Honeysuckle care. The berry is not a simple one, but a rejuvenating one - honeysuckle. Reproduction of edible honeysuckle - methods

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 other 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 a healing dietary product, an elixir of life. Therefore, its berries are healing and have long been used in folk medicine for hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, malaria, and 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. The leaves, branches, and bark of honeysuckle have medicinal properties. 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 the 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 than garden strawberries, then the value of this berry becomes obvious at the very beginning of summer, when, after the long Russian winter, the first greens are 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, a wide variety of honeysuckle varieties are cultivated in the gardens of the central zone, 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.

For planting honeysuckle, choose well-lit places in garden plots. As a rule, in our “standard” plots we plant 3 - 4 bushes of different varieties, trying to choose large-fruited bushes with berries of different 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, with a depth of up to 60 cm. On peat bogs with close groundwater, the depth should be increased to 70 cm. Lay medium-fraction crushed stone on the bottom in a layer of 10 - 15 cm, then a metal bottom from a two-hundred-liter barrel, and only then - nutritional composition of the prepared mixture of organic and mineral fertilizers. The best time to plant honeysuckle is 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 with a high level of agricultural technology for 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 method of propagation here is by air layering, like gooseberry propagation. The survival rate here is almost one hundred percent.

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, it can bear fruit for 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 gives better yields 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 that 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 harvesting. But then she needs to provide shading, watering and mulch the ground around the bush.

The 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 scheme.

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.

Honeysuckle is a beautiful and productive, rather unpretentious fruit shrub for the garden. Along with such Far Eastern healing plants as and, honeysuckle has become increasingly widespread in Russian gardens in recent years.

Among the honeysuckle seedlings sold on the market, wild Kamchatka honeysuckle is most often found. Like other wild plants, it is very difficult for it to take root after transplantation, especially since it is already a rather large bush. In this regard, purchased Kamchatka honeysuckle seedlings often die. In addition, this type of honeysuckle is quite capricious when grown in the garden, and its yield leaves much to be desired...
Therefore, buy varietal honeysuckle seedlings only from reliable nurseries and companies.

I will share with the readers of the site the experience of growing honeysuckle and the results of my own testing of different varieties of this wonderful crop.

Tested varieties of edible honeysuckle

The selection of the most unpretentious and productive forms of honeysuckle has been carried out for a long time, since the time of I.V. Michurina. With the advent of experimental stations, honeysuckle selection in Russia accelerated. The ones developed by Russian scientists are the best in the world.

Suitable varieties of honeysuckle can be selected for almost any area. Good adaptability, as well as the unique early fruiting and usefulness of this crop were appreciated by our gardeners in all climatic zones of the country.

The fruits of garden honeysuckle of different varieties vary greatly in shape (from oval-elongated and pear-shaped to round) and color (from bluish-gray to almost black). Its berries are very similar, but honeysuckle is larger, and its fruits are denser and more aromatic, with a pleasant dessert combination of sugars and acid.

I will describe tested varieties of edible honeysuckle that have proven themselves well both in my garden and in a variety of regions.

Honeysuckle varieties "Ivushka".
A small compact plant up to 1.5 m high. It grows well on any soil, is quite drought-resistant and decorative. This is a bush form of honeysuckle with thin spreading branches. The leaves are dark green, dense, 5-7 cm long. Flowering is very early, not afraid of significant frosts (up to -8 degrees). The berries are dark blue, sweet and sour, somewhat pear-shaped. Productivity 3-4 kg per bush.

Honeysuckle varieties "Vasyuganskaya".
It grows as a half-bush and half-tree, depending on the climate and soil. A variety that adapts very well to different conditions. The plant even lends itself to artistic pruning. The leaves are dark green and shiny. The berries are dark blue with a bluish coating, the largest ones up to 1 g. The yield of an adult bush is 8-10 kg. The variety is drought-resistant, tolerates severe winter frosts (up to -10 degrees without snow) and return spring frosts during the flowering period.

Honeysuckle varieties "Zarnitsa".
One of the most beautiful varieties. A spreading bush up to 2 m high, hemispherical, with strong and well-leafed shoots. The branches are literally covered with large dove-blue berries with a pleasant refreshing taste, resistant to shedding. Productivity up to 5 kg. This is an unpretentious variety that tolerates drought and harsh winters well.

