Black currant Ozherele

Location: prefers well-lit sites but can also grow in partial shade; moisture-loving but does not tolerate waterlogging or over-moist conditions. Does not like heavy, clay soils; the groundwater level should not be higher than 75 cm below the soil surface. Not demanding to soil fertility and grows well on most garden soils. Prefers slightly acidic, well-drained, sandy or light to medium loamy soils. Drought-tolerant.

Planting: planting is done in August. For this, beds or trenches are dug and bushes are planted no closer than 1.3 m from each other (otherwise bushes will shade each other and the berries will be small). The planting mixture consists of soil and manure. After planting, in dry weather, plants are watered at a rate of 1 bucket per bush.

Care: during the growing season apply additional feedings – in early spring apply nitrogen fertilizers: ammonium nitrate (30 g per bush) or urea (20 g per bush); after flowering and at the beginning of fruit set apply poultry manure (1:12) or cow manure (1:6) at a rate of 1–1.5 buckets per currant bush, and again after harvest.

Pruning: requires periodic removal of peripheral branches.

Propagation: propagated vegetatively (division of the bush, grafting, green cuttings, vertical or horizontal layering) or by seed. For vertical layering, bushes are cut back heavily in spring almost to ground level; in July young shoots are earthened. In autumn the young shoots are planted in a nursery. For horizontal layering, rooted shoots are left until the following spring, then bent down, earthened and separated from the parent plant in autumn.

Diseases: resistant to fungal diseases

Pests: gall aphid, yellow gooseberry sawfly, currant clearwing; resistant to bud mite.

Use: high yield, good regenerative ability, but branches may suffer frost damage in severe winters.