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Planting and caring for honeysuckle in the Moscow region usually does not cause any particular difficulties even for beginner gardeners. This is a fairly frost-resistant, hardy crop, which is usually grown in the northern regions of the country, so the climate of the middle zone is quite suitable for it. In addition, the shrub is unpretentious in care and has good immunity, so the only difficulty is the selection of a variety and a suitable place for planting.
Features of growing honeysuckle in the Moscow region
Many varieties of honeysuckle are recommended for planting in the Moscow region, however, the following species are best adapted to local climatic conditions:
- Long-fruited – a variety adapted to spring frosts;
- Moraine – characterized by early ripening, the variety is resistant to diseases and pests;
- Cinderella – early ripe high-yielding variety.
When planting honeysuckle on the site, it should be borne in mind that almost all of its varieties are self-fertile. This means that several similar pollinating varieties must be placed next to the bushes. If this is not done, the crop from the plants will not be harvested even with the best care. The optimal interval between two adjacent bushes is 2-3 m.
Most varieties successfully take root in the Moscow region and bear fruit for 20-30 years. In this regard, you should carefully select a place for planting – it is not recommended to transplant the plant.
When to plant honeysuckle in the suburbs
You can plant edible honeysuckle in the Moscow region both in spring and autumn. It is best to select two-year-old seedlings with developed roots for planting in this region. The site is prepared before this – carefully dug up, weeds are removed and fertilizers are applied.
How to plant honeysuckle in the spring in the suburbs
The climate in the Moscow region is quite mild, however, it is better to play it safe and plant honeysuckle in the spring. So the plant will have more time to take root in a new place and accumulate enough nutrients for wintering.
How to plant honeysuckle in the fall in the suburbs
If the seedlings have an open root system, they can be planted in open ground in the fall, however, do not delay this. If you plant honeysuckle too late, the plant will not have time to take root in a new place in the Moscow region before the onset of frost. The best period for planting is the last decade of September. The deadline is early October.
Planting and caring for honeysuckle in the Moscow region
Care for honeysuckle in the spring in the Moscow region comes down mainly to sanitary pruning, in the fall young bushes cover for the winter. In the summer, it is also easy to take care of plantings – it is enough to make 1-2 top dressings per season and water the plants in a timely manner. The crop suffers extremely rarely from diseases and pests, so chemical treatments are optional. Planting honeysuckle is pretty standard for a fruitful shrub.
Selection and preparation of the landing site
Of great importance for the good fruiting of honeysuckle is the choice of a place for planting and its preparation. Best of all, the shrub develops in an open and spacious area – this culture is long-lived and grows strongly over time, so plants should not be planted too close. It is also allowed to grow honeysuckle in partial shade, under fruit trees.
Another requirement is that bushes should not be placed in lowlands to avoid stagnant water in the soil. Despite the fact that the shrub is quite resistant to adverse environmental conditions, excessive moisture will not be useful to it. A site with a high level of groundwater is also not suitable.
The recommended type of soil for honeysuckle in the Moscow region is forest gray soil and loam
Rules of landing
Planting honeysuckle in the Moscow region is carried out taking into account the following rules of agricultural technology:
- The plant does not have a powerful root system, so it will be enough to dig a hole for seedlings with a diameter of about 50 cm and a depth of about 40 cm.
- A layer of drainage must be placed at the bottom. You can use small pebbles, expanded clay, crushed stone, broken bricks or clay shards for this.
- Fertilizers are poured over the drainage – 3-4 kg of humus.
- Then the honeysuckle seedlings are prepared for planting – all damaged branches are cut off, as well as the roots.
- After that, the plants are lowered into the pit, gently straightened and sprinkled with earth. When the excavated space is filled, the soil is lightly tamped.
- Complete the planting procedure with abundant watering and mulching. To do this, you can use peat, humus or sawdust.
When planting honeysuckle, the root neck should not be lowered below 7-8 cm from the ground
Watering and feeding
Honeysuckle does not like waterlogging, but watering should not be neglected. Young seedlings are especially sensitive to excessive dryness of the soil – during the first 7-10 days after planting they are watered daily. Water consumption during this period is 8-10 liters per bush.
Adult bushes are watered once every two weeks, spending about 25-35 liters of water, however, in the spring this is done a little more often so that the plants gain green mass better. Also, water consumption is increased during the fruiting period.
In order for oxygen to better reach the roots, periodic loosening of the soil is included in planting care, and the procedure is carried out on the same day as watering. It is not necessary to loosen too deeply, since the roots of the honeysuckle are quite fragile – they can be easily damaged.
Also, it will not be superfluous to mulch the near-trunk circle immediately after watering. So it will be possible to increase the interval between them, and thereby facilitate the care of plants – the mulch retains moisture well in the soil and prevents the soil from drying out. The optimal thickness of the mulching layer is 3-5 cm. In autumn, it can be increased to 7 cm.
