Golden currant: Shafak, Venus, Laysan, Siberian sun

Golden currant is a very interesting and unusual garden crop for gardeners. The rules for caring for currants largely repeat the rules for red and black varieties, but you need to know some of the nuances.

Golden currant - what is it?

Golden currant is a fruit shrub from the Gooseberry family, found naturally in Canada and North America.The plant is grown in cultivated plantings all over the world, and in Russia it appeared at the end of the 19th century thanks to the efforts of the famous breeder Michurin, who also developed one of the first Russian varieties called Krandal Seedling.

Golden currant is a low shrub up to 2.5 m in height with red bark of shoots. The leaves of the plant resemble gooseberry leaves, the bush blooms very abundantly, occurs at the end of May and lasts almost 3 weeks. The flowers have a rich yellow tint, which is how the plant got its name.

The shrub bears orange, black or burgundy berries depending on the variety. A distinctive feature of the species is its high yield; on average, from 5 to 15 kg of fruits are collected from an adult bush.

Pros and cons of golden currant

Before planting shrubs on their site, gardeners are interested in the advantages and disadvantages of the crop. The advantages of the plant include:

high productivity;
late flowering, thanks to which the plant does not suffer from return frosts;
undemanding to conditions - the shrub easily tolerates drought, heat, temperature changes and rocky soils;
frost resistance, even in the northern regions the shrub can be grown without effort; it tolerates cold temperatures down to -30 °C.

However, culture also has certain disadvantages:

with severe deficiency of moisture or nutrients, the shrub may shed its ovaries;
at high humidity levels the fruits may crack;
ripe currants are often torn from the stalk when harvested, which is why their presentation is lost and shelf life is reduced;
new shoots of golden currants may freeze slightly in the fall, since they do not always have time to finish the growing season.

Important! Golden currant leaves are not suitable for use in decoctions and teas; they contain hydrocyanic acid, which is dangerous to human health.

Varieties of golden currant

Golden currants are represented by many varieties; they differ among themselves in frost resistance, yield, color and taste of the fruit. Before planting golden currants on your site, you should familiarize yourself with the most popular varieties.

Golden currant Shafak

Among the varieties of golden currants for the Moscow region, Shafak is popular. The main characteristic of the variety is good resistance to winter frosts and summer heat. Pests also attack the plant very rarely; from mid-summer to autumn, up to 8 kg of berries can be collected from the bush. The fruits have a rich dark burgundy color and taste sweet with a slight sourness.

Golden currant Venus

The plant tolerates drought and high temperatures well, and also survives winter frosts down to -40 °C. The shoots of the plant are not very long; on each branch a cluster of several black round berries with thin skin ripens. Description of golden currant Venus states that up to 8 kg of fruit can be collected from a bush, and their taste is very pleasant - sweet, with a slight sour tint.

Golden currant Laysan

Frost-resistant and tolerant of hot conditions, the variety is suitable for cultivation in most regions. No more than 6 individual oval-shaped fruits ripen on the clusters of the Laysan variety. The berries have a golden hue, and in general the fruits slightly resemble gooseberries.The productivity of the plant is very high, up to 9 kg. At the same time, the bush can be grown, including for the sale of berries; the fruits are stored for a long time and are suitable for transportation.

Golden currant Siberian sun

It tolerates severe winter frosts well and is characterized by increased resistance to fungal diseases and harmful insects. The plant usually bears fruit in mid-summer, the berries are golden or rich amber in color, the fruits are large and tasty, with a slight refreshing sourness.

Golden currant Gift to Ariadne

This variety is characterized, first of all, by good tolerance to frost and summer drought. The plant is rarely affected by pests and fungi and can produce up to 8 kg of tasty berries from one bush. The golden currant berries of this variety are sweet and sour with a light, pleasant aroma.

Golden currant Kishmishnaya

This variety of golden black currant ripens small berries, slightly reminiscent of a heart in shape. The plant bears fruit very abundantly - you can collect up to 10 kg of berries from it annually. Currants are sweet, dessert-like in taste, a slight sourness is felt in it, but does not impair the taste. The variety tolerates harsh growing conditions in both southern and northern regions.

Golden currant Isabella

The berries of this variety are very small and have a dark, almost black tint. Despite their small size, the fruits of the currant bush have good taste. During the warm season, from the beginning of fruiting until autumn, about 6 kg of berries can be removed from Isabella.

Golden currant Ida

The variety is universal, in other words, it is well suited for eating fresh berries and for preparations.The fruits of the plant are round, black in color, each bush is capable of producing up to 5 kg of harvest. The Ida variety shrub tolerates severe frosts and extreme heat well and rarely suffers from diseases and harmful insects.

Golden currant Black pearl

A low-growing and frost-resistant variety with average yields. Currants of this type are capable of producing up to 4.5 kg of fruit from one bush; the berries of the variety are black, sweet and sour, slightly reminiscent of blueberries.

