Planting Honeysuckle in the Fall: A Step by Step Guide

Planting honeysuckle in autumn is often more profitable than in spring; with the onset of a new season, the plant does not waste energy on rooting, but can immediately begin active growth. But the gardener needs to know the rules of autumn planting so that it goes smoothly and without complications.

Is it possible to plant honeysuckle in the fall

For many fruit trees and shrubs, spring planting is preferred, in which the plant is guaranteed to have time to take root properly in the ground before the end of the season. However, honeysuckle remains an exception; it can be planted both in spring and autumn.

In this case, the type of root system of the seedling does not really matter. If honeysuckle is sold in a container, then planting in the fall does not pose any threat to it – the roots of the plant are completely healthy and not damaged, they can quickly take root in the ground. If the system is open, then autumn planting in September and even October will also not turn into harm. The main thing is to root the shrub before the onset of frost. But as long as positive temperatures remain, honeysuckle can be planted even after the first snow.

Fall planting has many benefits.

The main advantage of the autumn planting of honeysuckle is that with the onset of spring the following year, the shrub immediately begins to actively develop. He does not need to spend time on the development of the root system, respectively, he can freely build up green mass, form a silhouette and bloom.

When to plant honeysuckle in autumn

On average, it is recommended to plant a plant in the fall 3 weeks before the onset of real cold weather, this time of honeysuckle is enough to take root on the site. But the specific dates for planting honeysuckle in the fall are determined by the growing region and may differ for different areas:

1. In the southern regions of Our Country, winter comes late and usually remains quite mild. Therefore, planting can be carried out from mid-October until the 20th of November, even during this period the weather will still favor gardening.
2. In the Moscow region, the optimal time for planting honeysuckle in the fall is mid-September or early October, up to about the 10th. By November, frosts usually set in in the middle lane, so it is important not to be late with planting shrubs.
3. In the Urals and Siberia, honeysuckle planting must be completed before the beginning of October. Winter in these regions comes early and quickly brings with it severe cold.

In the Leningrad region, it is also better to plant shrubs in September so that the first frosts do not destroy the young plant.

How to plant honeysuckle in the fall

The autumn period remains a difficult time for planting, even if we are talking about cold-resistant plants. Therefore, it is especially important to choose the right place for honeysuckle in the fall and to fully comply with the landing procedure.

Landing dates differ for regions, but in general it can be carried out until frost.

Where is the best place to plant honeysuckle in the fall

A fruit shrub is considered quite unpretentious for growing, but certain requirements still need to be met:

1. For the healthy development of honeysuckle, a sufficient amount of sunlight is necessary. Therefore, you need to plant shrubs in an open area of ​​uXNUMXbuXNUMXbthe garden, where good natural light is maintained at any time of the year.
2. It should be borne in mind that the plant does not like drafts and strong gusts of wind. It is desirable that honeysuckle grows close to natural cover, for example, near a high fence, the wall of a house, or near taller trees.
3. Honeysuckle loves moisture, but does not tolerate its excess. Planting of edible honeysuckle in autumn should be carried out on a site located at a distance from groundwater, they should lie no closer than 1,5 m to the surface of the earth.

Soils for shrubs are best suited sandy or loamy, with good drainage and oxygen access. Honeysuckle prefers to grow on neutral or low acid soil, soils with high acidity are not suitable for it.

You can plant a plant even in a lowland, if you arrange good drainage in the soil.

Site preparation

To plant honeysuckle in the fall, you need to prepare in advance:

1. Approximately 30 days before planting the plant in the ground, the soil in the selected area is carefully dug up and a hole is prepared about 30 cm deep and up to 50 cm wide.
2. If the soil is too wet, sand, expanded clay or pebbles are added to the bottom of the pit, they will provide good drainage for the shrub. Too light soils can be supplemented with peat or loamy soil – up to 5 kg per meter. With increased acidity of the soil, you can also add 200-300 g of fluffy lime or chalk to it.
3. After creating a planting hole, the soil removed from the ground is mixed with 2 buckets of compost or humus, and about 500 g of wood ash and 100 g of superphosphate are also added. The mixture is poured into the pit and watered properly so that the nutrients are better distributed in the soil.

The rules for planting honeysuckle in the fall say that when planting several shrubs on a site at once, you need to leave a free space of 1,5-2 m between the holes. If you plant the bushes too close, they will block each other’s light when growing and fight for nutrients and moisture .

In order for the bushes to begin to bear fruit, several different varieties of shrubs with the same flowering time should be planted in close proximity to each other.

