Honeysuckle is an erect or creeping shrub. Currently, more than 190 species of honeysuckle are known, among which there are shrubs that give fruit (edible or poisonous), as well as a variety of honeysuckle, used as an ornamental plant. Growing honeysuckle has become a favorite pastime for many gardeners. To get a good crop, you need to select plant varieties taking into account the region and follow a few simple rules for planting and care.
What is honeysuckle and its features
Most often, blue honeysuckle is grown in gardens and orchards - it is a deciduous shrub that grows up to 2.5 meters in height, with beautiful elliptical leaves of green color and spindle-shaped dark blue berries with a bluish coating. Edible honeysuckle began to grow on the territory of Russia in the XX century, but even now not all gardeners know about it.
Honeysuckle honeysuckle is used as a decorative plant
Honeysuckle gives the earliest berries: it ripens in early June, even earlier than strawberries. Berries of old varieties resemble blueberries and have a bitter taste, but most modern varieties lack this bitterness and contain a large amount of sugars. The peculiarity of honeysuckle berries in its property is to clean capillaries, therefore it is of the greatest value for people of the older generation, but it is recommended for everyone to use as it has no contraindications.
A handful of honeysuckle berries, eaten for breakfast, provides the body with a daily norm of iron and B vitamins
Honeysuckle fruits contain 8% sugar, from 1 to 5 organic acids, pectins, tannins, P-active compounds (antacyanins, catechins), provitamins A1, B2, B1, vitamin C, as well as various trace elements: calcium, magnesium, phosphorus , sodium, copper, iron, iodine, aluminum, barium, silicon, strontium, manganese.
Honeysuckle Features:
- Honeysuckle is a cross-pollinated plant, that is, for fruiting you need several bushes of different varieties. For example, the variety Bakcharsky giant is the best pollinator for varieties Pride Bakchar, Silginka, Chulymskaya. When planting several bushes of the same variety, you will receive abundant flowering without berries.
For good fruiting, it is necessary to plant different honeysuckle bushes nearby
- The second feature of honeysuckle is peeling of the bark. Already on young branches, cracking and subsequent lagging of the cortex from the trunk are noticeable.
Even young honeysuckle twigs may peel
- Honeysuckle produces crops only on young shoots, so you should not get carried away with pruning if you do not want to remain without berries.
- The honeysuckle bush can grow in one place for up to 20 years and withstand winter temperatures drop to -40 aboutFROM.
- It blooms the very first, and the flowers withstand frosts to -6 aboutC.
Honeysuckle blooms the very first of the bushes, it is an excellent honey plant
Video: Honeysuckle from the Bachkar nursery
Where and when is it best to plant a plant
Buds on honeysuckle bloom in late April - early May, so when spring planting, you should adhere to these terms. If you got a seedling very early, when the soil on the site is not yet ready, then you can plant it in a large pot and then transfer it to the planting pit. If a seedling with a closed root system (in a pot), then you can plant all season.
Honeysuckle seedlings are best bought with a closed root system
Autumn honeysuckle planting begins in mid-September and, depending on the region of residence, can last until mid-November.
Video: planting honeysuckle varieties Daughter of a giant
Seat selection
When choosing a place to land, you need to consider the following features:
- Honeysuckle is considered an unpretentious shrub, especially for the northern regions of Russia, where it rains frequently and not very hot summers. In such areas, honeysuckle is best planted in sunny areas without constantly blowing winds.
- In the southern regions, it is better to plant honeysuckle in partial shade or in the sun, but with constant watering. In dry areas without watering, the bush will be low, weak and with a small number of berries.
- Marshy areas with very close occurrence of groundwater or acidic soil are not suitable. If it is impossible to find a more favorable place - plant on high ridges.
- The soil under the honeysuckle should be light, fertile, neutral acidity.
Honeysuckle planting pattern
Since honeysuckle is cross-pollinated, the bushes should be located side by side. Three or four bushes can be planted in a row, and a larger number - group planting in several rows.
A small number of honeysuckle bushes can be planted in a row, keeping the distance between plants 1-2 meters
The distance between the honeysuckle bushes in the planting will depend on the variety, since there are both large, sprawling bushes, and more compact ones. But most often between bushes leave from 100 to 120 cm, the same amount is worth retreating from the fence. With multi-row landing do up to 2 meters between rows. When using honeysuckle as a hedge, the holes are placed at a distance of 50 cm from each other.
Neighbors for honeysuckle
Honeysuckle is rarely damaged by various pests, so it can be planted next to other shrubs, but she especially likes the neighborhood with blackcurrant. In the near-stem circle one should also not plant any plants, since the root system of the honeysuckle is superficial.
Seedling Selection
On sale you can often find both seedlings of local nurseries and imported ones. However, the varieties bred in the Bakcharsky nursery located near Tomsk are recognized as new and better. The most suitable seedlings are plants 2-3 years old, with a good root system. Before planting, soak the roots in water for 1-2 hours with diluted Kornevin or HB 101.
We plant the honeysuckle correctly
Due to the structure of the root system, honeysuckle is planted somewhat differently than other shrubs:
- They dig a shallow and wide pit: 35 * 50 cm, carefully choose the roots of perennial weeds.
A landing pit is made 50-60 cm wide, and 35 cm deep
- Pour a bucket of compost or humus, 100 grams of superphosphate and half a liter of ash. On heavy clay soils, an additional bucket of sand is added, on acidic - from 200 to 400 grams of lime, and on sandy - coconut substrate or hydrogel to retain moisture.
