Today, breeders offer gardeners many unique varieties of plants that attract attention with new fruits, smells or decorative properties. Such examples include a hybrid of currants and gooseberries.
Description and characteristics of a hybrid of currants and gooseberries
This type of plant has a difficult history, because it is obtained by crossing.
The origin of the name: gooseberries crossed with currants, as they say
Many gardeners have already heard about the variety obtained by crossing gooseberries and currants. Unique in its characteristics, the hybrid is called yoshta.
Ripe fruits
Origin history
The crossing of two varieties of berries was still done by Ivan Michurin, but it was the breeder Rudolf Bauer who was lucky. Yoshta hybrid came to Russia in 1986. After that, the plant was improved, and its qualities improved.
Popular varieties
To the question, a hybrid of gooseberries and black currants, as they say, can be answered by a list of names of varieties. It:
- Rike Hungarian;
- Soviet Zvyagina hybrid;
- Chrome swedish;
- Krondal is American.
The properties of these mixtures are similar to currants and gooseberries. They did not receive a strong distribution in the regions of Russia.
The latest developments include varieties, which began to be called:
- EMB. The bush of English breeders has a height of 1.8 m. Early flowering provides early ripening. Productivity - 5-10 kg per bush;
- Crown. The variety belongs to the Swedish developers. Berries are characterized by a small size, long-term preservation on the bush and poor taste. This variety is used to create a beautiful hedge. Productivity - up to 3 kg per bush;
- Moreau. This shrub has a columnar shape. The berries are similar to cherries, their skin is purple, the aroma is delicate musky;
- Yohimi. The variety can be called the most successful development. It gives good fruiting in the Mediterranean countries. Bushes grow up to 2 meters. Productivity - up to 10 kg per bush;
- Rext Bushes are formed with erect shoots, the berries are delicious. Productivity - 5-10 kg from one bush.
note! Breeders still continue to create hybrid varieties of currants crossed with red gooseberries, wishing to obtain a high-yielding culture that is resistant to infections.
Characteristics of the bushes
Yoshta is a tall perennial shrub that does not have thorns. Its powerful spreading branches are periodically pruned. A plant for good fruiting should have 20 branches (in an equal number of branches of the 1st and 2nd year of growth). The developed root goes deeper into the ground to 40 cm, so the plant needs to be planted in open areas.
Characteristics of berries
Berries are formed in the brush up to 5 (sometimes up to 9) pieces. Their weight is usually about 3 g. However, in some varieties this indicator reaches 5 g. Yoshta berries are similar to ripe cherries. The violet-black skin of the fruit is dense, with few seeds inside. The flesh tastes sweet and sour with a slight musky tint.
Berries are in demand in cooking. They are well transported and stored for a long time. Fruits remain on the branches until the fall, even if they are already fully ripe.
Grade Features
The variety is unique, as it combines the characteristics of currants and gooseberries. To understand what the characteristics of the variety are, you should study the process of fruit ripening, taste characteristics and other important parameters of the hybrid.
Ripening period and yield
Ripening of yoshta berries begins in July and lasts 3 weeks. Since the fruits are firmly held on branches, it is not worth fearing that they will begin to crumble.
Depending on the variety, the weight of the berries can be 3-5 g, and the yield with proper care - from 5 to 10 kg per bush.
Taste qualities
Breeders, developing new varieties of hybrids of currant with gooseberries, always strive to improve their taste. As a rule, the berry is characterized by sweet and sour notes with a touch of nutmeg.
Note! Yohimi variety has an original sweet taste, not similar to gooseberries and currants. Rext grade is also distinguished by good taste.
Drought and frost resistance
Recent developments of a cross between gooseberries and black currants have been aimed at increasing the yield and taste of the crop. An important place was given to frost resistance and drought resistance. The latter varieties have acquired increased frost resistance, low requirements for irrigation and soil type.
Recently bred hybrids do not like excess moisture and do not require special care before the onset of frost.
Disease and pest resistance
Breeders undertaking to cross currants with gooseberries give an important place to strengthening the resistance of hybrids to hereditary diseases and pests. Therefore, modern hybrids are already less sick than their parents. They are less susceptible to attacks by the kidney tick, are more resistant to brown spotting and terry.
Important! When signs of terry appear, experts advise to immediately destroy the plant so that the viral disease does not spread to neighboring bushes.
Berry use
Yoshta berries are a unique storehouse of vitamins and elements useful to the human body. Under their influence, metabolic processes improve, heavy metals and toxic substances are eliminated, and the immune system is strengthened.
With unripened yoshta berries, you get delicious jelly, jam and jam. From ripe fruits make wines, liquors, compotes.
Wine
Advantages and disadvantages of the variety
The advantages of the hybrid include:
- universality of the plant (planted to obtain berries and as an element of the landscape);
- lack of spikes on the shoots;
- original musky taste;
- frost resistance;
- minor root shoots;
- undemanding to the soil.