As for fertilizers, for the first time the bush is fed only in the third year after planting in open ground. Any nitrogen-containing complexes are introduced into the soil – ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, urea, etc. Enough 10-15 g per 1 m2, no more. Subsequently, honeysuckle in the Moscow region is fertilized every two years with organic matter – humus, bird droppings or rotted compost. 1 m2 accounts for approximately 2,5 kg of fertilizer.
Once again, you can feed honeysuckle 2-3 weeks after harvest. At the end of summer and autumn, wood ash is added to the soil in the form of powder or infusion, as well as complex top dressing for berry bushes. At the same time, it is important to study their composition – there should be little nitrogen there, since its excess in the soil negatively affects the preparation of honeysuckle for winter.
Trimming
Almost all varieties of honeysuckle have a fairly dense crown, so pruning shoots is a mandatory item for caring for shrubs that should not be neglected. The procedure is carried out 1-2 times a year at least. At the same time, sanitary pruning is usually carried out in the Moscow region in the spring, and in the fall, honeysuckle is usually formed in September-October.
For the first time, forming pruning is carried out 5-6 years after planting in open ground. Most species for the Moscow region grow rather slowly, so do not cut the shoots too much. The optimal timing for this procedure is shortly after the honeysuckle sheds foliage. The whole process comes down to the removal of dried, weak and damaged branches, and the crown is also thinned out due to old shoots. The cut points are smeared with garden pitch.
Best of all, honeysuckle bears fruit in the Moscow region, if you form a bush into five trunks, the most powerful.
Wintering
Despite the fact that honeysuckle is a winter-hardy crop, young bushes should be covered for the winter. To do this, it is enough to cover the shrub with a bag of synthetic fabric, after removing the climbing varieties from the supports.
Mature plants in the Moscow region do not need additional shelter.
When honeysuckle ripens in the suburbs
Sometimes inexperienced gardeners can be confused by the fact that honeysuckle does not bear fruit for a long time, even despite planting in accordance with all the rules and good care. This is completely normal for this crop – the shrub gives the first crop only 2-3 years after planting in open ground. Until this time, the plant develops a root system.
The timing of harvesting depends on the variety, but in general, honeysuckle begins to bear fruit 1-2 weeks earlier than strawberries. This usually occurs in the first half of June for early-ripening varieties and the beginning of July for mid-ripening ones.
Fruiting of honeysuckle continues for 1-1,5 months
Collection of honeysuckle in the suburbs
The honeysuckle harvest in the Moscow region is harvested taking into account the following features:
- Almost all varieties of honeysuckle quickly crumble shortly after ripening. In order to slow down this process, plantings should be watered more often and more abundantly closer to harvest. If this is not done, you can lose part of the crop, even if before that the care was good – they will begin to crumble, including unripe berries.
- Harvest as the fruits ripen. Do not wait until all the berries are ripe. If you do not remove those that are ripe first, the bush will simply drop them.
- If it is not possible to collect berries from honeysuckle daily during the fruiting period, caring for the plant can be simplified with a little trick. A blanket or film is spread directly under the shrub – this will save most of the crop, because the berries will not hit the ground and rot on it.
Reproduction
It is possible to propagate honeysuckle in the Moscow region both by the seed method and by vegetative methods. Preference should be given to the latter, since propagation by seeds inevitably entails the loss of varietal characteristics.
One of the most suitable methods of breeding honeysuckle is summer cuttings. This process in the suburbs takes place according to the following scheme:
- First, green cuttings are cut from the bush, but so that at least two buds are present on each, three is better. Also, cuts should contain 1-2 internodes.
The leaves on the cuttings must be cut to ½ length
- Leave 2 cm under the lowest kidney and cut the end diagonally. So planting material will more easily enter the ground.
- Immediately after this, the shoots are placed in water. After a few hours, they are treated with any root formation stimulator and planted in a container.
- By the beginning of autumn, the cuttings should form a sufficiently developed root system.
In September, seedlings can be transplanted into open ground.
Diseases and pests
Edible honeysuckle is extremely rare in the Moscow region. The most significant threat to the shrub is powdery mildew, however, the appearance of the fungus can be easily prevented – it is enough to treat the plantings with any specialized fungicides. For prevention, the bushes are sprayed twice: at the very beginning of the growing season and three weeks after the end of fruiting. The following drugs have proven themselves best in the fight against powdery mildew:
- “Baileton”;
- “Alirin-B”;
- «Fitosporin-M”;
- “Strobe”.
Pests also rarely pester honeysuckle in the Moscow region. On the other hand, it would not be superfluous to include 1-2 preventive treatments against aphids in plant care. It is best to use general insecticides for this:
- “Inta-Vir”;
- “Aktellik”;
- “Actara”.
Conclusion
Planting and caring for honeysuckle in the Moscow region, in fact, are not much different from how this crop is grown in the Northern regions. The main thing is to choose the right variety for local climatic conditions, and plant the plant, taking into account the recommended dates for the Moscow region.
You can learn more about the features of planting and caring for honeysuckle in the Moscow region from the video below:
