Honeysuckle care

Honeysuckle in our gardens, unfortunately, is not as widespread as it could be. And in vain. After all, its berries are a whole storehouse of essential vitamins. Honeysuckle berries contain ascorbic acid, P - active substances, iron, phosphorus, sodium, manganese and others useful elements. And also, and this is important, the blue berry contains the trace element selenium, which is rarely found in living nature - a drug of youth. In addition to honeysuckle, it is found only in blueberries and blueberries. Thanks to a complex of biologically active substances, honeysuckle is healing dietary product, elixir of life. Therefore, its berries are healing and have long been used in folk medicine for hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, malaria, gastrointestinal disorders. It is recommended to eat fresh honeysuckle berries in case of loss of appetite, vitamin deficiency, general weakness, anemia and atherosclerosis. For the same indications, you can use an infusion of dried berries. Medicinal properties possess both leaves, branches, and bark of honeysuckle. Berries They are used fresh and also for making juice, jam and compote. They also store well frozen. And the aesthetic value of these bushes on your site is quite significant. And actually cultivating this crop in our middle zone is not difficult.

The honeysuckle bush is a branched bush with rigid branched branches up to 2.5 meters high. Over time, the bark on the branches peels off and they acquire a light, almost whitish color. Quite spreading.

Honeysuckle is very frost-resistant. Thus, in the winter of 86 - 87 at a January temperature of - 42 - 46 0 C, many fruit and berry crops died in Leningrad region. Only honeysuckle survived and produced a normal harvest. Honeysuckle bushes are not demanding of heat even during the growing season, and spring frosts down to - 8 0 C can withstand not only green ovaries, but also buds and even flowers. Honeysuckle buds bloom very early, a few days after before the average daily temperature crosses zero degrees. Already in the second or third year, the honeysuckle bush begins to bear fruit, increasing its yield every year. The bush reaches maturity by six to seven years, after which the fertility of the bush decreases if measures are not taken to rejuvenate it. Otherwise, after ten years, the bush produces only a meager harvest of berries on the periphery of the crown. However, if you take timely measures to properly shape and then rejuvenate pruning of honeysuckle, the bush can bear fruit and delight its owners for up to two decades or more.

In my twenty-year practice of growing honeysuckle, I have not noticed that honeysuckle bushes suffer from recurrent spring frosts or diseases of berry crops common in the middle zone. And if you remember that honeysuckle berries ripen 1.5 - 2 weeks earlier garden strawberries, then the value of this berry becomes obvious at the very beginning of summer, when, after the long Russian winter, the first greenery is just beginning to appear. But we have to Remember that honeysuckle berries, after ripening, begin to fall off within a week. Therefore, you should not be late in picking berries. Currently in the gardens middle zone A wide variety of honeysuckle varieties are cultivated, differing in shape, taste and size of the berries. From spicy-sweet to sweet-sour and even bitter berries. The most common varieties of honeysuckle in our gardens: Cinderella, Shahinya, Icicle, Nakhodka, Salut, Blue Bird, Lakomka, Sinichka, Skoroplodnaya and Gzhelka.

To plant honeysuckle, choose well-lit places in the garden. summer cottages. As a rule, 3 - 4 bushes are planted on our “standard” plots different varieties, trying to take large-fruited bushes with berries that differ in taste and shape. Honeysuckle is very unpretentious in proximity to other types of berry bushes.

The range of soil acidity suitable for planting honeysuckle is quite large: pH from 4.5 to 7.5. For new plantings, it is better to purchase ready-made two-year-olds. honeysuckle seedlings with well-developed roots, because the survival rate of honeysuckle cuttings is very low. High-quality preparation of planting holes is of great importance here. Therefore, planting pits must be sufficiently voluminous and well filled with a full complex composition of fertilizers. A sufficient pit size can be 70x70 cm, up to 60 cm deep. On peat bogs with close standing groundwater the depth should be increased to 70 cm. Lay crushed stone of the middle fraction on the bottom in a layer of 10 - 15 cm, then a metal bottom from a two-hundred-liter barrel, and only then - the nutritional composition of the prepared mixture of organic and mineral fertilizers. Best time planting honeysuckle - early spring. Although when planted “in the mud,” the survival rate of the bushes is quite good, even from June to September. If all these conditions are met, the honeysuckle bush always takes root well and by the fall produces an increase in young branches of up to 30 - 40 centimeters. And the very next year you can collect the first handful of blue berries from the bush.

The formation of a honeysuckle bush should also be taken quite seriously. Already in the third year of the bush’s life, you need to give your future pet a uniformly sparse shape. Cut only those branches that in a year or two will create an excessively thickened base of the crown. After all, honeysuckle is one of the berry bushes that are overly prone to thickening. When the bush reaches the age of 7 - 8 years, it is necessary to begin anti-aging pruning of honeysuckle. More precisely - clippings. It is necessary to cut out 1 - 2 old branches at the root, which over time began to bear fruit only on the periphery of the crown. Under no circumstances should you cut off part of the young 1-, 2-, 3-year-old growths from the crown. This will only lead to further thickening of the bush.

Care for honeysuckle is standard for berry bushes, not complicated, but should be fairly regular.

In the spring - adding organic matter in combination with mineral complex fertilizers. Honeysuckle responds very gratefully to proper fertilizing and abundant watering. Since honeysuckle grows in nature along the banks of rivers, lakes and streams, it means that it is a very moisture-loving plant. In normally moist soil, berries become larger and the harvest richer. Therefore, we must remember: additional watering of honeysuckle during the berry-filling period in late May - early June gives a significant increase in yield and increases the weight of berries by an average of 15 - 20%. Therefore, abundant watering of honeysuckle is required at the rate of up to 3 buckets per adult bush at the end of spring, if April - May is dry. Immediately after picking the berries in early June, it is necessary to feed the bushes with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers, combining feeding with watering. And in October, carry out the planned pre-winter moisture-recharging watering of honeysuckle. If the summer is dry, then additional watering of honeysuckle is carried out in July - August. If curling of the tips of the leaves is detected against the background of the presence of aphid colonies, spray the bushes two or three times with Inta-Vir. Honeysuckle is not afraid of spring frosts and winter frosts, so the bushes do not require any shelter. But regular weeding of weeds in the bite area gives very good results.

As mentioned above, rejuvenation of honeysuckle bushes should begin at the 7th - 8th year of the bush’s life, and it consists only of cutting out “outdated” branches. A honeysuckle bush grows and bears fruit in one place at high level agricultural technology up to 20 years or more. And the yield from an adult bush of most varieties is up to 1 - 1.5 kg.

Among the advantages of honeysuckle is the ease of seed and vegetative propagation. Honeysuckle propagates vegetatively by green and lignified cuttings and air layering. Green cuttings should be taken long, with at least 3 - 4 internodes 8 - 12 cm long. Green cuttings are planted in a mixture of peat and sand (1:2). The optimal temperature for rooting cuttings is 25 - 28 degrees. Cuttings are cut at the end of flowering (late June). Before planting, remove all lower leaves except the top two. The cuttings are planted vertically in moist soil, deepening them halfway. It is necessary to water regularly. And on the 12th - 15th day, the cuttings form roots. During the entire growing season, it is good to water young honeysuckle seedlings with mullein infusion. To propagate honeysuckle by lignified cuttings after leaf fall, they are cut from strong shoots 20 - 30 cm long and planted in a shrub or placed in the snow until spring. It is even better to propagate in a “ring”, like red currants. But the most reliable way propagation here is by air layering, like propagation of gooseberries. The survival rate here is almost one hundred percent.

This circumstance and the early ripening of the fruits make the plant popular in our areas.
Nikita POLYAKOV

Honeysuckle is a low-growing shrub that is becoming increasingly common in our gardens. The main advantages of honeysuckle are the early ripening of the fruit (10 days earlier than strawberries) and the high content of vitamins. There is more vitamin C in honeysuckle fruits than in strawberries, gooseberries and raspberries. And in terms of the amount of P-active substances, they are second only to chokeberry berries. Honeysuckle fruits also contain microelements: iodine, iron, manganese, copper.

Honeysuckle is a winter-hardy crop. Its flowers and ovary can withstand spring frosts down to minus 7 degrees. However, this is a self-sterile plant, so to get a harvest you need to have three or four bushes of different varieties and shapes on the plot.

