Planting lilac and caring for her
It is better to plant lilacs in autumn, not later than October, so that the plants can take root before the onset of frost. Spring planting should be carried out as soon as possible. For lilacs in our zone choose open places on a plateau or gentle western slopes. Under the landing, the soil is well filled with fertilizers and deeply treated with a plant plow.
Bushes are planted in pits the size of 50x50x60 centimeters, which can be supplemented with fertilizers. When planting, the grafted plants do not penetrate, since a deep planting depresses the growth of the lilac and leads to the formation of a large quantity of sprouts. After settling the land in the pit, the root neck should be at the soil level. At an ordinary planting, lilac bushes are located at a distance of 1.5-2.5 meters, depending on the variety. The width of the inter-row depends on the method of processing. To create groups, the lilacs are planted more densely, at a distance of 1-1.5 meters in the group and 10-15 meters between the groups. Stamp plants are planted 4-5 meters apart. A flowering hedge is created by planting bushes in a staggered manner with distances between plants of 70-80 centimeters.
Caring for the lilac consists in the formation, pruning, removal of the seedlings, the control of pests and diseases.
When forming the crown, both in bush and in the form of lilacs follow the uniform development of shoots. Too strong to shorten, weak destroy for clarification of the crown. To keep the shrubs in good shape and ensure their abundant flowering, they annually prune: remove the discolored inflorescences, grow around the bushes, cut out broken, weak and old branches. The brush strongly weakens the bushes and can lead to the death of the grafted part. Remove the sprouts in the place of their separation, digging out a shovel. Old shrubs require rejuvenation on strong buds appearing on old wood.
Lilac is responsive to manure fertilizer. Under the bush, you can make up to 20 kilograms of manure in the autumn, after the flowering, carry out the feeding of slurry( 1: 6) and mineral fertilizers in a dose of 20-30 grams per 10 liters of water.
Common lilac is resistant to diseases and has few pests. Only in certain years it is damaged by a spanish fly - a beetle. Beetles appear in May-June, quickly eat up leaves. The measures to combat the spanish fly include the collection of beetles shaken off before sunrise when they sit still, dusting with calcium arsenate at 1.5-2 kilograms per hectare.