3a currants and gooseberries must be properly cared for in the autumn. I will tell you how to do this in this article. In order for currants and gooseberries to winter well and bear fruit abundantly, it is important to properly prepare them for winter.
How to prepare gooseberries and currants for wintering
Currant belongs to a frost-resistant culture that can withstand frosts down to -30 degrees below zero. Consequently, the bushes do not need shelter for the winter. Nevertheless, it is important to cut them off, treat them from diseases and pests, and mulch.
Currant pruning
I form currant bushes in both spring and fall. But it is best to do this in the fall, since in the spring you may not have time to prune before sap flow. The process of autumn pruning itself is as follows:
- Dried and damaged branches are removed.
- Thin shoots are cut at the root.
- Intertwined branches and shoots lying on the ground are cut off.
On an adult currant bush, I leave no more than 15 strong shoots. If you leave more branches, this will lead to a thickening of the bush, and if less - to a decrease in fruit.
After pruning, I always tighten the branches with twine so that they do not break under the snow, strong gusts of wind.
Methods for processing currant bushes
After that, it is important to take care of the prevention of diseases and pests. For all diseases, I treat the bushes with Bordeaux mixture or copper oxychloride.
Then, from the end of September, I prepare the soil for winter, since it is in it that many different insect larvae winter. In spring, they wake up and attack the bushes, eating not only leaves, but also tender buds. As a struggle, I use the following method:
- I weed the trunks, I loosen the soil. It is important here not to damage the roots of the plant.
- Next, I dig in the bushes to a depth of 20 cm.
- Then I apply phosphorus-potassium fertilizers and spray the ground with a urea solution.
- Further, the trunks are mulched up to 10 cm thick. Here I use hay, sawdust, cardboard.
Preparing gooseberries for winter
Gooseberries require more winter preparation than currants. This crop thickens too much if not pruned regularly.
Autumn gooseberry pruning
In the fall, I always cut out extra branches on the gooseberry that thicken the crown. Also, broken, diseased shoots lying on the ground, intertwined with each other, lend themselves to pruning.
Treatment against pests and diseases
After pruning, gooseberry bushes should be treated for various diseases and pests. Before that, it is important to remove weeds and old mulch under the bushes, loosen the soil and dig it to a depth of 10 cm so that all the larvae in the ground are on the surface. Then I spray the bushes and the ground around the near-stem trunk with special preparations: Gamair, Forecast, Agro Lekarem.
The final stage is mulching the trunks with peat or humus. Mulch will protect the roots from freezing.
As you can see, if you allocate some free time in the fall to prepare gooseberries and currants for winter, you can not only increase their productivity in summer, but also protect plants from pests and diseases.
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