If you have even a small country plot, be sure to plant a currant on it. It is known that this berry with excellent taste has useful properties: it contains a lot of vitamins (especially vitamin C, which helps to fight colds) and trace elements. In addition, the currant is a delicious jam and compotes. However, to harvest a good harvest of useful berries, you will have to work hard. Despite the fact that the currant is considered to be an unpretentious plant, it requires care, which involves pruning, timely watering and, of course, fertilizing. By the way, as for most garden crops, you need to apply fertilizer to the currant in the spring. We will dwell on this in more detail.
Why is it necessary to feed the currant in the spring?
In general, currants are shrubs that draw strength from sunlight. It should be planted in well-lit areas. But only this for an excellent harvest will be small. Berries in large numbers and large sizes appear and thanks to additional fertilizing from the soil, where the currant derives nutrients. And since the bush grows in one place for many years, it is logical to assume that the nearby land becomes lean with time and does not feed the currant. That's why fertilizer is needed. It is best to produce this in the spring, when the shrub is weakened after the winter. In addition, this time there is an intensive development of the root system.
How to feed the currant in the early spring?
The first time you need to make fertilizer directly when planting a bush. For this, in the pit, which is excavated for the currant, pour the humus (about 10 kg) or compost. You can also add high-speed solutions of complex fertilizers, for example, "RoSa Universal" or "Effeton I" in a volume of up to 10 tablespoons.
In the future, for two years to produce additional fertilizing is not necessary, since the first harvest of a young plant gives only the third year. That's when you should do the feeding. If we talk about what to fertilize the currant in the spring, then for these purposes a mixture of 50 ml of any complex fertilizer and a tablespoon of potassium sulfate, which are diluted in a bucket of water, is suitable. The resulting mixture must be watered every currant bush under the root of the calculation of 2 buckets per plant. Further after such a useful watering, the ground near the trunk of the bush is sprinkled with lime-ammonium nitrate or ammonium sulfate in an amount of 30 g. The substance is treated with a square meter of the plot. Such a first spring dressing of currant must be performed before the flowering of the bush.
To obtain beautiful large berries, it is recommended to make fertilizers at a time when harvest begins on the branches of the bush. For these purposes, any complex fertilizer that should be dissolved in water and watered plants will do. To stimulate the growth of currant berries, you can use fertilizers "Agrocola for berry crops" or "Berry".
In addition, it is necessary to take into account the agrocultural features of currant species. For example,
Fertilizers for black currant in the spring should largely consist of phosphorus and potassium (10 g of potassium sulfate and 40 g of superphosphate under the bush).