Minuses:
- in comparison with parents gives lower productivity;
- it is advisable for pollination to plant gooseberries and currants nearby;
- the ripening period lasts 2 months.
Landscape hybrid
Planting young seedlings on the site
Yoshta landing implies some features. Below will be described the rules for preparing seedlings and the nuances of planting them.
Selection and preparation of seedlings
For planting, plants aged 1-3 years are used. Seedlings must have a developed root system. Dark-green leaves will testify to the good condition of the seedling.
Time and landing pattern
Landing can be carried out in September or in April. Ventilated and sunny territory will become favorable.
Important! To obtain a crop, bushes are planted at a distance of 1.5-2 m. If a hedge is created, the frequency of planting seedlings of a hybrid variety should not exceed 1 m.
Choosing a landing place
The plant feels comfortable on fertile soils with high aeration. Suitable chernozems, loamy and sandy loamy lands. Since plants prefer a slightly acidic or neutral environment, chalk should be added when planting in the wells.
Site preparation
Before planting (in 60 days), the areas where the plants will be planted should be dug to a depth of 50 cm. It is important to remove weed roots and stones.
Landing process
Wells are made with a depth of 25 cm. Always put crushed brick and ash on the bottom. The root system of the plant is placed in the hole and buried. A lot of water is poured into the landing site, the top layer of the soil is covered with straw.
Landing holes
Features of seasonal care
Yoshta, like any cultivated plant, requires some care. Below will be described the features of watering and loosening.
Watering and feeding
Given that the yoshta variety belongs to the Kryzhovnikov family, it needs moderately moist soil. Reinforced watering can be carried out only during a period of severe drought and during the ripening of berries. Experts advise watering the bushes once a week, filling the plant with 10 liters of water.
Plant nutrition is performed as follows:
- bird droppings (or mullein) are introduced under the shrub in the spring when buds appear. Litter concentrate is diluted in water at a ratio of 1:10 and poured under the bush 10 l / m2;
- during the ripening period, the bushes are fertilized with superphosphate or potassium sulfate. Under the root per 1 m2, 40 g of any drug is applied;
- Autumn top dressing of the plant focuses on soil quality. Humus, mullein or mineral fertilizers can be used (e.g. nitroammofosk 40 g / m2).
Mulching and cultivation
Since the root of the yoshta leaves 40 cm into the soil, the loosening procedure carried out after watering can be performed without risk of damage to the plant. Experienced gardeners recommend mulching instead of loosening.
Use of props
The hybrid, called yoshta, refers to sprawling bushes, which becomes a problem during the period of fruit growth. The heavy thin branches begin to bend and touch the ground, which leads to damage to the bushes by fungi and infections. To avoid this, experts recommend tying bushes.
Attention! Tighten the bushes so as not to form excessive thickening.
Preventative treatment
Yoshta, like currants, is easily affected by rust and septoria. Mites, butterflies, aphids, aphids and glaziers are happy to settle on it. Soil and seedlings can be prevented by fungicides (for example, copper sulphate).
Pruning
Since the bush does not throw out many shoots, fruits are formed on last year’s pads. Shrub pruning should be performed as a preventative measure in the spring before shoots appear or in the fall after harvest. Broken and diseased branches, as well as those that thicken the bush, should be removed.
Note! If yoshta lands to decorate the landscape, then pruning can be carried out, subject to their own imagination.
Winter preparations
After harvesting, the plant prepares for winter - excess branches are removed, damaged and diseased pagons are trimmed. Long shoots are shortened, touching the ground. After pruning, the bushes are given organic top dressing.
Pruning
Breeding
When it becomes necessary to propagate yoshta, you can use several methods: dividing the bush, separating the shoots and cuttings.
Shrub dividing is resorted to if the plant has become old or needs to be transplanted. Then the rhizome of the dug bush is divided into parts, treated with a manganese solution and planted.
Cuttings
This manipulation is performed using green or semi-lignified branches. In the first embodiment, the apical parts of the pagons are cut and planted.
The length of the cuttings should be no more than 20 cm. The soil surrounded by twigs is rammed and periodically watered.
Propagation by layering
Propagation of the plant by layering is simple. In the spring, the yoshta shoot is pressed to the ground, laid in a furrow and buried with soil. In the fall, cuttings are cut off from the bush, excavated and planted in another area.
Training
Pest and Disease Control
Joshta, like her parents, is damaged:
- powdery mildew;
- an anthracosis;
- cercosporosis;
- Septoria;
- rust.
Important! Fungicides are selected for the treatment of diseases, and bushes are irrigated with insecticides to control pests.
Disease
Thanks to the simple rules for caring for a hybrid of currants and gooseberries, as well as the special taste of its fruits, it can be increasingly found in summer cottages near gardeners. Although not all yoshta varieties have tasty and numerous fruits, but the plant in any case will be a wonderful decoration of the site.
