How to prepare currants for winter

For black, red, yellow and white currants, all actions will be almost the same. By the way, 3–4 weeks before the arrival of stable frosts, you can still transplant bushes to another place or plant new specimens on your site.

1. Trim the currants

Berry bushes grow rapidly in summer. Because of this, the currants are poorly ventilated, poorly illuminated by the sun, begin to get sick and suffer from pest invasions. And the harvest becomes small and modest. Therefore, at least 2-3 weeks before the arrival of stable frosts, try to thin out the bushes.

First, you need to cut off diseased, dried and broken branches at the root. And then carry out a shaping haircut and remove all shoots older than three years. In this case, on one blackcurrant bush you need to leave no more than 6 one-year, 6 two-year and 6 three-year branches. On red, yellow and white, keep 4-6 one-year-old, two-year-old and three-year-old shoots.

For information on how to correctly determine the age of currant branches and carry out pruning, read

our material. After the procedure, do not forget to collect all the removed shoots, burn them or throw them away.

2. Clean the trunk circles around the currants

Use a rake to remove fallen leaves and other plant debris within a 0.5–1 meter radius around the bushes. Pests and their offspring can live in such a dry layer, so try to burn or throw everything collected away from your garden and vegetable garden.

3. Feed the bushes

If you did not fertilize them immediately after harvesting, it is worth doing this in the fall, especially if there were a lot of berries or the bushes have been growing in one place for more than 3-4 years. But on the eve of winter, there is no need to “treat” currants with nitrogen, otherwise they will intensively grow green mass, waste energy and may not survive the cold well.

Pay attention to complex mineral fertilizers for fruit trees and berry bushes containing potassium and phosphorus. The application rate and method of application may vary depending on the manufacturer and are indicated on the packaging.

Or prepare one of the nutrient solutions:

• dilute 20 g of potassium monophosphate in 10 liters of water;
• in 10 liters of water, dilute 1 tablespoon of potassium sulfate (potassium sulfate) and 2 tablespoons of superphosphate.

Pour the currants under the root of either of the two mixtures. One young bush will need approximately 2 liters fertilizers, and an adult plant is about 5 liters.

But remember: any product should be applied only to moist soil.

After fertilizing, you can mulch the soil around the currants by sprinkling peat or sawdust in a layer of about 10–15 cm. This will help retain moisture in the soil.

4. Treat currants against diseases and pests

Wait until the bushes have dropped their leaves by at least half. Please note that spend spraying It is necessary before the air temperature begins to drop consistently below 5 °C. In cooler conditions, drugs against diseases and pests simply will not work, which means you will waste time, effort and money.

Thoroughly dissolve 200 g of copper or 500 g of iron sulfate in 10 liters of warm water. Generously spray all currant stems with the resulting mixture, as well as the soil around the bushes.

Another option is to use Bordeaux mixture. Prepare the solution according to the instructions on the package and treat the currants and soil in the tree trunk circles with it. Don't be alarmed if the branches turn blue after the procedure. It's all about the copper in the product.