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Honeysuckle is a bush plant with edible fruits. Various varieties have been developed that differ in yield, flowering period, frost resistance and other characteristics. A description of the Chulymskaya honeysuckle variety will help gardeners become more familiar with the crop and properly care for it.
Description of honeysuckle Chulymskaya
Shrub up to 1.3 m in height, perennial, medium-sized, spreading. Part of the extensive Honeysuckle family. The shoots are medium-sized, not thick, green, pubescent. Leaves are almond-shaped.
The fruits are irregular in shape, flattened on the sides, spindle-shaped, with a dimple at the top. Color varies from plum and glaucous to dark purple with a waxy coating and thin skin. Weight from 1.1 to 1.7 g. Chulymskaya honeysuckle berries are distinguished by high taste. They are sweet and sour, refreshing, similar to blueberries. Productivity reaches 5 kg per bush. Suitable for human consumption.
The berries of Chulym honeysuckle are rich in vitamins and minerals, have a tonic effect on the body, and strengthen the immune system.
Planting and caring for Chulymskaya honeysuckle
With careful attention and proper care, Chulymskaya honeysuckle will delight you with fresh greens and fragrant flowers for a long time. To get a high-yielding shrub, you must adhere to the rules of planting and care.
Landing dates
Young bushes can be planted in autumn or spring. Bare-rooted seedlings are best planted in September or early October.
It is advisable to transfer young Chulym honeysuckle bushes with a closed root system to the ground in the spring (late March - April), but this can be done at any time of the year.
Selection and preparation of a landing site
Honeysuckle Chulymskaya is an unpretentious crop, but the choice of planting site must be approached responsibly. The seedling needs sufficient lighting, but if there is too much light, it begins to dry out and get sick. Shading inhibits the processes of flowering and fruiting. It is necessary to find a place where the lower part of the plant will be in the shade, and the upper part will receive direct sunlight.
The location must be chosen so that the Chulym honeysuckle does not stand in the wind. Strong gusts can tear flowers and fruits from branches.
Seedlings can be tied up until they are firmly rooted in a new place
The soil should be moist and fertile, well drained with a neutral pH level (between 6 and 7.8).
Landing rules
Honeysuckle Chulymskaya grows in one place for up to 30 years, growing extensively.If there are several bushes, then maintain a distance of 1-1.5 m between them when planting.
The size and location of the planting hole must be calculated so that the overgrown honeysuckle does not interfere with other plants
Chulymskaya honeysuckle has a fibrous root system that does not go deep. A hole of 50x50 cm will be sufficient for planting. Before the procedure, the seedling is briefly placed in warm water.
Compost is added to the planting hole. If it is not available, then dry branches sprinkled with black soil are suitable as fertilizer. Organic food waste, hay, and wilted weeds are placed on top. Sprinkle a handful of bokashi, this will help quickly process organic matter, add fertile soil and compact it. By the time the honeysuckle root system gets stronger, there will be enough nutrients around.
Before planting, the soil is treated against pests and fungal diseases. 1-2 buckets of water with the dissolved product are poured into the hole. Fitosporin, Bravo, Bona Forte are suitable.
Two-year-old bushes are planted on the site. After planting, cover with soil so that there are a few centimeters left to the top. A Chulymskaya honeysuckle seedling compacted with earth is watered with a bucket of water at room temperature.
For additional protection and acceleration of establishment, the soil around Chulymskaya honeysuckle is mulched with pine branches, sawdust, and dead wood.
Watering and fertilizing
In order for Chulym honeysuckle to take root, it is necessary to maintain optimal soil moisture. In the first month after planting, the plant is watered 1-2 times a week. The crop is highly drought-resistant, but during dry periods it is watered 3 times a week.
Honeysuckle Chulymskaya loves both root watering and bathing in the shower with a watering can or hose.
Chulymskaya honeysuckle does not need fertilizers or fertilizing for the first 3-4 years. You can add wood ash diluted in water (1:10). Shrubs at the age of 4-5 years are fed with mineral fertilizers or organic matter (humus, bird droppings, manure).
Pruning edible honeysuckle Chulymskaya
Chulymskaya is pruned after three years. Until this period, only excessively long shoots and dry branches are removed with pruning shears.
The haircut is postponed until August. It is not advisable to do this during flowering, as there is a risk of losing half of the future harvest. You can prune Chulym honeysuckle at the beginning of spring: at this time, shoots growing deep into the bush, old, rotten and dry from the base, are removed.