Honeysuckle varieties "Titmouse".
Medium-sized bushes 1.5 m high with medium-sized green-bluish leaves. The elongated berries are medium-sized, sweet and sour when watered. Productivity is average. The variety is shade-tolerant, frost- and drought-resistant.

Honeysuckle varieties "Pavlovskaya".
Adapts very well to the most unfavorable conditions. Half-bush, half-tree, it has medium-sized sweet and sour berries with very dense pulp, suitable for freezing. Productivity 3-4 kg. The frost resistance of the variety is high.

Reproduction and cultivation of honeysuckle

Honeysuckle reproduces by seeds and vegetatively.

Honeysuckle is easy to grow from full seeds from ripe berries. Their sowing depth is about 1cm.
When sowing in spring, I pre-stratify honeysuckle seeds for 1-2 months (at a temperature of 0...+3 degrees). After stratification, about 70-90% of the sown honeysuckle seeds germinate.

From unstratified seeds, honeysuckle shoots appear very slowly (after 4-5 weeks), and only a third of the sown seeds germinate. In this case, at the same time as sowing peppers, I recommend sowing unstratified seeds of edible honeysuckle if there are a lot of seeds available and the recommended stratification dates have been missed.

I advise you to take the land for sowing and growing seedlings from the area where you plan to grow honeysuckle in the garden - so that the seedlings get used to this soil from childhood.
It is desirable that the land for sowing honeysuckle seeds be light and fertile.

I allocate a place in the house for keeping honeysuckle seedlings on the windowsill that is bright, without cold drafts. At first, babies develop slowly, this is normal.
I plant honeysuckle seedlings in separate cups at the age of 1.5-2 months. Otherwise, the rather thin branching roots of older plants will be damaged during transplantation.

Care for honeysuckle seedlings is usual, as for any seedlings grown at home - regular watering, and careful loosening of the soil is allowed only at the very beginning. To prevent drying out, I cover the surface of the earth with tea.
Before planting honeysuckle seedlings in open ground, I harden them.

The taste qualities of edible honeysuckle fruits and their chemical composition are greatly influenced by many factors. The weather influences greatly - air temperature and precipitation during the ripening period. In hot weather, honeysuckle berries accumulate more sugars. And cool weather with sufficient rain increases the overall acidity of the fruit, including the content of ascorbic acid.

It is necessary to take into account: the amount of dry matter put into one harvest of garden honeysuckle berries is unchanged. Therefore, if you give the plant extra watering, the mass of berries will simply increase, which will inevitably affect their taste.

If there are only three honeysuckle bushes growing in your garden, and the need for berries is large, then I advise you to fertilize immediately after harvesting.
Since mid-July I have been feeding honeysuckle 2-3 times. It's better to do it.
And during the period of setting honeysuckle berries, fertilizing with infusion (half a liter jar of ash per bucket of water) is very useful. This will significantly improve the taste of honeysuckle berries and increase the content of beneficial microelements in them.

Great damage to the honeysuckle crop can be caused (especially by blackbirds), which are very fond of its healthy berries. Therefore, ripening honeysuckle is necessary.

About the healing properties of honeysuckle berries

The berries of garden honeysuckle have fully preserved all the beneficial properties of the fruits of its wild ancestors. The rich chemical composition of early-ripening honeysuckle berries (vitamins, acids, microelements) and the strength of their beneficial effect on the body makes this plant indispensable in the garden. In terms of healing effects, the berries of edible honeysuckle are right behind, but the hassle of growing honeysuckle is much less!

Honeysuckle berries, like the leaf cuttings that grow in spring, are the earliest vitamin medicines and delicacies in the garden. Honeysuckle fruits ripen two weeks earlier than the first. Therefore, honeysuckle berries are the very first and surest remedy for spring vitamin deficiencies and various kinds of overload in the body.
But the most important therapeutic effect of garden honeysuckle fruits is anti-radiation. For treatment, you just need to regularly eat fresh berries in such quantities as the body requires and tolerates.

The fruits of edible honeysuckle have long been used in folk medicine for hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, gastrointestinal disorders, malaria, etc. Honeysuckle berries are also used as a medicine for diabetes (type 2), obesity, hypertension and joint diseases.

