Step-by-step instructions for beginner gardeners: how to tie a gooseberry and form a bush correctly
Gooseberry is a popular shrub that is found in most garden plots in Russia. The plant is unpretentious to maintain, but it also requires basic care, including a garter. This procedure helps the bush to remain healthy and strong. Consider how to tie a gooseberry, depending on its desired shape.
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Why tie a gooseberry
Gooseberry is a shrub that, as it grows, forms a large number of branches scattered in all directions. With a good harvest and during heavy rainfall, branches often end up on the ground. This leads to fruit contamination, rotting, damage by worms and insects. Branches that do not have a fulcrum often break and become infected with fungi.
Gooseberry branches are tied up not only for practical purposes, but also to give it a beautiful shape and a neat look. A garter is the only way to "curb" the lush branches of a thorny bush.
Is it obligatory
25% of amateur gardeners neglect the gooseberry garter, considering it optional. This leads to damage to the branches during winds or after the adhesion of wet snow. The plant is more likely to get sick, the fruits on the branches bent to the ground become unsuitable for human consumption.
The gooseberry garter is an essential step in caring for it. Neglecting grooming means exposing the shrub to an increased risk of getting sick or even dying.
Garter timing
Gooseberries are tied up from the first years of his life... It is recommended to install the support immediately when planting the plant - this will help start the formation of the bush and reduce work in the future.
Gooseberries are tied up in the same season when the branches are cut - in spring or autumn. In the summer, you cannot touch the shrub, since pruning or garter during the active growth of berries can cause irreparable harm.
When is it better to tie - in spring or autumn
The best time of the year for a gooseberry garter is Spring... However, there are some nuances here. The shrub quickly departs from winter sleep and wakes up one of the first in the garden.
Advice! It is important not to miss a moment and to tie up the plant before the buds form and the leaves open.
If the moment of the spring garter is missed, you should not touch the already awakened plant. It is advisable to wait for autumn and tie up the shrub in late September - early October.
Garter methods
The way you tie it depends on the desired shape of the bush. Each method has its pros and cons, but they are united by common goals: to prevent damage to plants, infection with fungal and infectious diseases, and contamination of berries.
There are 3 main ways of garters:
- classical;
- standard;
- on the trellis.
To choose the appropriate method, gardeners determine how much space on the site can be given to the gooseberry and what shape the bush will become. Additionally, take into account the characteristics of the variety. There are plants that weave along the support, and there are those that look more like a tree.
Classic on the fence
The classic method is to form a bush from gooseberries with a fence around. The method is popular and easy to implement. For a garter, they put supports around the bush. They form a circle, triangle, square - any shape that depends on the desire and imagination of the gardener.There are classic fences in specialized stores, but they are also made from scrap materials.
Made of wood
A fence is made of any pieces of wood available in the garden area. The construction of the fence itself does not take much time and does not cause difficulties.
Important! Wood is a material prone to deterioration under the influence of rainfall and insects. Therefore, before making the fence, all slats are treated with an antiseptic, painted and varnished.
3-5 wooden stakes of the same length are driven in around the bush. A railing is formed from the rails from above and fastened to the stakes with nails or self-tapping screws. The height of the fence is adjusted depending on the maximum height of the shrub, the width - on the desired volume of the plant.
From reinforcement
A fence made of reinforcement is constructed in a similar way - pillars and railings at a height of 1/3 of the maximum size of the bush. To cut fittings and connect parts, you will need a grinder and a welding machine.
The reinforcement is cut into pieces of suitable length, taking into account that 20-30 cm will be in the ground. The resulting columns are driven into the soil around the bush. The distance between the posts is left about 25 cm. A railing made of the same material is welded on top. Such a structure will help to firmly hold the gooseberry branches. The armature is made of wear-resistant materials, so the fence will last a long time.
From plastic pipes
Support is made in the same way as wood and reinforcement. Around the bush, cuttings of PVC pipes are installed at a distance of 20-25 cm. A railing is formed on top.
Plastic is not the most durable material. Pipes are deformed under the influence of low and high temperatures, cracking during winter frosts. Therefore, the supports will have to be removed for the winter and reinstalled in the spring.
