The Compendium of Currant and Gooseberry Growing - Including Information on Propagation, Planting, Pruning, Pests, Varieties

DISEASES

CURRANTS AND COOSEBERRIES.

THE currant will grow and fruit abundantly in almost any soil or situation in the Northern States if given good cultivation; and even when it has but little care it is still very sure to produce a fair crop. However, no cultivated plant responds more promptly and generously to manuring and careful attention. The acid fruit in any of the various ways in which it is used is healthy and refreshing. It is not so universally esteemed as the strawberry, yet it is used in immense quantities each year, and first-class fruit carefully marketed generally pays the grower a good profit. No fruit is more satisfactory in the home garden. A currant bush once planted will continue to bear fruit for an indefinite period, often for thirty years. There are very many species of currants, but our cultivated kinds belong to the following:

(1) RED CURRANT (Ribes rubrum). Native of the Northern States and Canada, Northern Europe and Asia. The European form of this species is the parent of all the red and white varieties in cultivation.

(2) BLACK CURRANT (Ribes Negrum). A vigorous, growing plant; native of Northern Europe and Siberia. The fruit is black and all parts of the plant has a strong peculiar odor, which to many people is unpleasant until they become accustomed to it. The fruit is grown only in quite a limited way. In many markets there is no demand for it, while in others it brings a higher price than the common currant. It is easily grown. Valued medicinally for throat troubles.

(3) MISSOURI OR FLOWERING CURRANT (Ribes Aureum). A vigorous plant; native of Mississippi Valley; having beautiful, sweet-scented yellow flowers early in the spring. It is much cultivated for ornamental purposes. Fruit large, purplish black and rather astringent. A few varieties of this species have recently been introduced as fruit plants, but none of them have proved sufficiently valuable to warrant their extensive cultivation.

Propagation.—The currant does not come true from seed. The named varieties are grown from layers, cuttings, or divisions.

SEEDLINGS are easily raised if treated the same as recommended for raspberry seedlings, but rather more care must be taken with its seed than with that of the raspberry as it germinates very quickly in the spring, and if moved after growth has started it often falls to grow. On this account the seed should be sown in the fall where it is to grow the following year. Or if sown in boxes they should be frozen until February or March, when they may be put in a greenhouse or hotbed. But very few seedlings are of any value, and the growing of them is seldom attempted.

CUTTINGS are very easily rooted and varieties are almost universally grown from them. They may be taken off at almost any time while the plant is dormant, and wood of almost any age or size will root if carefully handled, but the following method is generally very certain to bring good results:

As soon as the leaves have fallen—which may be in the latter part of August or first of September—the young wood (growth of the current season) is cut into pieces about seven inches long. They are then at once set out in rich, well drained soil four inches apart, in rows three feet apart. Only about one inch of the cutting should be above ground, and great care should be taken to very firmly pack the earth around the bottom of the cuttings. When thus treated they will have calloused and made some small roots (as shown in Fig. 18) before the ground freezes, and will start vigorously the following spring. The cuttings should remain as planted for at least one, or perhaps two years. If the land is in good condition they will be ready to set out when one year old, but can remain where planted for several seasons if well cultivated. If wood is scarce the cuttings may be shorter than recommended, but in such a case more care will be required to ensure that they do not dry out in the soil. Sometimes the cuttings may consist of a single bud each, and may be sown like beans in a furrow, but much experience is required to be successful with them when made so very small.

FIG. 18 —Currant cutting planted in August showing the roots as they appear on the approach of winter.

LAYERS may be made at any time during the growing season, but preferably in the spring or early summer, as they will then be well rooted by autumn. They consist simply of branches which have been covered with earth and have become rooted. After becoming well rooted they are separated from the old plant. The way in which they are made is shown in Fig. 19. The branches are rather surer to root if the bark and wood is cut or broken a little, or if treated as in Fig. 20, but most varieties root very easily without this trouble. The currant may be increased by dividing the old bushes, however plants so made generally have but few very hard roots and are slow to start into vigorous growth.

