Golden currant planting and care in the open field in summer

Golden currants, planting and caring for which do not require specific knowledge, is found in garden and personal plots less often black, red or white, many summer residents have not even heard of this type of currant. A feature of the golden shrub is the combination of decorativeness and fruiting. Incredible scent in spring and bright colors in autumn will turn your garden into a real home arboretum.

in the photo - Uzbek golden currant
Description and medicinal properties

Golden currant is a weakly branched strong shrub, reaching a height of 2-2.5 meters. The uncommonness of the plant in leaves and berries, more reminiscent of gooseberries, is in fact an independent species, not a hybrid. The berries are red, black, golden in color in different sizes.

The shrub begins to bloom in May and June. The strong pleasant aroma emanating from the plant attracts a large number of bees and bumblebees. Numerous yellow flowers look decorative and effective, shrubs are often used in hedges. Closer to autumn, the leaves acquire a variegated color, painting in yellow and red tones.

The shrub begins to bear fruit in the month of July. Taste qualities differ from the usual black currant, berries without a bright pronounced aroma, sourness, leave a slight aftertaste after consumption. Tight plump skin allows you to use the fruit for making jams, compotes, jams.

The benefits of golden currants for humans are great, berries cleanse the body of toxins, promote the elimination of excess salts, heavy metals, have diuretic and diaphoretic properties. When using young buds and leaves, be careful, hydrocyanic acid is present in young rudiments.

The berries have a high nutritional value, the content of vitamin C is 2-3 times less than in black currant, but there is a large amount of carotene. Despite its great usefulness, the golden berry is unlikely to be able to replace black and red currants from the site, but it will be an excellent addition to the garden.

Landing features

When asked when to plant golden currants, agronomists answer, purchased seedlings with an open root system are planted at rest, with the arrival of early spring days, or in autumn. Planting is carried out before the start of the process of sap movement in the plants or after the end. Plants in pots (with a closed root system) are planted throughout the entire period of growth and development of currants, from April to September (October).There are no specific dates for disembarkation to a permanent place, it is necessary to take into account the climatic conditions of the growing region.

in the photo - a golden currant planted next to a cherry

The place for planting is chosen sunny, perhaps a little shading. The plant takes root well on fertile soils, it will also grow on poor soils, it is recommended to plant and feed correctly. Dig a hole 0.5 * 0.5 meters in size. Pour a mixture of fertile soil and humus, or use rotted manure with soil with the addition of 200 grams of wood ash, 150 grams of superphosphate.

When planting, it is recommended to deepen the root collar a few centimeters (5-6) to form adventitious roots. Plants are well watered, mulched with peat or humus. It is recommended to cut off the aerial part of the currant, leaving 3-5 healthy developed buds. The first berries will appear in the second year after planting the seedlings.

Subtleties of care

It is not difficult to take care of golden currants, it is necessary to make sanitary and rejuvenating pruning, correctly apply top dressing, and fight pests and diseases. Good adaptability, vitality and endurance of the plant make care much easier, but to get a tasty large berry, you will have to take time and take care.

Poor water supply leads to a decrease in yield in the current year, has a negative effect on the absorption of nutrients, the growth of shoots, and may cause a poor harvest next year. Currants must be watered during the period of ovary formation, after picking berries. If the autumn is dry, water-charging irrigation is carried out to saturate the plant with nutrients, such autumn irrigation has a beneficial effect on the state of the currants in winter, the risk of freezing of the branches decreases.

In the spring, fertilizing with nitrogen fertilizers is carried out to build up green mass and good growth of currants, use urea (30 grams of the drug under the trunk circle). In autumn, organic fertilizers are applied (6-7 kilograms per bush), potassium sulfate (2 tsp with a slide), 100-120 grams of superphosphate. For better development of golden currants, fertilizing can be carried out in the summer after harvest, using complex mineral fertilizers with a low nitrogen content.

This type of currant is unpretentious in content, resistant to frost and drought, has increased resistance to diseases and pests. For rare diseases, attacks of harmful insects, similar folk remedies and preparations are used, used on black and other varieties of currants.

For good pollination and harvesting, it is recommended to plant two different varieties of golden currants on the site, the most common are the following, Siberian Sun, Barnaul, Gift Ariadne, Shafak, Black Pearl, Honey Spas, Laysan, Venus.

How to trim golden currants?

In golden currants, shoots up to 5-6 years of age are considered productive branches. They begin to form a bush from the moment of planting, the tops of strong shoots are cut off, 3-5 buds are left, weak branches are removed at the root. From the remaining cut off shoots, strong lateral branches grow by the end of the first growing season.

in the photo - trimming golden currant

The main principle of correct pruning is the removal of annual growths (leaving 4-5 strong branches) and shoots older than 4-5 years. Golden currants are pruned with a pruning shear in the spring before the buds swell, or in the fall, after the leaves fall.

In the spring of next year, weak annual basal branches are cut out, growing from the ground near the main trunk, to the base. Healthy shoots, well located in the root trunk, are left (no more than 4-5). Such pruning of golden currants in the spring is necessary to eliminate thickening of the bush. Elementary removal of growths contributes to the rejuvenation of the shrub.If you do not remove zero branches, after a while the shoots will grow weaker, then the regrowth will stop altogether. The absence of root shoots indicates a halt in the natural process of currant rejuvenation, the bush begins to age rapidly.

With good growth, timely watering, in the second year during the period of active growth (May-June), it is necessary to pinch the tops of the basal shoots to form branching, from which branches of the highest order grow, capable of bearing the next year. In the third year of development, the shrub continues to form, as in previous years. Sanitary pruning is carried out annually, dry, damaged, diseased branches and shoots are removed. After 4-5 years, the bush is fully formed, consists of 17-25 main branches of different ages, forming a skeleton.

Garden pests when how and with what to fight Encyclopedia of roses

Nina Nikolaevna, I sympathize with you! This is really a nightmare! I also have thrips, but not so many! I cannot bring it to the end (I struggle for a year). Just restraining is real; it's real to drive them out of the roses! But in the future, it will be necessary to carry out preventive treatments. And here's why: if this problem did not concern me, I would never know that these bastards are everywhere. Almost all flowers suffer from them, and shrubs too. I find them on daylilies, daisies, even on the wild (beautiful ...) Mullein in my garden. I removed phloxes from my garden for the same reason. Both gladioli and sunflowers suffer from them (neighbors plant on the hedge ...). And now I conclude (and have already resigned myself) that isolating my garden from them is UNREALABLE! After all, there are also neighboring gardens, and there are many wild flowers around, which are also with thrips. The only way out is to restrain the number of thrips on your roses and other flowers in the garden. During the season (May-September), 3-4 sets of treatments must be done according to the scheme: First, put the Mukhoed granules into the soil (good in April-May), but this is never too late); then, the 1st day: " Confidor "(according to the instructions, and even a little more concentration) - according to the sheet. After 1-2 days: "Confidor" (or, for example, "Aktelik") - on the sheet and shed the soil "Confidor" om. After another 1-2 days: "Confidor" (or some other medium). Once a month, do quittings according to this scheme (except for "Mukhod", since it should be taken more than 2 times per season it is impossible, therefore, it would be good to “timed” the second time to the last treatment, at the end of the season). calm weather) .In your present case: do not regret and remove all the buds and flowers and then only do the processing. Nina Nikolaevna, I have done only 1 time according to this scheme clearly, and then only 2 times on the ground - there is a result with the last year! She didn’t bring the thrips to the end (when the roses bloomed, I can’t make up my mind to spray it, our neighbor keeps bees - och. Loves this occupation, he is 85 years old. But our neighbor gives us a medcom every year. Several years ago, almost all of his bees died since winter, so our neighbor took it very well, even got sick ... But, Nina Nikolaevna, believe me, these treatments were enough to feel the result: flowers, who even lost their shape last year, this summer they "returned" their faces, and bloom very profusely. In my situation, I only have to restrain their numbers, or maybe a miracle will come, they will disappear. Do not despair! If you have no restrictions in The frequency of treatments is all solvable, believe me, just give yourself time, patience and work, of course, not small ... Good luck!

Golden currant fragrant gold in the garden

Almost every household plot has a currant, but golden currant can be found not so often, although this type of currant began to be grown in Russia in the eighteenth century.