Both fresh and prepared honeysuckle berries for future use (frozen, jam, juices, compote) bring many benefits to our body, moreover, they taste good and are very refreshing.
Grow unpretentious and productive varieties of honeysuckle in your garden, eat delicious and healthy berries for pleasure and benefit!

Valentin Viktorovich Vantenkov

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It is prickly and unfriendly.

And on the lush honeysuckle bushes there are already oblong ripe berries, fogged with a bluish haze.

That is why gardeners are increasingly planting honeysuckle on their plots. In addition, each berry contains a very successful combination of vitamins and biologically active substances.

And it’s not for nothing that its name, consisting of two abbreviated words: life and youth, speaks for itself.

Everything in this plant is for the benefit of man - even the bark, branches, leaves and flowers save from many ailments.

A beloved berry bush, honeysuckle has its own family: the honeysuckle. Most wild berry species grow in Southeast Asia (about two hundred).

Taking this fact into account, scientists concluded: this is where honeysuckle is born.

The bulk of honeysuckles are found primarily in the Northern Hemisphere. This is likely a result of the biological preferences of the species.

In Russia, one and a half dozen species of honeysuckle in nature are wild populations. It’s interesting that our Russian name for the berry is translated from ancient Slavic as “milking a goat.”

Goats have fed humans since ancient times, and honeysuckle was already around then; animals loved it.

Features of honeysuckle

Not all honeysuckle is edible. There are species whose berries are poisonous. There are ornamental shrubs, many are simply good honey plants.

The East of Siberia and the Far Eastern regions know wild edible honeysuckle.

The shrubs of the plant vary in shape: there are vine-like climbing ones, and there are also ordinary ones. Among the species there are creeping honeysuckle bushes.

Honeysuckle berries come in a variety of colors. Red, blue.

Honeysuckle with red berries - wolfberry - is not only inedible, it has a poisonous effect. Wolfberry is not only called poisonous honeysuckle. This is a general name.

There are other shrubs with poisonous fruits (wolfberry), the color is often also red. Different places have their own wolfberry.

Blue honeysuckle, its edible species, is found in Siberia.

Berries, and first flowers, of blue honeysuckle grow in pairs. This benefits the flowers during the pollination period. They communicate, flowering is long.

But each individual flower opens in bloom for one single day. And when at least one flower from a pair is pollinated, the second one will also be pollinated and set a berry.

Flowers are bisexual, but self-sterile. That is, they cannot pollinate without another plant.

Moreover, you must definitely take a second plant - a different variety. Or even the species (an edible one may well be pollinated by a decorative one, which will not in any way infringe on its taste).

Two bushes of the same variety will bloom side by side. But they will be left without berries.

Benefit for health

Honeysuckle has a good taste, and the beneficial properties of the berries are not far behind.

• Vitamin complex;
• Rich set of microelements;
• Basic minerals important for the body;
• Polysaccharides;
• Organic acids;
• Pectins;
• Citrus fruits are half as rich as honeysuckle berries in terms of essential vitamin C content, and they are usually considered leaders in this regard. Other groups of vitamins are also present;
• Berries contain a lot of potassium, which is good for the heart: raspberries and currants are two times behind honeysuckle in potassium.

Due to its studied and unstudied properties, blue berries have long been used in folk medicine, and now in official medicine.

Doctors advise using it:

• For the prevention of vitamin deficiency;
• Treatment of gastrointestinal diseases;
• For hypertension.

People have been treating these ailments for a long time, but others also treat them:

• Liver diseases;
• Stomach problems;
• Progressive atherosclerosis;
• Poisoning;
• Tuberculosis;
• Arthritis;
• Dropsy;
• Rheumatism;
• Dysentery;
• Cardiovascular diseases;
• Loss of appetite;
• Fever;
• Restrains oncological processes.

The berry is also used as a cosmetic product. Berries in compresses rejuvenate the skin and restore its elasticity. Berry infusions refresh the skin.

The disinfectant properties of berry juice are used in the treatment of lichen. Even eczema responds to honeysuckle, and ulcers heal.

Moreover, it is not the berries themselves that are used, but their infusions. Infusions of plant buds work similarly.

Cultivars

Honeysuckle has been cultivated for a long time; dozens of garden varieties have been bred. The shrub is good for everyone: it is decorative, produces edible fruits, its berries are healthy and tasty.

