Honeysuckle in spring: what to feed, what fertilizers to use, advice from experienced

Content

1 Features of spring feeding of honeysuckle
2 How to feed honeysuckle in the spring so that it bears fruit
3 How to feed honeysuckle in the spring at the dacha
4 Advice from experienced gardeners on feeding honeysuckle in spring
5 Conclusion

Feeding honeysuckle in the spring is very useful, although this shrub is not too demanding; it responds very well to fertilizers. To ensure maximum fruiting, you need to find out exactly how to feed it.

Features of spring feeding of honeysuckle

Many gardeners are of the opinion that unpretentious berry bushes do not need fertilizing at all in the spring and bear fruit well without fertilizers. However, this is not true; it is necessary to feed the honeysuckle, otherwise its productivity will be reduced.

You need to feed the bushes - this improves fruiting

The roots of the plant are long, but superficial and do not go deep into the ground. Therefore, the shrub quickly takes nutrients from the soil after planting. So that the plant does not have to literally fight for survival, it must be fertilized in the spring, at least 3 times from early spring to mid-summer.

The peculiarities of fertilizer in the spring are that with each fertilizing the gardener pursues a specific goal:

The first feeding is needed so that the plant recovers faster after winter and begins to actively grow green mass.
The second feeding is carried out to improve the quality of flowering and for maximum fruit set.
The third time you need to feed honeysuckle closer to summer so that the berries ripen larger and juicier.

During the spring, an average of three plant feedings are carried out.

Important! You can not feed the plant only in the first year after planting; the fertilizers initially placed in the planting hole will be enough for it. But as the bush grows, it must be fertilized.

How to feed honeysuckle in the spring so that it bears fruit

Spring feeding of honeysuckle with mineral fertilizers is necessary not only so that it actively develops, but also so that the bush bears maximum fruit in the summer. You can use all types of fertilizers, not only organic matter, but also minerals.

In the spring, you can feed the bush with the following fertilizers:

Manure and compost. Organic matter quickly decomposes and saturates the upper layers of the soil with nitrogen; it is this compound that is necessary for the growth of the bush and for the development of its shoots and foliage. In addition, feeding honeysuckle in the spring without chemicals additionally allows for mulching; thanks to the organic layer, moisture does not evaporate from the soil so quickly during watering.
Wood ash, urea and herbal infusions, they also saturate the soil with nitrogen necessary for the development of the plant, and help increase the number of leaves and their size.
Mineral mixtures containing phosphorus - this substance is important primarily for the roots.Phosphorus helps the shrub to take root better in the area, makes the roots stronger and healthier, and promotes the growth of new root branches. Accordingly, the plant begins to receive more nutrients from the soil.
Fertilizers containing potassium, feeding the bush with potassium is especially useful before flowering and immediately during it. The mineral substance increases the quantity and quality of flower buds, and therefore contributes to increased fruiting. In addition, if you feed honeysuckle with potassium in time, the plant will become more resistant to fungi and pests.

Both potassium and phosphorus are beneficial throughout the year. But nitrogen should be added to the soil only during the growth period in the spring; in subsequent periods it can only disrupt the biological cycle of the shrub.

Nitrogen is added to the soil at the roots only in the spring.

How to feed honeysuckle in the spring before flowering

In early spring, buds are just beginning to bloom on the branches. Some gardeners do not see the point in feeding the bushes during this period. However, it is precisely before flowering that the plant most needs fertilizers; they are necessary for rapid development and healthy growth.

In the period before the buds bloom, honeysuckle can be fed with several substances:

Urea. You need to dig a shallow ditch around the bush and pour fertilizer into it in a circle, and then throw soil on top and water the plant properly. Feeding honeysuckle with urea in the spring should be done at the rate of 100 g of the substance per 1 bush.
Ammonium sulfate or ammonium nitrate. These substances also contain a high amount of nitrogen, so feeding the bush with them will be useful for the development of leaves and new shoots.Fertilizers are added to the soil in a similar way, but the dosage is doubled.
Wood ash. To feed an adult bush, you need to use about 400 g of ash.

Also, before flowering, manure and compost will be beneficial; during natural decomposition, they release a large amount of nitrogen compounds.

Attention! You can feed the plant for the first time 3 weeks before flowering or a little earlier. It is important that the growing season has already begun for honeysuckle; feeding in this case will bring maximum benefit.

How to feed honeysuckle during flowering

During the period of bud blooming, any plant is especially sensitive to external influences and vulnerable. That is why during flowering it is recommended to postpone most gardening work: pruning, treatment against insects and diseases.

During the flowering period, fertilizing will not harm honeysuckle bushes

But if you feed honeysuckle in April when the buds are opening, it will only benefit it. The shrub will receive additional nutrients and will be able to bloom more successfully, creating the maximum number of ovaries. In addition, fertilizers will strengthen the endurance of honeysuckle in the spring and will not allow it to suffer from accidental cold snaps or diseases.