At first, this bush was grown as an ornamental plant. The homeland of this variety of currants is the west of North America.There, this culture is found in the wild, in large volumes. Many people mistake it for a hybrid of currants and gooseberries, but this plant is a stand-alone crop and has many varieties.

Golden Currant - Ribes aureum

Description with photo

Golden currant is very healthy, has many benefits and for this reason this shrub should grow for everyone. It grows on all types of soil, with the exception of clay and damp areas. This currant is practically not damaged by pests and does not get sick. The shrub easily tolerates drought and severe frosts.

The content of the article

Golden currant - Ribes aureum Description with photo Golden currant varieties Venus Golden Siberian Sun Kishmishnaya Laysan Mandarin duck Shafak Yoshta and golden currant - are they the same thing? Growing: planting, care Choosing a seedling Planting Care Pruning, shaping Reproduction Pests, diseases Video about golden currants

In addition, golden looks very beautiful, especially during flowering and is also an excellent honey plant. The foliage is bright green and shiny, similar in shape to a gooseberry. In May, golden flowers appear, which bloom for 3 weeks. It is thanks to the fragrant flowers that the currant of this species got its beautiful name.

The height of the bushes of golden currants grow more than other species of this culture, reaching 2.5 meters. The length of the roots of adult plants reaches one and a half meters. The currant is often used as a hedge, which adorns the site with flowers in spring, berries in summer, yellow and bright red foliage in autumn. Bushes can be planted even in shady places.

Fruits of different varieties ripen in July - August, when other shrubs have already departed. Fruits on the branches can hang until frost and not crumble. Berries are oval in size, equal in size to medium black currants (about 1.5 centimeters in diameter), grow in brushes up to 10 pieces each. With good care, the fruit can grow much larger. The appearance of the berries is similar to that of gooseberries.

This type of currant is rich in vitamins, microelements. Berries do not have a specific smell and therefore even children eat them (unlike black). The taste is sweet, without sourness. The fruits are consumed fresh and in preparations. From a bush, you can collect up to twelve kilograms of useful berries. Fruit color can be black, red, brown, yellow.

The average age of growing golden currants is 15 years. Fruiting of currant bushes begins at the age of three.

Golden currant varieties

There are quite a few varieties of this delicious berry, but the most popular are Venus, Pineapple, Sun, Kishmishnaya.

Venus the Golden

Venus golden variety

Created by crossing fragrant and golden currants. The foliage is smooth, shiny, three-lobed. The bush is slightly spreading, compact, the shoots are tall and not particularly branched. Shoots are dull, light green in color. The yield from a bush reaches 12 kilograms. Fruiting is not prolonged and occurs in mid-July. Berries are juicy, weighing up to 3.2 grams, black color, oval shape. The fruits are juicy, sweet with a slight sourness. There are up to 7 berries in a brush. This variety of currants can withstand frosts up to -40 degrees.

Siberian Sun

Variety Siberian sun

The variety belongs to medium-sized and medium-spreading shrubs.

The foliage is leathery, smooth, green, three to five-lobed. The brush holds up to 10 berries. Fruit size up to 2 grams. Round shape, yellow color, thin skin without edge. The taste of the fruit is sweet and sour, the aroma is pronounced. Ripening occurs at the end of July. Up to 4.5 kilograms of berries are collected from the bush.

Kishmishnaya

Kishmishnaya variety

High-yielding variety. Up to 8 kilograms of berries are collected from the bush. When growing several bushes of this currant, the yield increases. Bushes are compact, medium-sized. The berries reach 2 grams. Black colour. The fruits are juicy, sweet, firm, the flesh is golden.

In addition to these varieties, on the plots you can find the varieties Laysan, Shafak, Mandarinka, Shafak, Businka, Buzuluk, Medovy Spas, Khoper.

Laysan

Grows into a fairly tall bush. Ripening period is medium late. Berries are yellow, round, large, sweet and sour.

Mandarin duck

Mandarin variety

The variety grows into a spreading bush and reaches 1.9 meters in height. Berries have a sweet dessert taste. Fruits are round, thin, with longitudinal veins, orange-yellow, similar to tangerines. The berry mass reaches 0.9 grams. The yield reaches more than 4.5 kilograms per bush.