For planting honeysuckle, moderately moist loamy and sandy loam soils. The shrub does not like waterlogged and dry areas; it does not grow well in shaded areas.

Honeysuckle propagates by seeds. They can be sown in the summer immediately after picking the berries. After 35 - 40 days, the seeds will germinate, and by the beginning of October the height of the seedlings will reach approximately 3 cm, and they will successfully overwinter under snow cover. But the varietal properties and characteristics of the crop are preserved only through vegetative propagation by green and lignified cuttings and by dividing the bush. Therefore, it is better for novice gardeners to purchase seedlings at garden centers.

The best time to plant honeysuckle seedlings is early autumn. But you can plant them in the spring (before buds begin to bloom) and even in the summer (after growth has finished). The bushes are planted at a distance of 1.2 m from each other. 10 - 12 kg of humus, 50 g of superphosphate, 30 g of potassium salt, 30 - 50 g of ammonium nitrate are added to a planting hole measuring 40 x 40 cm.

Honeysuckle seedlings are usually not pruned when planting. But if the root system is weak, the plant must be cut to a height of 10 - 15 cm, leaving 2 - 3 pairs of buds at the base. Such pruning will restore the ratio of the above-ground and root parts and ensure good survival of the seedling.

Caring for honeysuckle plants consists of digging up tree trunks in the fall, weeding with loosening during the summer, and systematic watering. After planting honeysuckle in a permanent place, fertilizing is not carried out for two years. And then the plant must be fed once every 3-4 years with organic fertilizers: 8-10 kg per 1 sq. m of tree trunk circle.

Mineral fertilizers are applied two to three times during the growing season. First, in early spring (20 g of urea per 1 sq. m.), then in mid-June (10 g of ammonium nitrate, 15 g of double or 30 g of simple superphosphate and 15 g of potassium salt), combined with watering. In the fall, 15 g of double superphosphate is added for digging and 15 g of potassium salt per 1 sq. m.

In the first five years after planting, it is not recommended to prune the plant. In the future, sanitary pruning of the bushes and removal of weak shoots is carried out. For bushes older than 15 years, anti-aging pruning is carried out: old skeletal branches are removed to a strong young branch.

Honeysuckle varieties: early date ripening - Vitamin, medium ripening - Pavlovskaya, medium late ripening - Dessert.

The fruits have a very pleasant taste; they are used for food in fresh and processed forms. In addition, the berries are used in folk medicine for cardiovascular diseases and gastrointestinal disorders.

The most common three types of honeysuckle: Kamchatka, edible, Turchaninova. Many new varieties have now been developed. You can call them one species - edible honeysuckle. Although honeysuckle has been known as a food plant for a long time, it was only relatively recently (the last 10-15 years) that amateur gardeners became interested in it. But this is a wonderful berry vitamin crop with a lot of useful properties! Edible honeysuckle, planting and care, its cultivation have some peculiarities, but even a novice gardener can master them.

Honeysuckle is an exceptionally fast-bearing plant. Its berries ripen much earlier than strawberries. In addition, it is winter-hardy - it grows even in the North. Therefore the question about correct landing honeysuckle worries many.

Honeysuckle - beneficial properties and contraindications

And what a complex of vitamins this is! The fruits contain up to 11% sugar. 100 g of fruits contain up to 50 mg of vitamin C, up to 3.8 mg - B2, up to 9.2 mg - B9, up to 1000 mg - P, not counting the rich complex of organic acids and pectin substances. Berries contain a lot of iodine, manganese, iron, and copper.

Honeysuckle berries contain inositol and betaine - these are biologically active substances that stimulate fat metabolism. The fruits contain triterpene acids, a considerable amount of potassium, magnesium, and sodium. It is known that triterpene acids are part of triterpene glycosides - and these are the main components of ginseng. By the way, honeysuckle berries contain more potassium than cranberries.

In addition, the optimal combination of P-active substances and vitamin C helps restore the elasticity of blood vessels, their permeability, normalize lymph flow, and reduce swelling. P-active substances (and edible honeysuckle contains many of them) have anti-inflammatory, wound-healing, antipyretic, antitumor, and rejuvenating effects.

Traditional medicine has long used honeysuckle for gastrointestinal diseases, malaria, blood diseases, kidney disease - a diuretic. The fruits are used fresh; jam, marmalade, and juices are prepared from them.