There is no shortage of varieties; you can choose the one you are interested in or love. Each gardener has his own best varieties of honeysuckle: a matter of taste.

Altair. One and a half meter shrub with sweet blue berries. It is notable for the fastening of the berries: they will not fall off until the gardener himself removes the berries.

This is very convenient: the harvest will not be lost, no matter how busy the summer resident will be, he will not miss the moment of harvesting.

The variety ripens early and is ready for consumption in mid-June. The berries are small, only 1 gram, but you can remove two kilograms from the bush.

Long-fruited. This honeysuckle really has long blue fruits - the berries are almost three centimeters (2.7).

The honeysuckle bush is not tall - a meter in total, round. The yield from it is up to 3 kg. At the same time, the berries have a delicate taste, sweet and sour.

They do not taste bitter, as sometimes happens with uncultivated species. Ripening is also in June, but the fruits may fall off.

Bakchar giant. The title is eloquent. This bush is almost a tree. Two-meter height, one and a half meter crown projection.

And the berries correspond: they reach 5 cm. With such sizes, this honeysuckle is winter-hardy and stable: it does not succumb to diseases, and is not afraid of pests.

Berry Blue. Siberian variety, healing tasty long-fruited (2.7 cm) berry. It easily withstands 30° frost during wintering.

A one and a half meter bush, the oval shape of which allows honeysuckle to be planted at a distance of 60 cm, will produce 2 kg of vitamin-rich healthy berries.

Late variety, ripening: August – September. The berries are dark blue. Berry Blue is resistant to shedding.

Honey berry. The variety is very valuable in terms of its mineral and vitamin composition. The berries are oblong, sweet with a slight sourness.

The bush is round and bears fruit all summer. The fruits reach 4 cm, the yield per bush is 7 kg.

Decorative at any time, the flowers are large, diameter 6 cm. Tolerates Siberian frosts - 30°.

Although honeysuckle is relatively new to our gardens, its varieties are numerous. Choose carefully, to your liking: you will have to be neighbors for a long time.

Choosing a landing site and its time

These two indicators: place and time are largely decisive for the entire life of a plant.

Everything that we cherish in the garden and on the site in general are living organisms. The world of flora, like animals, is highly dependent on starting conditions.

For a successful start, knowledge of cultural preferences is necessary.

Landing location. Honeysuckle tolerates partial shade, but can develop better and bear fruit well in a sunny place.

You can find a place for a small, beautiful and useful berry bush in a garden of any design. It is advisable to provide the plant with sufficient light, then fruiting will be higher.

Honeysuckle is not stable in the wind: fragile branches can break off. Especially those loaded with harvest. Therefore, it is not worth decorating raised areas with it; on level areas, protection from winds is more reliable.

Decorative vine-like varieties are not afraid of the wind, although they sometimes grow six meters tall. But they grow only on supports: arbors, trellises, fences - picket or mesh.

They don't sway in the wind. Therefore, they must be planted where this support is or will be built.

You can make a living green hedge from low-growing fruit-bearing varieties. Tall trees are not planted this way: they will shade the adjacent area. And probably not only your own.

The bush will wither along the walls; it needs light and does not need overheating - cool is better.

Honeysuckle does not tolerate drought well; in dry climate regions it is weak. But it can grow near water or with frequent watering, preferably by sprinkling.

An interesting option is planting alternating with low-growing berries: different varieties of currants, gooseberries.

When the berries ripen, such a row looks very elegant.

Until the honeysuckle has grown, about fifteen years, it is comfortable for both it and the low berry plants planted nearby.

Then they grow old and are dug out. A new place appears for further growth of honeysuckle, and lighting improves.

She will be able to grow there for as long. Take this into account when choosing a location: a bush with vitamin-rich, delicious fruits lives a long time.

Where honeysuckle has settled, planting low, short-lived shrubs or flowers that tolerate partial shade is appropriate.

Disembarkation time. Honeysuckle is planted in spring, or from late summer to mid-autumn.

There is such a division: edible honeysuckle berries are planted in the fall, decorative honeysuckle is planted in gardens mainly in the spring.

There are types of berries that are truly extreme, they are not afraid of frost even at fifty (in winter, at rest, of course), and during flowering, return frosts will not harm the flowers. Even if it's minus eight.

