Gooseberries are a perennial shrub with a well-developed root system, the fruits of which vary in color, size and sweetness, depending on the variety.
For a reason, summer residents gave it the second name “northern grapes”, because gooseberries are quite winter-hardy plants, rarely freeze in winter, which makes it possible to successfully grow them up to the middle taiga zone.
But best of all, it takes root and bears fruit in the middle and southern strip of Russia.
This shrub is not very picky about the soil composition, but prefers fertile substrates and well-lit habitats.
Gooseberries: variety selection and planting
Gooseberry varieties are extremely diverse. Some of them are distinguished by bright green berries, while others have pink berries, and there are also almost black ones. Also, breeders without shrubs have been bred. The most popular gooseberry varieties in Russia are the following:
1. Variety "Russian". A frost-resistant variety that also tolerates dry periods. It is characterized by increased resistance to pests, a spreading crown and frequent bright pink oval berries. They taste sweet and sour.
2. Variety "Date". It is characterized by a small number of thorns on the stems and large sweet berries of bright red color. It does not have resistance to powdery mildew, so its productivity decreases in wet years.
3. Variety "Commander". It is considered early, has excellent winter hardiness and good resistance to pests. The berries are dark purple, medium in size, sweet and sour.
4. Variety "Jubilee". It is characterized by poor winter hardiness, therefore it is grown most often in the central and southern parts of Russia. It reaches a height of one and a half meters, bears fruit emerald berries.
5. Variety "Russian yellow". It is winter-hardy, but its sweet and sour yellow fruits do not tolerate storage.
6. Grade "Senator". High-yielding, resistant to pests and well tolerating not only winter cold, but also spring frosts. It is very popular in the northern regions of the country - in the Vologda, Leningrad, Pskov and other areas.
7. Variety "Kolobok". It is distinguished by the complete absence of thorns and resistance to powdery mildew. The berries are large, red, sweet and sour. Winter hardiness is average.
To plant a gooseberry, first of all, it is necessary to determine the date: it is best to plant a plant in early spring (March or April, depending on latitude). You also need to choose a special place for growing gooseberries: it should be well-lit, but protected from the winds. The site for planting should be chosen even and with a deep occurrence of groundwater to avoid decay of the root system. The distance between the seedlings should not be less than 1.5 - 2 meters, since when the bushes grow, they will overlap each other's light, and harvesting will also be difficult.
During spring planting, the soil should be prepared in the fall. The soil should be dug to a depth of 30-40 cm, breaking up clods and removing weeds, and then fertilized with manure and wood ash: 1 bucket + 1 glass per 1 m2, respectively.
In the spring, starting to plant seedlings, you need to dig holes. The diameter of the planting fossa should be at least half a meter, and a depth of up to 40 cm. Long roots, as well as damaged areas and not lignified shoots, should be cut from the seedling. If the roots are dried, you can lower them in water for a day, and then treat them with a clay mash. When planting gooseberries, you should straighten the roots, place the seedling in the planting hole at a slight angle and, slightly tamping at the roots (to avoid the formation of cavities), fill the hole with fertile soil. Moreover, the gooseberry is planted with a deepening of the root neck with a few cm, as shown in the photo.
After planting, you need to water the plants, bringing a bucket of water under each bush. In order for the shrub to take root more quickly, it is necessary to mulch the soil with humus, deciduous litter or peat.
Gooseberry: care, pruning (photo)
Care for gooseberry bushes includes pruning shoots, digging the soil around the shrub, loosening and removing weeds. In the fall, digging of the earth is carried out at a distance of 20 cm between rows and 10 cm under the plant itself. In early spring, the soil loosens with a rake. Gooseberry care includes top dressing. In the third year of life in early spring, up to 30 g of ammonium nitrate should be added under each plant. In autumn, it is recommended to add potassium sulfate (20 g) and superphosphate (20 g), after which they dig and water the soil. You can also fertilize gooseberry bushes with bird droppings and green fertilizers.
Gooseberry care is also unthinkable without pruning the shoots. To get a well-bearing and neat bush, pruning should be done every spring. Pruning is done by a garden pruner and must be correct. You can not cut the shoot in the center of the kidney and far from it. Sawing should be done immediately above the kidney, slightly at an angle, as shown in the picture.
