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Caring for chokeberry in autumn prepares the shrub for wintering and lays the foundation for next year's fruiting. The vigorous, vigorous chokeberry belongs to the crops of guaranteed productivity. She is able to stably set berries without leaving, but the lack of attention to the chokeberry sooner or later affects the health of the bush. The berries become smaller, pests appear, and useless thickets form at the planting site.
How to care for chokeberry in autumn
The complex of activities carried out in the garden in autumn is aimed at the successful wintering of plants. For black chokeberry, the main needs are light and moisture, the absence of harmful insects and diseases. The rest of the tasks a resilient culture is able to cope with on its own.
Basic care for black chops in autumn:
- Pruning.
- Pre-winter watering.
- Prevention of infections.
- Fertilization.
Blackberry berries ripen late. Depending on the climate, they are cleaned from the beginning of autumn, until the very frost. After picking the berries, the care work begins. In an area where chokeberry is harvested from under the snow, all activities have to be carried out before harvesting.
Chokeberry does not require specific methods for autumn care. All of them are known to gardeners for other fruit crops. However, each of the stages has its own characteristics and should be considered in more detail.
How to prune chokeberry in autumn
The main work on the formation and rejuvenation of the bush is carried out in the spring, when it is possible to assess the condition of the plant after wintering. Chokeberry pruning in autumn is guided by other goals.
The strength of the growth of chokeberry leads to the fact that the stems and lateral processes appear throughout the growing season. The middle of the bush thickens by autumn, stretches upward in search of light. Such black chokeberry is susceptible to disease, the fruits on it are tied only on the lateral shoots.
You can thin out the plant throughout the season. In summer, if possible, remove thin and thickening shoots that take away the strength of the plant. In the fall, other chokeberry problems may be found that require intervention:
- the appearance of leaves affected by infections;
- broken branches, dried up shoots;
- areas of burst bark on adult trunks;
- an abundance of basal growth that thickens the bush;
- clusters of insects trying to overwinter in the soil.
Leave the chokeberry bush for the winter peeled and thinned out. In all these cases, pruning is mandatory.
Detailed instructions for planting, care, pruning chokeberry in autumn and spring in a video from an experienced gardener.
When to prune chokeberry: fall or spring
Spring is rightly considered the main pruning time in the garden.Before the start of sap flow, the chokeberry should be carefully examined, all dead branches should be removed. Frozen areas are shortened to live, green wood. It is also convenient to form bushes in spring, before the rapid growth of black chokeberry.
At the end of the season, you cannot do without revising the plantings. Chokeberry bushes grow strongly by autumn. Thickening and multiplying insects can harm the plant in winter, which will stop the development of the bush when it gets warm. Fungal infections from branches not harvested in time, after overwintering, attack healthy stems of chokeberry in spring.
Sanitary pruning is appropriate at any time. The thickening or diseased branches of the chokeberry should be cut out immediately after the problem is detected: in spring, summer or autumn, excluding only the period with subzero temperatures.
Chokeberry pruning in autumn for beginners
It is important to prune chokeberry long before frost. Cuts, wounds on branches and trunks should heal or dry out, which will prevent them from freezing. Pruning times vary from region to region. You should focus on the average annual temperature in a particular area, approximate time: September - October.
The bush is formed in the spring. When planting black chokeberry in the fall, it is also not recommended to shorten young shoots, this increases their vulnerability to frost and disease. It is better to form overwintered shoots after the snow melts.
Sanitary pruning in the fall consists in removing thin, thickening shoots growing inside the bush. The branches of the chokeberry, affected by diseases, are cut out completely. It is advisable to cut the cuts below the soil level. Stumps left above the ground often become a haven for insects and a breeding ground for infections.
If there is a need to rejuvenate the chokeberry in the fall, no more than half of the skeletal branches are cut out. The rest can be shortened. Experienced gardeners recommend that radical rejuvenation by completely cutting the entire bush be carried out in the spring.
Processing blackberry in the fall from pests and diseases
Most diseases of chokeberry are fungal in nature. They are treatable and preventable with copper-containing compounds. The most common proven fall spray is Bordeaux mixture at 1% concentration or copper oxychloride.
Before processing, you should carefully examine the plant, if necessary, remove diseased shoots, dispose of them. A solution of copper sulfate also helps to prevent the appearance of pests of chokeberry. Such spraying in the fall can be called universal.