Reproduction of edible honeysuckle - methods

Edible honeysuckle is propagated by seeds, by dividing the bush, by layering; it takes root especially well when planted by cuttings.

The easiest way is to divide the bush, but for this you need to have an already mature, overgrown bush, which, with a slight hilling, produces a lot of adventitious roots. In spring or autumn, when digging up a plant, you need to cut the bush into several smaller parts, each of which will take root when transplanted.

Honeysuckle seeds are very small and produce variegated offspring when germinated. Aboveground part After germination it grows slowly, but the root system develops well. Full fruiting of the plant occurs after 3-4 years.

Honeysuckle propagates very well by cuttings. Annual (green) shoots are suitable for rooting. As soon as the berries begin to ripen (and these are practically the first berries to ripen), you should cut branches from the bush you like. Cuttings for rooting do not have to be long - it is enough to have 2-3 buds on them. Remove the leaves from the cutting - the top 2 leaves can be left. They can be rooted in a greenhouse or ordinary flower pot. But with any method of rooting, it is necessary to create certain conditions for them.

If you decide to root honeysuckle cuttings in a greenhouse, then they are stuck into loose soil (ratio turf land, humus, sand – 1:1:1), additionally covering them with film or plastic bottles to create a humid microclimate. Do the same if you decide to root cuttings in a flower pot. If the weather is hot, they should be regularly sprayed with water. After two or three weeks, begin to ventilate them by opening the film for a while or removing the plastic covering. After 1.5-2 months, the coating can be completely removed. Usually, by the beginning of autumn, honeysuckle cuttings will give an increase in shoots of at least 20-25 cm. The cuttings that you have rooted in the greenhouse can be left there until spring. And cuttings rooted in pots can be planted in a permanent place - for the winter they can be buried higher in soil or covered with dry grass.

Growing edible honeysuckle, care features

The Kamchatka honeysuckle grows worst of all in the Kuban after planting. This is probably due to its adaptability to soil of volcanic origin.

In the wild, this plant grows in Altai, Eastern Siberia, Far East, Kamchatka. This is a shrub 1-2 m tall with a spherical crown. The shoots are pubescent, the leaves are entire, oblong up to 5.5 cm on fruiting shoots, up to 8 cm on vegetative shoots, opposite. The flowers are bisexual, greenish-yellow, rather large, collected in two-flowered inflorescences. This is a cross-pollinated plant; it is pollinated by insects.

For good yield, it is advisable to plant at least 2-3 edible honeysuckle bushes, of different varieties. It blooms in Kuban in early spring (March-April) for 2-3 weeks, which is not dangerous during spring frosts; the flowers can withstand frosts down to minus 7 degrees.

Honeysuckle fruits are of different shapes - round, pear-shaped, oblong, 8-30 mm long, 6-15 mm wide, weighing about 1.5 g, dark blue with a bluish bloom, sweet and sour. They taste like blueberries - aromatic, tender, juicy. Productivity - up to 3 kg per bush.

Honeysuckle does not tolerate acidic soils and does not tolerate complete shade, but tolerates partial shade very well. The feeding area of ​​one seedling is approximately 1 × 1.5 m.

When to plant honeysuckle? It is better to plant honeysuckle in the fall, so it will have time to take root before frost. In spring, it is better to plant as early as possible, because the plant wakes up very early and the buds open.

How to plant honeysuckle? The holes for planting honeysuckle should be 60 × 60 cm in size, 50 cm deep. When planting, it is good to put stones at the bottom, mix the soil with humus or compost, and water it.

How to care for edible honeysuckle? Caring for plantings is simple: removing weeds, mulching.

Edible honeysuckle does not require annual pruning due to the longevity of its skeletal branches. It is practically resistant to diseases and pests.

One teaspoon of honeysuckle berry jam daily - many diseases will bypass you until old age. And if you consider that this crop is hardy, does not require care, is durable, is productive every year, is beautiful, and the whole plant is healing - berries, leaves, branches, then it would be an unforgivable mistake not to have several bushes of beautiful edible honeysuckle on your site.

Edible honeysuckle - varieties

Each variety of honeysuckle different shape berries There are berries that have the shape of a jug or a ball. There are berries that are oblong or spindle-shaped.