Soil and Planting.—The currant will grow in almost any kind of land, and on that which will raise a fair corn crop it will give good returns, but the soil cannot be too rich or the cultivation too constant for the best crops of fruit. Plants may be set out in the fall or spring with good results. If set in autumn each plant should be banked up with about two spadesful of soil. They should be put five or six feet apart each way, and for the varieties most generally grown six is better than five feet. One plant is enough for a hill, and those that are young and thrifty are better than older ones. Where practicable they should be planted so as to allow of cultivation both ways. They should not be set along a fence or border, as in such places they are difficult to cultivate. The land should be plowed lightly with a one-horse plow early in the spring, and the cultivator started soon afterward. While the plants are in fruit, cultivation will have to be suspended, as the weight of the berries will bend the branches so that they will be in the way and liable to injury. As soon as the crop is gathered the working of the land should be again commenced and continued until the middle of August, after which there is no need of it.

FIG 19. Currant bush with six of its stems layered.

Mulching.—Good crops of currants may be grown without cultivation provided the land is heavily mulched, and in somewhat dry locations they are more surely grown on this plan than on any other. The mulch may consist of straw litter, coal ashes, hard wood sawdust, or similar material. If ashes or sawdust is used it should not be mixed with the soil but kept on the surface. It is often a good plan to mulch near the plants and cultivate in the center of the rows. Ashes or sawdust used for this purpose will keep down the weeds near the plants and do away with the necessity of hand cultivating. Pine sawdust is not as good for this purpose as that from the hard woods, but may be safely used if kept on the surface of the land and not mixed with it. Partially rotted sawdust is much to be preferred to that which is fresh.

Pruning.—The currant is improved by some pruning each year. This may be done at almost any season, but preferably in August. To do this work properly it should be understood that but very little fruit is borne on the wood of the preceding season’s growth, and that the buds which produce the greatest amount of fruit are on wood in its third season of growth or older. The fruit buds are formed late in summer and open early in the following growing season. In pruning, the old wood which is weakened by age, should be cut out close to the ground and enough new sprouts from the roots should be encouraged to take its place. Not more than from four to six shoots from the roots should be allowed to remain; the rest should be cut away, for if allowed to grow too much bearing wood will be produced and the fruit will consequently be very small. The wood which is infested by borers should also be cut out as nearly as may be. But for the past few years in some sections of Minnesota all the shoots of the currant have been infested with this insect. In such extreme cases necessity may compel the leaving of those least injured.

FIG. 20. —Currant layer split before layering to encourage he formation of roots.

Tree Currants are frequently advertised as being very desirable and are often sold at a much higher price than commoner currants; while in fact they are our common currants pruned so as to make them take on a tree-like form. They appear very pretty while growing, but having only one stem the first borer that attacks it destroys the plant. To make plants take on this tree-form all but one upper bud is rubbed off the cuttings when they are set out. The remaining bud pushes up a straight shoot, which is allowed to branch at about a foot from the ground and to make a miniature tree. Such plants seldom send up sprouts, so the stem cannot be renewed. The common red currant is sometimes grafted on the Ribes aureum, but such plants are open to the same objections as other tree currants, and are only valuable as curiosities.

Winter Protection.—The Red Dutch and a few other very excellent varieties are perfectly hardy in almost any soil or situation, but some of the kinds producing the largest fruit are occasionally injured in severe locations in winter. They may, however, be easily protected by covering them with earth, but if so treated they will need to be mulched or to have some support to keep the fruit off the ground, as the cancs will not straighten up well in the spring after being bent down all winter. Another way of giving some protection is to tie the stems together in autumn with a string or willow withes. This is very desirable where the snow drifts over the plants, as it prevents their being broken by it when it settles in the spring and more protection is afforded by this treatment than is generally supposed.

Marketing.—It is customary to market the currant in baskets holding about six or eight pounds, but sometimes quart boxes and other packages are used for this purpose. One must study the local market to learn which package is the best to use. This fruit is generally sold by the pound. Unlike the raspberries and strawberries it will remain in good condition on the plants for some little time after getting ripe, but it does not ship as well if very ripe as when it is a little green. The fruit makes the firmest jelly before it gets fully ripe, and on this account it is sometimes most profitable to market the crop when the berries at the ends of the bunches are still quite green.