Mineral fertilizers, humus, ash are introduced into the landing pit
- A dense mound is made in the pit, on which a seedling is placed so that the root neck is at the level of the soil. If the seedling has an open root system, then the roots must be straightened along the slopes of the hill. A seedling with a closed root system must be removed from the pot and, slightly straightening the roots, put on a hill or in a landing pit.
A seedling with a closed root system can simply be placed in the planting pit, while the root neck should be at ground level
- We fill the pit with soil and ram it, pressing the soil to the roots.
- From above we pour 1-2 buckets of water and immediately mulch with grass, straw, wood chips, newspaper, cardboard or simply dry soil. This stage is very important, as the soil should not dry out.
The planted honeysuckle should be mulched immediately with grass
Transplanting a bush to a new place
The honeysuckle transplant tolerates well. The best time for this is from July to October. Young medium-sized bushes can be dug up with a large lump of land and moved to a new place, and large bushes should be cut, shortened or cut old branches first, and only then transplanted.
Honeysuckle planting in the regions
There may be some differences in honeysuckle planting, depending on your area of residence.
Landing in Belarus
The desired term for honeysuckle planting in the Republic of Belarus is the end of summer and autumn. The place of cultivation is the sun, it will bear little fruit in the shade. The zoned varieties include Goluboye Vereteno, Lakomka, Nizhny Novgorod early, Morena and Vasilievskaya. Due to the long and warm autumn, honeysuckles in Belarus often bloom in November and sometimes in winter, so it is recommended to choose varieties with a long dormant period.
The variety of honeysuckle Blue spindle is distinguished by medium-sized berries of sour-sweet taste with a small bitterness
Landing in the suburbs
For landing, a bright and sunny place is chosen, with neutral soil and without blowing winds. The best varieties for the Moscow region are the Chosen One, Nymph, Morena, Silginka.
Silginka honeysuckle - one of the best options for planting in the suburbs
Landing in Siberia
Three-year-old seedlings should be chosen for planting honeysuckle in Siberia - they are better acclimatized. Landing pit is prepared in advance, and if there is near groundwater - they make drainage from broken bricks or cobblestones. In this case, the pit itself must dig at least 50 cm in depth. The best time for planting honeysuckle is also considered early autumn, and in the spring it is good to plant in rainy weather or with constant watering.
For a successful wintering in the Siberian region, honeysuckle cannot be fed with nitrogen fertilizers after mid-June. They make exclusively potash and phosphorus fertilizing, and it is even better to use ash. Suitable varieties are Berel, Fire Opal, Sirius, Blue Spindle, Cinderella, Blue Bird, Illiad.
Bluebird - a variety of honeysuckle with early ripening fruits
Landing in the Urals
In the Urals, honeysuckle also prefers to grow in the sun, with the exception of the Southern Urals, where in the summer the temperature of the soil can heat up to 50 aboutC - in such areas should be planted in partial shade, but not in the full shadow of the house or barn. In particularly hot years, you can stretch a building grid over the landings, which will reduce the energy of the sun, and the honeysuckle will be quite good. In summer, in dry places, watering is mandatory, especially in early June, when the berries begin to sing. The best varieties include the following: Yugana, Kamchadalka, Bakcharsky giant, Bakcharskaya, Maria, Nymph, Blue spindle, Blue bird, Titmouse.
The honeysuckle variety Bachkarskaya is resistant to temperature fluctuations in central Russia and the Urals
Honeysuckle does not need shelter for the winter.
Gardeners reviews
In my country house for four years now growing honeysuckle, a low bush with berries. When I bought it, they explained to me that I needed to buy a pair, which I did. Berries on honeysuckle appeared in the second year. Every year, the crop becomes more and more.
Tamrico//otzovik.com/review_3472986.html
In general, we used to collect honeysuckle as a child in the forest. Forest - they are very acidic. And in childhood I didn’t really like them, although the jam turned out to be tasty even then. Currently, in our garden honeysuckle bushes are growing. They begin to bloom in early spring. And honeysuckle is the very first shrub that already in late May or early June pleases us with its berries. The benefits and harms of honeysuckle can be found on the Internet. Of course, you need to take a little care of the bushes. It has never been that there were no berries on the bushes. The size, taste and shape of the berries are very dependent on the variety of these bushes. We grow 4 species. The first grade is Amphora, 2 - Blue spindle, 3 - Pavlovsky and 4 grade unknown variety. Just do not remember. Sprouts were bought on the market in the spring. And they were all bought and planted at different periods. Some bushes are already 8-9 years old, some 2-3 years old. The bushes are mainly located next to the pines. And pine trees protect them well from the wind. Although, they probably lack the sun. But, despite this, they bear fruit well.
Ilkasimov//otzovik.com/review_2261181.html
Many years ago we bought two bushes of an unknown berry, planted it and looked forward to the harvest, but ... The berry tasted bitter, it was impossible to eat. In general, we got disappointed. Bushes from the garden were transplanted into the front garden. And surprisingly the birds liked it, they willingly pecked the berries. Well, well, at least someone benefits from it. In the front garden, it grows and pleases the birds to this day.
IrinS//otzovik.com/review_5043627.html
Honeysuckle is rightfully considered one of the most useful berries, from it you can make wonderful jams, jams, compotes. Berries are eaten fresh, frozen for the winter, grated with sugar. When planting, be sure to take into account the peculiarity of honeysuckle to give fruit only when cross pollination with other varieties of this plant and plant at least three bushes.