Shafak

Shafak variety

Refers to mid-season, high-yielding varieties of golden currant. The berries are dark red, sweet and sour. The bush is compact, medium-sized.

Is Yoshta and golden currant the same thing?

No - these are different berries.

Yoshta

The Josht species was created in the 70s by crossing black currants with gooseberries. Shrubs are used as hedges and landscaping. The foliage is large, openwork, branches without thorns. The height of the yoshta is more than 2 meters. The bush accommodates up to 20 main branches of different sizes. The berries are sweet and sour, and resemble both gooseberries and currants. The color is black-purple, the berries reach the size of a medium cherry.

Growing up: planting, care

Sapling selection

Golden currants are planted in early fall or spring. Bushes sold in pots can be planted from spring to autumn, since the root system is closed in this case. In another case, the seedlings should not be dried out, with developed shoots (at least 3 pieces). The kidney root system should be pronounced and strong.

The best age of seedlings is 2 - 3 years.

Golden currants are grown in bush and standard forms. In the standard version, the seedling is formed from a single strong shoot. When young shoots are removed, a tree is formed with a trunk up to 7 centimeters thick. Such a stem is suitable for grafting any varieties of currants and gooseberries.

Landing

Saplings with branched branches are planted in a large pit 40 by 50 in size and 60 centimeters deep. At first a place is chosen.

It can be either a well-lit place or partial shade. The bush can grow both on flat terrain and on a slope, further strengthening the slope. It is better to prepare the place six months before planting (in spring for autumn and vice versa). For this, the place is dug to a depth of 40 centimeters.

The soil can be almost any, but on fertile land the yield is much higher. The dug hole is filled with rotted humus or compost, 40 grams of superphosphate and a glass of ash are added. According to the scheme, two by two meters or a meter by two and a half meters, young currants are planted. The root collar is deepened by seven centimeters. This improves the growth of young shoots and new adventitious roots.

Care

Caring for this type of currant is not difficult and includes:

• Top dressing,
• Removing weeds,
• Watering,
• Digging up row spacings,
• Pruning.

The soil between the rows is dug up in spring or autumn. From the third year after planting, the currants are fed with a solution of bird droppings, or rotted humus with water in a ratio of one to ten.
Under each bush in the autumn, you need to add 5 kg of compost, humus, 20 grams of superphosphate, 100 grams of ash.

In the first year of growth, currants are watered once a week.
Then watering is done during the ripening period of the berries. At other times, watering is not necessary, since this crop is drought-resistant, but watering in dry weather once a week increases the yield of currants.

To preserve moisture, mulch is scattered under the bushes, in a layer of up to 5 centimeters. Mulch also protects the roots from overheating in summer and from severe frosts in winter.

Trimming, shaping

When pruning, dried, diseased and thickening branches are removed. On old branches, the yield decreases every year and branches older than 6 years are also removed.At the end of spring, the tops of annual shoots one meter long are pinched. Excess young shoots are removed for free penetration of sunlight into the bush.

Pruning is done after the leaves are shed in late autumn or in the spring before sap flow in the plants. The end result should be no more than 30 strong branches of different ages.

Reproduction

Golden currants can be propagated in various ways, this is propagation by seeds, green and woody cuttings, stock, annual shoots, bush layering, shoots under the ground.
At sowing seeds currants in the fall germination rate is 80 percent. When sowing in spring, the seeds must undergo a preliminary four-month stratification at temperatures up to 5 degrees. Up to 0.7 grams of seeds are sown per meter.

At grafting the result is worse. For reproduction, large cuttings are taken from the lower part (up to 30 percent) of coppice shoots. When cutting cuttings (12 centimeters each) from mid-July to the end of July, treatment with a growth stimulator with heteroauxin (root) is necessary. This procedure increases the rooting rate by up to 50 percent. Cuttings are planted in a mixture of peat and sand. Then the container with cuttings is placed in a greenhouse, a greenhouse at temperatures up to 30 degrees. After rooting, the cuttings are planted.

