Currant rainbow: the most successful varieties for growing in the regions of Russia and Belarus

On a fine summer morning, you go out into the garden and see an amazing picture: bright berries ripen on the bushes like scattered beads! This is how the currant bushes decorated with colorful fruits look elegant. Against the background of dark greenery, multicolored berries-beads shimmer in the sun, from delicate white and pink to thick dark blue and violet. And the currant beckons - pick it up and eat it! Throughout Russia, from the Central region to the Urals and Siberia, gardeners grow this grateful culture. Many varieties with fruits of various tastes, colors and sizes, with their own characteristics. But for the successful cultivation of currants and obtaining generous crops, it is desirable to know the characteristics of each variety.

Currant varieties with description and characteristics

Black and red currants are classic types of this garden culture. Based on blackcurrant, breeders have developed a unique green-fruit variety. And red currants gave birth to their "colored sisters" - white and pink. Depending on the origin and biological characteristics, the following groups of currant varieties are distinguished:

• Varieties of the European subspecies: Goliath, Agatha, Boscius giant. Begin to bear fruit in the 3rd year after planting. They have average indicators of self-fertility. Affected by a kidney tick. The fruits are mostly black.
• Varieties of the Siberian subspecies: Nadezhda, Graduation, Altai giant, Dessert. They come into fruiting in the 2nd year and bear fruit for 5-8 years. Self-fertility is low. Resistance to the tick is moderate. The fruits have a color from brown and red to dark purple. These varieties are characterized by high flaking of fruits after ripening.
• Hybrid varieties from crossing European and Siberian subspecies: Daughter of Altai, Nina, Katun, Altai dessert. They have characteristics that are intermediate between parent groups. Self-fertility is above average.
• Hybrid varieties from crossing the European subspecies and varieties developed on the basis of wild currants and varieties Primorsky champion: Black Lisavenko, Nochka, Autumn Altai, Golubka, Moskovskaya. Fruits in the 2nd year after planting. They have high self-fertility rates. Resistance to the tick is higher than average. The berries are blue-black in color with a gray coating, large. Shedding fruit is high.

Photo Gallery: Overview of Black and Red Currant Varieties

Varieties of red currants

The list of varieties of red currants that were grown in industrial gardens and in household plots for a long time consisted of obsolete, low-yielding, small-fruited and susceptible to various diseases. The need to improve the range and dramatically improve the quality characteristics of currants laid the foundation for the creation of new promising varieties. As a result of selection in the early 2000s, new modern varieties of red currant were obtained - Alpha, Zero, Ilyinka. Along with the well-known, well-established varieties Ural beauty, Natalie, Dutch red, Darling, Jonker van Tets, Rond, Versailles red, Cherry Vicksne, novelties have been successfully mastered by gardeners. These varieties are especially popular in amateur gardening.

Given the great popularity among gardeners of red currants, breeders are creating new varieties of this crop. The berries of red (white) currant contain:

20-50 mg / 100 g of ascorbic acid (vitamin C),

0.3-0.5% P-active compounds,

5.3-10.9% sugars,

1.9-4.2% acids.

A peculiar feature of red currant is a rather high accumulation of coumarins (1.7-4.4 mg / 100 g - more than that of black currant). Of particular interest are the new large-fruited varieties. So, most recently, for the state variety test, we transferred the varieties Alpha, Zero and Ilyinka, which are distinguished by large berries, pleasant taste, and high productivity.

V. Ilyin, doctor S.-kh. Sciences, South Ural Research Institute of Horticulture and Potato

Household Farm Magazine, No. 5, 2010

Grade Alpha

Parent varieties - Cascade and Chulkovskaya. The fruiting onset is average. The bush is medium-sized, compact, with an average density of shoots. The fruits are saturated red in color, large, of the same size, weighing from 0.9 to 1.5 g. The berries are distinguished by an exquisite sweet-sour, dessert taste, there is a pronounced aroma. Productivity is high - from the bush receive from 2 to 4 kg of fruit. Tasting score - 4.7 points. Currants Alpha are characterized by self-fertility and stable bearing. Among the advantages are high winter hardiness and resistance to powdery mildew.

Alpha currants are distinguished by high productivity

Grade Ilyinka

Parent variety - Jonker van Tets with free pollination. The ripening period is medium late. The bush is medium-sized, compact, with a dense crown. Fruits of scarlet or dark red color, large, the same size, weighing 0.8-1.6 g. The taste of berries is excellent, sweet with a slight sourness, dessert. Productivity is high, stable, 3.5 kg of fruit from one bush. Tasting score - 5.0 points. The Ilyinka variety is characterized by large-fruited and high winter hardiness. Plants are self-fertile and resistant to powdery mildew. Occasionally affected by sawflies and anthracnose.

The wonderful taste of the fruit allows the Ilyinka variety to have the highest tasting rating.

Grade Zero

Like the Alpha variety, the parental varieties are Cascade and Chulkovskaya. Early fruiting start date. The bush is tall, compact, with medium shoot density. The fruits are dark red, almost cherry in color, large, of the same size, weighing from 1.0 to 1.6 g. Berries of an amazing sweet taste. Productivity is high - from the bush receive from 2.0 to 2.5 kg of fruit. Tasting score - 4.8 points. The advantages of Zero currant are self-fertility, high winter hardiness and resistance of bushes to Septoria and powdery mildew.

The combination of beauty and unusually sweet taste of berries makes Zero currant a very popular variety

Due to the good taste and large-fruited varieties of red currant Zero, Alpha and Ilyinka are mainly used fresh, although these are universal varieties and can be successfully used for processing.

Despite the fact that blackcurrant is traditionally grown more often in Russian gardens, redcurrant has a number of obvious advantages over it: high stable yield, resistance to most diseases and pests, as well as a longer productive period. The last property of red currant is due to the fact that fruit shoots (gloves and bunchy branches), on which flower stalks are located, grow evenly along the length of the branches. This allows the bush to regularly bear fruit on the same shoots up to 7-8 years. Due to the average thickening of the bushes, red currants ripen 2-3 weeks earlier compared to black.

Photo gallery: traditional varieties of red currant

Redcurrant does not like hot weather, the optimal air temperature for its normal growth and development is + 20-22 ^ºC. However, due to the deep-lying and branched root system, this culture has high drought tolerance. Therefore, most varieties of red currant on some days of summer withstand heat up to + 30-40 ^ºC. If the dry period is delayed in time, the bushes may discard some of the leaves to reduce moisture loss. The same applies to the resistance of currant bushes to winter cold. Possessing, depending on the region of cultivation, varying degrees of winter and frost resistance, all varieties of red currant tolerate winter frosts and spring frosts without noticeable losses. Young shoots freezing during especially severe winters quickly recover in the spring and give normal yields in the future.

White currant varieties

According to the information of the "Catalog of varieties" of the All-Russian Research Institute for Fruit Crop Breeding (VNIISPK), white currant is a variety of red and is close to it by biological characteristics. Her varieties have characteristics similar to red currants, but differ in the color of the fruits.

Table: main features and characteristics of white currant varieties

Different types of white currant combine their common varietal properties:

• good yields
• wonderful taste of fruits,
• endurance to adverse conditions,
• immunity to the mite,
• high resistance to anthracnose.

Photo gallery: popular varieties of white currant

Advantages and disadvantages of various varieties of white currant:

• White Fairy. Advantages: high productivity, dessert taste of berries. Tasting score - 4.0 points. Disadvantage: thick bush form.
• Smolyaninovskaya. Advantages: high productivity, high resistance to pests and diseases. Tasting score - 4.0 points. Disadvantage: under the weight of the crop, the bush becomes sprawling.
• Ural white. Advantages: high winter hardiness, productivity, dessert taste of berries, resistance to powdery mildew. Tasting score - 5.0 points. Disadvantage: insufficient size of berries.
• White Potapenko. Advantages: high winter hardiness, excellent taste of berries, early maturity. Tasting score - 4.7 points. Disadvantage: average yield.
• Cream. Advantages: resistance to diseases and pests, good, delicate, sweet and sour taste. Tasting score - 4.3 points. Disadvantages: no.
• Button accordion Advantages: winter hardiness, high productivity, high resistance to powdery mildew, dessert taste of berries. Tasting score - 4.4 points. Disadvantages: large seeds, red gall aphids are affected.
• Yuterborg. Advantage: the berries do not crumble for a long time and do not lose their taste. Disadvantages: the spreading form of the bush, the average resistance to anthracnose and septoria, suffers from damage by currant kidney moth, gooseberry sawfly and red gall aphid.
• Minusinskaya white. Advantages: winter hardiness, early maturity, high annual productivity, integrated resistance to major pests and diseases. Tasting score - 4.6 points. Disadvantages: large seeds, lack of portability.

Video: ripening white currant

Varieties of pink currants

Along with white currants, pink is part of the "color family" and is a variety of red currants. The culture of pink currant does not belong to the well-known and is still little grown in private farms. The fruits of most of its varieties do not crumble upon reaching full maturity and remain on the bushes almost all autumn. Therefore, they are collected in a mechanized way and processed into canned products. Although, thanks to the exquisite sweet or sweet-sour taste, pink currant berries are tastier to eat fresh.

Video: Wonderful pink currant

Compared to black or red, pink currant varieties are few in number. The most famous are:

• Dutch pink
• Bouncer,
• Nutmeg pink
• Rose char
• Pink pearls
• Wonderful
• Rossoshanskaya pink.

Table: main features and characteristics of varieties of pink currants

The main qualities of varieties of pink currants, similar to its red variety:

• mainly - early and medium term ripening of fruits;
• high productivity, from one bush you can get from 4 to 7 kg of magnificent berries;
• large-fruited majority of varieties, the mass of fruits varies from 0.4 to 1.3 g;
• high and very high indicators of winter hardiness and resistance to frost;
• predominantly good resistance to diseases (especially fungal) and garden pests;
• one of the important properties is the ability of bushes to retain fruits on branches for a long time without crumbling;
• universality of use - in a fresh and processed form.

Video: pink currant Springbok

But with similar quality indicators, pink currant compares favorably with others in its unique taste - it has very sweet, delicate, juicy berries.

This property of the fruit determines the features of growing pink varieties:

1. When planting seedlings between the bushes, a distance of at least 2 m should be observed, between rows - up to 1.5 m.
2. Plants require high soil moisture, overdrying reduces the juiciness of the fruit.
3. Autumn planting of seedlings is preferred (September-October).
4. To obtain a large crop, fertile soil is needed.

Photo gallery: varieties of pink currants with unique properties

Blackcurrant varieties

Varieties of blackcurrant originated mainly from its European and Siberian subspecies. In the process of selection of some varieties, wild forms of this plant were also used. Basically, currants - a culture with high adaptive abilities - the same variety can be grown in different geographical areas. However, the results will be different. Blackcurrant features are surface occurrence and weak branching of the root system. Therefore, most varieties of this crop have fairly low drought tolerance compared to red and white currants. Basically blackcurrant is self-fertile. However, in order to maintain stable fruiting (especially in adult plants), it is recommended to grow several different varieties for cross-pollination and with different ripening dates on one site.

Our ancestors domesticated blackcurrant - an ancestral inhabitant of Russian forests - 10 more centuries ago. And thanks to the hard breeding work of several generations of scientists over the past 100 years, a new generation of varieties has been created, among which there are real unique ones. Only finding such mediocre in the sea is very difficult.

V.V. Dadykin, editor-in-chief of the magazine "Gardens of Russia".

Gardens of Russia Magazine, July 7, 2011

Modern varieties of blackcurrant should have a whole range of positive biological qualities:

• high winter hardiness,
• self-fertility
• large-fruited
• productivity
• early maturity
• immunity to several underlying diseases (powdery mildew, septoria and anthracnose),
• resistance to pests (bud mites, garden aphids and others).

Currently, breeders have bred many varieties of culture that are highly consistent with these requirements. These include Selechenskaya-2, Yadrennaya, Hercules, Valovaya, Barrikadnaya, Spellbinder, Barmaley, Ladushka, Gracia, Oasis and several others.

Video: review of black currant varieties

Of particular note is Kipiana currant - the first and so far the only variety in the Russian selection that combines immunity to powdery mildew and buds with a high resistance to rust; and leaf spots, septoria and anthracnosis are affected to a minimum. The berries of this currant are tasty, sweet and sour, quite large - weighing 1.3-2.1 g. Ripen at the same time, which greatly facilitates the collection of fruits. Productivity is also a record: up to 10-12 kg of berries from one bush.

Varieties of currants resistant to kidney mites

Kidney currant mite is one of the most dangerous crop pests. It represents the microscopic size of a parasite (up to 0.3 mm), which lives on bushes of currant, wintering and multiplying inside the kidneys. In the spring, during the period of swelling and blooming of buds on the bushes, ticks infect them with egg-laying, from which larvae and adults later emerge.

The currant buds, inside which the pest larvae are located, are bloated and look like barrels

The disease develops very quickly, and if urgent measures to eliminate ticks are not taken, the currant bush will gradually die. Black currant varieties are most susceptible to infection by a kidney tick. Red and white varieties are affected less frequently. The fight against this pest is long and laborious, but the result is not always positive. Therefore, by breeding, currant varieties that have immunity or a fairly high resistance to this pest were bred:

• blackcurrant - Gift of Smolyaninova, Kipiana, Nara, Suig, Seedling Sophia, Lama, Crane, Late Altai, Veloy (Leningrad Sweet), Good Genie, Voivode, Vasilisa, Gamma;
• red currant - Dutch red, Zero, Ilyinka, Natalie, Serpentine, Ural beauty;
• white and pink currants - White Fairy (Diamond), Minusinskaya white, Ural white, Smolyaninovskaya, Cream.

Photo gallery: varieties of currants resistant to kidney mite damage

Large currant varieties

For the old, traditional varieties of currant, small berries were characteristic, the mass of which barely reached 0.2-0.3 g. This created certain inconveniences in the collection and processing of fruits. Since the end of the twentieth century, as a result of selection, varieties with large and very large berries were bred. For their combination of fruit size with a wonderful taste and high yield, they are becoming increasingly popular among gardeners.

Table: main features and characteristics of varieties of large-fruited currants

Video: currant Dobrynya

But first, you should recall some principles for selecting varieties for your garden. The number of plants on the site for each crop, of course, is planned by the gardener himself, depending on the desire to grow this crop, the taste preferences of each family member, etc. Planting should not be single-grade, no matter how good the selected variety.

T.V. Shagina, candidate of agricultural Sciences, GNU Sverdlovsk selection gardening station, Yekaterinburg.

Gardens of Russia Magazine, No. 5, August 2010

Video: Sanyuta currant

Drought tolerant currant varieties

Drought tolerance is a very important determinant of quality for currant varieties. It characterizes the reaction of the bushes to the adverse effects of high ambient temperatures simultaneously with a prolonged decrease in air and soil humidity. Plants with high resistance to heat and drought have the ability to adapt to changing conditions and to develop normally and produce crops during the arid hot period.

Varieties with high drought and heat resistance include:

• blackcurrant - Agatha, Bagheera, Galinka, Fun, Gulliver, Raisin, Friendly, Dobrynya;
• redcurrant - Alpha, Dutch red, Yonker van Tets, Coral;
• white currant - Ural white, Minusinsk white, White Potapenko.

Photo gallery: drought tolerant currant varieties

Varieties of black currant for growing in the regions

Due to its innate qualities inherited from wild species and acquired from cultivated cultivated subspecies, blackcurrant is characterized by a high potential for environmental plasticity and adaptability to adverse (and sometimes extreme) environmental factors. Depending on weather conditions, the same blackcurrant variety may manifest itself differently in different regions of Russia. Breeders develop new varieties that are resistant to diseases and pests, as well as adapt to changing growing conditions. For each climatic zone of our country, the best blackcurrant varieties are zoned, of which the most promising are distinguished. In recent years, Russian breeders have achieved very serious successes in creating modern blackcurrant varieties, productive and large-fruited, with high resistance to various external factors, which allowed a radical renewal of the regionalized assortment of this crop.

Varieties for Moscow Region and Central Russia

The climatic conditions of central Russia and the Moscow region are characterized by unstable winters, with severe frosts and sudden winter thaws, and warm, but often rainy summers. These conditions predetermine the cultivation of such currant varieties that fully comply with the requirements of crop selection for this region:

• Unpretentiousness in leaving.
• Frost and winter resistance of grades of -30 ºС and below.
• Resistance to major diseases, including powdery mildew, anthracnose, septoria, etc.
• Immunity or high resistance to pests (bud mites, garden aphids, etc.)
• The yield of currant is at least 3 kg from one bush.
• Self-fertility or a high percentage of self-fertility (from 65% and above).
• Large fruit size and weight not less than 2 g.
• High content of vitamin C and other beneficial substances in fruits.

The best varieties for cultivation in the conditions of central Russia and the Moscow region are:

• blackcurrant - Selechenskaya-2, Pygmy, Izmailovskaya, Belorussian sweet, Exotica, Riddle, Moscow;
• redcurrant - Natalie, Early sweet;
• white currant - Boulogne white, Cream, Dessert.

Photo gallery: different varieties of currants for the Moscow region and central Russia

New varieties: Selechenskaya-2, Kipiana, Grace, Oasis, Temptation and Creole are resistant (without signs of defeat even in rainy summers) to powdery mildew. And to varying degrees, to the main pest in the suburbs - the kidney tick.

Video: currant Selechenskaya-2

Varieties for Belarus

Despite the fact that the climate in Belarus is temperate continental, the climatic conditions in individual regions differ. If in the north and north-east of the republic frosts in winter reach from -8º to -10 ºС, then in south-western and southern regions winter is much warmer - below -4 ^ºWith the thermometer does not fall. The Belarusian winter is characterized by frequent thaws turning into wet snow. Summer here is usually not hot, with frequent rains and air temperature throughout the territory on average from +17^º up to +25 ^ºFROM.

Table: Blackcurrant for growing in Belarus

Considering environmental features, blackcurrant varieties that tolerate high humidity of air and soil, are immune to fungal diseases and viruses, with good winter hardiness are most suitable for growing in Belarus.

Video: Nara blackcurrant

These requirements are met by Golubichka, Riddle, Nara, Bagira, Lazybones, as well as zoned varieties: Katyusha, Klussonovskaya, Kupalinka, Memory of Vavilov, Ceres, Belorusskaya sweet, Titania. In addition to these qualities, blackcurrant of these varieties is characterized by high productivity, large juicy berries with excellent taste, which do not crumble when ripe.

Video: Blueberry currant variety

All varieties are characterized by self-fertility and universality of use - for fresh consumption and for processing. Due to the rasping of fruits, mechanized harvesting is widely used in the industrial cultivation of these varieties of currants.

Video: currant Memory of Vavilov

Advantages and disadvantages of varieties of currant for Belarus:

• Blueberry. Advantages: resistance to diseases and stress factors, early friendly ripening of berries. Tasting score - 4.8 points. Disadvantage: medium resistance to spring frost and drought.
• The riddle. Advantages: large-fruited, productivity, overgrowth of the bush, resistance to powdery mildew and anthracnose. Tasting score - 4.0 points. Disadvantages: demanding care (tillage, fertilizing), needs periodic removal of peripheral branches.
• Katyusha. Advantages: high productivity, good taste. Tasting score - 4.9 points. Disadvantage: affected by fungal diseases.
• Nara. Advantages: high adaptability, self-fertility, resistance to diseases and kidney mites. Tasting score - 4.6 points. There are no flaws.
• The memory of Vavilov. Advantages: high productivity, good taste. Tasting score - 4.8 points. Disadvantage: defeat by fungal diseases.
• Bagheera. Advantages: high winter hardiness and productivity, excellent taste and marketability of berries, good transportability. Tasting score - 4.5 points. Disadvantage: in some years, it shows insufficient resistance to powdery mildew.
• Belorussian sweet. Advantages: high productivity, good taste. Tasting score - 4.6 points. Disadvantages: unevenness and non-simultaneity of berry ripening, damage to fungal diseases.

Varieties for Siberia

Blackcurrant is the most popular crop in Siberian gardens. It has long been successfully grown in the Altai Territory, which is the southern outskirts of Western Siberia. Currant varieties are familiar and loved by many:

• Starry
• Brown
• Suiga
• Necklace,
• Altai Late,
• Favorite Bakchara,
• In memory of Lisavenko,
• Hercules.

In connection with the intensive development of new northern territories for residents of Western and Eastern Siberia, the urgent issue was the cultivation of new varieties of black currant, more frost and winter hardy, early-growing and high-yielding, which are minimally susceptible to or resistant to fungal, viral diseases and pests. immunity.

Video: large-fruited currants for the conditions of Siberia

Siberia has long been considered the center of origin of many types of currants and was famous for large-fruited, productive wild-growing forms of the Siberian subspecies of black currant with berries of dessert flavor. This served as the basis for the development of breeding work on currants here.

N.I. Nazaryuk, candidate of agricultural Sciences, Leading Researcher NIISS them. M.A. Lisavenko, Barnaul.