Variety Blue Bird

Early, with average yield (1.5-2 kg per bush). Berries – small to medium (0.7 g). Their shape is oval-cylindrical. Color – blue with a strong bluish tinge. The taste is sweet and sour, pleasant. Disadvantages: after ripening, the berries quickly fall off.

Variety Blue spindle

Early, early fruiting, with an average yield of 1.5-2 kg per bush. The shape of the berries is spindle-shaped. The average weight of the fruit is 0.8 g. The color is bluish-blue. The taste is sweet with a slight spicy bitterness. Disadvantages - the fruits quickly fall off after ripening.

Lazurnaya variety

Medium-early, early fruiting, with an average yield of 1.5-2 kg per bush. The average weight of the berry is 0.7 g. The shape of the fruit is oval-cylindrical. Color - bluish blue. The taste is very good. Advantages: they do not crumble after ripening.

Variety Berel

Late, with high yield - 2-4 kg per bush. Weight of berries - 0.9 g. Color - blue with a bluish tinge. The taste is sweet and sour with a pleasant piquant aftertaste. Advantages – large fruits, high yield, berries do not fall off after ripening.

Long-fruited variety

Average ripening period, high yield - 1.5-1.8 kg per bush. Variety selected by the Chelyabinsk fruit and vegetable breeding station named after. I.V. Michurina. The average weight of the berry is 0.7 g. The shape of the fruit is oval-elongated. Color – blue. The taste is good, sweet and sour. The harvest falls slightly after ripening, most of it remains on the bush.

Variety Bakcharskaya

Mid-early. Selection of the Bakcharsky stronghold of northern gardening (Tomsk region). Weight of berries - 0.7 g. Fruit shape - pear-shaped. Color - violet-blue. The taste is very good, sweet and sour with a pleasant aroma. The harvest almost does not fall off after ripening. The yield is low, since this variety belongs to the Turchaninov honeysuckle. The bush is small, its diameter is half that of other varieties.

Honeysuckle Pride of Kuban, description

The bushes are medium-sized. Frost resistance is high. The variety is the leader in yield - on average 3 kg per adult bush. The berries are large, sweet and sour with a dense skin and a strong waxy coating. The berries are mid-late ripening and prone to rapid shedding. The variety is resistant to diseases.

Honeysuckle Bullfinch, variety description

Vigorous plant. It is considered the most dietary among all varieties. The taste is slightly bitter, medicinal. Honeysuckle berries have this property - the more bitter it is, the more medicinal and beneficial it is.

Variety Viola

Medium ripening period. Large berries. They have a bitter taste. Good for hypertensive patients - helps reduce blood pressure.

Variety Zest

Highly winter-hardy. The berries are shaped like large raisins, slightly elongated. It tastes with a very slight tart bitterness, medicinal. When ripe, they hardly crumble.

Honeysuckle Penguin, variety description

The bush is medium-sized, winter-hardy. The berries are round, medium in size, with thin skin, sweet and sour taste, with a strawberry flavor. The berry shedding is average.

Variety Malvina

Early ripening. The shape of the fruit is similar to a pear. The berries are dense, with a pleasant sweet and sour taste. Bushes are very decorative. They can be used in garden design for decorative hedges. They are especially beautiful during flowering.

Variety Nightingale

Very early. The berries are not very large, spindle-shaped, lumpy. The taste is sweet and sour. Fruiting is abundant.

Honeysuckle is a shrub that begins to grow earlier than others. Its tasty and juicy berries contain a huge amount of vitamin C, rutin, and B vitamins.

The first 5-7 years bush spends most of its energy on growth, so care for honeysuckle should be aimed at maximizing growth.

It is believed that honeysuckle has entered the phase of full fruiting if it was possible to collect 1 kg of berries from one bush. Usually this is 5-8 years of life. The greatest yields are produced from 8 to 15 years.

Seedlings begin to bear fruit at 3-4 years.

Rooted shoots of honeysuckle can please harvest next year. From 20-25 years of age it needs rejuvenation of skeletal branches.
Number of ovaries directly depends on the weather. In hot, dry weather, pistils dry out quickly and flowers fall off prematurely. And in the rain and wind, bees and wasps, which are natural pollinators, do not fly.