But the main thing for a plant is to take root, after which it is almost a hero. That’s why they select the optimal landing time (season, month).

Practice has shown that it is optimal to plant edible honeysuckle early in the fall. But in warm regions - later, at the end of the second third of autumn.

The autumn choice is explained simply: the cold-resistant plant awakens so early and begins to grow in the spring season that spring planting is risky.

And the berry growing season ends in August, at which time the bush is ready for wintering. The shoots are already woody.

Therefore, September is optimal for planting or transplanting. October is also good. The exact dates will be determined by the weather and region.

Soil preparation

The crop is perennial, so what we give it with the soil when planting is its food for life.

Fertilizers are needed even if the soil is good. They will be distributed throughout the planting hole and below. They will be used gradually.

We figured out the timing: early in the fall is better. This means that the soil must be prepared in the fall, just the previous one. The new resident of the garden must be greeted hospitably.

They dig up the entire surface of the area where it is planned to plant shrubs. At the same time, pre-scattered organic matter is added - compost, rotted manure (whatever is available).

Minerals include potassium and phosphorus. Nitrogen is already present in organic matter.

Planting holes can be dug next fall, but preferably a week or two before planting. The top size is 50 x 50 cm, the depth is 40 cm.

Fill the holes with good soil - we also add fertilizers to it, last year's ones have gone deeper. We form the earth into a mound, filling two-thirds of the height.

The average distance between adjacent pits is one and a half meters. More specifically, it depends on the variety, the spreading nature of the crown, and the characteristics of the plant.

This completes the soil preparation.

Selection of seedlings

In order for the purchase to turn out to be pleasing and successful, you need to approach the choice prepared.

To a gardener who sees honeysuckle seedlings for the first time, they will seem dubious. The reason is peeling of the bark over the entire surface of the stem.

This is not a defect, this is a characteristic characteristic of honeysuckle - peeling, flaky bark.

When a seedling is without foliage, it really looks “tortured.” This is such a plant - beauty will come later.

It’s easy to check the quality of a seedling:

• Pick up the bark with your fingernail, carefully scrape a stem or twig - there you will see green, quite living tissue. If you don’t see it: the seedling is not viable.
• It is important to carefully examine the roots when choosing. Take a three-year-old plant, no older: these will take root easier. The root of a three-year-old should already be quite powerful and developed. It is important that it does not dry out, not even become dry. If the root system has dried out, the chances of honeysuckle survival and good growth drop sharply.
• You can tell a good seller with a quality product. The seller is obliged to have information about the intricacies of cultures. Therefore, he will have a honeysuckle seedling either in a container with soil substrate or with a lump of earth in a film package. Do not take planting material with bare roots, even if they are wet. Perhaps they dried out, and in general honeysuckle is not transported this way, it destroys it.

It is ideal to buy so that “from soil to soil” - there is a minimum period between digging and planting.

Large seedlings older than three years old do not take root well. Pruning is required, not everyone tolerates it stoically.

You can take small seedlings (a year or two), but the survival rate is also worse. And they will begin to bear fruit later.

Landing

When planting, we adjust the mound in the hole for honeysuckle if it has managed to settle. We check the integrity of the roots; remove damaged or dried ones.

We plant like most shrubs and trees:

• We place the seedling centered on the top point of the earthen hill, straighten the roots along the pre-watered soil cone underneath it.
• We fill the hole with fertile soil on all sides. The root collar remains in the ground; you can deepen it up to 5 cm. Some varieties are not buried, only the root is sprinkled.
• We water the planted honeysuckle.
• We mulch on top - we retain moisture and prevent the formation of crust on the soil.

Landing usually does not cause any difficulties.

Berry garden care

The former forest dweller, having become domesticated, will not want to live freely, like a forest dweller.

You will have to look after her, even if not intensively. But it is winter-hardy and will even take the lead in yield from strawberries.

