Wild currant (repis): where it grows, description and useful properties, cultivation and care

Despite the huge selection of cultivars of black currant, on any site you can find repis - wild or forest currant. Somewhere in the corner grows a single bush, but it grows. Tall shrub with sourish berries, which are very useful, unlike varietal species. He is loved because of his unpretentiousness and beauty. In autumn, it looks very elegant and decorates the front garden with red and yellow leaves. What a wild currant bush looks like and what it is, as well as how to plant and care for it in order to get a big harvest, you should know in advance.

Wild currant: beneficial properties and uses

Leaves and berries of the currant are valued by the people for the richness of vitamins and minerals. They are used as an antipyretic and diaphoretic for colds of various nature. In addition, they are used for diseases:

• gastrointestinal tract;
• vascular system;
• avitaminosis;
• impaired immune system;
• ARVI;
• oncology;
• skin.

For the elderly, wild currant improves mental activity, cleanses the body of toxins, lowers blood cholesterol, strengthens blood vessels and fights atherosclerosis.

This is due to the chemical composition of the plant. It contains large amounts of vitamins A, PP, groups B, C and E, organic acids, pectin, sugars, tannins and essential oils.Useful substances have the ability to be preserved during prolonged freezing, so they can be used all year round.

Wild currant fruits can be used frozen, brew drinks, make jams, preserves and marshmallows, prepare sauces for dishes. And if you throw a handful of dried berries into tea, you get a healing drink that will warm you on a winter evening.

Description and characteristics of culture

Wild currant is widely distributed in the Urals and Siberia. It occurs in the form of thickets on the banks of lakes, rivers, as well as in forests, ravines and swamps. It's easy to find out the copy. Its dark green three-lobed leaves look like gooseberry foliage. In autumn, planting wild currants look very bright, they turn bright yellow or red.

Shrub is quite tall, reaching a height of up to 3 meters. A feature of wild currant is its adaptability to harsh climatic conditions of growth: intense heat in summer and low temperatures in winter.Currant bushes practically do not freeze, most likely they die of age, as they do not receive proper care in the wild. At home, repisa plantings are used as green spaces that protect the site from the winds.

At the end of spring, the plant blooms. The flowers are yellow and have a rich aroma, they reach up to 1 cm in diameter. Plants and berries are characteristic. The largest berries grow up to 1 cm in length. They have an oblong elliptical shape, at the end of a dried flower, resembling a tail. They are numerous on the bush and have a different color: from yellow to black. In the common people, wild currants are called "pearl" or "silver".

The taste of currant berries is sweet and sour, but the sourness is more pronounced. Fruit ripening occurs in July and lasts for 1.5 months.

Types of wild grouse

Today, two types of plants are known:

• wild blackcurrant;
• redcurrant.

Wild black currant

Blackcurrant can be found in the dense forests of the European part of Russia, in Kazakhstan and the Urals. It can be used for direct fresh consumption and for winter preparations.

Red forest currant

Eating this berry is quite difficult, as it is very sour, and there is no sweetness in it. But there is no tastier jam than red grouse. It is added to any culinary masterpieces, great for drying. After that, you can cook vitamin compotes, prepare fillings for pies and add to sauces for meat dishes.

How to grow wild currants

Repis, aka Ural Beauty, grows in different lands. There are no ground requirements. The key to successful fruiting lies in high-quality planting material and the choice of a place for its growth.

Choosing a strong and he althy seedling

This is a very important step in growing a good currant bush. It must meet the following requirements:

1. Be strong and he althy.
2. The root system should not be dry or dried.
3. Make sure that the mother plant does not suffer from diseases and pests.
4. The daughter offspring should not have dried or sluggish leaves, which indicates the presence of pests.
5. The ground part of the seedling should have several already lignified branches.
6. There are at least three green live buds on each shoot.

If you have to dig up a currant seedling on the shore or in the forest, it is better to take the most extreme offspring, as it is less oppressed by adult plants and does not suffer from shading. On a he althy seedling, berries will appear in two years, but very few. Abundant fruiting begins from the fifth year.

