Top dressing honeysuckle in the spring: fertilizers to increase the yield

Feeding honeysuckle in the spring is very useful, although this shrub is not too demanding, it responds very well to fertilizers. To ensure maximum fruiting for him, you need to learn how to feed him.

Features of spring top dressing of honeysuckle

Many gardeners are of the opinion that unpretentious berry bushes do not need top dressing at all in the spring and bear fruit well without fertilizers. However, this is not true, it is necessary to feed the honeysuckle, otherwise its yield will be reduced.

You need to feed the bushes – this improves fruiting

The roots of the plant are long, but superficial and do not sink deep into the ground. Therefore, the shrub quickly takes nutrients from the soil after planting. So that the plant does not have to literally fight for survival, in the spring it must be fertilized, at least 3 times from early spring to mid-summer.

Features of fertilizer in the spring are that with each top dressing, the gardener pursues a specific goal:

1. The first top dressing is needed so that the plant recovers faster after the winter and begins to actively increase its green mass.
2. The second top dressing is carried out to improve the quality of flowering and for maximum fruit set.
3. The third time you need to feed honeysuckle is closer to summer so that the berries ripen larger and juicier.

During the spring, an average of three plant feedings are carried out.

How to feed honeysuckle in the spring to bear fruit

Spring feeding of honeysuckle with mineral fertilizers is necessary not only for it to develop actively, but also for the shrub to bring maximum fruit in summer. In this case, you can use all types of fertilizers, not only organics, but also minerals.

In the spring, you can feed the shrub with the following fertilizers:

1. Manure and compost. Organics quickly decompose and saturate the upper layers of the soil with nitrogen, it is this compound that is necessary for the growth of the shrub and for the development of its shoots and foliage. In addition, fertilizing honeysuckle in the spring without chemicals additionally allows for mulching, due to the layer of organic matter, moisture during irrigation does not evaporate so quickly from the soil.
2. Wood ash, urea and herbal infusions, they also saturate the soil with nitrogen necessary for the development of the plant, and help increase the number of leaves and their size.
3. Mineral mixtures containing phosphorus – this substance is important primarily for the roots. Phosphorus helps the shrub to take root better on the site, makes the roots stronger and healthier, promotes the growth of new root branches. Accordingly, the plant begins to receive more nutrients from the soil.
4. Fertilizers containing potassium, feeding the shrub with potassium is especially useful before flowering and directly during it. The mineral substance increases the quantity and quality of flower buds, and therefore contributes to an increase in fruiting. In addition, if honeysuckle is fed with potassium in time, the plant will become more resistant to fungi and pests.

Both potassium and phosphorus are useful throughout the year. But nitrogen should be applied to the soil only during the growth period in spring, in subsequent periods it can only disrupt the biological cycle of the shrub.

Nitrogen is added to the soil at the roots only in spring.

How to feed honeysuckle in the spring before flowering

In early spring, buds are just beginning to open on the branches. Some gardeners do not see the point in feeding shrubs during this period. However, it is precisely before flowering that the plant needs fertilizer most of all, they are necessary for rapid development and healthy growth.

In the period before the buds open, honeysuckle can be fed with several substances:

• Urea. Around the bush, it is necessary to dig a shallow groove and pour fertilizer into it in a circle, and then throw it on top of the earth and water the plant properly. Top dressing of honeysuckle in the spring with urea should be carried out at the rate of 100 g of the substance per 1 bush.
• ammonium sulfate or ammonium nitrate. These substances also contain a high amount of nitrogen, so feeding them to the bush will be beneficial for the development of leaves and new shoots. Fertilizers are applied to the soil in a similar way, but at the same time the dosage is doubled.
• wood ash. To feed an adult bush, you need to spend about 400 g of ash.

Also, before flowering, manure and compost will bring benefits; during natural decomposition, they release a large amount of nitrogen compounds.

How to feed honeysuckle during flowering

During the budding period, any plant is especially sensitive to external influences and vulnerable. That is why during flowering it is recommended to postpone most garden work: pruning, treatment from insects and diseases.

During the flowering period, top dressing will not damage the honeysuckle bushes.

But if you feed the honeysuckle in April during the opening of the buds, it will only benefit her. The shrub will receive additional nutrients and will be able to bloom more successfully, creating the maximum number of ovaries. In addition, fertilizer will strengthen the honeysuckle’s hardiness in the spring and will not allow it to suffer from an accidental cold snap or disease.