To improve the composition of the soil, a pit for a shrub is prepared in advance.

As for the neighborhood with other fruit trees and bushes, honeysuckle gets along best with cherries, plums, apples and pears. But next to the apricot, it is better not to plant a shrub – the roots of the apricot tree are too powerful, they will inevitably take away nutrients and moisture from the honeysuckle.

How to plant honeysuckle in autumn seedlings

For a successful planting of honeysuckle in the fall, first of all, you need to choose high-quality planting material. When choosing a seedling, you need to pay attention to several criteria:

• age – in the nursery, you should take a plant no older than 2-3 years;
• appearance – a good seedling should have a strong trunk and several young side shoots;
• bud and leaf health – you only need to buy a plant with green, clean, fresh leaves and strong buds.

When buying a seedling, it is advisable to evaluate how strong and healthy its roots are. That is why it is recommended to purchase plants with an open root system, in this case it is easier for the gardener to understand what condition the seedling is in.

The algorithm for planting honeysuckle on the site in the fall is very simple. In the video of planting edible honeysuckle in the fall on the selected day, they suggest soaking the roots of the plant in water for a couple of hours so that they can absorb moisture. Considering the peculiarities of autumn planting, a growth stimulator can be added to the water, this will further speed up the rooting process.

Immediately before planting a seedling in the fall, a small depression is made in the center of the prepared hole. After that, the seedling is carefully lowered into the soil, making sure that its roots lie evenly, do not break or twist. The hole is covered with the remains of the prepared nutrient soil level with the ground, lightly tamping the soil so that it does not fail after the first watering. Immediately after planting, a small earthen roller is made along the edges of the hole and the seedling is abundantly watered with a bucket of water, the roller will not allow moisture to spread.

Immediately after planting, the seedling is properly watered.

Then the moist soil is mulched with sawdust, straw or peat – the layer thickness should be about 7 cm. The mulch layer will prevent moisture from evaporating from the soil and also insulate the root system of the plant in the fall.

Care for honeysuckle after planting in the fall

After a successful planting of a seedling, there should be about a month left before the onset of cold weather. During this period, it is important to pay attention to the proper care of the plant in order to speed up the rooting process.

It consists of the following actions:

1. If the autumn is dry and warm enough, then the young plant should be watered once a week before the onset of cold weather. It is especially important for a seedling to get enough moisture before the onset of winter, so it will not only take root faster, but also will not freeze until spring in frozen ground.
2. Before the onset of cold weather after planting, you need to loosen the soil in the near-stem circle twice or thrice for better oxygen access. This should be done carefully – the root system of the honeysuckle is superficial, and if loosening too deep, there is a risk of damaging the roots of a young shrub.
3. It is no longer necessary to feed the honeysuckle bush planted in the fall; the nutrients introduced during planting will be enough for another year.
4. Before the onset of winter, you need to take care of cleaning the area where the honeysuckle is planted. Before the arrival of frost, it is recommended to rake all the fallen leaves of other trees and shrubs from the soil, collect broken dry branches and fruits lying on the ground. Plant debris is best burned in the back of the garden, under a layer of foliage and branches, pests and fungal spores like to hibernate, which can damage the honeysuckle seedling.
5. Pruning after planting in the fall for honeysuckle is best not done, but postponed until the next season. All the forces of the plant should go not to recovery after cutting, but to growing roots. In addition, young seedlings in the first year of life simply do not need strong pruning, they still do not have time to accumulate a large number of extra shoots.

For the first time, you need to cut the shrub only next year

Despite the fact that with proper planting, cold-resistant honeysuckle will have time to take root in the ground before frost, it will still need to be insulated for the winter.

First of all, before the onset of winter, you need to mulch the plant again with a layer of 10 cm, dense mulch will keep the heat at the roots and keep moisture in the soil. Despite the fact that honeysuckle is able to tolerate temperatures up to -35 ° C without special shelter, in the first winter after planting it should be carefully insulated with coniferous spruce branches. Young plants are more susceptible to frost than older bushes.

If the planting in the fall was carried out in accordance with all the rules and without violations, then in the second year the first juicy fruits can be expected from honeysuckle. But during the period of maximum fruiting, the shrub will still enter only by the fifth year of life.

Conclusion

Planting honeysuckle in the fall is not only possible, it is often more profitable than planting in the spring. The fruit plant has a very high frost resistance and unpretentiousness for cultivation. Therefore, subject to the terms of autumn planting on the site, honeysuckle takes root without problems.