What kind of care does a handsome gooseberry need after planting?

In the list of fruit bushes especially loved by summer residents, one of the first places is taken by gooseberries: planting and caring for it is not difficult, and many delicious berries ripen. He is also a long-liver. With the right approach to cultivation, the bushes will delight with a generous harvest for decades - from 20 to 40 years.

Site requirements

If there is no experience in growing a shrub, the first step is to figure out how to plant the gooseberry correctly. Best of all, the culture will develop in a spacious, open sun and well-ventilated area, but protected from drafts. Lack of light will not affect the growth of bushes, but shading will have a bad effect on their yield. There are few berries on them, they will be small, and their ripening will be uneven.

Gooseberry belongs to unpretentious crops, it is successfully grown on almost all soils. The main thing is to regularly enrich the soil with organic fertilizers. This is especially important for European shrub varieties.

The rules for preparing the soil for gooseberries are simple.

• If the soil on the site is heavy, with a large admixture of clay, it is diluted with sand and humus (1 bucket of both per 1 m² of surface). The latter can be replaced with any other organic matter.
• For light and poor soil, regular application of the same amount of organic fertilizers will be required, but it will periodically need to be mixed with clay as well.
• Every year the peat soil is enriched with 2 types of fertilizers - organic and mineral, containing a lot of phosphorus and potassium. Sand must be added to it. Experienced gardeners recommend adding sphagnum moss to the soil. It will help the soil stay moist and fertile longer and will disinfect it. Before placing it in the ground, the moss is prepared by soaking it in a bucket of water in which 10 tbsp. l urea.
• Sour soil for growing gooseberries will not interfere. But if the pH is less than 5.5, liming of the soil is carried out. This is done in advance - in the fall during the digging of the site, and even better - 2 years before the gooseberry is planted.

Advice

Light soils contain little magnesium, which is necessary for the development of shrubs. To reduce the acidity of the soil and at the same time make up for the lack of this element, before planting gooseberries, dolomite flour or gypsum is added to the site. You can scatter wood ash over it.

Damp, swampy soils, lowlands and places prone to flooding are not suitable for growing shrubs. In such conditions, rot often affects its root collar, and the gooseberry dies. It is important to consider when planting and the level of groundwater. The distance to them must be at least 1.5 m.

Sapling selection

The answer to the question of how to plant gooseberries correctly is quite simple. If the ideal place for the shrub on the site is found, and the soil is prepared, they proceed to an equally important stage - the choice of seedlings. They are examined, rejecting those affected by pests and diseases, as well as those with mechanical damage and dry. Bushes take root well in a new place at the age of 2 years. It is better to buy from them those whose root system is open. This makes it easier to choose a quality seedling.

It is distinguished by the presence of 2-3 strong 25-centimeter shoots and developed roots, the length of which is at least 20-25 cm. The buds in the sinuses are not dissolved. And the roots are already completely woody and have acquired a dark color. Particular attention should be paid to the tops of the gooseberry shoots, they must be healthy and strong.They may have leaves on them, but in the correct seedling, most of the central stem and side branches are bare.

Having bought such a bush, you need to take care of its transportation. To protect the roots from drying out, they are placed in a damp burlap. Newspapers can be used instead. Put a plastic bag on top or wrap a protective cover with a film. The final step is to securely fasten the resulting structure with a rope.

Potted seedlings can be purchased at any age. It is optimal if the length of their well-leafy shoots reaches 40-50 cm and they have numerous white roots. It is important to check the firmness of the planting of young gooseberries. Its roots should tightly braid with an earthen lump, without going to the surface and not growing through the bottom of the container, and the bush itself should not be shaken out of it. Such seedlings in the fall can be placed in the ground not immediately, but after 2-3 weeks. The main thing is to regularly water the plant in a pot, preventing the soil from drying out. Be sure to moisten it before transporting the shrub.

Landing subtleties

Planting gooseberries is practiced in spring and autumn. Professionals advise to postpone the procedure to a later time. When disembarking early, it is difficult to be on time You need to get into a short time interval when the soil has already thawed, and the buds on the plant have not yet swollen. If they have already woken up, and the soil has dried out, the shrub is harder to take root in a new place.

There are no such difficulties in autumn. If you plant 1-1.5 months before the first frost (in the middle lane, this is the period from the last decade of September to mid-October), new roots form in the gooseberry, and it will easily endure the winter. At the initial stages of development, it is important for a shrub to get a lot of moisture. This is another advantage of the autumn planting. In the spring, when it starts to grow, the soil moist after the snow melts will be the key to its intensive development.

Advice

When digging a site, it is important to select the roots of weeds from the ground, paying special attention to wheatgrass and sow thistle. Otherwise, they will quickly grow, depriving the bush of nutrients and moisture, and it will be difficult to weed them out from under the spreading bush, the branches of which are covered with sharp thorns.

The distance between adjacent bushes depends on the cultivar. Low-growing gooseberry varieties will need 1 m of free space. Tall ones will need 2 times more space. Determining the depth of the planting pit, they are guided by the age and size of the bushes. For several plants, it is best to dig a trench. If the seedlings are 1 or 2 years old, its depth is made equal to 0.5 m.For single bushes, pits with a diameter of 40-50 cm are dug.This is done in advance - in autumn or summer (1.5-2 months before placing the seedlings in the ground) ...

The soil is filled with fertilizers:

• rotted manure or compost (10 kg for each bush);
• wood ash (100 g each);
• double superphosphate (50 g);
• potassium sulfide (40 kg).

Planting gooseberries includes several mandatory steps. They start with a close examination of the future bush. If there are damaged or dry areas on its roots or branches, they are removed. The tops of the shoots are cut off, leaving no more than 5 buds on them. In order for the bush to take root faster, its underground part is dipped into a solution of a root growth stimulator. Fertile soil is poured into a mound at the bottom of the pit. Having installed a seedling on it, gently straighten its roots and gradually cover the hole with earth, not forgetting to compact it so that voids do not form.

It is not necessary to cover the root collar of the shrub with soil, the optimal depth is 3-5 cm. Having planted a young gooseberry, it is watered abundantly, and the soil under it is mulched. It is best to use peat, straw or humus for the procedure, but dry soil can also be dispensed with. 3-4 days will pass, and watering and mulching is carried out again.

Features of tillage

Growing gooseberries on a personal plot will not bring much trouble.For the active development and fruiting of the shrub, the soil under it must be regularly loosened or dug up. The method of treatment and the depth of impact are selected based on the structure of the soil. If the land on the site is dense and heavy, it is better to dig it up. Light, porous soil is sufficient to loosen slightly with a garden fork.

The procedure is carried out carefully. Gooseberry roots are located almost at the very surface of the soil, and they are easy to damage. The soil, which is located directly under the crown of the plant, is loosened shallowly - only 6-7 cm, and between the bushes - by 15 cm. In the fall, before the procedure, fertilizers can be scattered over the soil surface. During loosening, they are embedded in the soil. On the eve of winter, the plants are slightly huddled, and in the spring they carefully rake off the ground from their trunk with a pitchfork. Loosening is carried out quite often - 5-6 times per season.

Gooseberry is a rare cleanliness. Its bushes do not tolerate the neighborhood of weeds. To collect a high yield from them, you will have to devote a lot of time to weeding. In no case should the plantings be allowed to overgrow. Due to the accumulation of weeds in the soil, excess moisture is created, which can provoke the development of many dangerous diseases.

Watering and feeding

High yields greatly weaken the shrub. Therefore, during the season, it must be abundantly fed. Nutrient formulations are added twice. The first feeding is carried out when the gooseberry has faded. It stimulates the development of its shoots and formed ovaries.

The second time, the shrub is fertilized when the berries have already been collected from it. At this stage of the plant's life cycle, feeding will be a guarantee of a future harvest. In autumn, flower buds will be laid on its branches. Their number directly depends on the nutrients received by the shrub.

In dry summers, gooseberries will have to be watered regularly. You can start the next procedure if the soil is already dry. Water is poured under the root, carefully making sure that it does not fall on the leaves of the bush. If this happens, the gooseberries can get sick. For this reason, such a widespread irrigation method as sprinkling is not suitable for him. Not only excess moisture is harmful to the shrub, but also its lack. In spring, it should not be allowed during the period of active growth of gooseberries and the formation of ovaries, and in summer, special attention should be paid to watering 2 weeks before picking berries.

Pruning rules

To keep the bushes healthy and attractive, and the berries large, gooseberries are pruned. While the plants are very young (at the age of 1-3 years), its goal is to form their base. In spring, perennial shoots that make up the skeleton of the bush are left only ½ of the length. The root growth of the gooseberry is removed almost completely. At the 4th year of life and beyond the age, pruning is carried out to thin out the bush. Strong and healthy shoots do not touch. And it is better to get rid of the weak, dry, injured, affected by diseases or pests, beaten by frosts and directed into the bush.

Advice

The peak fruiting of gooseberry branches occurs at the age of 3-6 years. Therefore, when pruning, you do not need to feel sorry for the old shoots - you still can't wait for a generous harvest from them.

The formation of a bush begins in the fall, when it sheds its leaves, or in the spring, while its buds are still sleeping. Many summer residents also practice summer pruning, due to which the quality of the crop increases. The gooseberry shoots are shortened when ovaries appear on them, cutting off their upper part so that 5-7 leaves remain on the branches. After this treatment, the berries on the bush are larger.

Northern grapes - this is what the people call gooseberries. This poetic comparison contains a quivering love for the bush and a sincere admiration for it. Its advantages can be enumerated for a long time. It is unpretentious, high-yielding, frost-hardy, durable, easy to care for. It is not surprising that it has long become a familiar element of the country landscape.

Even beginners can handle the cultivation of a bush.The main thing is to familiarize yourself with the peculiarities of its agricultural technology before planting gooseberries. And then the little thing remains: choose the right site, prepare the soil and purchase high-quality seedlings.