The exception is brown mites that parasitize the black chokeberry. If they are found, spraying with special acaricidal agents will be required: Karbofos, Kleschevit, Apollo, Tedion.
Cherry sawfly, mountain ash moth, other beetles, butterflies that have lived in the crown and on fruits all summer, fall on the ground with fallen leaves in the fall. The larvae hibernate in a layer of plant debris or move into the ground. To prevent the transfer of pests into the next season, you can only collect all the fallen leaves and remove them from the site. Then chokeberry is sprayed and the soil is mulched with non-contaminated material.
How to plant chokeberry in autumn
Autumn is the most convenient time for planting chokeberry. You can have time to prepare planting holes, slowly select seedlings and not worry that unpredictable frosts will destroy the sprouts.
Seedlings that have matured over the summer are less prone to freezing than fresh shoots when planted in spring. In the fall, the root system takes root better. Its active development stops only at -4 ° C.
To adapt the roots of chokeberry, planted in autumn, 20 days are enough before the onset of persistent cold weather. In the spring, such a plant wakes up faster, begins to rapidly build up the aerial part. At this time, the seedlings of spring planting are just coming to their senses.
Where is it better to plant chokeberry in autumn
Blackberry grows well on any soil, excluding highly saline soils. Its root system tolerates well the high standing of groundwater, spring floods. Therefore, for planting in the fall, any area where there is enough sun is suitable.
Black currant is very demanding for lighting. In shaded areas, chokeberry can only be grown as an ornamental crop. A lot of light is required for flowering and fruit setting.
Planted along the border of the site, from the side of the prevailing winds, chokeberry can serve as protection from drafts for the entire garden or vegetable garden.
Landing dates
The time chosen for work must meet two requirements: not to be too warm and not preceded by frost. By planting chokeberry too early in the fall, when the temperature still rises above + 15 ° C, you can get a developing aerial part, and not roots.
Later, when the air temperature drops more, chokeberry is not prone to branch growth, but builds up the root system. This is especially pronounced if the plantings are mulched in the fall.
Planting dates vary from September to November, vary greatly by region and are chosen depending on the characteristics of the climate.
How to plant chokeberry in autumn
To plant the chokeberry correctly in the fall, you should choose and prepare a place in the garden in advance. Planting holes (50 * 50 cm) are dug in advance for soil shrinkage.
The removed soil is enriched with the addition of humus, wood ash, superphosphate. Drainage is laid at the bottom of the planting pits: pebbles, crushed stone, broken brick.
The process of planting chokeberry in the fall:
- Water is poured into the prepared pits to ½ the volume and wait until it completely goes into the soil.
- In the center, a mound of fertile substrate is poured, a seedling is placed on it.
- Having spread the roots, carefully sprinkle them with soil, preventing the appearance of voids.
- Spilling the seat with water, control the subsidence of the soil, pour the substrate to the edge of the pit.
- The surface can be immediately mulched to retain moisture.
The layout of the chokeberry in the fall can be arbitrary. The culture tolerates single plantings well. For increased fruiting, a distance of up to 3 m between the bushes is maintained. As a hedge, chokeberry requires thickening up to 1.5 m and is planted in trenches.
The nuances of landing in the Moscow region and Siberia
Chokeberry grows well throughout Central Russia. The Moscow region is one of the most favorable regions for growing crops. Nevertheless, do not forget one of the main rules of gardening: choose zoned varieties.
In order not to be mistaken, it is enough to purchase chokeberry in local nurseries. Saplings grown in similar conditions take root more easily. The most popular varieties of chokeberry in the Moscow region are: Black-eyed, Viking, Nero, Hugin.
Chokeberry is exceptionally winter-hardy, it can be cultivated to the Far North. The varieties zoned for the Urals and Siberia tolerate a drop in temperature to -20 ° C in autumn and -35 ° C in winter. The roots can withstand frosts below -10 ° C.
At the foot of the Altai Mountains and in Siberia, chokeberry seedlings after planting in the fall must be mulched, laid on the ground, covered with earth. It is important to carry out these works at positive temperatures, otherwise the branches become brittle. In the Moscow region and the central regions of the country, it is enough to sprinkle the roots with a layer of mulch.It is not necessary to cover the aerial part in autumn.
Chokeberry transplant in autumn
Aronia easily survives transfer to another place, even if the bushes are old enough. If the transplant is carried out correctly and quickly, the bush may not even wither, but immediately begin to master a new space. In autumn, this procedure is carried out in September - October, while the temperature is stable, above 10 ° C.
