Content
- 1 Features of growing honeysuckle in the Moscow region
- 2 When to plant honeysuckle in the Moscow region
- 3 Planting and caring for honeysuckle in the Moscow region
- 4 When does honeysuckle ripen in the Moscow region?
- 5 Harvesting honeysuckle in the Moscow region
- 6 Reproduction
- 7 Diseases and pests
- 8 Conclusion
Planting and caring for honeysuckle in the Moscow region usually does not cause any particular difficulties even for novice gardeners. This is a fairly frost-resistant, hardy crop, which is usually grown in the northern regions of the country, so the climate of the middle zone is quite suitable for it. In addition, the shrub is unpretentious in care and has good immunity, so the only difficulty is selecting a variety and a suitable place for planting.
Features of growing honeysuckle in the Moscow region
Many varieties of honeysuckle are recommended for planting in the Moscow region, however, the following species are best adapted to local climatic conditions:
- Long-fruited – a variety adapted to spring frosts;
- Moraine – characterized by early ripening, the variety is resistant to diseases and pests;
- Cinderella – early ripening high-yielding variety.
When planting honeysuckle on a site, it is worth considering that almost all of its varieties are self-sterile. This means that several similar pollinating varieties must be placed next to the bushes. If this is not done, the plants will not be harvested even with the best care. The optimal interval between two adjacent bushes is 2-3 m.
Most varieties successfully take root in the Moscow region and bear fruit for 20-30 years. In this regard, you should carefully select a place for planting - replanting the plant is not recommended.
When to plant honeysuckle in the Moscow region
Edible honeysuckle can be planted in the Moscow region both in spring and autumn. It is best to select two-year-old seedlings with developed roots for planting in this region. Before this, the site is prepared - carefully dug up, weeds are removed and fertilizers are applied.
How to properly plant honeysuckle in the spring in the Moscow region
The climate in the Moscow region is quite mild, however, it is better to play it safe and plant honeysuckle in the spring. This will give the plant more time to take root in its new location and accumulate enough nutrients to survive the winter.
How to plant honeysuckle in the fall in the Moscow region
If the seedlings have an open root system, you can plant them in open ground in the fall, however, you should not delay this. If you plant honeysuckle too late, the plant will not have time to take root in its new location in the Moscow region before frost sets in. The best period for planting is the last ten days of September. The deadline is early October.
Planting and caring for honeysuckle in the Moscow region
Caring for honeysuckle in the spring in the Moscow region comes down mainly to sanitary pruning; in the fall, young bushes are covered for the winter. In the summer, caring for plantings is also easy - it is enough to apply 1-2 fertilizing per season and water the plants in a timely manner. The crop suffers extremely rarely from diseases and pests, so chemical treatments are not necessary. Planting honeysuckle is fairly standard for a fruit-bearing shrub.
Selection and preparation of a landing site
The choice of planting site and its preparation are of great importance for good fruiting of honeysuckle. The shrub develops best in an open and spacious area - this crop is long-lived and grows strongly over time, so plants should not be planted too close. It is also allowed to grow honeysuckle in partial shade, under fruit trees.
Another requirement is that bushes should not be placed in lowlands to avoid stagnation of water in the soil. Despite the fact that the shrub is quite resistant to adverse environmental conditions, excessive moisture will not be beneficial to it. An area with a high level of groundwater is also not suitable.
The recommended type of soil for honeysuckle in the Moscow region is forest gray soil and loam.
Landing rules
Planting honeysuckle in the Moscow region is carried out taking into account the following agricultural technology rules:
- The plant does not have a powerful root system, so it will be enough to dig a hole for the seedlings with a diameter of about 50 cm and a depth of about 40 cm.
- A drainage layer must be placed at the bottom. You can use small pebbles, expanded clay, crushed stone, broken brick or clay shards for this.
- Fertilizers are poured over the drainage - 3-4 kg of humus.
- Then the honeysuckle seedlings are prepared for planting - all damaged branches are cut off, as well as the roots.
- After this, the plants are lowered into the hole, carefully straightened and sprinkled with earth. When the dug space is filled, the soil is lightly compacted.
- Complete the planting procedure with abundant watering and mulching. To do this, you can use peat, humus or sawdust.
When planting honeysuckle, the root collar should not be lowered below 7–8 cm from the ground surface
Watering and fertilizing
Honeysuckle does not like waterlogging, but watering cannot be neglected. Young seedlings are especially sensitive to excessive dry soil - they are watered daily during the first 7-10 days after planting. Water consumption during this period is 8-10 liters per bush.
Adult bushes are watered once every two weeks, spending about 25-35 liters of water, however, in the spring this is done a little more often so that the plants gain green mass better. Also, water consumption increases during the fruiting period.
In order for oxygen to better flow to the roots, planting care includes periodic loosening of the soil, and the procedure is carried out on the same day as watering. There is no need to loosen too deeply, since the roots of honeysuckle are quite fragile and can be easily damaged.
It would also be a good idea to mulch the tree trunk immediately after watering.This way it will be possible to increase the interval between them, and thereby make it easier to care for plants - mulch retains moisture in the soil well and prevents the soil from drying out. The optimal thickness of the mulch layer is 3-5 cm. In autumn it can be increased to 7 cm.
