Bud break consistency products in blackcurrant

Dormancy breaking in blackcurrant can be simply and effectively managed with the application of a dormancy breaking product at 3% green tip, either using a commercially available product:

• Brecaut LG 440 + Brecaut LG 441
• Bluprins + Bluact
• Erger + Active Erger

Or via a fertilizer mix of readily available products:

Blackcurrants require a prolonged chilling period to induce and synchronise flowering. With current fluctuations in the UK climate, blackcurrants are regularly failing to achieve the chilling required to allow buds to break evenly and fully, resulting in decreased yields and fruit quality. Under Innovate UK 102132 project “Winter chilling in blackcurrants: adapting to climate change, through new technologies for improved dormancy release”, new bud breaking products and combinations of nutrients were tested for their effect on bud breaking in blackcurrant. This project aims to unite the findings from work package 3 of the Innovate UK project and combine the most efficacious nutrients into a single treatment to validate findings, explore cheaper alternatives to the most expensive components of the mix and to test new commercially available products for bud breaking potential to protect the security of the supply of UK blackcurrants in a changing climate.