When flowering, it is recommended to feed the plant with vermicompost - an organic mixture that is obtained after processing compost by earthworms. The procedure is carried out as follows: 1 kg of dry matter is diluted in a bucket of clean water and left for a day, and then the solution is poured into the root area of the bush. You can also use liquid vermicompost; in this case, you only need to dilute 1 glass of the product in a bucket of water and feed the honeysuckle immediately after that.

Advice! Among the minerals during the flowering period, phosphorus and potassium will be useful; they will make the shrub more resilient to external influences.

How to feed honeysuckle after flowering

It is recommended to fertilize fruiting honeysuckle for the third time in May or even mid-June. The following mixtures and substances can be used:

bird droppings - 1 kg of fertilizer is diluted in 10 liters of water;
mullein - the proportions when diluted with water are 1 to 6;
humus - when feeding honeysuckle in May, you need to scatter 4 kg of organic matter at the roots.

You can also fertilize the plant in mid-summer. For example, during the period of fruit ripening, you can dilute 15 g of nitrophoska and 7 g of potassium sulfate in a bucket of water; this mixture will strengthen the root system of the fruit-bearing bush. Closer to August, 500 g of wood ash can be poured under each of the honeysuckle bushes.

Potassium and phosphorus are beneficial for the plant after flowering

How to feed honeysuckle in the spring at the dacha

To feed the plant beneficially, you need to know the rules of the procedure. The spring feeding scheme for honeysuckle offers 2 options:

Incorporation of dry fertilizers into the soil. When using this option, dig a groove several centimeters deep in a circle near the bush and sow dry mineral granules into it. You can also simply loosen the soil shallowly at the roots in the spring, fertilize the bush, and then sprinkle fertilizer on top of the soil. When planting minerals dry, the plant needs to be watered abundantly in the spring, otherwise the fertilizing will be absorbed into the soil more slowly and poorly.
Watering using fertilizers. Minerals or ash can be dissolved in a bucket of water, stir thoroughly and pour the solution under the trunk of the plant in the spring.In this case, the gardener will be able to achieve two goals at once; the bush will receive both the necessary moisture and beneficial nutrients.

To properly feed honeysuckle, you need to take the weather into account. If the spring turns out to be warm and humid, then it is better to use the “dry” method of fertilizing; garden bushes already receive enough moisture from natural precipitation. But when there is scanty rain in the spring, you can combine fertilizing with watering - this will benefit the bush.

It is important to remember that bushes can be fertilized only from the second year of life. The first fertilizers are embedded in the soil when the seedling is planted, so until the next season the young plant does not need nutrients.

For the first time this season, you need to feed honeysuckle only after the snow has completely melted from the area and the soil has warmed up at least a little. Incorporating fertilizers into frozen soil will not be particularly beneficial.

If the spring is rainy, then it is better to apply fertilizer in dry form.

Attention! You can feed the bushes with minerals, urea and ash annually. But it is customary to add organic matter only once every 2 years, so as not to create an excess of nutrients.

Advice from experienced gardeners on feeding honeysuckle in spring

Experienced gardeners advise adhering to a few simple rules - if you follow them, honeysuckle will bear fruit better:

It is not enough to simply fertilize honeysuckle in the spring to increase the yield and then postpone caring for it until the fall. Fruit bushes need care throughout the growing season. In spring, the soil at the roots of honeysuckle must be loosened from time to time, and if there is a lack of moisture, the bush must be watered.If the soil in the area with the plant is too dry and impermeable to oxygen, then honeysuckle will grow worse, even if it is fed in time.
After spring fertilizing, the ground under the fruit bush should be mulched. A dense layer of mulch will achieve several goals at once. First of all, it will improve the absorption of moisture and fertilizers into the soil and prevent the rapid evaporation of water and nutrients. In addition, mulch will slow down the germination of weeds, which take up part of the fertilizer, and will itself serve as an organic fertilizer during the decomposition process.
Experienced gardeners not only strive to feed fruit bushes with organic matter and minerals in the spring. In an area with honeysuckle, it is useful to sow green manure, plants that will subsequently serve as fertilizer for the bush, for example, peas or clover. Green manure is planted in the spring or immediately after harvest, and when it grows, it is cut off and immediately buried in the ground. Thus, even in the current season, the plants have time to decompose and release nutrients to the soil that will benefit the shrub.

It is useful to sow special green manure grasses next to fruit-bearing bushes.

Experienced gardeners and gardeners recommend not to forget about such a procedure as sanitary thinning in the spring. If you free the bush from weak, dry and broken branches in time, then fertilizers for honeysuckle in the spring will bring more benefits; nutrients will not be used to maintain the vital activity of excess shoots.

Conclusion

You can feed honeysuckle in the spring with both useful minerals and organic mixtures.It is important to follow the basic rules for fertilizing, do not add nitrogen to the soil with the onset of summer, do not flood the bushes with excess moisture and adhere to the fertilizing dosages recommended in the instructions.

Feeding honeysuckle in spring: fertilizers to increase yield