Black currant Mila

Black currant is found in almost every local area. Modern varieties have a better quality composition of fruits, plants are more hardy, in this regard, currants can be cultivated in the north. In this article, we will consider the Mila black currant.

A brief excursion into history

This culture was obtained thanks to the hybridization of the varieties "Bredthorpe" and "Dikovinka", the variety was bred in 1979 on the basis of the Lisavenko Research Institute of Horticulture in Siberia in the city of Barnaul. Currant was included in the state register in 2001, it was zoned in the West Siberian region. The culture is most widespread in Altai.

Mila black currant - characteristic

This variety is a deciduous shrub belonging to the Gooseberry family. This currant is large-fruited and resistant to negative conditions.

External characteristics of the variety.

• A shrub of medium growth, the crown is distinguished by its spreading.
• Shoot-forming ability is at a good level.
• Shoots are not pubescent, medium thick.
• Shoots are green in color, their upper parts are light purple.
• The leaves are light green in color, from medium to large, have five lobes.
• The surface of the plate is wrinkled.
• The flowers are light pink in color, in the form of a glass, of medium size.
• Fruit tassel reaches 6.4 cm in length.

Fruit signs.

• The berries are very large - they weigh 2.1-4.5 grams.
• Round.
• Black, glossy.
• The rind is moderately dense.
• The number of grains is average.

The tasting score of fruits was four and a half points, compote - 4.4 points, jam and juice - 4.9 points. The place of separation of fruits is dry, currants are well transported.

The taste of the berries is sweet and sour, since the fruits contain: dry soluble substances (8.51-15.93%), sugar (4.77-11.52%), acids (0.8-3.84%), vitamin C (118.7 mg).

Ripening and yield rate.

The variety is self-fertile, fruiting begins as early as the second year. In the West Siberian region, flowering occurs on the thirteenth and thirtieth of May, and ripening - in the last days of July. The bush bears fruit at the same time. On test planting according to the scheme of three by one meter, currants for five to seven years give eleven and a half tons per hectare, and the maximum yield reaches 13.3 tons per hectare.

Pros and cons

Advantages.

• High yield rate.
• Large fruit size.
• The variety is self-fertile.
• Resistant to winter season and drought.
• Immunity to spherotek.

Minuses.

• Spreading of the crown.
• Weak immunity to septoria and anthracnose (up to two points).

Mila black currant: planting and care

If you follow the recommendations for planting and care, then the potential of currants can be fully revealed. In order for the shrub to bear fruit for a long time and abundantly, it is required to feed it in a timely manner and protect it from diseases and harmful insects.

How to choose and prepare a site.

Shrub planting is allowed early in the spring or in the fall season. Experienced gardeners advise planting the variety in the fall, because the growing season begins early, currants begin to grow immediately after the soil has thawed. If you transplant a bush with awakened buds, then because of this it will take root for a long time, begin to bear fruit later, and some diseases may also occur.

In the autumn season, the root system will successfully take root before the cold season arrives, and as the spring period begins, it will begin to grow and develop. In most of the territories, plants are planted in the first month of autumn, in the southern regions - until October 1.

The best area for cultivating shrubs should be illuminated by sunlight and should not be blown by gusty winds. Black currants can grow in a slightly shaded area, but the yield will decrease because of this. Bushes are often planted as hedges or along a fence.

Advice. To neutralize acidic soils in the fall season, do not use lime. It will dissolve in water and begin to drain into the deep layers of the soil. The best solution in this situation is to add dolomite flour or crushed eggshells to the hole.

Currants need moisture, so it will feel comfortable growing in the lowlands, the main thing is that it does not get heated. Groundwater should pass one and a half meters below the ground surface. The best soil for the variety is a fertile loamy soil of a neutral reaction.

When a place is prepared, thirty days before planting, it is dug up with humus (five kg), superphosphate (two tablespoons), with potassium sulfate (one tablespoon).

If you plan to plant several shrubs, then it is recommended to arrange them according to the scheme two by two meters, at least 1.5x1.2 meters. The planting pit can be shallow in depth - about forty cm, and the diameter, as a rule, reaches about half a meter. Humus (bucket) and ash (glass) are additionally introduced into the pit.

How to choose a seedling and plant it.

A healthy planting material should have a developed root system, which includes three main lignified roots of fifteen to twenty cm and developed small roots. Aerial shoots in the amount of one or two should reach a length of about thirty-five to forty cm. If you are planting in the autumn season, then opt for seedlings of two years.

Planting progress.

Shoots are shortened to three or four buds, if the roots are more than twenty cm, then they are also pruned.

The seedling is installed in the hole in a slightly tilted state, the root collar is deepened by five to eight cm, the roots are gently straightened.

The plant shakes a little, the hole is covered with soil and trampled down a little.

Then the plant is watered with two or three buckets of water, then the trunk circle is mulched with peat, humus or compost fertilizer.

Agrotechnics.

It is required to take care of the near-trunk circle of shrubs as follows: remove weeds and shallowly loosen the soil. If the soil is mulched, then these procedures are minimized, and the moisture content of the soil remains for a long period of time. Black currants need to be watered regularly throughout the season until late autumn. It is necessary to provide moisture when the berries are tied and ripe.