The leaves fall early - in mid-September. The rest period begins in November.

Need to plant honeysuckle two different varieties near. The distance between bushes should be at least a meter.

• The growing season begins at an average daily temperature of +3 degrees Celsius.

• Blooms at an average daily temperature of +9 degrees.

• The key to good harvests is the presence of a neighbor honeysuckle of a different variety. One variety or only honeysuckle bush on the site will not produce decent yields.

• The ovary almost never falls off before maturity, which makes honeysuckle easier to care for.

• It produces growth only in early spring.

• It bears fruit annually on last year's shoots, so caring for honeysuckle is aimed at lengthening its growth. Young branches form shoots from 15 to 30 cm, which in the spring will bear 18-50 fruits. And the old ones - up to 5 cm and 2-4 berries.

• The flowers of the future harvest begin to form at the end of May.

• Honeysuckle is a long-lived bush. Under favorable conditions and good care can bear fruit from 20 to 130 years in one place. Therefore, choose your planting site carefully.

Where to plant honeysuckle

The shrub can grow in sparse shadow, But better harvests gives in good light. Flooded lowlands and sandstones are not suitable. Dig the soil thoroughly and remove perennial weeds. Especially wheatgrass.

Honeysuckle does not tolerate drought well. To retain moisture in the soil, it is necessary to mulch the soil under the bush and water regularly.

But also honeysuckle does not like prolonged flooding root system. In such cases, growth completely stops and may completely wither away.

Plant undemanding to soil acidity. Grows well in medium to heavy soils. On sandy soils, which quickly lose moisture, honeysuckle forms short increments. This means that the harvests will be small.

The most favorable time for planting honeysuckle - this is the end of September - the first half of October.

Weeds, especially wheatgrass, greatly inhibit the plant. Timely and high-quality weeding is very important.

Spring planting it is almost always unsuccessful, since the honeysuckle begins to grow early. As a last resort, the bush is replanted in the summer after harvest. But then she needs to provide shading, watering and mulching the ground around the bush.

Best planting material - two-year-old seedling. It is useful to lim the selected area using lime (200-400 g per m2). To properly plant honeysuckle in the fall, dig a hole measuring 60x60. Depth 40 cm.

The planting pit for honeysuckle is filled:

• rotted manure and peat (10-12 kg)
• ammonium nitrate (30-50 g)
• superphosphate (50-80 g)
• potassium salt (40-50 g)

Make a mound, place a seedling on it, straighten the roots well. Sprinkle with soil. Do not deepen the plant, as honeysuckle does not form additional roots above the root collar.

Compact the earth well. Water - on bush bucket of water. And immediately mulch with peat, straw, hay. Honeysuckle will take root better if you immediately cut the bush at a height of 15-20 cm from the ground.

From early spring, weed out weeds and break up the earthen crust under the bush. During drought, water regularly. Mulch the ground to preserve moisture with compost, humus, peat.

If the planting pit was filled with fertilizers, then for the first 1-2 years you do not need to feed the honeysuckle.

How to feed honeysuckle

The first feeding in spring is carried out during bud break. The most effective:

urea(20 g per bush)

or saltpeter(30 g),

or ammonium sulfate(40 g).

First dissolve the fertilizer in a bucket of water and water it.

Spring feeding of honeysuckle with nitrogen fertilizer promotes strong shoot formation and increased yield. Intensive shoot growth The bush is very short - only 2 weeks.

Honeysuckle needs to be fertilized regularly: every 2-3 weeks until July. Then, until the end of summer, monitor the soil moisture and destroy weeds.

Feeding honeysuckle in autumn

Add to a depth of 10 cm phosphorus And potassium 15 grams of fertilizer per bush.

On acidic soils Liming is carried out every 3 years, adding 200-300 g of lime to the tree trunk in the fall.

How to prune honeysuckle

The bush is not pruned for the first 3-5 years. Then only the branches that thicken the crown and the dried tops are removed. It is most effective to prune honeysuckle in the fall using this pattern.

From the age of 15, the oldest skeletal branches are cut out until there is strong young growth at the base of the bush.

Gradual update branches help maintain stable yields for many years. Honeysuckle can be propagated by seeds.