In the second year of the life of the bush, second-order shoots appear. Weak and lower branches should be removed so that there are 3 first-order shoots, and on them 2 second-order shoots. By the third year of life in the gooseberry bush there will already be more than 20 (up to 30) branches of different ages, which henceforth will be the basis of the bush. Since then, all young shoots and twigs that obscure the center of the bush should be cut off. Dried, frozen and broken vesicles should be trimmed whole or to a healthy kidney. Drooping branches also need to be removed.
For very sprawling bushes, it is necessary to build wooden supports and install them around the bush, as in the photo.
Gooseberry: breeding
The vegetative propagation of gooseberries is called cuttings. It is produced in the fall in September - early October. For reproduction, several strong lignified shoots are taken, in which the soft tip is cut: a cut must be done above the kidney, and also below the kidney by 30 cm. Dig a hole in which the cuttings are placed at an angle so that 2 buds remain above the surface of the substrate. Over the year, cuttings take root - and dig them up the next summer, after which they are already transplanted to a permanent place.
Also for reproduction, you can use the method of horizontal layering. In early spring, until the buds opened, the soil was shoveled off from the bush in such a way as to make a circle with a depression, similar to a saucer. After that, 10 (sometimes more) healthy and strong young branches are taken and bend down to the bottom of the “saucer”. Each branch must be pinned to the soil with hooks. Young shoots will develop from the lateral buds of these branches. When they grow to 15 cm, they are sprinkled on top of the soil, and in autumn, cuttings are dug up and transplanted to another place.
Gooseberry: pests and diseases (photo)
Often, gooseberry bushes suffer from fungal diseases and pests. Here are the most common diseases of this plant:
Sphere library - a fungal disease affecting the plant with prolonged moisture. A powdery coating appears on the berries and leaves, which gradually darkens. As a result, the shoots begin to languish and die, and the berries fall off, not reaching a mature state. To combat this disease in early spring, shrubs are sprayed with mullein infusion or copper sulfate solution (up to 100 g per 10 l). Also, you need to remove damaged berries and leaves on time.
Anthracnose It is also a fungal disease that is very common. It is expressed in the appearance of brown spots on the green parts of the plant, which eventually grow and merge into a single spot, which leads to the death of leaves and a decrease in yield. Just like a sphere library, anthracnose affects plants in wet weather. You can spray with copper sulfate, Bordeaux liquid (100 g per 10 l) or colloidal sulfur.
Rust - Another dangerous fungal disease. It is recognized by yellow spots on the leaves and fruits, which turn brown by autumn, as in the photo.
To prevent this disease, a solution of 1% Bordeaux fluid should be used, which the bushes should be sprayed with during the period of leaf blooming. Also, for the fight it is necessary to mow the grass around the shrub, dig the soil in the autumn and clean the scavenger and damaged shoots in time.
Mosaic gooseberries is a viral infection that manifests itself in the appearance of golden stripes along the veins. This disease leads to a rapid shortening of the leaves and their death. When this virus infection appears on the bush, you must immediately dig it out and burn it until the virus has spread to the entire garden.
One of the worst gooseberry pests is spider miteliving on the underside of leaves and eating plant juices. This leads to a gradual yellowing and death of the leaves. One of the measures to combat spider mites is spraying bushes with tobacco infusion. It is prepared as follows: 400 g of tobacco are poured with 10 liters of hot water, the mixture is infused for a day, then 40 g of soap is added to it. After filtering, you can start spraying.
Gooseberry fire hibernates in the form of a chrysalis under a gooseberry bush, and in the spring a butterfly emerges from it, which lays eggs inside the buds that have not yet opened. After a week, their eggs develop caterpillars, which in a month can gnaw through all the ovaries and leave summer residents without a harvest.
Before the time, the berries begin to redden, then rot and fall off (along with the caterpillar, which, once in the soil, pupates). The most effective measures to combat a firetight are spraying ashes with infusion (1/3 of a bucket of ash per bucket of water) and collecting caterpillars with subsequent destruction.