The benefits of golden currants

Golden currants not only have high dessert properties, but also provide health benefits. First of all, it contains a lot of vitamins C, B and A - the berries are useful for preventing colds, they can be used to strengthen blood vessels and the heart, and to take care of the health of the skin and eyes.

The fruits of the cultivated plant have a slight sourness, but their taste is mainly sweet. Therefore, people with a tendency to flatulence, gastritis and other gastric diseases can consume the fruits without fear. Berries improve digestion and do not provoke exacerbations of chronic ailments.

Golden currant hedge

Decorative golden currant is often used in landscape design; the shrub is easy to shape and blooms very beautifully. The leaves of golden currant are also decorative; in autumn they are colored with yellow-orange and crimson tones.

Golden currants are often used to create hedges. The shrub grows quite quickly, which allows you to form the desired landscape in a few years.And caring for golden currants is easy; they tolerate pruning well and quickly restore their green mass, maintaining the desired outline.

Features of growing golden currants

In general, caring for fruit bushes should be carried out quite standard. But there are some peculiarities.

Golden currant is a shrub that requires cross-pollination by insects. Therefore, to obtain a harvest, it is necessary to plant 2 or 3 plant varieties next to each other at once, otherwise the ovary will fall off.
Golden currants are sensitive to light. The shrub cannot be grown in the shade; the plant needs a sunny, warm place.

Also, golden currants need to be protected from the wind during flowering - drafts can lead to premature shedding of flowers.

Planting and caring for golden currants

Photos, descriptions and reviews of golden currants confirm that caring for the shrub is quite simple. It is enough to follow the basic rules, and the plant will delight you with abundant flowering and good harvests.

Selection and preparation of a landing site

It is recommended to plant golden currants in open ground in the spring - immediately after the soil has thawed a little. Autumn planting is also allowed, but in this case it should be done no later than a month before the arrival of frost, in September-October.

Almost any soil is suitable for growing golden currants, alkaline and acidic, dry and moist, loamy and sandy loam.
The main thing is that groundwater does not pass close to the surface of the earth, otherwise the area will be too swampy.
The plant is also very demanding on lighting; it is best to plant it on a southwestern or western flat area or a small slope protected from the wind.

Before planting golden currants, it is recommended to prepare the soil. It is necessary to loosen and weed the soil, and a week before planting the bush, add potassium fertilizers and about 6 kg of compost per 1 sq. m. m of soil. You can also sprinkle the area with wood ash.

The soil mixture for golden currants is prepared as follows:

dig a hole in the area about 50 cm deep and wide;
fill it with soil prepared from humus and fertile soil in a 1:1 ratio;
add 200 g of superphosphate and a little nitroammophoska.

Important! If you need to plant several bushes of a plant at once, you must leave 1.5 m of free space between them, and 3 m between the rows of bushes.

Landing rules

Before planting golden currants, it is necessary to place the seedling together with a ball of earth in a bioactive solution for 2 hours or place it in a container with water for 2 days.

A golden currant seedling is lowered into a prepared hole, filled to the middle with soil mixture.
The roots of the plant are sprinkled with the remaining soil so that the root collar of the plant remains buried about 5 cm.
The seedling is installed at a slight angle - this facilitates the growth of new roots.

After planting, the soil around the plant should be lightly compacted and watered thoroughly with 3-4 buckets of water. Also, the seedlings need to be trimmed, leaving only 5-6 buds, this will facilitate the establishment of the bush in a new place.

Watering and fertilizing

For healthy development, fruit bushes need proper watering. The frequency of watering depends on the age of the plant and weather conditions.

It is recommended to water young plants at least once a week - they need moisture for rapid growth.
Mature fruit bushes can be watered only about 5 times during the entire growing season, the main thing is that the soil remains moist during the period of ovary formation.
During drought, it is necessary to focus on the condition of the soil; if the soil under the bushes of the plant dries out quickly, the frequency of watering can be temporarily increased.

Each adult bush of a fruit plant requires 3 buckets of water; young plants need 2 buckets. You need to water the bush carefully, making sure that less water gets on the leaves.

As for fertilizing, golden currant does not make excessive demands on the nutritional value of the soil. After planting for the first time, you will need to feed it only after 2 years, while it is recommended to place complex mineral fertilizers and manure in the grooves made in the soil at the roots.

For better growth and fruiting, the plant can be annually supplied with nitrogenous fertilizers in the spring and organic fertilizing in the autumn.

Trimming

From time to time the plant needs to be trimmed; golden currants can be pruned in the fall after leaf fall or in the spring before buds appear. The first pruning for shrubs is carried out only a year after planting, and is carried out according to the following principles:

remove dry and broken branches;
completely cut off weak root shoots that prevent the growth of the rest of the bush;
if necessary, trim shoots that violate the geometry of the bush; this is important to do if golden currants are used to decorate the landscape.

Attention! From the point of view of fruiting, shoots up to 6 years old are productive - older branches no longer take part in the harvest.