When flowering, it is recommended to feed the plant with biohumus – an organic mixture that is obtained after processing the compost by earthworms. The procedure is carried out as follows: 1 kg of dry matter is diluted in a bucket of clean water and left for a day, and then the solution is poured into the root region of the bush. You can also use liquid vermicompost, in which case you need to dilute only 1 cup of the product in a bucket of water and feed the honeysuckle immediately after that.

How to feed honeysuckle after flowering

For the third time, fertilizing fruiting honeysuckle is recommended in May or even in mid-June. The following mixtures and substances can be used in this case:

• bird droppings – 1 kg of fertilizer is diluted in 10 liters of water;
• mullein – the proportions when diluted with water are 1 to 6;
• humus – when feeding honeysuckle in May, 4 kg of organic matter should be scattered at the roots.

In the middle of summer, you can also fertilize the plant. For example, during the period of fruit ripening, 15 g of nitrophoska and 7 g of potassium sulfate can be diluted in a bucket of water, this mixture will strengthen the root system of a fruit-bearing shrub. Closer to August, 500 g of wood ash can be poured under each of the honeysuckle bushes.

Potassium and phosphorus are useful for the plant after flowering

How to feed honeysuckle in the spring in the country

To feed the plant with benefit, you need to know the rules for the procedure. The spring feeding scheme for honeysuckle offers 2 options:

1. Incorporation of dry fertilizers into the soil. When using this option, they dig a groove several centimeters deep in a circle near the bush and sow dry granules of minerals into it. You can also just loosen the soil shallowly at the roots in the spring, fertilize the shrub, and then sprinkle fertilizer on top of the soil. With dry incorporation of minerals, the plant should be watered abundantly in the spring, otherwise the top dressing will be slower and worse absorbed into the soil.
2. Watering with fertilizer. Minerals or ash can be dissolved in a bucket of water, mixed thoroughly and poured under the trunk of the plant in the spring. In this case, the gardener will be able to achieve two goals at once, the shrub will receive both the necessary moisture and useful nutrients.

To properly feed honeysuckle, you need to take into account the weather. If the spring turned out to be warm and humid, then it is better to use the “dry” method of fertilizing, garden bushes already receive enough moisture from natural precipitation. But with scarce rains in the spring, you can combine top dressing with watering – this will benefit the shrub.

It is important to remember that bushes can be fertilized only from the second year of life. The first fertilizers are embedded in the soil even when the seedling is planted, so until the next season the young plant does not need nutrients.

For the first time in a season, you need to feed the honeysuckle only after the snow has completely melted on the site, and the soil has warmed up at least a little. Embedding fertilizer in frozen ground will not bring much benefit.

If the spring is rainy, then top dressing is better to apply in a dry form.

Tips from seasoned gardeners on fertilizing honeysuckle in the spring

Experienced gardeners are advised to follow a few simple rules – if they are followed, honeysuckle will bear fruit better:

1. It is not enough to simply fertilize honeysuckle in the spring to increase the yield and then postpone its care until the fall. The fruit shrub needs care throughout the growing season. In spring, the soil at the roots of honeysuckle must be loosened from time to time, with a lack of moisture, water the shrub. If the soil in the area with the plant is too dry and impervious to oxygen, then honeysuckle will grow worse, even if it is fed on time.
2. After carrying out spring dressings, the ground under the fruit bush should be mulched. A dense layer of mulch will achieve several goals at once. First of all, it will improve the absorption of moisture and fertilizers into the soil and prevent the rapid evaporation of water and nutrients. In addition, the mulch will slow the germination of weeds that take away some of the fertilizer, and itself will serve as organic fertilizer during the decomposition process.
3. Experienced gardeners not only seek to feed fruit bushes with organic matter and minerals in the spring. On a plot with honeysuckle, it is useful to sow green manure, plants that will later serve as fertilizer for shrubs, such as peas or clover. Green manure is planted in the spring or immediately after harvest, and when they grow, they are cut off and immediately buried in the ground. Thus, even in the current season, the plants have time to decompose and give the soil nutrients that will benefit the shrub.

It is useful to sow special green manure grasses next to fruit-bearing bushes.

Experienced gardeners and gardeners recommend not to forget about such a procedure as sanitary thinning in the spring. If the bush is freed in time from weak, dry and broken branches, then fertilizers for honeysuckle in the spring will bring more benefits, nutrients will not be spent on maintaining the life of extra shoots.

Conclusion

You can feed honeysuckle in the spring with both useful minerals and organic mixtures. It is important to follow the basic rules for fertilizing, not to add nitrogen to the soil with the onset of summer, not to flood the bushes with excess moisture, and to adhere to the dosages of feeding recommended in the instructions.