Secrets of the successful cultivation of Tatar honeysuckle

Tatar honeysuckle is one of the most popular plants in landscape gardening culture of different countries and continents. It can be found in the USA and Central Asia, in China, in European and post-Soviet countries. The popularity of the plant is easily explained - it is unpretentious, enduringly endures unfavorable external factors, including those accompanying life in megalopolises, it grows quickly and adapts to new conditions, forms beautiful hedges that protect well from snow and wind. We offer a closer look at the Tatar honeysuckle, with its description and technology of proper cultivation.

Choosing a landing site

Tatar honeysuckle (lat. Lonícera tatárica) is a deciduous ornamental shrub with a very dense crown. It reaches a height of 1-3 m. It is characterized by rapid growth - up to 35 cm annually.

Its leaves are ovate, 3-6 cm long, dark green in color, sometimes with a blue, bluish tinge. Blossoms fragrant, medium-sized, pale yellow or white flowers.The flowering period is in May-June. The plant is a honey plant. Bright red fruits appear in July-August. In total, there are about 250 species of honeysuckle plants. If your goal of planting Tatar honeysuckle is not only its decorative qualities, but also the fruits, and you are interested in the question of whether it is edible or not, then the berries of this type are inedible.

Because of this, the people called them wolf berries. For the preparation of jam, jam, drinks and dessert dishes use different types (Altai, Kamchatka) and varieties of edible honeysuckle ("Vitamin", "Blue Bird", "Dessert", "Blue Spindle", etc.), whose fruits contain vitamin C , carotene, sugars and other beneficial substances.

They taste sour and sour-sweet. Edible fruits are usually blue or black in color. Inedible painted in bright shades of red and orange.

Tatar honeysuckle belongs to undemanding plants - it can grow on any soil and under any conditions: in gas pollution, shade, drought and frost down to -34 ° C. However, in order to achieve the greatest decorativeness of the shrub, you should follow some recommendations for its planting and farming techniques.

Lighting

The best and most lush flowering can be admired if you plant a shrub in a well-lit area or in light shade. The less light will fall on the plant, the worse and smaller it will bloom.

The soil

Honeysuckle prefers to grow in loose fertile soil, which must be well drained beforehand. It can tolerate saline soils, but does not grow on heavy, too wet and poor soils. Also, it should not be planted in the lowlands, where there are frequent water stasis, and in areas where the earth dries out quickly. Groundwater at the landing site should be no closer than 1 m.

The optimum pH level of the soil is 7.5-8.5.

Selection of seedlings when buying

To get a beautiful and healthy honeysuckle Tatar, to carry out its successful planting and care, the first thing you need to choose successful seedlings.

To do this, use these tips.:

1. Go shopping at a specialty store.where the consultant can provide you with all the necessary information about the plant you are purchasing.
2. Buy for planting two year saplingswith 3-4 branches, which have already reached a length of 30-40 cm and a thickness of 5 mm at the base.
3. In the store, carefully inspect all parts of the plant.: from top to root. They should not be dried or damaged places. The branches should bend well. They must be with the kidneys.
   Important! Peeling of the bark is the norm for honeysuckle. It is because of this peculiarity that the people call it "shameless".
4. The root system should be well developed. If there is rot or damage, choose another seedling.
5. If you plan to plant a hedge, you should buy 2-4 varieties to ensure their cross-pollination, since honeysuckle refers to the cross-pollinated plants.

Planting rules for seedlings

If you purchased a seedling with an open root system, then it should be planted in September. It is at this time that the plant falls into a state of rest and will be able to endure winter favorably.

Saplings with a closed root system can be planted during the entire growing season. The transfer method is well suited for this.

Wells need to prepare for 3-5 days before landing. They should be dug 40 cm long, 40 cm wide and 40 cm deep. The optimal distance between plants is 1.5-2 m for varieties with short stature and 2.5-3 m for high varieties. At the bottom of the landing pit need to put a 5-centimeter layer of drainage. For him use broken bricks, gravel, expanded clay and other materials.

In the hole make a soil mixture of this composition:

• sod land (3 parts);
• peat or humus (1 part);
• river sand (1 part).

Fertilizers are also added to the soil.:

• compost (2 buckets);
• superphosphate (50 g);
• ash (1 kg).

If the soil is acidic, the acidity should be lowered by adding lime (200 g / 1 sq. M). Landing pits plentifully watered.

In the center of the hole make a small mound of earth, which put a seedling. If the root system is open, then the roots should be carefully distributed over the pit.

The hole is covered with earth. The root neck at the same time should remain on the surface. The earth in the near-stem circle is watered abundantly.If after this there was a strong shrinkage of the soil, it is additionally sprinkled.

Immediately after watering, the ground in the wheel circle is mulched. To do this, use sawdust, peat, straw or other materials.

Care Tips

Care for shrubs will be minimal: watering, feeding, pruning, if necessary, treatment of diseases and parasites. The more careful the care, the more decorative the plant will be. Although, again, honeysuckle can grow and with rare signs of attention to it, it will just be less beautiful.

Watering, loosening, mulching

Only planted a seedling in the first year of his life should be watered regularly. In the future, you will need 2-3 watering per season. In the hot period, you must use a bucket of water for each bush. After watering, it is advisable to loosen the soil in a circle at a depth of 20 cm. Every autumn, the bush must be mulched. The mulching procedure will protect the root system from frost and retain moisture in the soil in the spring.

Top dressing

Fertilize honeysuckle recommended three times during the growing season:

• in early spring, before the kidneys are advanced, with preparations containing nitrogen (20-30 g per 1 sq. m);
• before flowering - with complex preparations (for example, Kemira-Universal, 20 g per 10 l of water);
• after fruiting in the fall - wood ash (200 g per 1 sq. m. for digging).

Pruning

Pruning shrubs can be in the fall, after the leaves fall, and in the spring, before the buds bloom. As a rule, they follow the standard recommendations when pruning - leave 1/3 of the shoots.

Old bushes should be rejuvenated by cutting out dying and weak shoots. This procedure is carried out once in 2-3 years.

Annual sanitary pruning is done on plants over 6 years old. Old, dry, diseased, damaged branches, as well as those that are too close to the soil are removed. Shrubs tolerate a trim haircut well, they retain their shape for quite a long time.

Pest and disease control

The defeat of diseases and harmful insects is the most vulnerable spot of most species of honeysuckle, and Tatar in particular.

Therefore, it is necessary to introduce preventive measures and know the methods by which you can fight the infection, in case of its occurrence.

The most commonly attacked plants are:

• honeysuckle aphid - sucking pest that can destroy the decorativeness of the shrub, drinking the juice from its leaves and shoots;
• spider mites and honeysuckle - sucking enemy, which is able to destroy the plant;
• shitovki and false guard - as a result of their harmful activity, shoots shrink and bend, the plant stops growing;
• leaf beetles - parasites gnawing leaves;
• caterpillars of fallen - cause heavy damage to the foliage of honeysuckle.

To combat the pest invasion in the initial stage, spraying with insecticidal plants (decoction or infusion of dandelion, garlic, tobacco, hot pepper) is used. With a strong infection resorted to spraying chemicals: "Aktellik", "Aktara", "Fitoverm", "Konfidor" and others.The list of diseases that can affect honeysuckle shrubs is also impressive. Here are just some of them:

• various types of spotting;
• powdery mildew;
• mosaic.

Fungal diseases can be cured with copper-containing preparations and fungicides. From viruses, the plant can not be saved.

However, it is important to remember that the best weapons in the fight against ailments and parasites are preventive and proper agrotechnical measures.

Wintering

Tatar honeysuckle tolerates especially severe frosts, and flowers and leaves can withstand temperatures as low as -8 ° C.

Therefore, the bushes do not need special measures before the winter period. Only young plants up to 2 years old should preferably be covered with spruce leaves.

Reproduction features cuttings

Tatar honeysuckle reproduces in 4 ways:

• grafting;
• layering;
• division of the bush;
• seeds.

The most popular and simple is the method of grafting. The cuttings are cut from strong healthy shoots 10 cm long. It will be better to root those that were cut off with a “heel” - a small piece of bark from the mother plant.Rooting cuttings are placed at an angle of 45 ° in a box with a soil mixture consisting of coarse sand (3 parts) and peat (1 part). Before you can treat them with root-forming agent. Planting is covered with a film under which stable temperature and humidity will be maintained.

Cuttings need to be watered, sprayed and periodically opened. Roots should appear in 2-3 weeks.

In the fall, planting young plants in open ground is not recommended - they may not survive the frost. It is better to cover the box with spruce branches and place it in a protected place.

On the site where the honeysuckle will grow constantly, the young should be planted, already when the weather is warm enough in spring. If reproduction was carried out correctly, then flowering should be expected in a year.

Application in landscape design

The most common use of honeysuckle is planting in hedges. They love to use it for landscaping city streets, parks, alleys, streets.

However, the plant also looks great as a tapeworm. It can be landed at the dacha near the fence or at home, on the background of the lawn. Good plant looks and in the foreground of other ornamental crops, herbaceous, perennial plants.

Honeysuckle Tatar will be the best choice for those summer residents who rarely appear on their sites and can not pay much attention to the care of their greenery.Once planted in the right place, a plant with rare and insignificant agrotechnical measures will annually please the owner with its beauty, and the thick hedge from the bushes is able to reliably protect the summer estate from prying eyes.