About Interesting Varieties Of Large-fruited Black Currant

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

… and the fruit is the size of a cherry

Before planting black currants, I believe that the gardener should learn everything there is to know about it. And we must try to find a varietal, sufficiently fertile and fruitful form with large berries of good taste.

The safest way to decide on a variety is to see the currant bush yourself at the time when the harvest is ripe on it, and even better - and try the berries, and then purchase this planting material.

The second option is to purchase a quality variety of a professional gardener, but at the same time you must read its full description, supported by a clear photo. I am making such a reminder to novice gardeners, because now they write a lot about large-fruited varieties of currants, with berries weighing from 7.5 to 9 grams.

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I think that they only mislead inexperienced gardeners. Think for yourself and compare: the largest-fruited cherry of the Generalskaya variety weighs only 9 grams, but it still has a heavy bone in its center, and the pulp itself is dense, weighty, and in currants it is semi-pinnate, watery, very light.

It turns out that with a weight of 9 grams, it should be the size of the largest cherry plum and larger than any plum. I think that this is most likely a deception. Nevertheless, I have now taken the advertised large-fruited varieties for testing, when they begin to bear fruit, I will definitely take a picture of them and publish a photo.

If there was such a large currant, then, probably, the gardeners-owners would boast and send a photo of this wonderful currant to gardening magazines.

As for, in particular, such varieties as Yadrenaya, Lazy, Pygmy, Dachnitsa and Mermaid, I will not argue - all these varieties have large fruits, but they do not weigh 9 grams each.

I have been growing different currants for a long time, there are two very interesting varieties - one super early, and the other late. Both of these varieties give very large fruits, I have not yet seen larger ones.

The early variety begins to bear fruit in our area already on June 18, the berries do not ripen at the same time, ripe black, and brown, and green also hang.

The late variety is also very large, if in the early one the berries are the size of the largest cherry, then in the late variety there are berries that are larger than cherries, but there are very few of them.

It is very profitable to have two varieties of currants - early and late, you will have its fruits almost all summer. The early variety is also good because when we bring its berries to the market, no one sells other currants at that time. Naturally, this determines both the demand for it and the price. Incidents also happen: some not very experienced buyers come up and ask: "How much do you have black cherries?"

I don't remember the names of these varieties, they were acquired by my grandfather in the city of Michurinsk. And their parents later brought them to Tambov from the village.

I noticed that the fruits were constantly increasing their size, I experimented a lot with them, transplanted them from place to place, planted next to other plants, pollinated and, of course, provided special care. And all this was justified: the berries are large, and the harvest is such that there is enough for sale, and for supplies for the winter, and we also treat our neighbors. The branches under the weight of the berries are constantly bent to the ground, you have to tie up and put up supports.

Many years of experience in growing this crop allows me to give advice to novice gardeners on where and how to plant currants correctly, how to care for them.

Much depends on the choice of a place for planting a seedling. I think that it is best to plant currants from the side of the fence, but not from the road, but from the neighbors. You need to retreat from the fence 30-40 cm so that there is a free passage. The distance between the plants is 50 cm. I have solid black soil on my plot, and before planting, I make a hole, which I fill with a bucket of well-rotted humus, one glass of wood ash, and on top of the hole - 400-500 grams of large sawdust.

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Currant is a shade-tolerant plant, my varieties also have high frost resistance: for all the time, not a single plant has frozen out. In early spring, when the buds have not yet blossomed, the bushes need to be doused with hot water. Then, when the kidneys are just beginning to peck, it is necessary to treat the plantings with a drug, for example, Karate. After this treatment, the plants will not get sick all season.

But I still always go and inspect the bushes, if where a sick leaf appears, I immediately pluck it, but usually there are very few of them after such treatment. Currant bushes are always healthy and green.

Before flowering, I very abundantly water the plantings with water from a hose: I put it under the root, turn on the water and pour it until it begins to accumulate on the surface. I also pour water over the whole plant after flowering. I do a shower - early in the morning or late in the evening. During the season, I feed the currants twice - once with slurry (1 liter of slurry per bucket of water), and the second with pigeon droppings, also previously diluted in water.

After harvesting the last harvest, I begin to prepare the currants for wintering. In order for the plants to leave healthy and strong in winter, I water them very well with water, as before flowering. Under each bush I put 5 buckets of well-rotted manure, and pour 400-500 grams of sawdust on top.

In the spring, I gently dig up the soil around each bush. I cut off only dried branches, if any. Normal pruning should be done on branches 5-6 years old. When cutting, it will be immediately clear that the core is already black, such branches must be cut off - they have served their time, and there is nothing more to expect from them.

Currants are very easily propagated by cuttings, but due to the large receipt of orders, I cut all the plants so that they need to be allowed to recover within 2-3 years, so I offer seeds to everyone.

The seeds germinate very well, it is better to sow them in the fall before winter and leave them outside in boxes with earth. In the spring they will rise together. Seeds can be prostrated at home, in the refrigerator: they are mixed with wet sand and put in a cellophane bag. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that the sand is wet all the time, the bag needs to be shaken from time to time. Stratification will take 3-4 months, and then the seeds can be planted in boxes.