FIG. 21.—A, Eggs of currant worm on the vines on the under side of the leaf. C and B, Hotes made by the young worms when they first commence to feed shortly after coming from egg.

Insects.—THE CURRANT WORM (Nematus ventricosus) is the most troublesome insect that attacks this plant. The female lays her eggs in rows on the veins on the under side of the leaves (as shown in Fig. 21) quite early in the season. They are white in color and about one-twentieth of an inch long. These eggs hatch in about ten days. The young worms feed in companies, at first eating small holes in the leaves as shown at A, B and C in Fig. 21, but later on they destroy all the green tissue in the leaf and then spread in all directions over the bush eating the foliage. They will frequently strip a bush of its leaves in a few day’s time if left to themselves. Figure 22 shows the worms at work in the latter stage of their growth. When full grown they are three quarters of an inch long. There are two broods of these worms; the first appearing before or about the time the fruit is ripe, and the second two or three weeks later. The mature insect is a fly somewhat resembling the housefly (Fig. 23).

Remedy.—Powdered hellebore mixed with its bulk of flour may be dusted on the plants when the foliage is wet, or it may be used at the rate of one ounce of powdered hellebore to a gallon of water and be sprayed on the foliage. Used in either way it is a very cheap, effective and easily applied remedy. But hellebore is quite poisonous and is not safe to use when the fruit is ripe, although no danger will exist if several days should elapse after the application before the fruit is gathered, and a light shower after the hellebore is applied will remove all danger from it. Pyrethrum insect powder is a good, safe and effective remedy when applied just at night, but it is very expensive and difficult to obtain, of a good quality, at any price.

FIG. 22.—Currant worms (Nematus ventricosus) at work on the leaves.

Where these insects have made their appearance the first indication of them should be watched for in following years and great care taken to destroy the first brood each season. Growers of this fruit should be very particular not to neglect the bushes after the crop is gathered, for it is very important for the next year’s crop that they should make a good growth of wood, and neglecting them at this time often allows a crop of worms to mature to cause more extensive injury the following year. The flies seem to prefer the foliage of native varieties of goose-berries, such as the Houghton seedling, for its eggs, and a few of these bushes may be planted among the currants, when most of the worms can be very easily destroyed on them as soon as the eggs hatch.

FIG. 23.—Mature form of the Currant Worm. A, male. B, female.

Imported Currant Borer (Aegeria tipuliformis). Fig. 24. In many sections this insect in its larval state causes great injury to the stems of the currant and gooseberry by so weakening them that they break off when loaded with fruit, and by making them sickly. The female lays her eggs in the stems early in the summer. In a few days the eggs hatch into little white grubs, which work into the pith of the stem where they make their burrows and live until the following season. They then finish their transformation and appear as wasp-like moths and the females shortly commence to lay eggs. This insect infests chiefly the red and white currant, but it also attacks the black currant and occasionally the gooseberry

Remedies.—The infested stems should be cut out in the autumn or very early in the spring and be burned at once. If the growers in any vicinity will follow this method in united effort they can keep this insect in subjection. However, it is quite certain this pest will not continue for many years so very abundant as it is now, but that following the natural course of events it will be checked by parasites or some disease, and we may then enjoy a period of comparative immunity from it for a series of years.

Lice (Aphis ribis) are frequently very abundant on the foliage of currants and gooseberries, where they cause the leaves to curl up and become distorted thus checking their growth, but seldom causing serious injury. They may be destroyed by spraying the foliage with tobacco water made by steeping the raw leaf or stems in hot water until it is the color of strong tea. Kerosene emulsion is also a very excellent remedy. It may be made as follows: Soft soap, one quart; hard soap (preferably whale-oil soap) one-fourth pound; two quarts hot water, and one pint kerosene. Stir thoroughly until all are permanently mixed, then add two quarts more