Gardens of Russia Magazine, July 4, 2010

Table: Blackcurrant for growing in Siberia

Given the extreme conditions of Siberia, when the difference between winter and summer air temperatures can reach 90-95 ^ºC, in winter frosts are often up to -50 ^ºC, and summer heat - up to +40 ^ºC, to move the currant further north, in more severe climatic conditions, appropriate varieties were needed.

Currently, the main objectives of breeding blackcurrant in Gorno-Altaisk is the creation of blackcurrant varieties resistant to adverse environmental factors and major diseases and pests, early-growing, self-fertile, with a mass of berries of 1.2-1.4 g, a high content of biologically active substances, with a potential yield of 8-10 t / ha, suitable for mechanized harvesting.

L.N. Zabelina, candidate of agricultural Sciences, Leading Researcher NIISS them. M.A. Lisavenko, Gorno-Altaysk.

Gardens of Russia Magazine, July 4, 2010

Photo gallery: the best varieties of currants for Siberia

The best modern varieties for growing in Siberia are:

• Treasure,
• Black Pearl,
• Hercules,
• Favorite Bakchara,
• Minusinskaya sweet
• August
• Bagheera,
• Green haze
• Gift Kalinina,
• Princess
• Quail,
• In memory of Potapenko,
• Gift of Smolyaninova.

Video: Bagira early varieties, Black Pearls

A feature of black currant grown in Siberia is its versatility, i.e. the possibility of eating fresh berries and using them for processing. In addition, in most varieties, fruits can be harvested mechanically.

Varieties for the Urals

The Urals have long been considered a zone of risky farming, in particular for gardening. The most dangerous and critical for currants is the deterioration of weather conditions during the flowering period - a sharp cooling, spring return frosts can damage bushes that are just beginning to bloom. The most vulnerable under such conditions are blooming flowers. In buds and ovaries, resistance to low temperatures is slightly higher. The degree of damage depends on the intensity of the freeze, its duration and the conditions for exiting it (wind, rain, sun).

Our Ural zone is characterized by peculiar climatic conditions: the accumulation of heat and moisture, often occurring extreme conditions at any time of the year, especially in winter and spring. Therefore, only a few of the large number of introduced varieties can realize their full potential. As a rule, in our conditions the varieties are "not picked up," first of all, in terms of marketability. Most importantly, varieties from other zones are more vulnerable during weather-critical periods. They are more affected by sudden changes in temperature in the winter, less resistant to frost during flowering. Yes, and pests with diseases more and more prevail over these varieties.

T.V. Shagina, candidate of agricultural Sciences, GNU Sverdlovsk selection gardening station, Yekaterinburg.

Gardens of Russia Magazine, No. 5, August 2010

Given these features of the climate of the Urals, when choosing varieties of currants for planting and growing, you must give preference to later varieties. In addition, it is desirable to have several varieties of black currant with a different flowering period in the garden or on the infield. But also when choosing a variety, you should pay attention to its winter hardiness and frost resistance, because Ural winters are severe enough (with frosts down to minus 35-40 ^ºFROM). Such characteristics as good heat tolerance and resistance to drought in the varietal characteristics of currants are desirable, given the possibility of summer heat with temperatures up to +35 ^ºFROM.

To prevent mass death of flowers, it is necessary to plant black currants on the plot with different flowering periods. The longer the flowering period, the more chances to get a crop from the site, since in varietal plantings in case of freezing, only a part of the flowers that have bloomed by this time can suffer. In addition, under optimal conditions, the pollination of varieties increases not only the yield, but also the commercial quality of the berries (the mass of the berry increases, the taste improves).

T.V. Shagina, candidate of agricultural Sciences, GNU Sverdlovsk selection gardening station, Yekaterinburg.

Gardens of Russia Magazine, No. 5, August 2010

Video: growing blackcurrant in the Urals

The best blackcurrant varieties for the conditions of the Urals:

• Venus,
• Pygmy,
• Memory of Michurin,
• Sibylla,
• Dashkovskaya
• Good genie
• Chelyabinsk Festival,
• Gulliver
• Gift of Ilyina,
• Zusha.

