Sea buckthorn information

This plant is dioecious: there are male specimens, which naturally do not give berries, and there are females from which we harvest. Male plants can be distinguished from women only at the age of 3-5 years, when they first begin to lay flower buds. This happens in late summer. Vegetative buds( the ones from which the leaves form) are shallow, covered with two scales, tightly pressed against the branches. Flower buds of female specimens look exactly the same, and it is difficult to distinguish them from each other. But male flower buds differ sharply from vegetative buds. They are much larger, protruding from branches and very similar to small pine cones, because they are covered with 7-8 scales. Sometimes horticulturists "hang on the ears of noodles" unscrupulous sellers who claim to sell a new hybrid of monoecious sea-buckthorn, showing the supposedly flower buds of two species on one branch. Usually it turns out that this is just a masculine specimen with floral and vegetative buds. There is no monoecious sea-buckthorn.

No one usually sees the flowering of sea buckthorn. First, she does not have flowers in the usual sense. The male sticks out a bunch of stamens, which "dust" in a radius of up to 50 m. If at the time of flowering shake the plant, then it literally envelops a cloud of golden pollen. It is very much, and it is shallow, so it is easy to fly a great distance. If you do not have a male specimen, and your neighbors have it, it will quite successfully pollinate your sea buckthorn. One male specimen is enough to pollinate 5-6 females. You can simply cut one small branch from a male specimen and put it in a jar of water in the crown of a female plant. It is easy to plant the stalk from the male specimen to the female crown, and for a few years the pollination is ensured. Unfortunately, male plants are more likely to die than the more enduring women. Female plants from the sinuses of each leaf produce only a small, black, imperceptible pestle( a week it grows to 1 cm long).

All flowering lasts about 10 days, so it is important that male and female plants are of one grade or the same maturation period, otherwise they can bloom at different times, and fertilization will not occur.

The bud budding( the beginning of vegetation) begins at a temperature of 5 degrees and lasts about 5 days( in the Northwest from May 1 to May 5).

Flowering occurs at a temperature of 10-15 degrees and lasts about 10 days( in the Northwest from 15 to 25 May).

The ripening of berries mainly takes place in August. In warm weather at this time, accumulated an increased amount of sugar and oil. During the cool weather, vitamin C accumulation takes place.

The berries come in 7-10 days after the beginning of berries, from about August 15 to September 15.You should not be late with harvesting berries, because in their overripe condition they have a wet break.

Vegetation ends early on October 10th-15th, and leaves often fall off green. The growth of shoots goes from the beginning of May to the end of July.

The rest period is very short, at the end of November the sea-buckthorn can "wake up" during the thaw. Therefore, the climate of the North-West is inappropriate for it and the life of the sea-buckthorn is short. Plants older than 10-15 years do not have any sense to keep on the site. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare a replacement for the aging tree in time, the easiest way to use for this root canopy.

Fruits of sea-buckthorn are so abundant that all the branches are literally plastered with berries. The very name of the plant speaks about it. Berries on short stems sit on branches as tight as corn kernels in the cob.

Features of growing

The roots of sea buckthorn can spread up to 8-12 m in all directions in search of better living conditions. This should not be allowed. Therefore, the place reserved for sea buckthorn, or enclosed with a slate dug in the soil to a depth of 20-25 cm, or simply every year in the fall digging, cutting the roots that go beyond their assigned place. Roots should be pulled out and cleaned.

The roots of sea-buckthorn are found in the surface layer of the soil, at a depth of only 12-15 cm, so no digging or loosening under the planting of sea-buckthorn is allowed. Weeds growing under the plants, do not weed, but just mow down. The soil under the sea-buckthorn must be mulched, and it is even better to delay. For this purpose, the victorious and the goose goose are suitable, for which the root system is located at a depth of only 2 cm and does not compete with the roots of the sea-buckthorn. Root vegetation of plants should not be excavated, but we must also mow down. In general, you should apply as few wounds as possible not only to the roots, but also to the trunks. You can only cut the drying branches, especially the lower ones, carving them into the ring. Do all the scraps before the beginning of the vegetation( before the beginning of the sap flow).

This plant is winter hardy, it tolerates frosts up to 40 degrees, but in men plants pollen can already die at -35 degrees.

What does a sea-buckthorn like? Seabuckthorn loves light sandy and sandy loamy, moisture-and air-permeable soils with a neutral or slightly acidic reaction( pH 5-6).This is one of the most demanding lighting conditions for garden crops. Under insufficient illumination, the sea buckthorn weakens, the crop falls. The plant is gradually dying. Sea-buckthorn poorly tolerates the drought in June-July and may even discard the leaves, so in dry weather it requires abundant watering.

What does not like buckthorn? She does not like dense soils, especially clay soils. Does not grow on peat bogs, does not like the near standing of groundwater. Quickly dies on acidic soils. He does not like buckthorn winter thaws, because it easily "wakes up" when the temperature rises. And completely does not bear a shadow. To the fertility of soils, as mentioned above, it is undemanding, because on the roots of it live nodule bacteria, as in leguminous plants. They saturate the soil with nitrogen from the air, so the sea-buckthorn does not need nitrogen fertilizing. In potassium, it needs little, but in phosphorus it has a great need, since it is necessary not only for the sea-buckthorn itself, but also for nodule bacteria.

Variety selection

Dar Katun and Gold Cob are the most hardy varieties. They yield a good harvest, but the berries are rather small, with a wet separation.

Variety of Altai breeding abundant, excellent, Chui. Orange have tasty, large berries with a long stem, but, unfortunately, they are less winter hardy and unstable to wilt. Vitamin is unstable to wilt, medium-sized berries, rather acidic, detached, wet. The advantage is that this is an early grade.

