Content
The description of the variety, photos and reviews of Long-fruited honeysuckle will be interesting to study for all gardeners who want to grow a beautiful and useful plant. In cultivation, honeysuckle is quite unpretentious, but has its own characteristics.
Benefits of Long Fruit Honeysuckle
The main value of honeysuckle in the garden lies in its fruits. Long-fruited is able to please with long berries with a delicate refreshing taste, and the yield of the variety is very good.
Berries are suitable not only for fresh consumption and for preservation. Since they contain a huge amount of vitamins, the fruits are also used in folk medicine. Long-fruited honeysuckle berries can heal blood vessels, strengthen the immune system and the heart system, honeysuckle benefits from digestive diseases.
Description of the variety of honeysuckle Long-fruited
The honeysuckle variety Long-fruited is a medium-spreading shrub, the height of the Long-fruited honeysuckle bush reaches about 1 m. The crown is spherical, formed by a large number of slightly curved shoots. The shoots themselves are thin, green with a slight purple tinge and slightly pubescent, and the old branches are covered with a brownish-yellow bark.
The edible variety of honeysuckle produces very juicy and healthy fruits.
The leaves of Long-fruited Honeysuckle are dark green, oblong and lanceolate, soft to the touch and slightly pubescent. The variety blooms with large white-yellow funnel-shaped flowers at the very beginning of May, and the ripening of the fruits occurs in the first days of June.
Long-fruited for the first time bears fruit for 2 or 3 years after planting in the ground. As you might guess from the name of the variety, the berries of the plant are long, cylindrical in shape, each of them reaches 3 cm in length, and the fruits weigh about 2 g. They are covered with a thin, bumpy skin of dark blue color with a bluish waxy bloom, the pulp of the berries is purple - red, juicy and pleasant to the taste, without bitterness. The tasting score of the fruit reaches 4.8 points; the berries can be used both fresh and for preservation.
Planting and caring for long-fruited honeysuckle
It is quite easy to grow honeysuckle on your site. But for this you need to know when to plant a plant in open ground and how to properly care for the Long-fruited.
Unlike most plants, Long Fruit Honeysuckle requires late planting.
Landing dates
The recommended dates for planting the Long-fruited differ from the standard ones. It is necessary to plant the plant in the ground from the beginning of August to the end of September. This is due to the fact that the fruit shrub takes root quickly enough and before the onset of cold weather will have time to take root on the site.
But the spring planting of the Long-fruited is associated with serious risks. Honeysuckle's vegetation begins very early, in early April, and if it is planted during this period, it will develop slowly and with difficulty.
Selection and preparation of the landing site
The characteristic of the Long-fruited honeysuckle variety suggests that the plant feels best in open, sunny places, protected from strong winds. Therefore, it is recommended to plant shrubs on hills, but not far from tall trees or buildings that will serve as a cover from drafts.
To the soil Long-fruited is undemanding and grows well on poor soil, provided that it is sufficiently loose. The plant does not react well to waterlogging, therefore, good drainage must be equipped on clay soils.
The plant does not have special requirements for the soil.
Before planting for the shrub, dig a hole about 50 cm deep and 60 cm wide. At the same time, the earth must be mixed with a bucket of rotted manure, add 100 g of potassium salt and 100 g of superphosphate to it.
Landing rules
The planting algorithm for the Long-fruited is standard and looks like this:
- a day before planting, the seedling is soaked in a bucket of water, if necessary, adding growth stimulants to it;
- before planting, the roots of the seedling are carefully straightened and the honeysuckle is lowered into a half-filled hole so that the root system does not suffer;
- the seedling is sprinkled with the remaining earth flush with the surface, after which a bucket of water is poured under the trunk and mulched in a circle with sawdust.
If the soil at the planting site of the Long-fruited is light and aerated, then the plant can be deepened by about 5 cm, this will contribute to the growth of the root system. On clay soils, deepening is not practiced, since it leads to decay of the roots.
The honeysuckle shrub needs to be watered, but so that waterlogging does not occur
Watering and feeding
Long-fruited has a negative attitude to waterlogging, but takes moderate watering well.
Usually, for the first time, the bush is watered in the spring, if the weather is warm, and there is almost no rainfall, 1-2 buckets of water are brought under the trunk. Moist soil is mulched with humus, it will not only retain moisture, but also serve as a natural nitrogen fertilizer.
The second watering is carried out while tying the buds, and the amount of water is increased to 3 buckets. At the same time, you can carry out top dressing with complex mineral fertilizers.
In the summer after fruiting, watering is carried out only as needed. If natural precipitation falls regularly, then the honeysuckle can not be watered at all, if there is a drought, then a couple of buckets of water are added weekly under the trunk.
In early September, the plant is watered and fed for the last time with potassium and phosphorus, you can also sprinkle the soil with ash. After that, the moisture and nutrients of the honeysuckle will be sufficient until the next season.
Pruning
A few years after planting, the Long-fruited grows and begins to need pruning. The shrub is usually trimmed in the fall after leaf fall, when the honeysuckle falls into a state of dormancy. During pruning, all dry and broken branches are removed, diseased and old shoots are cut, it is also recommended to thin out the crown.
Sanitary pruning of the shrub is recommended every year.
As a result of pruning, honeysuckle gets an incentive to form new young shoots. In addition, the branches of the plant begin to receive more oxygen and sunlight, which ultimately has a positive effect on health and fruiting.
Wintering
Winter cold Long-fruited honeysuckle tolerates very well. The plant does not need special preparation for winter; it is quite enough to carry out ordinary autumn work. Namely:
- prune dry and broken branches of the plant;
- remove plant debris from under the trunk of the bush;
- mulch the soil with sawdust or compost.
You do not need to cover the shrub, but you can tie up the shoots of the plant so that the heavy snow does not break the branches.
Reproduction
Long-fruited honeysuckle can be propagated on the site in several ways:
- Layers... Since the shoots of the shrub are thin, long and flexible, this method is very suitable for reproduction. One of the lower shoots is bent to the ground and slightly deepened into the ground in the middle part, securing it so that the shoot does not straighten. After a few weeks, the cuttings will give roots, and the next season it can be separated from the mother bush.
- By dividing... For the overgrown Long-fruited honeysuckle, the division of the bush is practiced, the plant is dug out of the ground and the rhizome is separated with a sharp shovel, after which each of the divisions is planted in its own place according to the standard algorithm.
- Cuttings... In early spring, several young shoots are cut from a honeysuckle bush and put in water with a growth stimulator for a day. After that, the cuttings are planted directly in the ground on the garden bed and covered with foil for 2-3 weeks to create a greenhouse effect. When the honeysuckle takes root, they begin to remove the film for a short time, each time increasing the duration of the plant's stay in the fresh air. It will be possible to transplant the stalk to a permanent place for the next season.
The plant is propagated mainly by vegetative methods.
The shrub is also propagated by seeds obtained from ripe fruits. However, this method of propagation is rarely used, since cultivation takes a long time, and varietal characteristics are often not preserved.
Diseases and pests
Long-fruited honeysuckle often suffers from powdery mildew, ramularia, and European cancer. Fungal diseases can quickly destroy the plant, therefore, at the first symptoms, it is necessary to remove all affected shoots and treat the honeysuckle with copper sulfate and fungicidal preparations.
Of the pests for Long-fruited, aphids, spider mites, golden beetles and red-footed shit bug are dangerous. When pests appear, it is recommended to treat the shrub with soapy water or special agents, for example, Karbofos.
Conclusion
Description of the variety, photos and reviews of Long-fruited honeysuckle represent it as a useful and easy-to-grow fruit plant. A special advantage of honeysuckle is its resistance to cold weather; in a temperate climate, caring for a plant usually does not bring problems.
Reviews of long-fruited honeysuckle