All of these varieties have high and very high winter hardiness, they are quick-growing, they tolerate return frosts and sudden temperature changes. For the most part, they are resistant to diseases and damage by pests. In addition to these qualitative characteristics, individual varieties of currants have particularly high rates:

• by large-fruited (mass of berries) - Pygmy (2.3-7.7 g), Dashkovskaya (2.0-6.0 g), Venus (2.2-5.7 g), Sibylla (1.9-5 , 0 g);
• by productivity (kg from the bush) - Gift of Ilyina (2.4-6.6 kg), Pygmy (1.6-5.7 kg), Venus (2-5 kg), Sybil (2.5-4 kg) ;
• to taste and sweetness of berries (tasting assessment) - Venus (5 b.), Sibylla (5 b.), Pygmy (5 b.), Dashkovskaya (4.9 b.), Good genie (4.8 b.), Gift of Ilyina (4.7 b.), Chelyabinsk Festival (4.6 b.);
• for autonomy - Gulliver, Sibylla, Gift of Ilyina, Pygmy, Memory of Michurin, Chelyabinsk Festival;
• on resistance to powdery mildew - Venus, Sibylla, Pygmy, Dashkovskaya, Ilyina's Gift, Good Genie, Chelyabinsk Festival, Gulliver.

Video: Chelyabinsk currant varieties, Lazybones

And one more thing about currant

Recently, to the universal favorite of gardeners, blackcurrant, its variety joined - green-fruited. Connoisseurs immediately praised its merits. Its fruits, leaves and twigs have the same currant smell as black, but the aroma is softer, more pleasant, unsharp. Green currant is especially appreciated by people who, for various reasons, black berries are not suitable.

Video: green currant

This plant is unpretentious, has a high winter hardiness, quickly enters fruiting. Neither disease nor pests affect this currant. Her berries are green with a light yellow tinge, a wonderful sweet taste, they can be eaten both fresh and frozen. Varieties of green currants most demanded by amateur gardeners:

• Verne
• Tear of Isis
• Inca Gold
• The Snow Queen,
• Emerald necklace,
• Vertti.

The main indicators of green fruit varieties:

• fruit ripening period - from early (Tear of Isis) to mid-late (Emerald Necklace, Snow Queen);
• the bushes are low or medium, rather compact;
• fruit mass - from 1.0 to 1.4 g;
• the taste is sweet, less often - sweet-sour;
• productivity - from 2.0 to 3.0 kg of berries from one bush;
• extremely high resistance to ticks and fungal diseases.

The brush of green currant resembles a necklace - berries hang like green transparent beads on a string

Green berries are completely inconspicuous among the leaves. It seems to the uninitiated person that they are still unripe, therefore uninvited guests will not touch your harvest. I hope gardeners will appreciate the novelty and it will become familiar in our gardens.

L. Zaitseva, Udmurt Republic

Household Farm Magazine, No. 5, 2010

Reviews

The color scheme of colored currants varies from dark cherry to pale white. If desired, you can find varieties with berries of various colors. Cherry Vicksne is a fairly common variety. Of pink, Dutch pink has a very good taste. The Bayan variety is cream-colored in full maturity, the Cream variety is bred in Michurinsk - the color of the berries is very beautiful - cream with a delicate pink tint. The Tsarskaya vintage variety has yellow berries.

Victor Bratkin, Ryazan region

//forum.prihoz.ru/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=1277&start=780

Last summer, we had fruiting green currants! I liked the taste very much, a cross between currants and gooseberries, but it’s very sweet. This year we want to cut the cuttings with a daughter and get more green bushes with a daughter. I’ll go and read how this is done.

Galina L,

//forum.prihoz.ru/viewtopic.php?p=207816#p207816

Selechenskaya-2 is an interline hybrid between forms 42-7 and 4-1-116. In his pedigree there is a variety of Seedling Doves. Form 4-1-116 is a derivative of the Seedling Dove and number 32-77. A variety of early ripening, leaves are highly resistant to powdery mildew, anthracnose, and rust. One of the few varieties has beautiful, healthy foliage until late fall. The berries are large, black, shiny, with a dry margin. The taste is sweet and sour, highly dessert. It is sufficiently resistant to the kidney tick; the population of bushes with the tick is slow. I have six years in the bushes, not a single affected kidney.

Victor Bratkin, Ryazan region.

