How To Grow Currant And Gooseberry Seedlings

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

Harvest bush from cuttings

In connection with the increase in the area under horticultural plots, the need for planting material for fruit and berry crops increases annually. Unfortunately, when buying seedlings in the markets, gardeners often buy low-quality and unclean material. Therefore, the recommendation for reproduction and cultivation of planting material in their areas is very relevant. This is especially true for berry bushes such as currants and gooseberries.

For propagation, select healthy, not older than 6-8 years old, high-yielding, large-fruited bushes with berries of good taste in your plantings (or from a neighbor) and start multiplying these crops.

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Currants and gooseberries, like all fruit and berry plants, are propagated vegetatively. The best methods of vegetative propagation of these crops are propagation by lignified green or combined cuttings, horizontal layering, less often - arched vertical, and dividing the bush.

The main way of propagation of currants is propagation by lignified cuttings. For rooting, basal or strong lateral shoots from 2-3-year-old branches are used. The middle part of the shoot is most suitable for reproduction. The best time for harvesting black currant cuttings is September - the first half of October. When harvesting cuttings during these periods, the yield of annuals is 80-95%.

Red and white currants take root worse than black currants (woody cuttings rooted poorly in gooseberries), therefore, cuttings are harvested from them in August-September. They are cut to a length of 15-20 cm, making the lower cut under the kidney, and the upper one above the kidney.

Cuttings should be well-ripened, at least 0.7 cm thick, and have healthy buds. Timely cut cuttings immediately plant in the ground, in a pre-prepared, well-fertilized ridge (you can in a greenhouse or greenhouse). Plant the cuttings according to the 15x15 cm pattern at an angle of 450, burying them in the soil, leaving 2-3 buds on the surface. After planting, be sure to spill the ridge at the rate of 20-30 liters per 1m² and mulch with peat or humus with a layer of 4-5 cm.

You can plant the cuttings on a ridge, previously covered with a film (preferably black), in which holes are made for planting them.

Cuttings planted in autumn may bulge out of the ground during subsequent frosts. In this case, in the spring, they should be buried and covered with soil.

During the summer, keep the soil on the ridge loose, free of weeds. Apply two to three liquid feeds. By autumn, annual seedlings with a well-developed root system will grow from the cuttings, which can be planted in a permanent place (weaker ones - for growing).

Keep cuttings harvested at a later date buried in the soil or in basements in wet sand and plant in the same way in early spring.

To increase the multiplication factor, a method has been developed for planting black currants with single-bud lignified cuttings. Plant such cuttings in nurseries with plastic cover. In the nursery, you need to maintain a relative humidity of 85-90%, a temperature of 24-27 ° C during the day, and 15-17 ° C at night.

Make the soil in the nursery from a mixture of turf soil with humus (1: 1), covered with a layer of 18 cm, and from a layer of 3 cm of sifted river sand. Cut one-bud cuttings from annual shoots and plant so that there is a bud above the soil surface, and the end of the cuttings in the soil itself. Planting time is the second or third decade of April.

For accelerated propagation of valuable varieties, use green cuttings. For cuttings, cut the tops of the shoot with 3-6 internodes (about 10 cm), when the shoot tissues begin to coarse, but are not yet lignified (late June - early July). Plant the cuttings in a greenhouse or film greenhouse according to a 5x5 cm pattern. Use a mixture of peat and sand (1: 1 or 1: 2) as a substrate, sprinkling it in a 3 cm layer on fertile soil with good drainage. The optimum substrate temperature is 24-27 ° C. Ventilate at air temperatures above 30 ° C. Planting depth of green cuttings is 1.5-2 cm.

After massive rooting (after 2-3 weeks), loosen the soil and feed with urea (0.3-0.5%). Grow the rooted cuttings on the ridges, planting them according to the 80x15 cm scheme, where they grow throughout the year, turning into standard seedlings.

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A simpler and more economical way to propagate currants and gooseberries is to propagate by combined cuttings. It is as follows. In late May - early June, you need to cut off the basal or strong annual lateral shoots, on which green growths 5-10 cm long have already appeared. The shoots are cut into pieces so that each green cutting has a piece of last year's wood 3-4 cm long.

Plant such cuttings in abundantly moistened soil, deepening them by 3-4 cm, in rows, at a distance of 10x15 cm, on low ridges in the open ground or in greenhouses. The first two weeks after planting, the cuttings are watered in the morning and evening, with the formation of roots - every other day, and then - as the soil dries up.

Caring for growing seedlings during the summer consists in loosening the soil, weeding, watering and 2-3-fold top dressing (20-40 g of urea or ammonium nitrate per 10 liters of water or one bucket of slurry for 3-4 buckets of water).

When propagating by green and combined cuttings, for better root formation, growth stimulants - heteroauxin or indolebutyric acid (IMA) can be used: per 1 liter of water at room temperature - 100-150 mg of heteroauxin or 30-35 mg of IMA. Pour the prepared solution into a flat glass or enamel tray in a layer of 2-3 cm, immerse the ends of the cuttings in it for 8-12 hours, and then proceed to grafting.

The next way is propagation by horizontal layers. It is the most common for gooseberries, although black and red currants are propagated with it. When using this method, abundantly fertilize and loosen the soil under the fertile mother bushes selected for propagation. In early spring (before bud break), spread the strongest shoots into 5-7 cm deep grooves prepared in advance under the bush and secure them tightly with wooden or wire hairpins in several places.

After a while, young growths will begin to appear from the lateral buds of the laid shoots. When they reach a length of 6-10 cm, spud them up to half with soil mixed with humus. After two to three weeks, repeat the hilling. During the summer, keep the soil under the bushes loose, moist and free of weeds. Mulch the soil after watering. By autumn, the laid shoots will root well, cut them off from the mother bush and divide them into layers. Well-developed layers can be planted in a permanent place, and weak ones can be planted for growing in pre-prepared grooves.

Horizontal layering can be obtained from a young bush using all the shoots. In this case, in the spring, in loose fertilized soil under a bush, dig holes in different directions, put annual shoots in them, and cover the middle part of each shoot with a humus mound, leaving the upper end of the shoot above the ground. Be sure to spill the place of filling the shoots and poke the mound. During the summer, podkuchenie carry out after every heavy rain or watering. By autumn, from each such shoot, you will get 1-2 new bushes.

Vertical layers are obtained from older bushes, which in the fall need to be cut off almost completely, leaving one or two branches. In spring, the emerging shoots are covered with loose fertile soil, leaving the tops and adding soil as they grow back. The next fall, the bush is completely unbroken, well-rooted layers are separated and used for planting in a permanent place or for growing.