Professional gardeners advise using minerals and organics together. Early in the spring and after the shrub has faded, nitrogen is introduced, and in the autumn season - potassium and phosphorus. At 1 year after planting the currants in a fertilized hole, it will be enough for it that you can simply mulch the soil with compost or humus fertilizer.

An adult shrub is fertilized every year with one of the following dressings: organic matter (ten to fifteen kg), a mixture of minerals for berry crops (three hundred to four hundred grams).

It is recommended to alternate organics and minerals after a year; when using both types of fertilizers, the dose is reduced by ½.

Diseases and harmful insects.

More often than others, currants are affected by fungal infections. The variety we are considering has a high immunity to American powdery mildew (spheroteca), but other fungi can affect it.

Anthracnose.Brown speck will be visible on all green patches and fruits. Small specks with black dots, which contain fungal spores, form on the foliage, and areas of light brown color with a red edging form on the fruit. Due to infection, leaves fall prematurely and new shoots die. The development of the disease is observed in wet cool weather.

Septoria (white spot). It manifests itself in the form of spots of a rich brown color, gradually connecting and becoming lighter. Black fungal spores are visible in the middle of the spots. Before the fruits begin to ripen, they are depressed with brown dots. The disease develops in wet hot weather in very dense plantings. Due to the disease, the yield rate is greatly reduced (more than fifty percent).

Goblet rust. Unusual orange pitted pads are formed. The disease manifests itself in the first summer days on currants, then passes to sedge, but still manages to hit the ovary of the fruit, and also due to the effect of the disease, leaves fall off.

Preventive measures against diseases caused by the fungus.

Planting bushes is not thick.

Remove weeds in time.

Cut off damaged parts of the bush.

Fertilize currants in a timely manner to stimulate disease resistance.

In the autumn season, remove fallen leaves.

After removing the fruits, treat the shrub with fungicidal preparations, Skor and Horus will do.

The most dangerous harmful insect for currants is a kidney mite. Females live in the buds of currants throughout the winter season, and in the spring season they go out and crawl into young shoots and other fragments of the bush. Damaged buds swell, healthy shoots do not appear because of this, as a result, the bush develops slowly, and its poor flowering is also observed.

This pest is also capable of spreading diseases, for example, mycoplasma, which causes terry culture. To fight against harmful insects, in the autumn season, leaves are removed and shoots are examined, swollen buds are identified and removed. In the spring, before the currants begin to bloom, they are treated with acaricidal or insectoacaricidal agents. It is advisable to pour boiling water over the bushes before the growing season begins, when the buds are closed.

It is forbidden to use shrubs affected by the pest for reproduction (cut cuttings, root cuttings, etc.).

How to prune and shape a shrub.

The bush is pruned in the autumn season or early in the spring. If you cut the plant heavily before cold snaps, then it can weaken, in this regard, most of the gardeners form a bush in the spring, and in the autumn season, only fragments affected by diseases are cut off.

Mainly black currant Mila bears fruit on shoots for three to four years and is on the growth of last year. Over the years, the growth on the branches will be less, therefore, the yield indicator will also decrease. These old branches are cut out, thereby stimulating the growth of other shoots located at the roots.

The average duration of fruiting of a black currant bush is seven to eight years, then the yield rate decreases, then the plants are changed.

The next autumn season after planting, four to five strong shoots are selected, they are shortened by 1/3. The weaker branches are cut out. By the age of four, such a formation leads to the appearance of about twenty shoots of different age groups. Every year three to five strongest new shoots are added to the shrub, and from the fifth year old branches are cut out. Sanitary circumcision is performed throughout the growing season, while disease-affected and damaged shoots are removed.

Preparing for winter.

They begin to prepare the bush for the winter season after the foliage has fallen off. First, sanitary circumcision is carried out (sometimes you can combine it with a formative one), then the trunk circle is processed. With a dry autumn season, additional moisture-charging irrigation is required. The soil is loosened eight cm deep both in the root zone, and up to fifteen cm - outside the crown perimeter. The mulch that has lain under the bush for the entire summer period is removed.

Simultaneously with digging into the soil, autumn fertilizers are introduced, and then mulching with a fresh layer of organic matter (compost fertilizer, peat, rotten sawdust) is performed. The mulch layer should be ten cm, this will keep moisture and the root system will be protected from the harsh frost temperatures. In the winter season, it is recommended to make snow protection for the bushes, you should additionally shovel snow to the plants, if it is not enough.

How to collect, transport and store crops

If you plan to transport berries far away, then you can harvest at technical maturity, the berries will ripen during transportation. It is recommended to harvest fruits when it is dry outside, because wet berries will survive worse. In order to store or transport berries for a long time, it is desirable to collect them with brushes, however, the fruits are large and dense enough and for consumption can be removed and stored in a separate place.

The faster the currant cools, the longer it stays fresh. Before that, sift out the defective fruits (affected by diseases and damaged). In a refrigerator, berries can be stored for two to three months at a temperature of minus two degrees and about thirty to forty-five days at a temperature of approximately zero degrees. Frozen currants can last up to six months, and canned currants one to two years.

Mila black currant is a promising variety that is immune to spheroteca and has a high yield. The quality of the fruits and undemanding cultivation are the main features for recommending the cultivation of the variety in most of the territories.