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Planting
I make all currant seedlings for myself (I buy them only when
I want to test new variety). For this purpose I use place
between rows of young currants (up to three years), or piece
of land for planting cutted currant 'cuttings'. I do it at
the end of September and the begining of October. For this
purpose I prefer to use young shoots - one year old(sometimes
I used to do them from two years old shoots). I cut long shoots
at the length of 15 cm and push them into earth at the angel
of 60 degrees, first of all, because first winter light frosts
don't push them out so easily, and the second, the subsiding
earth push them so the roots appear faster.
The distance between rows, which I apply, is in my opinion
the best for the harvest crops. From my own experience it
appears that a wider distance between bushes brings about
the bending of branches along the rows and shoving them
aside with a harvester. As a result some fruit is not picked
up. The distance between rows depends on variety and a type
of soil, e.g. due to its quick growth we grow Titania in
a minimum distance of 4 m on fertile soils and 3,5 m on
sandy soils. The distance between the first row and the
border of the field should equal at least 2 m. and the turning
radius at least 5 m. 400 metres is the maximum length of
the rows.
Varieties
'Titania'is the most numeros variety on my plantation. It
is planted at 3,5m rows with plants 0.4m apart. I also have
a separate research field, about half a hectare, with different
varieties of blackcurrants like: 'Ben Lomond', 'Ben Nevis',
'Blackdown', 'Fertodi', 'Roodknop',as well as redcurrants:
'Rosetta', 'Rondom'where I test machine harvesting. My newest
acquisition is 'Ben Alder'variety, which planted this year,
so I don't know yet if it is fruitful and prone to pests
and diseases. I would like to test some new russians varieties
as soon as possible (I will place here report from observations
surely). I also had 'Ojebyn'variety, from which I resigned
because it was prone to diseases, espacially to -----'Cecidophyopsis
ribis'
Cultivating
Currants in order to be fruitful have to be renew constantly
(old, dry and infested shoots should be removed). Lying shoots
have to be cut off, because they are obstacles during machanical
harvesting. You can remove them one by one (what is very time-consuming),
or using special device, so called 'under-cutters'. After
7 to 8 years it is good to rejuvenate rows by cutting off
all shoots.
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