Main types of work:

• In the spring, honeysuckle must be earthed up - once, after the first overwintering.
• Loosen the soil around the bushes shallowly and mulch again.
• If the soil layer is poor, then fertilizers are added at intervals of several years during loosening.
• They add organic matter to poor soil, but only when digging between rows. The soil between the rows is not filled with compost every year. The application interval is three years. You can use rotted manure for honeysuckle.
• For the first three years, spring application of minerals is justified - under loosening or with watering. They are introduced in advance, before the kidneys awaken. Then the fertilizers will have time to distribute, get closer to the roots, and by the beginning of the growing season.
• You need to remember about watering, especially while the plants are young and have not formed powerful roots. Honeysuckle does not tolerate drought at all; if it is planted in a dry area, it may die or will not bear fruit. And growth will slow down. Therefore, residents of arid regions who dare to acquire a moisture-loving berry will have to organize regular watering.

A separate operation is pruning. The first five years there is no need for it, the plant is still compact. Only damaged, broken branches are removed.

Later, more attention is paid to pruning.

During the dormant period - in the fall after the foliage is shed or in the spring before it is shed - dried branches are cut out. The sick, the weak, the damaged are removed.

When pruning honeysuckle, you should preserve as much of the tops of the shoots as possible. They bear the bulk of the flower buds, that is, the future harvest.

If the honeysuckle bush is old, you can rejuvenate it by pruning. Then the old branches are cut out, leaving a half-meter trunk with a minimum of branches.

Such harsh pruning of honeysuckle will stimulate intensive forcing of shoots and shoots from the stem by the plant.

The root system remains powerful, the bush will grow back in three years and restore fruiting. Now - on young shoots.

Pests and diseases

Honeysuckle is not one of those lucky ones who avoid all sorts of misfortunes.

It is susceptible to diseases and is not immune from pest attacks.

You can help her, the main thing is not to miss the symptoms.

Honeysuckle diseases

The fungus affects wild honeysuckle and garden honeysuckle too. Moreover, it is moisture-loving, like fungal diseases of plants.

Ramulariasis. The name, which sounds bizarre to the ear, does not add beauty to the plant. Ramularia blight “dries out” the leaf.

An attentive gardener will recognize that something is wrong precisely by the leaves. The onset of the disease, noticed immediately, is a chance to save honeysuckle.

Ramularia appears first as spots on the leaf. The spots are dry, round or wavy in outline. The edges of the spots are bordered, the border is brown. It is darker than the brown or brown spot itself.

If this stage is not noticed, the entire sheet will dry out. The fungi will produce spores and infect neighboring leaves and plants.

A weakened plant loses its decorative effect, and productivity also decreases. Honeysuckle may die.

What can be done:

• Having identified the disease, remove the diseased shoots entirely. Do not touch neighboring ones (if possible).
• Burn contaminated material.
• Remove fallen leaves (mulch or new) and destroy them.
• There is also no need to leave the foliage for the winter: fungi can overwinter in such a shelter.
• Preventively treat honeysuckle and the soil underneath it by spraying with fungicides. Preparations with copper are good: fungi die from them.

Powdery mildew. The scourge of most plants, especially those that love moisture. Rainy years favor outbreaks of the disease.

A characteristic powdery coating initially forms on young branches and leaves. Later it spreads throughout the bush everywhere.

Leaves dry out and young shoots become deformed. A diseased plant does not bear fruit or greatly reduces the yield. Fruits are also affected.

The list of control measures includes the same as for ramulariasis, the prevention is the same.

Additionally, sulfur preparations work well; you can pollinate bushes with them.

Sifted wood ash is also an enemy of powdery mildew. Used by dusting method.

Tuberculariosis. A fungus that causes branches to dry out. In spring, tubercles appear on young shoots infected with tuberculosis.

Color – red-brown. This is the overwintering site for spores that fall on healthy branches in the fall.

Summer begins, and the leaves dry out, as do the diseased shoots.

Copper-containing medications help. Spray honeysuckle before buds open, then after flowering.

It is good to do this with Bordeaux mixture to prevent all fungal diseases of honeysuckle.

Diseased shoots are cut out and burned.

European cancer. Again - a mushroom. Loves warmth and moisture. Therefore, it is widely distributed in areas of sufficient humidity and heat comfortable for its development.

If honeysuckle is not particularly drawn to warmth, then moisture is its element. European crayfish on honeysuckle is not rare: both are moisture-loving.

Symptoms:

• The trunk and branches are affected. Edge sagging forms on wounds and frostbites.
• The nodules grow quickly, bringing their edges closer together and merging, leaving a gap.
• Ulcers form in the depths of the crack.
• The disease selects bark and wood. Mainly trunks and branches close to them are affected.
• The bark in the deep stage of the lesion falls off in large fragments.
• The remaining bark and wood turn black and rot.
• Honeysuckle cannot develop: metabolic processes are distorted.
• The weakened bush dies.