Read more on how to plant currants in autumn with cuttings

At Shtambov reproduction takes young seedlings of golden currant, formed into a stem up to 1.9 meters high. Various varieties of currants are grafted to this plant.

When breeding Layers in the spring.

We loosen the ground next to the bush, make a groove. Select a young branch at the bottom of the bush and place it in the groove. We nail it to the ground with wire. The top of the head remains above the ground. Water well, mulch.

By autumn, the branch takes root and you can cut it off from the mother bush and replant it.

You cannot root many branches on a young bush - the bush is greatly weakened.

Golden flowers of golden currant

Pests, diseases

Golden currant is resistant to diseases and pests, but recently anthracnose, gray rot, septoria, and rust have begun to appear on some varieties.

To avoid diseases, you need:

• Regular pruning,
• Treatment of bushes in early spring with urea in a ratio of 0.6 kilograms per 10 liters of water;
• Fallen leaves must be collected and burned.

These measures will protect golden currants from fungal diseases.

On young shoots in early summer appears Aphid... When it appears, the leaves curl, shoots and petioles bend, growth slows down, the quality of the berries deteriorates. For protection before flowering, the bushes are treated with an insecticide with a base of pyrimiphos-methyl (one and a half liters per bush) or malathion in the same volume.

After harvesting the berries, the processing is repeated. To protect against aphids, you can use decoctions of onion husks, tobacco leaves, garlic, celandine, yarrow, milkweed.

How to treat currant bushes from pests in the spring

Vitamin C in the fruits of golden currants is much more than in gooseberries, but less than in black currants. The berries are tasty fresh and can be used by both children and patients with peptic ulcer disease. From the fruits of this currant, excellent jams, compotes, liqueurs, jellies are obtained.

Video about golden currant

Berries of any variety of golden currant are tasty and very healthy, and therefore they should be planted in your garden plot.

Golden currant has been known to man for a long time, but it still does not occupy extensive plantings. Perhaps the whole point is that the harvest from these plants is quite difficult to harvest due to the solid size of the bush, and the size of this harvest is usually low.

Beautiful appearance

Yellow currant leaves are more like those of a gooseberry, graceful yellow flowers, small, but surprisingly fragrant, attract hundreds of bees, which will gladly fly to other plants in your garden, improving pollination and increasing yields.

The fruits of golden currants have many colors, but most often they are light orange or dark purple, attractive, tasty, although they contain many seeds, which are quite distinctly felt when consumed.

Golden currant - useful properties

The first bushes of golden currants appeared in Russia around the middle of the 18th century. Of course, for the most part they grew it, as now, to decorate the plots, they created various forms from the pliable and not afraid of cutting the crown, and the fruits were consumed only occasionally. However, its fruits are very valuable in terms of nutrition and useful in medicinal.

The fruits, which ripen quite amicably towards the end of summer and hang on the branches without crumbling, contain a whole complex of substances necessary for the human body. These are pectin, anthocyanins and fixing tannins, sugars, acids - citric, malic, succinic, many vitamins, among which the leaders are ascorbic acid and vitamin A.

Excellent processed products are made from the fruits of golden currants: compotes, preserves, jams, squeeze juice and even ferment them into an amazingly tasty wine.

Travelers already three centuries ago noted the special property of berries and compote from golden currant - to quench their thirst on the way. Even when consuming a sip of compote or just a handful of berries, it completely discourages thirst.

See also: Golden currant (photo) planting and care, reproduction and varieties

How to plant golden currants

For those who, after reading these lines, decide to have a bush of golden currants on their site, we advise you to leave more space for it. These plants are large, can grow two or more meters and spread their crown by about the same amount.

After planting, already from the second year of life in a new place, you can harvest the first, while small, harvest, which will slowly grow until it reaches a maximum of four or five kilograms per bush. You can forget about transplanting or stubbing a bush of golden currant after planting for a long one and a half to two decades.

For its bizarre leaves, golden currants are often confused with a hybrid of currants and gooseberries - yoshta, but this is not true. Golden currant is an independent botanical species, this plant grows naturally in North America, often occupies the foothills of rocky mountains. Perhaps that is why golden currants are unpretentious to the soil and climate, they do not get sick and are not damaged by pests, and they are also not afraid of weeds and does not require frequent watering ...

