Pests and Diseases of Blackcurrants

Get the bushes planted as early as possible, preferably in November or early December. Always plant two-year-olds, if possible. After the second year the pruner aims to remove two or three branches each winter, with the idea of encouraging the production of new wood.

The blackcurrant bears on the young wood produced the previous season. Thus, when the bushes are seven or eight years of age and onwards, the aim is to remove a third of the branches, tackling those that are dropping on the ground first, so as to keep the bushes as upright as possible.

Fortunately with black currants it doesn’t matter at all about cutting to just above a bud, for there seem to be pin buds which will break out into good growth on almost any part of the old wood. By the way-don’t ever summer prune blackcurrants.

These should be cut down to within 2 inches of their base in the February after planting. These shoots being used to raise new bushes. Do not be tempted to plant the more expensive two- or three-years’-old bushes as offered by some nurserymen. These will only have to be cut down just as hard and the one-year-old bushes invariably settle down far more quickly and crop just as well in the long run.

In small gardens where it is not desired to use straw, sedge peat could be used to a depth, say, of 2 inches. This would be cleaner, may be easier to obtain, though certainly dearer.

These insects hate having to fly from bush to bush when they are planted at distances of 5 to 6 feet, and, in fact, they will not do so in windy weather. The `hedge’ method, therefore, encourages better fertilization and thus heavier yields.