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It seems that our gardeners know everything about the currant! Most people in the garden or at the dacha under this culture are allocated small plantations, where the bushes of red, black and white currants find their place. These plants are fairly simple to care for, they multiply easily, their berries contain many microelements and vitamins, especially in black currants. What can we say about the taste of these small berries and the variety of dishes that are cooked from them!
Most likely, many amateur gardeners will be surprised to see a photo of a currant of golden or almost familiar currant berries, but of unusual color, on a bush, where the leaves resemble gooseberry. And this is not a hybrid of currants and gooseberries, it's an independent species. Currant is golden from the family of gooseberry, which includes about 150 currant species. This berry culture begins to attract more attention to itself - those who try it and learn the cultivation techniques of the golden currant become its active admirers. Hailing from Canada and the United States, it now occurs in the northern regions of Russia, the Caucasus, the Far East and Europe.
Description of the species
The low-branched deciduous shrub up to m in height has powerful roots of length, m, straight branches, under the weight of berries inclined to the ground. Trehlopastnye leaves 5 cm long, almost half the size of currant leaves, resemble the leaves of gooseberry. The brush consists of 5-14 yellow flowers; round or slightly elongated berries in different grades have a color ranging from yellow-golden to dark-violet and even black. The berries look unusual because of the torn tail.
Fruiting occurs in July; in August, on an unfertilized bush, the leaves acquire a motley coloring from orange to violet tones. During the flowering period (late May - early June), its cloud of numerous yellow flowers looks very decorative and exudes a fragrant aroma that attracts bees and bumblebees. This feature allows you to plant a golden currant as a decorative hedge, bringing a considerable harvest of tasty and useful berries. Vitamin C in this currant is several times less than in the black currant, respectively, there is no sour, so it will be more to the taste of children and people with high acidity and ulcer stomach.
To start fruit, it is necessary to plant at least two different varieties of golden currant, as a single bush will only tie the fruit in part, and the fruiting will be incomplete.
The plant is undemanding to soil and watering, it is drought-resistant, winter-hardy, yields an annual abundant harvest of delicious berries and is not subject to ordinary diseases.
Reproduction of golden currant is possible in the following ways:
- sowing seeds;
- division of the bush;
- cuttings by green and lignified branches of branches;
- layering;
- annual shoots (like raspberries).
Cultivation of golden currant is possible in the usual cluster form, and in the sham. In the second case, the planted young seedling is formed from one strong shoot in the form of a tree with a trunk up to 70 cm, removing the remaining young shoots. On a goldencurrant stem, it is possible to inoculate gooseberry or other currant species.
Planting and care of golden currant
They plant golden currants in early spring or autumn, but as far as possible from the onset of frost. The vegetative period of the plant lasts from the middle of April to the middle of September, and ideally the planting of the golden currant should be carried out either before or after the end of the sap flow. But the seedlings, sold in fruit trees in pots, with a closed root system, can be planted at any time (from spring to autumn). Saplings buy not dried up, with a good friable root system and developed 3-4 shoots.
The place for the golden currant is chosen well-lit, but the penumbra will not hurt it. The bush will take root both on the plain and on the slopes of the site. The soil of the future area for currants can be meager and poor, this plant will survive and on sand, on light clay, but best fructifies on fertile soil. Therefore, before planting, prepare a pit of 50 * 60 cm in size, which is filled with compost or overripe manure with the addition of a glass of ash and superphosphate. According to the scheme, * 1 m plant two-three-year old seedlings, deepening the root neck by 6-7 cm to accelerate the formation of accessory roots and the growth of new shoots.
Uncomplicated care of the golden currant includes digging the land between rows once a year, applying fertilizers, pruning branches and watering. Crop the branches that thicken the bush and prevent the penetration of the sun into its middle; patients, withered and at the age of over three years, since with increasing age of the branch, the yield on it decreases berries. Cut out too much young shoots to not thicken the plantations. Pruning is performed either before the buds swell, or after the end of the fall leaf, late fall. Watering often these plants do not need (rains will be enough), they are rather drought-resistant, only in the case of unusual drought during the ripening of berries requires additional watering. This is one of their differences from the currant.
Here are some reasons why the golden currant does not bear fruit:
- absence of pollinator;
- bush thickening or the presence of old branches;
- marshy heavy clay soil;
- fungal diseases (verticillosis).