After approximately 12 years of life, golden currants begin to age and slow down their growth; during this period, anti-aging pruning can be done. In the process, the young annual growth is completely removed, leaving only about 5 strong developed shoots, and after another year the tops of the basal shoots are pinched to form branching. The same procedure is repeated in subsequent years, the formation of a rejuvenated bush ends after 4-5 years.

Preparing for winter

Most varieties of golden currant are characterized by increased frost resistance; the plant tolerates temperatures well down to - 25-30 ° C. However, it is still recommended to cover the shrub for the winter; in this case, frosts will definitely not affect future yields.

For the winter, it is recommended to bend the branches of golden currants and press them to the ground. You can fix the shoots using staples or simply press down individual branches with heavy stones or bricks.
The branches are wrapped with covering material - this will protect the shoots from freezing. For each branch it is necessary to build a personal shelter; if you cover the entire bush, this will be of little benefit.
You can also simply cover the bush of a fruit plant with a mound of earth. If the winter is snowy, you can build a snow cushion about 10 cm thick over the bush.

Properly covered garden shrubs can withstand frosts down to -40°C.

Advice! It is best to use agrofibre in combination with mineral wool as a covering material. It is not recommended to use polyethylene; the plant will not receive oxygen under it.

Golden currant harvest

Fruiting of golden currants begins in July and occurs quite long and unevenly - the berries ripen at different times. But at the same time, harvesting from the bush is very convenient; even ripe fruits do not fall off, but remain hanging on the branches until frost arrives.

Thus, you can harvest a tasty and juicy harvest several times from mid-summer, or wait for full ripening and harvest in one go.

Pests and diseases of golden currant

A striking feature of golden currant is the high resistance of the shrub to diseases and pests. With good care, the plant rarely gets sick, but sometimes the fruit bush is affected by pests and fungal diseases.

Among the pests, the greatest damage to the shrub is caused by spider mites and aphids; insects eat the leaves of the plant and prevent the healthy development of the buds. Pests can be controlled with colloidal sulfur during the flowering period, as well as with the insecticides Karbofos and Actellik.
Of the fungi, powdery mildew, septoria and anthracnose are especially dangerous for shrubs. In the first case, the leaves and fruits become covered with a recognizable whitish coating, and with anthracnose and septoria, light or brown spots appear on the foliage of the bush, the foliage curls and becomes deformed. Diseases of golden currant are fought with Nitrafen, Bordeaux mixture and copper sulfate.

Spraying of fruit plants for treatment and prevention purposes is carried out from early spring to late autumn. But during the flowering and fruiting period, the plant cannot be treated with chemicals; this can negatively affect pollination and harvest.

How to propagate golden currant

Basically, to increase the plant population on a site, 4 methods of vegetative propagation are used.

Cuttings. In early spring, cuttings with 2-3 buds are cut from an adult bush of a fruit plant and placed in water with a root-forming solution for a day. Then the cuttings are deepened into a soil mixture of humus, fertile soil and sand, watered and covered with film. The cuttings should be kept in a bright room at a temperature not lower than 23 degrees, and after the roots and young leaves appear, the plant can be transplanted into open ground.
Dividing the bush. The method is well suited for rejuvenating old shrubs. An adult plant must be cut in half in early spring, carefully dug out of the ground and divide the rhizome into several parts with a sharpened shovel. Then each of the parts is planted in pre-prepared holes according to the standard algorithm. It is important that the cuttings retain several strong, developed shoots and healthy, undamaged roots.
Reproduction by shoots. Currant bushes often produce basal shoots that interfere with the development of the main plant. The root shoots can be dug out of the ground and transplanted to a new place in the usual way; the shoots take root well and grow into a new bush.
Layerings. A reliable and very simple way to propagate currants is to use layering. Low-lying branches of the bush are bent to the ground, slightly buried in the ground and secured with wire or staples. Over the course of several weeks, the cuttings need to be watered abundantly. If the procedure is carried out at the end of spring, the cuttings will give strong roots in the fall, and next year they can be transplanted from the mother bush.

Propagation of golden currants by cuttings and other vegetative methods allows not only to spread golden currants throughout the area, but also to completely preserve its varietal characteristics.

Conclusion

Golden currant is a very beautiful and useful fruit shrub. There are many varieties of golden currants on sale; caring for the plant is easy in any climatic conditions.

Reviews about golden currant

Petrova Anastasia Valerievna, 48 years old, Ryazan

Golden currants have been growing on my site for 7 years and do not cause any trouble. The shrub is very viable and frost-resistant, and tolerates cold winters well. The yield of currants is stable, and the berries are very tasty, in my opinion, tastier than ordinary red or black currants.

Borisova Victoria Igorevna, 37 years old, Moscow

I planted golden currants at the dacha 4 years ago - and now I regularly enjoy their very beautiful flowering. The plant produces a fairly plentiful harvest; I collect several kilograms of berries every year, and the fruit has a very pleasant, dessert-like taste.

Golden currant: photo and description, planting and care, reviews