About landing

You can plant seedlings on the site both in autumn and spring. When planting in the fall, the soil must be dug up onto a full bayonet of a shovel, having previously sprinkled wood ash over the surface in an amount of 300-500 g per square meter. After that, you need to break up the clods, level the soil and dig out planting holes measuring 50 by 50 cm.

In the planting hole, both when planting in autumn and spring, you can pour a tablespoon of nitroammophoska, having previously mixed it with nutrient soil (the upper part when digging a hole).

After that, you need to pour a bucket of water into the hole and place the root system in this slurry, carefully straightening the roots. It is best to fill the roots of the seedling with a mixture of turf soil and humus in equal shares, then pour with another bucket of water and mulch the surface with peat or humus.

Garden wisdom

When planting, try so that the root collar is deepened by 4-6 cm, this is

needed for the subsequent branching of the bush. Also, for branching after planting, it is advisable to shorten all shoots, leaving only growths about 10 cm long on the soil surface.But there is a subtlety - when planting in the fall, it is better not to prune and leave everything until early spring, until the end of February. At this time, the shoots should be cut off, after which all the places of the cuts must be well covered with garden pitch heated to a viscous state.

OUR ADVICE

• Almost any part of the plot can be given under golden currants.
• It is drought-resistant and winter-hardy, it can grow in a small shade, and thanks to the powerful root system, which is used to growing among stones, almost any type of soil will be suitable for it.
• The only exceptions may be soils that are flooded and those whose groundwater level to the soil surface is less than one and a half meters.

Top dressing and watering golden currants

Further care for golden currants is easy. Top dressing can be applied twice a year - in early spring and in mid-summer. In the spring, you can use nitroammophoska, in the amount of a tablespoon dissolved in five liters of water. This fertilizer must be poured under the bush, having previously loosened the soil. In the summer - in July - you can feed with ammophos - also a tablespoon under a bush, at this time fertilizers can be applied dry, but after watering the soil well beforehand.

As for ordinary watering, it is not at all necessary, but if there is no rain for 10 or more days, then it is advisable to water the bushes, and it is possible by sprinkling, preferably in the evening, spending 10-12 liters of water for each bush.

Weeding and pruning golden currants

You only need to worry about weeds for the first 5-6 years of the life of the bush, removing all of them in the bush zone, in the future, removing weeds is not at all necessary. Pruning in golden currants comes down to removing dry shoots, broken ones, those that grow deep into the crown, thickening it, and too thin or intertwined with others. It is advisable to prune at the end of winter and the places of the cuts, in order to avoid infection, isolate them with garden paint or pitch.

OUR ADVICE

If you want to get the first harvest faster, then give preference to seedlings with a well-developed aerial part, without broken, dried out shoots and those with a well-branched root system.

Reproduction of golden currant

Golden currants reproduce well by lignified cuttings, normally green, but best of all by layering, and vertical, when wet sawdust is added to the bush in early spring to a height of 12-15 cm, they are moistened all summer, and in the fall, shoots are removed and cut off, on which additional roots have formed.

Naturally, golden currants can be propagated by dividing the bush.

See also: Growing golden currant (crandal) - planting and care

Popular varieties of golden currants

In conclusion, the varieties of golden currant, which are in the State Register of Breeding Achievements of the Russian Federation, there are more than two dozen of them. The first varieties were obtained in 1999, these are Venus, Laysan and Shafak, and the newest in 2016 - “Altargana" and "Sultry mirage". Golden currant varieties are zoned throughout Russia.

Let's briefly describe a couple of new products - the varieties "Altargana" and "Sultry Mirage". These are large plants with a wide crown and a powerful root system. Berries of the "Altargana" variety ripen early, they reach a weight of 1.8 g, have a round shape and blue-black color. The taste of the berries is quite pleasant, the yield reaches 4.8 kg per bush.

Berries of the "Sultry Mirage" variety ripen in medium terms, they reach a weight of 1.3 g, have a rounded shape and a bright orange color. The taste is refreshing, sweet with a hint of acid. Productivity is about 4 kg per bush. Both varieties, as well as all varieties of golden currant, are drought-resistant and winter-hardy.