Preparing the soil and planting hole

The stone does not require certain soil compositions. Here the main condition is the timely application of fertilizers.

Planting wild currants should be started in late August or early September, so that the root system has time to take root before the onset of frost. Planting can also be carried out in the spring, so the plant will have time to fully take root and even gain strength and grow.

Dig a hole in the selected area with dimensions close to the size of the bush. The optimal parameters are 60 x 60. Dig into the depth so much that you can fill a bucket of humus. Pour a little earth on top of the humus in the form of a tubercle. Carefully lay out the roots of the seedling on the tubercle and sprinkle with the remaining earth. Stomp your feet.

Important! The root neck should not be sunken into the ground.

Water the young plant and sprinkle mulch on top. It can be chopped straw or sawdust to keep the soil from cracking.

Caring for wild bushes

The technology of care is similar to the agricultural technology of cultivars of currant, but there are still nuances.

Irrigation

Watering the wild beauty after planting should be every week, once. 10 liters of water are poured onto one young seedling. Do not pour under the root, so as not to blur the basal neck and open the upper roots.

With the blooming of the first leaves, watering is reduced and moistened once every two or even three weeks. Water should be a little settled in a container. Too cold water can adversely affect a young seedling. Adult bushes are undemanding to her.

Fertilizer

Both black and red wild grouse are fed twice a season: in autumn and spring. In the spring, before flowering, mineral fertilizers and a little bird droppings should be applied, which in this case acts as a nitrogen fertilizer.

In the fall, organic matter is added, but not more than 4 kg of humus per bush, or wood ash at the rate of 1 cup per 10-liter bucket. Water with fertilizer along the edges of the hole so as not to burn the root system. Humus is poured in a thin layer, and then mixed with a small hoe with the top layer of soil.

Important! After fertilizing, the plant should be watered abundantly with water.

Pruning and crown shaping

Since the plant is wild by nature and is not cut off in nature, it does not require crown formation at home either. Broken and dried shoots are cut out from fruit-bearing bushes. Five-year-old branches should also be removed, they will be replaced by young ones. Pruning should be done with sharp garden shears or pruning shears in early spring, before foliage blooms.

If the plant is grown as a green hedge, then it is cut in the shape that this very hedge is made of.

Insect and disease treatment

Diseases and attacking pests are the same as those of garden currants. Among the most common:

• powdery mildew;
• rust;
• bud mite;
• aphids and ants;
• currant borer;
• gooseberry moth.

The main control measures are cutting diseased shoots and digging the soil under the bush. But processing remains the main thing. Schedule to be followed:

1. When the buds open, use a solution of "Decis", "Confidor", "Calypso", an emulsion of 25% anometrin.
2. Before or after flowering, colloidal sulfur treatment is applied, which will save the plant from powdery mildew and currant mites.
3. A month after flowering, they are treated from a goldfish or a glass case with a solution of "Karbofos" or chlorophos.

From folk remedies, solutions of onion peel, garlic, dandelion infusion, wormwood decoction, soap solution and infusion of potato tops are effective. In the event of a bud mite attack, the plant must be completely dug up and burned, otherwise there is a risk of destroying the entire currant plantation.

Do I need to cover for the winter

The answer is unequivocal - no. In the wild, there is self-replacement, that is, if one freezes out, another will grow in its place. But, as a rule, wild grouse perfectly tolerates the severe frosts of Siberia, the Urals and the Far East.

Growing tips for growing wild currants

It is better to plant two bushes on your site, so that later they are pollinated from each other. If pests appear on one currant bush, all existing plantings should be processed.

In winter, rodents attack the berries to protect the forest currant bush from mice and hares in winter, the lower branches can be wrapped with polyethylene or old nylon tights.

After planting a young currant seedling around, you can make a quadrangular mount from thick branches or boards so that the bush does not fall apart in the future.

Wild-growing currant, or repis, is very unpretentious in care, therefore it is popular with gardeners. The yield from one adult bush per season reaches 8 kg. This fact suggests that it is enough to have a couple of bushes on your site. Yes, and you can plant them in the corner.

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