How to grow and care for gooseberries for a good harvest

Berry bushes are grown not only by summer residents, crops are grown on an industrial basis to obtain a harvest of fruits rich in vitamins and organic acids. At the beginning of the last century, huge areas were occupied under the gooseberry, but the number of plantings began to decrease sharply, plants began to die from the spheroteca caused by microscopic fungi. And although now varieties have been created that are immune to powdery mildew, caring for gooseberry bushes has its own characteristics. Given certain requirements, you can harvest for 10-15 years.

How to plant and grow gooseberries in the garden

Fruit shrubs quickly take root, the next year an ovary is laid, berries ripen, but in order to have a lot of them, you need to choose a variety adapted to specific climate conditions.

Scheme and timing of planting gooseberries

A place for fruit shrubs is allocated in dachas and personal plots, where the land is cultivated not by a tractor, but by hand. The distance that is made between the gooseberry bushes is influenced by the number of shoots that are left during formation. Vigorous plants with a large number of branches are planted every 1.6–2 m. If the interval in a row is 70 cm, the bushes are often cut off, no more than 3 new shoots are left every year.

In mid-latitudes, gooseberries are planted in autumn not in September, but in October. By winter, the young plant will have time to take root, accumulate useful substances, and in spring it will begin to develop.

Choosing the best place

The gooseberry adores the sun, grows in partial shade, but in this case it does not please with a good harvest. The shrub feels comfortable on chernozems and loams with neutral acidity, does not tolerate:

• podzolic soil;
• heavy soil;
• sand.

It is advisable to cover seedlings from dry wind. Young bushes cannot withstand cold winds.

Preparing the soil and planting pit

To remove the weeds, the area selected for the gooseberry is sprayed with herbicides.To improve the structure of the land, green manure is sown in advance in the form of mustard or grain. When digging up the soil, humus is introduced, to reduce acidity - garden lime. To destroy the mycelium of fungi, larvae of pests, the soil is treated with insecticides and drugs that kill the infection.

To plant gooseberries, in the fall, a hole 40 x 40 long and wide is dug to a depth of 40 cm. Ash and half a kilogram of mineral fertilizers are poured into it, thoroughly mixing with the soil.

In order not to divorce pests that can destroy the roots of the plant, organic matter is used if gooseberries are planted in spring. But in this period, you need to have time to carry out the procedure, until the kidneys wake up, but the earth must thaw. In the fall, branches are cut, cuttings 20 cm long are harvested.

Planting and rooting technology of young seedlings

In spring, shoots are placed in the garden using a slightly different scheme than for adult bushes. Having loosened the soil, fertilized before the beginning of winter, the cuttings are placed at an angle of 45 ° every 20 cm.The earth is tamped and covered with peat or humus with a layer of at least 50 mm. Even among summer residents who do not know how to plant gooseberries, young shoots take root normally and do not freeze if snow suddenly falls. After warming, the soil is loosened, the cuttings are carefully buried.

In recent years, planting gooseberries in open ground has become quite possible even in summer. Young bushes are packed in cardboard boxes or in cellophane tubes along with the earth. When buying such a container, you need to pay attention to how the soil clod is separated. If it is not difficult to pull it out, you should not purchase a seedling, since it has weak roots, and such a bush will not tolerate moving into the ground at high temperatures.

The procedure for transplanting currants from a container does not present any particular difficulties:

1. The cellophane casing is cut from the side and bottom of the container.
2. Carefully take out the earth so that the lump does not crumble.
3. The seedling is lowered into a hole dug in advance, without shaking off the soil from the roots.
4. The neck is not buried in the ground.

It is advised to plant a bush from a container not earlier than the last days of June or early July. The ground under the plant is watered, covered with peat or mulched with humus.

In recent years, some gardeners have begun to grow gooseberries in a way other than a trellis. This agrotechnical technique allows you to provide the bushes with good lighting, prevent the development of diseases, and increase the yield.

Summer residents were interested in the standard gooseberry varieties, which not only have a decorative look, but they are easy to care for, cut, pick berries.

What does the comprehensive care of gooseberry bushes include?

In order for a plant, which at one time was more popular than currants, to bring a large profit, plantings had a high profitability, you need to know how to care for gooseberries throughout the growing season. In order for the plant to please with long fruiting, it needs to be watered, fertilized, cut, and prevented from diseases.

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Weed control

Gooseberry does not tolerate shade, it is well accepted only in loose soil. Weeding, which is usually combined with pulling out weeds, helps to improve the condition of the soil, accelerate the growth of shoots. Fungi and pests overwinter on the stems and leaves of such plants, which is fraught with the death of not only shoots, but also gooseberry bushes.

In the area under the berry, it is not recommended to plant flowers, sow grassy lawn plants. Weeds cannot be controlled by treating the soil with herbicides.

Pruning and shaping bushes

In order for the gooseberry to develop well, bear fruit for a long time, the shoots are regularly shortened, dry and damaged branches are removed, and the bushes are formed correctly. Cropping is done:

1. For rejuvenation.Gooseberries grow old by 8 years, in order to extend the life of the plant, they get rid of some of the shoots, thereby forming new stems that will bloom profusely.
2. To increase yields. If you do not thin out the branches, the crown thickens, pollination worsens, the ovary is laid much less.
3. For prevention. Gooseberries often suffer from diseases caused by fungi and are affected by harmful insects. When pruning branches, the flow of air improves, and the path for the sun's rays opens.
4. To form. Shoots are shortened in several stages, this procedure serves as one of the conditions for the development of the plant.

The gooseberry bush grows up to one and a half meters in height. Its crown is formed from branches of different ages and basal processes, which are formed from the buds on the stem, which are located at the base. In the first year of life, these shoots grow rapidly and by autumn they will become stiff. Branches from the first to third order bear fruit best. Regular pruning promotes shoot renewal. The gooseberry forms a root growth that should be disposed of.

The branches of the shrub are shortened immediately after planting it in the ground. In the first year, damaged and weakened stems are removed, healthy ones are cut at an angle to the third bud from the bottom.

The next spring, shoots, shoots located horizontally, and branches that are shorter than 20 cm are removed, as they will take away the nutrients necessary for the development of the gooseberry. The strongest shoots are shortened to 0.3 m. In the third year, up to 18 branches of different ages appear at the bush. The top of them must be cut off by 15 cm and weak shoots and horizontal shoots must be removed.

In gooseberries older than 5 years, root growths are removed, leaving 3 or 4 of the strongest branches. After each procedure, the plants are fed by digging a trench into which ammonium sulfate is introduced in spring, peat or compost in autumn.

With anti-aging pruning, when the bush reaches the age of 7 years, a third of the branches are removed to the base, leaving the strongest shoots.

Regularity of plant irrigation

In order for the gooseberry to please with the harvest of large berries, and to bloom profusely, the soil under the bushes should not be allowed to dry out. In regions where it rarely rains, the first watering is started when the ovary begins to form, young shoots appear, which is usually observed in May or June.

The next irrigation is carried out during the ripening of the berries and always in October, so that the plant accumulates moisture, strengthens the roots, preparing for winter. One bush requires up to 4 buckets of water, it is convenient to pour it into the grooves.

So that the soil is not taken by a crust that does not allow air to reach the roots, after irrigation, the soil is loosened and mulched.

Top dressing and fertilizers

The fertile soil is quickly depleted and the yield of berry bushes is markedly reduced. To prevent this from happening, in the summer after flowering, the plants are fed with a mullein, which is prepared in a ratio of 1 to 10 to water or bird droppings diluted in a ratio of 1 to 20. Fertilizers are easier to digest if you dig grooves near the bushes at a distance of 20 cm, pour in the solution and sprinkle deepening with the ground.

Gooseberries reacts positively to feeding with a mixture of organic matter and mineral complexes, but such a composition is introduced in July or August after picking berries. Some gardeners feed fruit shrubs with ready-made fertilizers 3 times a summer.

In late or early April, when the buds on the plants begin to swell, watered gooseberries with slightly cooled boiling water. This procedure helps to protect the bushes from infection by spider mites and aphids.

In the spring, plants are fed with ammonium nitrate or urea, stirring a matchbox of one of these substances in a bucket of water. Both the ground and the stem are watered with the composition, wood ash is poured under the bush. Until leaves appear on the gooseberry, urea can simply be scattered over the area and covered with a rake.

Loosening the soil

Berry bushes do not grow well and develop well when air does not reach the roots due to the fact that the ground is clogged with melt water or rain. In early spring, when it is already possible to enter the garden, they loosen the soil between the rows and bushes with a shovel, trying not to be beaten with thorns.

It is not recommended to loosen the layers of earth that form during the autumn digging, since insect larvae die in them in winter, and the remaining weed seed freezes and no longer sprouts.

Pest control

For half a century, many gooseberry varieties have been bred that are immune to fungal infection. However, the leaves and shoots of the plant still attract:

• sawflies:
• glass bowl;
• aphids;
• spider mites.

In order to prevent the reproduction of insects, in early spring the bushes are treated with chemicals, trying to ensure that the solution gets into each crack. Bordeaux liquid effectively protects gooseberries from pests, which is prepared from 300 g of copper sulfate and a bucket of water. Nitrafen destroys insect larvae and eggs, but it is not recommended to spray plants with dark brown paste every year.

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The drug D 30 copes with pests, which is applied to the shoots and clogs the respiratory apparatus of the larvae. Fight insects using folk recipes:

1. Plants are sprayed with an alkaline liquid - soda ash or ordinary soda, dissolving in a bucket, respectively, 50 or 100 g.
2. Grind a piece of laundry soap on a grater, mix with 3 liters of hot water, cool the composition, process the gooseberry.
3. Before bud break, shoots are watered with boiling water.

During the growing season, gardeners use insecticides - "Karbofos", "Aktellik", "Inta-Vir", "Aktaru" to control insects.

The nuances of caring for gooseberries for diseases

Even new varieties and hybrids of the shrub suffer from powdery mildew. Under favorable conditions, the fungus begins to multiply, and the leaves and shoots are covered with gray spots. When the first signs of the disease appear, gooseberries are treated with 3% copper sulfate.

If this method of fighting fungi and viruses is ineffective, the bushes are sprayed with fungicides "Topaz", "Ridomil", "Skor", "Arcerid".

Gooseberry gardening calendar

In order not to complain about small berries or a poor harvest, you need to take care of fruit plants in every season, do the necessary work on time for both ordinary varieties and for gooseberries on a stem.

Spring procedures

As soon as the snow melts, dry leaves and branches are raked from the site, which are immediately burned. Before budding in April, shoots are cut off, gooseberries are sprayed with pesticides, fertilizers containing nitrogen are applied.

When the earth dries up, they begin to loosen the row spacings, perform the second processing of plants to prevent fungal diseases and pests, pin the layers.

In May, weeds are controlled, cuttings are grown. After flowering, the stems and leaves are sprayed with insecticides.

Summer shrub care

With the onset of warm and hot days, the plants are fed with mineral fertilizers and organic matter, they irrigate and loosen the soil, and young shoots are processed to prevent powdery mildew. At high temperatures and drought, shrubs are often watered. In the summer months, berries are plucked, layering is spud.

Autumn work in the garden

In October, sick, old and broken branches are cut and burned, the soil is dug under the bushes, fertilizers are applied, and gooseberries are planted.

Preparing for winter

If the autumn turned out to be dry, before the cold snap, the currants are watered abundantly, the ground under the bushes is covered with mulch. Plants are covered with snow that has fallen.

Gooseberry breeding methods

A low shrub with thorns is planted at every summer cottage and garden plot.To breed it, you can use several methods - prepare cuttings or layering.

By dividing the bush

To preserve the gooseberry variety you like, old branches are removed from the dug out plants, leaving strong young shoots. With a pruner or ax, the bush is divided into seedlings, which should have roots, the top is shortened by 15 cm. Superphosphate, humus, potassium salt are added to the soil and parts of the plant are transplanted.

Root processes

The gooseberry takes root well, and any intact part can be used for propagation. Annual plants have a fibrous root, shoots extend from it, which are separated from the mother bush and planted in fertilized soil.

Reproduction by layering

It is most convenient to breed gooseberries vegetatively. The seeds are used to produce new varieties, but this process consists of several stages.

Horizontal layering

In the spring, until the buds have blossomed, a little earth is raked off the bush to form a depression, the width of which should correspond to the size of the shoots that will fit into it. Then a dozen branches are picked up a year or 2 years old, the tops are shortened by a quarter and placed horizontally in the prepared recess and fixed with hooks.

After a few days, these shoots will develop buds from which twigs will grow. Layers with the resulting roots are dug up in the fall and transplanted into the ground.

Arcuate

This method of breeding currants begins in the spring. Annual shoots are laid in rows in furrows, attached in the middle of the groove and sprinkled with soil. The tops of the increments are directed to the ground in an arc, tied to a support, shortened and spud with soil. Over the summer, the layers become stronger, but only one powerful seedling grows, which quickly pleases with the first berries.

Vertical

To propagate gooseberries, the bushes are placed densely, and in the third year the plants are shortened, leaving 15 cm to hemp. After pruning, the branches develop rapidly, and when their height reaches 30 centimeters, they spud with earth. By the fall, the shoots have roots.

The main mistakes in plant care: ways to prevent them

Often, novice summer residents often take care of gooseberries not under the guidance of specialists, but on their own, as a result, they make many mistakes:

1. The bushes are watered from above, which is fraught with the activation of fungi. It is only necessary to moisten the earth.
2. Extra shoots are not removed, which leads to thickening of the site, deterioration of fruiting.
3. Loosening damages the roots located close to the surface. Use a hoe as a garden tool.
4. The crown is not formed correctly. Anti-aging pruning should be done in stages.
5. Top dressing is carried out out of time, with an excess of fertilizers, lush foliage is formed, but small berries.

Sometimes summer residents rent shelter late for the winter. The gooseberries are overheating and may disappear. You can not shorten the branches when the buds have blossomed. It is best to postpone pruning until fall.