//forum.prihoz.ru/viewtopic.php?start=90&t=5155

Scientists of the Siberian Research Institute of Horticulture named after M.A. Lisavenko (Barnaul) created an unusual blackcurrant. Its berries have no seeds, which is why the new seedless variety was named. Until now, such a variety has not been able to get breeders in any country in the world. The authors of the novelty are the employees of the institute, candidates of agricultural sciences Lidia Nikiforovna Zabelina and Ekaterina Ilinichna Nakvasina. In addition to seedlessness, the new variety also has other advantages. Its berries are large (more than a centimeter in diameter) with a high content of vitamin C (141 mg%). It tastes sweet and sour, with a pleasant aroma. Plants are medium-sized (up to 120 cm) and medium-spreading. The setting of flowers with free pollination is high - 77%. The yield from the bush is 3 kg or more. The variety is characterized by increased resistance to the kidney tick, aphids and to the most common diseases: powdery mildew, anthracnose, septoria. The new variety is still undergoing primary variety testing in the conditions of the harsh unpredictable climate of the Altai Mountains. After confirming the merits, they plan to transfer it to the State variety test.

Kreklina Lyudmila Alexandrovna. Mari El, Yoshkar-Ola

//forum.vinograd.info/showthread.php?t=7585

In order to consistently receive high yields of red currant, experts advise planting plants of different varieties. We followed these tips. For themselves, those varieties that successfully grow and bear fruit in our middle lane, are not afraid of frost and resistant to the main diseases - powdery mildew, anthracnose, were chosen. So, they planted a domestic variety called Early Sweet. The berry is really sweet, and we begin to "pinch" it already in early July. Then Eric ripens (we gave such a home name to the variety of the Western European selection Erstling Aus Fierlanden). He has amazingly beautiful, smooth, long, up to 15 centimeters, thick brushes with berries up to one and a half centimeters in diameter. And in early September, the time comes for the Dutch red. This is an old, well-known and beloved gardener of the West European variety - the name speaks for itself. Its berries are stored on bushes until frost. The bush has been living for almost 30 years! In general, there are a lot of “red” varieties, and the choice is for the most demanding taste.

Anastasia Petrovna Shilkina, amateur gardener, Korolev, Moscow region.

Gardens of Russia Magazine, July 7, 2011

In Orel, black currants are selected for resistance to powdery mildew. Kipiana is an Oryol variety, one of the most resistant, that is, it is not affected even in the years of epiphytoties (epidemic). In addition, one can name Gamma, Grace, Temptation, Charm.

Tamara, Moscow, cottage in Zelenograd

//forum.tvoysad.ru/viewtopic.php?start=90&t=157

Description varieties compiled by the author. ZERO - an early ripening period, received at the Federal State Budgetary Institution YuUNIISK (Chelyabinsk) from crossing varieties Chulkovskaya and Cascade. Author V.S. Ilyin. In state variety testing since 2007. Harvest, winter hardy. The bush is high, medium-spreading, medium density, growing shoots of medium thickness, slightly curved, not pubescent. The leaf is four-, five-lobed, medium in size, dark green, shiny, with a wrinkled concave plate. The teeth are short, slightly bent. The flower is medium sized, pale colored, fruit brush is long, medium thickness, sinuous, pubescent. The berries are large (1.0-1.6 g), one-dimensional, dark red, round, pleasant, sweet and sour taste (4.8 points), universal purpose. The variety is winter-hardy, productive, average long-term productivity of 3.04 kg / bush (10.85 t / ha), maximum - 7.0 kg / bush (25.0 t / ha). Self-fertile, slightly affected by powdery mildew, anthracnose.

Oboyanskiy Alexander, Lugansk region, the village of Old Krasnianka

//forum.vinograd.info/showthread.php?t=7344

I grow an Alpha variety of the same selection and the same parental pair as Zero, but of an early-medium maturity. The bush is very powerful, the berry is large. But the taste, in my opinion, is inferior to the parent form of Cascade.

Oboyanskiy Alexander, Lugansk region, the village of Old Krasnianka

//forum.vinograd.info/showthread.php?t=7344

Many varieties of currants of different taste, color, size of berries have already been grown by gardeners. Even more varieties are being tested to meet the most stringent selection requirements. Currants are black, red, yellow, green, pink, white - she asks to go to the garden. The novice gardener raises the question: what kind of currant to choose from the multi-colored sparkling rainbow of flowers - the largest or sweetest? Or the one that annually brings an incredible harvest? You decide, dear gardeners. The selection of varieties is huge, and this choice is yours!