recommended, in addition to dry chicken manure, to put dry minerals under digging: superphosphate (30 grams) + potassium sulfate or potassium salt (15 grams). Or, after digging up the droppings, pour it with a liquid solution; to do this, you need to dissolve the fertilizer in the indicated proportions in 10 liters of water.

• A good organic fertilizer is humus or compost. It is recommended to add it at the end of October. For example, you can mulch the tree trunk circle with humus or compost (1 bucket for one adult bush, 0.5 bucket for one young bush).

Advice! Fertilizing with organic matter will be even more effective if, before mulching with compost or humus, you water with a superphosphate (2 tablespoons should be dissolved in 10 liters of water) at the end of September or at the beginning of October.

• Complex feeding from mineral and organic fertilizers: humus or compost (10 kg, i.e. one standard bucket) + potassium salt (40 g) + superphosphate (60 g). The dosage is indicated for one adult bush.
• A popular way to feed currants is an infusion of potato peels . Berry bushes are very fond of this folk remedy because it contains potassium, starch, glucose and microelements useful for berry crops. To make a decoction of potato peelings, you need to pour 10 liters of boiling water over the peels (1 liter jar). Leave to infuse for 3-4 days, and then water with infusion.

By the way! Currants love potatoes because of their starch, which has a beneficial effect on the harvest. But using pure store-bought starch is ineffective; organic fertilizers in the form of potato peelings are much more useful.

• You can fertilize currants in the autumn with another folk remedy: using wood ash and ground potatoes . The recipe for use is very simple: you need to scatter wood ash (half of a 1-liter jar) under the tree trunk of one bush, and then mulch the top with potatoes 5-7 centimeters thick (you must first grate or grind the potatoes together with the peel in a meat grinder).
• An alternative to organic feeding is sowing green manure , for example, vetch, lupine, peas.
• For autumn feeding of the berry garden, you can use special ready-made complex fertilizers for autumn. This option is ideal for beginner gardeners and summer residents, because they do not need to prepare any mixtures or solutions with their own hands.

Advice! The most effective way to feed currant bushes in the fall is a combination of mineral and organic substances.

Possible propagation of black currant

In conclusion, I would like to talk about the propagation of black currants by woody cuttings. Such an event may be included in the list of works related to plant care. The thing is that sometimes a pest or disease can affect a large part of the bush and uprooting it completely is not always advisable. In this case, propagation by lignified cuttings will come to the rescue.

Propagation of black currant

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Do not rush to throw away an unhealthy bush, inspect all its annual growth, it is likely that you will be able to find several shoots and continue growing this variety. Shorten them by 15 cm, select a place in the garden bed, loosen and water the soil. Then, obliquely, at an angle of 45 degrees, so that the side is illuminated by the sun, plant the cuttings, deepening them so that there are several buds on the surface. All you have to do is wait for the buds to awaken in the spring. From the hatched cuttings, select the strongest and most well-developed specimens. Pull out all the rest.

Now you know everything about caring for blackcurrants in the fall. As you can see, there are no difficulties in this matter. You will have to devote several days to this, but all your efforts will be beneficial: in the spring the bush will actively grow and form large fruits.

Rules for autumn feeding of currants

To achieve maximum efficiency from the care procedure, it is necessary to properly feed the bushes. If you fertilize the bushes incorrectly and violate the application schedule, then at best you may not achieve any benefit, at worst you can harm the plants.

Let's look at the basic rules for feeding currants in the fall:

• The most important rule is that before applying any organic or mineral fertilizers, you need to water the bush so that the root system does not get burned.
• It is necessary to comply with the norms and dosages.
• The best way to fertilize with liquid fertilizers is to make a groove about 15 cm deep around the trunk, 30 centimeters away from it. And then stick nutrient solutions into the groove.
• When applying granular dry fertilizers, it is recommended to incorporate them into the soil. They need to be sealed along the entire perimeter of the crown projection, avoiding contact with the trunk. However, you should not bury them too deep, otherwise you can burn the roots.
• For the same reason, organic fertilizers (dung, humus, compost) should not be dug too deeply. No deeper than 15 centimeters!
• It is best to feed the bushes in the morning, evening or during the day in cloudy weather.
• The consumption rate of liquid fertilizers is 10 liters (one standard bucket) per bush.

By the way! If you planted a bush this season (spring or autumn) and filled the planting hole with fertilizers, then you no longer need to feed it this year.

For quality bush care, it is not enough to just feed the bushes in the fall. It is also necessary to perform pruning, water-replenishing watering, treatment against pests and diseases, prepare the berry bush for winter - mulch, cover if necessary.

Green fertilizers

Among summer residents who try not to use inorganic substances to fertilize fruit-bearing plants, green natural fertilizers are quite common. This method is especially suitable for those who visit their summer cottages quite rarely.

In this case, herbaceous plants rich in minerals and trace elements are planted between the currant bushes. Most often these are peas and rapeseed. When the time comes for them to bloom, they are mowed down and left in their place of growth to dry in the sun. Or they dig in with earth to obtain humus.

In this case, by autumn the natural mineral fertilizer will be ready and can be safely applied to currant bushes and other plants.