From the name “cancer” it is clear that fighting is difficult. Preventive measures are preferable.

They are:

• Inspect the trunk and branches for frost damage in winter. If they appear, cover them up immediately.
• The same goes for cracks, wounds, and damage to the bark. This is where the fungus can invade.
• Found heavily infected shoots - cut to the ground. Paint over the wounds immediately. You can use oil paint. Garden varnish is also suitable for healing wounds and disinfecting them.

To prevent European cancer from spreading by spores from other garden inhabitants - apple trees, pears - whiten the fruit trees. But not the bottom of the standards for the spring holidays.

The trunk should be whitened in the fall - high. Thick tree branches are also good to whiten.

This will protect them from frost and cancer, and at the same time their neighbor, the honeysuckle. Early spring whitewashing also helps.

But - as an addition to the autumn one.

There are about two dozen fungal diseases that affect honeysuckle.

The fight against them is approximately the same: the biology of the fungi is similar:

• Agricultural technology: destruction of fallen leaves, ensuring ventilation by pruning, planting taking into account lighting.
• Treatment with fungicides is preventive and curative.

Pests

Honeysuckle suffers even more damage from pests. There are almost four dozen of them. It is imperative to protect her; she is unlikely to be able to cope on her own.

There are many common pests with other fruits, berries, and even vegetables.

There are also specific ones that choose honeysuckle. This is reflected in the names: honeysuckle aphid, honeysuckle fingerwing.

More often, the plant is attacked by common polyphagous pests with fruit trees growing nearby.

Fruit gall midge. It is especially harmful on honeysuckle in the Primorsky Territory. This is a berry-infecting mosquito (mosquito family).

The insect is small - up to half a centimeter. It is not the mosquito that harms, but its offspring, its larvae.

They hatch in buds from eggs laid there by a mosquito, and eat away the contents of the bud. Of course, the bud will no longer produce berries; it simply falls off.

Gall midges are destroyed by spraying with insecticides. The first spraying (Actellik, preparations of a similar effect) - before flowering, to reduce the number of mosquitoes - adult insects.

After cleaning, you also need to carry out chemical treatment. Spray the crown and - carefully - the surface of the ground under the honeysuckle.

When affected by gall midges, the soil is dug up twice - in the fall, then in the spring. The larvae overwinter there, and digging destroys a significant number of them.

In the spring, this agricultural practice cannot be delayed; mosquitoes are dug up until summer.

Mulch (in spring) after digging will make it difficult for the remaining ones to fly out. You can mulch with well-rotted manure.

Honeysuckle aphid. Like all aphids, the pest feeds on plant sap. Damages leaves and non-lignified shoots.

It prefers honeysuckle. The leaves turn yellow, dry out, and die. Actellik can also be used against aphids - it “takes” insects that drink juices.

Karbofos is also effective, but more toxic; it is advisable to be careful with it.

All folk “anti-reflux” methods are suitable:

• Ash-soap solution;
• Solutions, infusions of bitter plants (yarrow, hot pepper, wormwood);
• Repelling ants: they disperse and protect aphids.

Honeysuckle mite. It has similar living conditions: it loves moisture. If the plantings are thickened, the humidity may increase, which is to the liking of the mite.

The edges of the affected leaves become deformed (become corrugated). The leaf itself curls and changes color to dark. Severely damaged ones fall off.

The shrub is sprayed with acaricidal insecticides, and the branches are thinned out. Reduce humidity and allow air access. This will help defeat the tick.

Honeysuckle fingerwing. If the berries darken early, check the bush for the presence of fingerwing.

This is usually how her presence manifests itself.

Its food is the contents of the berry. Wrinkled honeysuckle fruits, eaten away by the fingerwing, fall.

Something will remain for the owner of the site if the damage is minor.

Only after collecting the surviving berries are they treated with insecticides or infusions of bitter or toxic plants.

Harvesting

Unfriendly, uneven ripening of honeysuckle berries lengthens the period when you can enjoy them.