Shtambova
The standard method helps to grow gooseberries not in the form of a bush, but resembling a tree. To do this, one strong shoot is selected from the branches, the rest are removed. Nearby, a support 1 m high is installed in the ground (it can be higher, but it is inconvenient to harvest from a higher tree). The future tree trunk is tied to a support, all side branches are removed from it, only the uppermost ones (4-5 pieces) are left.
With the standard method, it is important to cut off the branches in a timely manner. All basal shoots are removed immediately, as are the lateral shoots. The branches at the top of the tree are annually shortened to 20 cm. In order not to constantly have to cut off the side shoots, an opaque rubber tube is put on the trunk.
On the trellis
Growing gooseberries on a trellis is the most rational way to form a bush, especially if there are several plants or entire plantations.
For a garter, supports are installed on both sides of a row of bushes. Wire is pulled on them (3-4 horizontal rows with an interval of 20 cm between them). When forming a simple trellis, the bush is cut off, leaving only 3 of the strongest shoots. They are tied to a wire of a suitable height: they are directed upwards, but at the same time they are distributed at a distance from each other (sufficient so that the branches do not interfere with the neighbors).
Important! Before the winter cold, gooseberry shoots are recommended to be removed from the trellis and insulated. Otherwise, there is a high risk that the branches will freeze.
In addition to a simple trellis, a double trellis is being built on the site. In this case, 2-3 horizontal beams 50–60 cm long are stuffed onto the supports installed on both sides of the row. Wire is pulled along the edges of the beams. Shoots are tied up in the same way as on a simple trellis, only they leave not 3 on each bush, but 6.
How to fix branches
Experienced gardeners use jute twine to secure the branches to the support, which is updated annually. It is undesirable to use fishing line (thin material cuts the bark) and wire (if you do not renew it, it grows into the shoot).
When fixing the branches on the support, it is important not to overtighten them - an excessively tight garter harms the plant. At the same time, too loose a loop will also not be useful.
How to make them strong
It is important for the tied gooseberry branches to remain strong and flexible, otherwise they will break from mechanical stress during the formation of a bush or harvest. Annual care makes the shoots strong: timely pruning, fertilization soil, watering, treatment from pests.
Pruning is best done in the spring, before the plant awakens. Remove all damaged branches and young shoots that do not bear fruit, thin out the bush. Wounds formed during pruning are treated with garden varnish.
Bushes are fed in autumn. To do this, use compost (2/3 buckets per plant) or a mineral fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
How to form a bush correctly
The formation of a gooseberry depends a lot on the way of garter. With the classical method, it is important to properly prune the plant. The branches should not form a dense crown; air circulation and access to sunlight to each branch are important for the culture. In an adult plant, no more than 20 strong shoots of different ages are left, in a 1-2-year-old bush - no more than 6, in 3-4 years - no more than 15. The edges of last year's branches are shortened by 1/3.
With the standard method, only one trunk is left in the gooseberry, all the other basal shoots are removed. The side branches are removed, only the upper ones are left, at the height of the trunk (usually 1 m).
When tying on a trellis, the shaping of the bush is similar to the classic one. The edges of last year's shoots are shortened by 1/3, from young branches formed in the year of pruning, no more than 4 are left. Old and damaged ones are removed.
How to tie up gooseberries so that the branches are not on the ground
Tying is an important step in crop care. Neglecting them leads to plant diseases, breakage of branches under the weight of the harvest. Berries on the ground are polluted, spoiled by animals and insects.
How to tie up a shrub so that the branches do not lie on the ground:
- choose a growing method (classic, on a trellis, standard);
- based on the characteristics varieties, determine the height of the bush and the desired width;
- make or buy a support suitable in size for the future height of the plant;
- establish support and tie up the shoots.
The branches of a well-formed bush do not touch the ground. This protects it from damage, dirt and insects.
It is interesting:
Sweet and juicy gooseberry variety Yubilyar
The sweetest and largest gooseberry: description of varieties
Conclusion
Gooseberry is a culture that definitely needs tying up. The branches fixed to the support are protected from damage, the plant has a reduced risk of contracting fungal diseases, it is less susceptible to attack by ground insects. Tied up shrubs take up less space and look neat, and harvesting is less of a hassle.