Reproduction of golden currants by shoots - video

Reproduction of golden currant in Siberia.AVI

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It seems that our gardeners know everything about currants! Most people in the garden or in the country have allocated small plantations for this culture, where bushes of red, black and white currants find a place. These plants are quite easy to care for, they multiply easily, their berries contain many trace elements and vitamins, especially in black currant. What can we say about the taste of these small berries and the variety of dishes that are prepared from them!

Most likely, many amateur gardeners will be surprised to see a photo of golden currants or almost familiar currant berries, but of an unusual color, on a bush where the leaves resemble gooseberries. And this is not at all a hybrid of currants and gooseberries, it is an independent species. Golden currant from the Gooseberry family, which includes about 150 other currant species. This berry culture is beginning to attract more and more attention - those who try it and learn the agricultural technology of growing golden currant become its active admirers. Originally from Canada and the United States, it is now found in the northern regions of Russia, the Caucasus, the Far East and Europe.

Description of the species

A sparsely branched deciduous shrub up to 2.4 m high has powerful roots 1.5 m long, straight branches, under the weight of berries, leaning towards the ground. Three-lobed leaves 5 cm long are almost half the size of currants, resemble gooseberry leaves. Brush consists of 5-14 yellow flowers; round or slightly elongated berries in different varieties have colors from yellow-golden to dark purple and even black. The berries look unusual due to the tail that has not come off.

Fruiting occurs in July; in August, on an unfertilized bush, the leaves acquire a variegated color from orange to purple 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 golden currants as decorative hedges that bring a considerable harvest of tasty and healthy berries. Vitamin C in this currant is several times less than in black currant, respectively, there is no that sourness, so it will be more to the taste of children and people with high acidity and stomach ulcers.

To set fruits, it is necessary to plant at least two different varieties of golden currants, since a single bush will only partially tie the fruits, and fruiting will be incomplete.

The plant is undemanding to soil and watering, it is drought-resistant, winter-hardy, gives an annual bountiful harvest of delicious berries and is little susceptible to common diseases.

Reproduction of golden currants is possible in the following ways:

• sowing seeds;
• dividing the bush;
• cuttings with green and lignified branches;
• layering;
• annual shoots (like raspberries).

Cultivation of golden currants is possible both in the usual bush form and in the standard form. 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 rest of the young shoots. Gooseberries or other types of currants can be grafted onto a golden currant stem.

Planting and caring for golden currants

Golden currants are planted in early spring or autumn, but as far as possible from the onset of frost. The growing season of the plant lasts from mid-April to mid-September, and ideally, the planting of golden currants should be carried out either before or after the end of sap flow. But seedlings sold in nurseries in pots with a closed root system can be planted at any time (from spring to autumn). Buy seedlings not dried out, with a good fibrous root system and developed 3-4 shoots.

A place for golden currants is chosen well-lit, but partial shade will not hurt it either. The bush will take root both on the plain and on the slopes of the site. The soil of the future plot for currants may be scarce and poor, this plant will survive on sand, on light clay, but it bears fruit best of all on fertile soil. Therefore, before planting, a pit of 50 * 60 cm is prepared, which is filled with compost or rotted manure with the addition of a glass of ash and superphosphate. According to the 2.4 * 1 m scheme, two-three-year-old seedlings are planted, deepening the root collar by 6-7 cm to accelerate the formation of adventitious roots and the growth of new shoots.

Simple care of golden currants includes digging the ground between rows once a year, fertilizing, pruning branches and watering. Cut off the branches that thicken the bush and prevent the penetration of the sun into its middle; sick, withered and over the age of three years, since with an increase in the age of the branch, the yield of berries on it decreases. Excess young growth is also cut out so as not to thicken the plantation. Pruning is carried out either before the buds swell, or after the end of leaf fall, in late autumn. Often these plants do not need to be watered (there will be enough rain), they are quite drought-resistant, only in the case of an unusual drought during the ripening period of the berries, additional watering is required. This is one of their differences from common currant.

Here are some reasons why golden currants do not bear fruit:

• no pollinator bush;
• thickening of the bush or the presence of old branches;
• swampy heavy clay soil;
• fungal diseases (verticillosis).

Video about golden currant