When to transplant chokeberry: in spring or autumn
Transplanting a chokeberry to a new location in the fall is a little easier than in the spring. The bush that has strengthened over the summer is easier to recover in new conditions. To speed up adaptation, you can cut the shoots by half their length, thin out the leaves, which will reduce the load on the roots.
In the spring, all the forces of the chokeberry are directed towards the growth of green mass. The roots may not cope with the double load, the plant will stagnate in growth. A black chokeberry transplant in the fall is considered less traumatic for the bush.
How to transplant an aronia in the fall to a new place
For a successful transplant, you will need to cut out as large a clod of earth as possible along with the roots. To do this, chokeberry is dug around the crown perimeter to a depth of about 500 cm. Then the soil is cut with shovels so as to separate the lump from the soil and carefully raise it.
It is better to transport the plant to the planting site by dragging it on a sacking in order to preserve the piece of land with roots as much as possible. The new hole should slightly exceed the size of the coma.
Some tips for replanting chokeberry in the fall:
- When transplanting, you can simultaneously feed the bush by adding superphosphate and potassium fertilizer (for example, ash) to the pit.
- It is advisable to maintain the same height of the root collar, only a slight deepening is permissible (by 1–2 cm).
- Chokeberry will more easily get used to a new place if you observe the direction of the bush to the cardinal points, as before the transplant.
A strong, well-developed bush in the fall can be divided and several plants can be planted in a new place. Chokeberry easily propagates by dividing the bush. The survival rate of "delenok" in the fall is high.
How to feed black chops in autumn
After fruiting, the culture needs rest and replenishment. Top dressing of chokeberry in autumn can influence the harvest of the next season.
After harvesting, it is useful to charge the soil under each chokeberry bush by adding 500 g of wood ash and about 200 g of superphosphate. It is good to carry out foliar feeding with a solution of urea (7%). Spraying branches with a nitrogen composition is not contraindicated in the fall and is a prophylaxis against infections.
During this period, it is important not to abuse nitrogen fertilizers applied to the soil. Such dressings in the second half of summer stimulate the growth of the aerial part, the shoots "grow fat", the bark does not ripen on them. In the fall, you should not fertilize chokeberry with nitrogen.
You can mulch the soil for the winter with peat or humus, which will become additional support for the root system.
Preparing for winter
Chokeberry is a cold-resistant crop, in most regions it tolerates winter without special shelters. Additional measures of agricultural technology are designed to help the chokeberry get out of winter dormancy strong, grow quickly, and in the fall give a high yield of useful berries.
Pre-winter black choke care:
- Moisturizing. If autumn is dry, chokeberry will need only one, but abundant watering. Under an adult plant, from 20 to 40 liters of water are introduced, within the projection of the crown.
- Loosening and mulching retain moisture and ensure proper breathing of the roots. A covering layer of 5–10 cm will protect them from freezing during changeable weather.
- Spruce spruce branches, used as shelter, or coniferous needles mulch scare away rodents.
In the conditions of harsh winters, even adult chokeberry bushes need shelter. For a frost-resistant culture, it is enough to bend to the ground with an arc of up to 20 cm. For this, wooden shields, heavy tree branches are used. The fallen snow reliably keeps the blackberry from freezing.If there is little precipitation, the plants are covered with earth or leaves.
How can you propagate chokeberry in the fall
Chokeberry can be propagated in several ways:
- seeds;
- layering or offspring;
- cuttings (green or ripe);
- dividing the bush;
- vaccination.
Not all of them are applicable in the fall. Sowing seeds in open ground is often practiced. Springs that appear in the spring should be grown for several years.
Reproduction of chokeberry by cuttings in autumn is a way to quickly get good planting material. For rooting in September, cuttings are cut from matured 2-year-old branches, about 15 cm long. The cut stems are planted obliquely in a cold greenhouse, leaving several buds above the ground. Rooted cuttings will be ready for planting in a year, in the fall.
The branches of the chokeberry, bent and pinned to the ground, without separation from the mother plant, are called horizontal layering. Having carried out the procedure in the fall, in the spring you can get a good vertical shoot, which is separated from the bush when it reaches 20 cm.
Conclusion
Caring for chokeberry in the fall does not differ in special techniques and is available even to beginners. A sustainable culture responds with gratitude to minimal care, the main thing is to carry out the work correctly and on time. Compliance with simple rules allows you to grow a magnificent plant, pleasing with its appearance and an abundance of useful fruits.