But you will have to pick berries more than once. Overexposure of the first ripened ones on the bush is a mistake. The berries hang, but when the picking begins, when they touch a branch, they fall. Therefore, collect selectively.

You can spread oilcloth or film under the bush and then collect the fallen berries. But they must be processed immediately; they will not be stored at all.

If removed on time, they can sit for a while before being used or processed.

Reproduction methods

By type of reproduction everything is simple:

• Vegetative;
• Seed.

It is used as in most gardens - vegetative. Seeds serve science more: selection.

In the practice of gardeners, it is usual - vegetative.

Honeysuckle is propagated vegetatively by cuttings and layering. You can also divide the bush.

Cuttings. Honeysuckle works best with green cuttings:

• Therefore, they are not harvested, but rather rooted immediately after cutting. Honeysuckle is not the only seedling that does not tolerate drying out. Cuttings also cannot be dried; after cutting, they are immediately placed in a bag.
• It is important to take cuttings not from young, but from fruit-bearing honeysuckle specimens. A correctly cut cutting contains two internodes and should not be shorter than 10 cm. Only the upper leaves are left, they are shortened to reduce evaporation. You can treat the lower part with root. Other root growth stimulants are also suitable.
• Having planted in loose soil, which must be fertile, press the soil around it and water it.
• Then you will need a shelter - either a film frame, or scraps of plastic bottles. This keeps moisture and warmth in. But watering is still frequent: the root formation site should not dry out.
• The cuttings take about three weeks to take root. Only then is it noticeable that the growth buds have awakened.
• Little plants gradually become accustomed to garden air humidity, opening the shelter slightly. A week - and the film is removed.
• About half the summer is left for growth. In the fall - transfer to a designated place - a residence permit in the garden.

Dividing the bush. Only small, but already grown, young plants are used:

• They dig up a bush;
• Divide carefully into parts - each with a growth shoot and part of the root;
• They are seated - first in the school (nursery);
• Carefully care for, water, feed;
• It is customary to plant them in a permanent place in the third year - in nurseries. On its own site, a division often settles into place immediately after division.

Layerings. Reproduction by layering is planned in advance. To do this, bushes are planted separately or the distance is increased.

Then the shoots will be bent here for rooting.

Bend them down in early spring while the plant is still dormant.

You can put the shoot in a groove, pinning it through several buds, and then fill them up.

Or a short shoot is laid in the same way, but the upper part is not covered, raised and secured with a support (pegs).

They leave it this way until autumn, after which they divide the already rooted ones and plant them.

Preparing for winter

Honeysuckle is a hardy plant that can withstand harsh climates with severe frosts.

But some operations need to be carried out before winter.

• Trimming;
• Feeding (if necessary);
• Planting and replanting;
• Sometimes - shelter (depending on the variety).

Pruning is done after the leaves fall. Planting and transplanting too.

They are usually covered with decorative honeysuckle vines. The edible one overwinters without problems.

Now you know how to grow honeysuckle. The listed difficulties will not necessarily occur.

Growing honeysuckle will not take much time from the gardener. Having thoughtfully included simple care for it in the seasonal gardening calendar, you can do the necessary manipulations on time.

Then honeysuckle will be completely unburdensome. And the return from it will be double: the beauty of the design of the site and delicious juicy healthy berries.

See you soon, dear readers!

Over the past decades, honeysuckle has literally burst into Russian gardens!
From a once rare crop, honeysuckle has now become one of the main berry bushes in our gardens.
However, the price of honeysuckle berries remains at a very high level. For example, in Ukraine the price of a kilogram of honeysuckle berries is 5-7 times higher than the cost of garden strawberries, and in Moscow it is 3-5 times higher. In Novosibirsk and Tomsk, honeysuckle always bears fruit better than strawberries, and even there it is 1.5-2 times more expensive.

Honeysuckle, with tasty and healthy fruits that produce large harvests, is the pride of Russian scientists and the hope of our gardeners.
In the selection of honeysuckle, Russia is significantly ahead of other countries, having serious successes and advantages. After all, our climate is perfectly suitable for growing this wonderful berry crop. And in a milder climate, it is difficult to obtain large harvests of honeysuckle.

Let's take a closer look at the advantages and nuances of growing honeysuckle, and also talk about the decorative value of this berry crop and the benefits of its berries, and review the best and newest varieties of honeysuckle.