As for fertilizers, the bush is fed for the first time only in the third year after planting in open ground. Any nitrogen-containing complexes are added to the soil - ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, urea, etc. 10-15 g per 1 m2 is enough2, no more. Subsequently, honeysuckle in the Moscow region is fertilized every two years with organic matter - humus, bird droppings or rotted compost. At 1 m2 accounts for approximately 2.5 kg of fertilizer.
You can feed honeysuckle again 2-3 weeks after harvesting. At the end of summer and autumn, wood ash in the form of powder or infusion is added to the soil, as well as complex fertilizers for berry bushes. It is important to study their composition - there should be little nitrogen there, since its excess in the soil negatively affects the preparation of honeysuckle for winter.
Trimming
Almost all varieties of honeysuckle have a fairly dense crown, so pruning shoots is an essential part of shrub care that should not be neglected. The procedure is carried out 1-2 times a year at least. At the same time, in the spring in the Moscow region, sanitary pruning is usually carried out, and in the fall, honeysuckle is usually formed in September-October.
For the first time, formative pruning is carried out 5-6 years after planting in open ground. Most species for the Moscow region grow rather slowly, so you should not prune the shoots too much.The optimal time for this procedure is shortly after the honeysuckle sheds its leaves. The whole process comes down to removing dried, weak and damaged branches, and also thinning out the crown using old shoots. The cut areas are lubricated with garden varnish.
Honeysuckle bears fruit best in the Moscow region if the bush is formed into five trunks, the most powerful.
Wintering
Despite the fact that honeysuckle is a winter-hardy crop, young bushes should be covered for the winter. To do this, just cover the shrub with a synthetic fabric bag, after first removing the climbing varieties from the supports.
Adult plants in the Moscow region do not need additional shelter.
When does honeysuckle ripen in the Moscow region?
Sometimes inexperienced gardeners may be confused by the fact that honeysuckle does not bear fruit for a long time, even despite planting according to all the rules and good care. This is completely normal for this crop - the shrub produces its first harvest only 2-3 years after planting in open ground. Until this time, the plant develops a root system.
The timing of harvest depends on the variety, but in general, honeysuckle begins to bear fruit 1-2 weeks earlier than strawberries. This usually occurs in the first half of June for early-ripening varieties and the beginning of July for mid-ripening varieties.
Fruiting of honeysuckle continues for 1-1.5 months
Harvesting honeysuckle in the Moscow region
The honeysuckle harvest in the Moscow region is harvested taking into account the following features:
- Almost all varieties of honeysuckle quickly fall off soon after ripening. In order to slow down this process, closer to harvest, you should water the plantings more often and more abundantly. If this is not done, you can lose part of the harvest, even if the care was good before - even unripe berries will begin to crumble.
- Harvest as the fruits ripen. Do not wait until all the berries have reached ripeness. If you don’t remove the ones that ripen first, the bush will simply drop them.
- If it is not possible to pick berries from honeysuckle every day during the fruiting period, caring for the plant can be simplified with the help of a little trick. A blanket or film is spread directly under the bush - this will preserve most of the harvest, since the berries will not hit the ground and rot on it.
Reproduction
Honeysuckle can be propagated in the Moscow region both by seed and by vegetative methods. Preference should be given to the latter, since propagation by seeds inevitably entails the loss of varietal characteristics.
One of the most suitable methods for propagating honeysuckle is summer cuttings. This process in the Moscow region occurs according to the following scheme:
- First, green cuttings are cut from the bush, but so that each one has at least two buds, preferably three. Also, the cuts should contain 1-2 internodes.
Leaves on cuttings must be cut to ½ length
- Leave 2 cm under the lowest bud and cut the end diagonally. This will make it easier for the planting material to penetrate into the soil.
- Immediately after this, the shoots are placed in water. After a few hours, they are treated with any root formation stimulator and planted in a container.
- By the beginning of autumn, the cuttings should form a fairly developed root system.
In September, seedlings can be transplanted into open ground
Diseases and pests
Edible honeysuckle gets sick extremely rarely in the Moscow region. The most significant threat to shrubs is powdery mildew, however, the appearance of the fungus can be easily prevented - it is enough to treat the plantings with any specialized fungicides. For preventative purposes, the bushes are sprayed twice: at the very beginning of the growing season and three weeks after the end of fruiting. The following drugs have proven themselves best in the fight against powdery mildew:
- "Bayleton";
- "Alirin-B";
- «Fitosporin-M";
- "Strobe."
Pests also rarely pester honeysuckle in the Moscow region. On the other hand, it would not be superfluous to include 1-2 preventive treatments against aphids in plant care. It is best to use general insecticides for this:
- "Inta-Vir";
- "Aktellik";
- "Aktara".
Conclusion
Planting and caring for honeysuckle in the Moscow region, in essence, is not much different from how this crop is grown in the Northern regions. The main thing is to choose the right variety for local climatic conditions, and plant the plant taking into account the recommended timing for the Moscow region.
You can learn more about the peculiarities of planting and caring for honeysuckle in the Moscow region from the video below:
