Planting and caring for honeysuckle in the Leningrad region

Honeysuckle is one of the most unpretentious plants, whose homeland is located in the Far East. Its edible and decorative varieties are popular. The former bear fruit with blue oblong berries with a sweet and sour taste and a high content of vitamin C. The latter produce a large number of large fragrant inflorescences, which become the decoration of the site, and bright but poisonous berries.

Honeysuckle is grown not only in the southern regions and the Far East. Modern varieties have sufficient winter hardiness to grow in the central regions and the North-West. We will talk further about the nuances of planting and caring for different varieties of honeysuckle in the Leningrad region.

Honeysuckle varieties for the Leningrad region

Edible a type of plant is bush. It bears fruit with oblong blue berries with a delicate, sweet and sour taste and a fresh aroma. Berries are rich in vitamins and minerals. To get your daily dose of vitamin C, just eat a handful of fresh honeysuckle.

Decorative honeysuckle is usually a vine, but bushy varieties of this plant are also found. It is valued for its large and delicate inflorescences, emitting a delicate sweetish aroma. During fruiting, round yellow or orange berries seem to lie on the leaves. The fruits of decorative honeysuckle are not eaten.

Both varieties of honeysuckle are native to the Far East. There they grow wild.Breeders have developed many varieties with increased resistance to cold weather and other negative environmental factors, more abundant flowering, high yields and large fruits. Among them there are those that are ideal for the Leningrad region.

Edible

Ripening of edible honeysuckle occurs earlier than strawberries. The fruits manage to ripen even in the cool Leningrad region before frost. The main thing is to choose varieties that can survive the harsh winter.

Dessert

Bush up to 1 m high with a compact but dense crown. The branches are long, up to 1.8 m, lowered to the ground. The weight of one fruit reaches 1 g, the total yield per bush is in the range of 2-2.5 kg. The berries have blue skin with a blue coating and juicy, sweet, with pronounced sourness pulp. The fruits ripen unevenly and are difficult to separate from the stalk. Dessert - a variety with a medium-late ripening period.

Pavlovskaya

A bush with a sparse crown reaches a height of 1.4 m. Berries weighing up to 1.25 g have a dark blue skin with a bluish coating. The fruit tastes sweet and sour, with a weak aroma. The shape is oval, with a pointed tip. The pulp is dense and does not wrinkle during transportation. The variety is mid-season. About 2 kg of harvest is obtained from one bush.

Nymph

The bush is medium-sized, with a dense and spreading crown. The fruits are large, weighing up to 1.2 g, and have a spindle-shaped, elongated shape. Juicy, distinguished by a sweet taste and rich aroma. The color of the skin is blue, and there is a dense layer of bluish waxy coating on it. The variety is mid-season. On average, 2 kg of fruits are collected from one bush.

Moraine

Medium-sized bush with a slightly spreading crown. The berries have an elongated pitcher shape. The weight of each fruit reaches 1.1 g. The skin is blue, with a dense blue waxy coating.The taste is sweet and sour, with a light berry aroma. Up to 2 kg of crop is harvested from the bush. Ripening dates are early.

Viola

A vigorous plant with a dense crown. It has dark blue berries with a waxy coating and an oval-elongated shape. The weight of one berry does not exceed 1 g. The taste of the fruit is sweet and sour, with a slight bitterness. This is a mid-season variety. Productivity – up to 4 kg of berries per bush.

This is interesting:

Consistently productive honeysuckle variety “Izyuminka” from Russian breeders

Sweet and sour mid-early variety of honeysuckle “Gerda”

Decorative

Decorative honeysuckle is also frost-resistant. The most popular varieties are:

• Honeysuckle;
• Blue honeysuckle;
• Charming;
• Bedspread;
• Maksimovich.

Planting honeysuckle in the Leningrad region

Despite the cool climate of the Leningrad region, honeysuckle is able to grow in open ground under such conditions. If planted incorrectly, it may not have enough sun; another problem is increased humidity at the roots. In both cases, the plant begins to hurt and produces meager yields. To prevent this from happening, it is important to choose the right landing site.

When to plant

In the Leningrad region, the growing season of honeysuckle begins in late March - early April. By this time, the soil has usually not thawed yet, so spring planting of berries is problematic.

The best time to plant honeysuckle is autumn. Work is carried out from early September to October.

Note! Honeysuckle is a cross-pollinated plant. In order for it to bear fruit, you will have to plant several bushes of different varieties on the site.

Selection and preparation of planting material

Honeysuckle usually propagated by cuttings, dividing the bush or layering.The generative method of breeding berries is not recommended, since a plant grown from a seed does not retain its maternal characteristics.

Ready-made seedlings are grown independently or purchased in nurseries and on the market. In the second case, it is important to know the signs of high-quality planting material:

1. The root system must be developed and have many large and small roots. To the touch – flexible and elastic, not dry. It is better if the root system is closed (located in a coma of the earth).
2. Age and size. The ideal option is seedlings 2 years old with 2-3 branches. The optimal height is 30-40 cm.
3. The branches are elastic and flexible. Brittle and dry specimens are rejected. There should be no damage, stains or other signs of damage on the shoots diseases and pests. Peeling bark is a feature of honeysuckle; such seedlings can be taken.
4. Buds are present on every branch.

If the seedling has a closed root system, it is not treated before planting. Growth stimulation and disinfection are carried out directly in the hole.

Attention! Honeysuckle seedlings, unlike other fruit and berry bushes, are not pruned before planting. This procedure will slow down its development.

Seedlings with an open root system are prepared:

1. Inspect the root system and branches. Remove all dry roots, limp and dry shoots.
2. The roots are disinfected: soaked in a light pink solution of potassium permanganate or “Fitosporin”.
3. Stimulate root formation - use special preparations such as Kornevin.

Selecting a location

Cloudy weather is often observed in the Leningrad region. Therefore, light-loving honeysuckle is planted in the most illuminated areas of the garden; semi-shaded places are not suitable.

The second important condition: in the place for planting honeysuckle, groundwater should not be too close to the surface. On marshy and clayey soils the plant will be weak and the yield will be low.

Light, fertile soil is best suited for honeysuckle. If possible, choose loam.

They begin to prepare the soil no later than 3 weeks before the seedlings take root. It is cleared of weeds and plant debris, dug up and leveled with a rake. The day before planting, water the soil with a hot solution prepared from a bucket of water and 1 tbsp. l. copper sulfate.

To plant honeysuckle in the Leningrad region, a standard scheme is used. Plants are planted at a distance of 1-1.5 m from each other. Leave a space of 2-3 m between the rows.

Dig holes 50 cm deep and 60 cm wide. The soil removed from the hole is mixed in equal proportions with humus or rotted manure. For this amount of soil take 30 g of superphosphate and 20 g of potassium salt.

Landing algorithm

Step-by-step instructions for planting honeysuckle:

1. A mound of nutrient soil mixture is formed in the hole.
2. The seedling is placed in a hole in the center of the earthen hill.
3. The roots of the seedling are evenly distributed around the mound.
4. The hole is filled with the remains of fertile soil, deepening the root collar by 3 cm.
5. The soil around the plant is compacted.
6. Each seedling is watered with 3 buckets of water, several potassium permanganate crystals are added to one of them.
7. The soil around the honeysuckle is mulched with peat, rotted straw or compost.

When planting seedlings with a closed root system, an earthen mound is not formed in the hole. The plant is planted together with a lump of earth.

Features of honeysuckle care in the Leningrad region

Honeysuckle is a low-maintenance plant.Even a novice gardener has no problems with it. It is enough to follow the basic rules of cultivation, and the plant will produce stable yields.

Note! In the Leningrad region, honeysuckle is less likely than in the southern regions to suffer from diseases characteristic of this crop. This is due to the fact that at lower temperatures fungi develop worse.

Watering and fertilizing

It often rains in the Leningrad region; cloudy weather is observed even in summer. Typically, the shrub is watered no more than 5 times throughout the entire season. Do this if the soil has become dry. It is especially important to monitor soil moisture during flowering, because in overdried soil the plant sheds its inflorescences. It is not recommended to water honeysuckle during fruiting; this negatively affects the taste of the berries.

For irrigation, use settled water at room temperature, a bucket for each bush.

Water the plant early in the morning or at sunset. During times of high solar activity, watering leads to burns on the plant.

Note! If the summer turns out to be dry, the amount of watering is increased.

It is useful to periodically spray the crown of the plant with water. Warm, settled water is also used for this. The procedure is carried out when the sun is inactive. When honeysuckle blooms, stop spraying.

After each watering and precipitation, the soil is loosened to destroy the earthen crust, which impairs root air exchange and contributes to water stagnation.

They begin to feed the plant 3 years after planting.

Use the following scheme:

1. The first fertilizing is applied in the spring. Under the bush, 10 kg of rotted manure is buried and a bucket of water is poured in, in which 2 tbsp is dissolved. l. urea.
2. Fertilizers are applied a second time when buds and berries appear.A product prepared from 1 kg of manure, 1 tbsp. is poured under the bush. ash and 10 liters of water.
3. The plant is fed the third time in the fall. 100 g of ash, 5 kg of compost and 40 g of superphosphate are buried next to the trunk.

Dry fertilizers are applied at any time. After the procedure, the soil is moistened.

Before using liquid fertilizers, honeysuckle is watered. Fertilize in the morning or evening.

Trimming

Honeysuckle is pruned in the autumn. There are three types of this procedure:

1. Formative. Starts from the second year of life. Cut off all weak shoots and root shoots. Each time, five young shoots are left.
2. Sanitary. The plant is inspected for damage by diseases and pests. Trim all damaged, frozen and dry branches.
3. Rejuvenating. It is carried out once every 10 years. In the process, all old branches are removed, leaving only young ones.

Pruning is carried out in dry weather when no precipitation is expected. This is done in the morning or evening. The sections are lubricated with garden varnish.

Preparing for winter

In the Leningrad region, special attention is paid to preparing for winter, because this time of year is the most dangerous for the plant.

Preparatory procedures:

1. Cleaning. Every autumn, fallen leaves are collected around the bush, weeds are pulled out and other plant debris is removed. They spread diseases and pests hibernate in them. The collected garbage is burned.
2. The bush is tied with a rope so that snowdrifts do not break the branches.
3. Honeysuckle is mulched as high as possible with rotted straw or peat. Some gardeners additionally use spunbond.

There is no need to care for honeysuckle in winter. The plant is only periodically sprinkled with snow.

When does honeysuckle ripen in the Leningrad region?

The ripening time of honeysuckle in the Leningrad region depends on the variety.Early varieties can ripen as early as early June. Mid-season honeysuckle yields its harvest in the middle of this month. Berries from late-ripening honeysuckle are harvested in early July.

Ripe berries are picked from the bush along with the stalk. They are collected in dry, sunny weather during the day.

This is interesting! Honeysuckle berries from the Leningrad region contain more sugar and vitamin C than fruits collected in the Far East.

Conclusion

Honeysuckle is a winter-hardy plant that can grow and bear fruit in the Leningrad region. It is undemanding to care and does not require constant attention from the gardener. Decorative and edible varieties become a decoration of the garden.

Care in the Leningrad region is not much different from cultivation in warmer regions. The main thing is to choose the most sunlit area in the garden and pay enough attention to preparing for winter.