Dried or frozen shoots interfere with the development of the bush
Sanitary pruning is relevant once every 2 years. Cut out about 1/3 of the bush. This stimulates the plant to bear more fruit and allows you to create a neat crown.
Anti-aging pruning is suitable for old Chulym honeysuckle bushes. It is performed at the end of autumn or in March. All shoots are cut at a distance of 30 cm from the ground.
Wintering
Honeysuckle is one of the most frost-resistant plants for the garden. The pruned Chulymskaya bush tolerates frosts down to -40°C even without shelter. The upper one-year-old shoots may freeze, but in the spring the plant quickly recovers.
In the southern regions, Chulym honeysuckle may bloom in the fall due to warm weather. In this case, the shoots are pruned. In Siberia and beyond the Urals, it is recommended to cover the plant with hay or garden film for the winter.
Reproduction
Chulym honeysuckle is propagated using cuttings.The plant is propagated by seeds only by breeders to obtain new varieties and hybrids.
Young cuttings of Chulymskaya honeysuckle are characterized by rapid adaptation and good survival rate
Cuttings are a familiar and popular method. In an adult bush at the age of 4-5 years, a strong shoot is cut off in the spring and divided into parts of 15-20 cm. The cut should be oblique from below, straight from above. The cuttings are dried, sprayed with a growth stimulator and planted in boxes at a slight angle. The soil for seedlings must be constantly moist. Choose black soil with the addition of sand. After planting in the ground, they are regularly loosened. In 3 weeks, cuttings of Chulymskaya honeysuckle should take root and bud. Depending on the region, they can be planted on the plot or in tubs.
Pollinators of honeysuckle Chulymskaya
To get a good harvest, several different varieties are planted for cross-pollination. It is better to arrange the seedlings in a checkerboard pattern to obtain a larger harvest. For Chulymskaya honeysuckle, such neighbors as the Giant's Daughter, Dwarf, Giant, and Delight are suitable. During the flowering period, they produce a large amount of pollen, which is carried by honey bees, wasps, flies, and the wind.
Group growth allows for uniform pollination of edible varieties
There is another way to increase the yield of Chulym honeysuckle - to attract pollinating insects to the site. Honeybees and bumblebees are the best ones to cope with this task. Before flowering, the bushes are sprayed with a sugar solution at the rate of 3 tbsp. l. honey or sugar with a slide per 10 liters of water.
Diseases and pests
Honeysuckle is very resistant to parasites and diseases. But there is still a list of negative effects that spoil the appearance and health of the plant.
Aphids parasitize young shoots and bushes of Chulymskaya honeysuckle, sucking the juice from them, weakening growth. The plant blooms worse. The leaves turn yellow and curl into dry brown tubes. Spring spraying with a 0.2% solution of Candifor, Actellik and Rogor helps against aphids.
Aphid colonies can destroy entire crops
Scale insect larvae overwinter under the bark of honeysuckle, and in the spring they crawl out and attach to the bark, becoming covered with a hard shell. They suck out nutrients and inhibit the development of young shoots. Control measures are similar to those for aphids.
Leaf-gnawing pests (sawflies, leaf rollers, borers, fingerwings) gnaw holes in the leaves and spoil fresh shoots, eat up buds and buds on bushes in the spring. Control measures: spraying with Elexar, Rogor, Inta-vir, chlorophos.
Root-knot nematodes are microscopic worms that live in the soil. They suck out the juices from the roots and cause significant damage to the lower parts of the Chulym honeysuckle. They carry many viruses that are difficult to get rid of. Control measures: treatment of soil and roots with Topsin-M solution.
Powdery mildew. Appears in the form of a white or light gray coating on the leaves of Chulymskaya. Over time, such a leaf becomes deformed, dries and falls off. The bush's overall frost resistance decreases.
Sooty fungus appears as a black coating on the upper side of leaves, mainly on young shoots. Control measures and treatment of Chulymskaya honeysuckle bushes: spraying with solutions of wood ash, soda, colloidal sulfur, laundry soap, as well as Topsin-M, Topaz.
If the plant already has flowers or ovaries, it is recommended to choose a more gentle method of control, or it is better to hold off on it altogether, or sacrifice the harvest.
Conclusion
The description of the Chulymskaya honeysuckle variety allows you to evaluate this crop before choosing it for planting. Those gardeners who have already appreciated the yield and taste of the fruit recommend the variety for planting in regions with a temperate climate.