The largest berries, with a dry detachment, have a Giant of medium ripening maturity. The variety is unstable to the wilt.

Variety Popular, medium maturity, resistant to wilt, berries with a wet detachment, medium size.

Vorobyevskaya, Botanical amateur, Botanical fragrant, Transparent - varieties created in the Botanical Garden of Moscow State University, have large berries, good taste, on a long stem, with a dry detachment, are sufficiently resistant to the wilt.

There is a sort of sea buckthorn without thorns, created in Nizhny Novgorod. It's called Shcherbinka. Unfortunately, the variety is completely unsuitable for the climatic conditions of the North-West. But it feels good in regions with a continental climate. Basically, it is used for breeding purposes, because its berries have a mediocre taste and a small size.

For the Northwest, the most suitable varieties are: Botanical amateur, Gift garden, Trehrimovskaya, Chuyskaya, Moscow pineapple, Nivelena, Perchik Hybrid, May, Olive, Abundant, Pleasing, Gift of Katun. Gold cob.

Often write about wet or dry berry picking and usually associate it with a variety. But if you remove berries in time, then the gap is always dry, regardless of the variety. It's just that the berries should be removed unpreserved. They are ready for harvesting and processing, as soon as they completely color in the color inherent in the variety. At this time, the berries are firm. It is more important how long the stalk is. It is more convenient, of course, to remove berries with a long peduncle and slightly variegated varieties. Here they are, and grow( Vorobyevskaya, botanical amateur, Chui and other new varieties).

Landing

Plant seabuckthorn in early spring, in April-May. For her, do not prepare deep landing holes, just dig through the soil on the bayonet spade on an area of ​​1 x 1 m. In loam or clay add on a bucket of humus and two buckets of large sand under each plant and dig in with the soil. For planting it is best to take one-year-old seedlings, about 40 cm high. They are planted at a distance of 1.5-2 m from each other. In a dug out soil, make a shallow hole, straighten the roots in it and cover them with sand. Water and a small layer of soil( 10-12 cm) is added from above. The root neck is buried in the soil when planted for 3-5 cm, because the sea-buckthorn is able to give additional roots from the trunk. Care is a regular watering.

Seabuckthorn easily transplants for the first two years, but after three years of age it should not be transplanted. For the first three to four years, the above-ground part practically does not give an increase, but the root system is rapidly growing, and once it has developed well, at once in one summer the above-ground part will grow to 1 m and more in height and at the end of summer lay flower buds. The next year the plants will give the first harvest.

Top dressing

Feed fruit-bearing plants with phosphorus and potassium once a summer, at the moment of growth of the ovaries( 2 items of a spoon of double granulated superphosphate and 1 item of a spoon of potassium that does not contain chlorine, dilute in 10 l of water, add 2 teaspoons of "Uniflor"and poured into a single plant).Instead of these fertilizers, you can make once every three years 1 st.spoon without the top of the AVA fertilizer, which is embedded in the top layer of soil along the perimeter of the crown of each sea-buckthorn.

Reproduction of

It is easiest to reproduce it with radical offspring. Take should be one of them, which is separated from the trunk at a distance of 2 m, so as not to do much harm to the root system of the mother plant. A shovel, placed across the direction of the line offspring-mother plant, cuts the root from the side of the adult tree. Then the whole severed root is dug out. Take it out of the soil with the offspring and transplant it to the prepared place, slightly shortening the root. Since the offspring immediately has its own well-developed root system, it blooms for the second year.

Seabuckthorn is well cuttings, and most often it is propagated. It is possible in early May to cut cuttings from last year's growths in length and thickness with a pencil. And you can cut with green cuttings taken from the current year's gains in early August. The lower cut is made obliquely, and the top one is straight. Leaves from the cuttings are removed and placed for 5 days obliquely cut into a solution of "Kornevin" or in plain water. After that, the lower, obliquely cut end is inserted into a layer of sand poured onto the fertile soil layer. Cuttings planted obliquely, well watered and covered with cans or halves of plastic bottles. You can set the arcs and pull the film on them. The main thing is that the shroud is in the shade. Two or three times a day the shelters are raised, without touching the cuttings, spraying the plants and moistening the soil. As soon as new leaves appeared, the stalk took root, and the shelter above it can be removed. He is left to spend the winter in a blackberry before spring, without any shelter, and in May they transplant to the place.

Seabuckthorn can be propagated by layers. To do this, one of the lower branches is bent to the ground, pinned, poured moistened soil onto the piled place and covered with a film so that this soil does not dry out. The end of the branch lies freely on the soil, it is not shortened. Root the branch no closer than 1 m from the trunk of the mother plant, so as not to damage its roots. This is done in the spring, and a year later the plant is transplanted, separating part of the branch from the maternal trunk. Such a plant blooms in the year of transplantation.

Propagation of sea buckthorn seeds does not make any sense, because in the offspring there is a splitting of the variety, and, as a rule, seedlings do not inherit parental properties. About 60% of the seedlings turn out to be strongly charred wild animals.

Pests and diseases

Sea buckthorn has practically no pests. Occasionally, attacking aphids attack in early summer. She has no diseases, except for one incurable disease, which is called wilt( verticillium wilt).Unfortunately, we have a quite common wilt in the Northwest. There is a disease in the withering of berries. They wrinkle, become sour and wither. The branch with such berries should be cut

on the ring( near the trunk, without touching the trunk tissue and leaving the hemp off the branch).If in future years such branches appear, it is necessary to cut down the tree to the very root, and even better to uproot it and burn it.