How to properly care for honeysuckle in spring - feeding and pruning
Honeysuckle is one of the most unpretentious plants in the garden. It is able to withstand severe frosts, excess moisture and pest attacks. Lack of nutrients and lack of maintenance negatively affect the yield, size and taste of the fruit. This is easy to fix by doing simple spring activities: fertilizing, watering and pruning. How to do it correctly and not harm, read the article.
The content of the article
When to feed honeysuckle
Gardeners begin their first spring work as soon as the snow melts. The honeysuckle trunk circle is shallowly loosened to provide oxygen access to the root system. Before swelling of the kidneys, a sanitary pruning and the first feeding. The second time fertilizers are applied before flowering, the next time - in July. In the gardener's autumn calendar - the last feeding after leaf fall.
Honeysuckle is a hardy plant, so it wakes up early... Already at a temperature of + 3 ° C, the growing season begins, the shrub blooms at + 10 ° C. They are guided by weather conditions so as not to miss the timing of fertilization and pruning.
Fertilizers
Honeysuckle is fed with organic matter or mineral preparations. Herbal infusions are prepared for her. These types of dressings are applied at the root of the bush. For the aboveground part of plants, special fertilizers and protective equipment are used. from diseases and pests.
Organic fertilizers
The best organic fertilizer for honeysuckle is considered to be peat, chicken droppings and mullein. Overripe compost provides varied nutrition, but it is dangerous for pathogenic microorganisms and pests to enter the soil.
Important! Organic matter is sprinkled with a layer of earth 3-5 cm to ensure its good overheating.
Mineral dressing
For the full formation of ovaries and abundant fruiting, nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus fertilizers are applied under the honeysuckle. The use of special complex additives makes the work of the gardener easier, but not always justified. For example, a soil rich in nitrogen, when applying such fertilizers, will receive an overabundance of this element, which will cause a slowdown in plant growth, elongation, thinning of leaves, and loss of chlorophyll.
Important! Before and immediately after fertilization, the honeysuckle is watered abundantly to ensure the dissolution of the preparations and their delivery to the roots.
Folk remedies
The shrub reacts well to the introduction of wood ash in early spring. Such feeding provides the plant with iron, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium. The main purpose of ash is to protect against pests and diseases.
A decoction of potatoes accelerates the growing season if, within 7-10 days, it is applied under the bushes immediately after the snow melts in an amount of 3-5 liters.
An infusion of spring herbs has shown itself well:
- wormwood;
- mustard;
- clover;
- dandelion.
Chopped greens are poured with hot water, infused for 10-12 hours and poured over the honeysuckle.
Foliar dressing
This method of providing supplemental food should be used with caution. In case of an overdose of mineral or organic fertilizers, the delicate foliage will get burns and the plant will not give good ovaries. Therefore, for processing the aboveground part, the dressing is diluted with water 2 times more than for the root one.
Read also:
Top dressing of honeysuckle in spring for a good harvest
This plant is unpretentious, but for a good harvest and protection from diseases, it needs regular feeding. Most cultivars are responsive to organic and mineral fertilization. You can evaluate the result by the formation of ovaries and the abundance of fruits.
Before flowering
Immediately after loosening in early spring, the trunk circle is mulched with peat or compost. Thanks to the spring rains, the plant will receive full nutrition from them for the root system located close to the surface of the earth. The same organics will feed the bushes during the period of bud opening.
Manure is applied before flowering. It is best to use chicken manure, previously diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 5 and infused for 2-3 days.
Overripe mullein is used only last year. Fresh will "burn" roots and shoots. Cow dung is bred in a ratio of 1: 6 and insisted for 3 days.
Important! Organic fertilizers are applied once every two years.
Mineral fertilization of the plant is required twice during the growing season - in early spring and after harvest. Honeysuckle needs nitrogen, phosphorus or potassium fertilizers, which are applied immediately after the snow melts, along with or instead of organic matter.
How to feed honeysuckle in spring:
- phosphate fertilizers - 10 g per 1 m²;
- potash - 15 g per 1 m²;
- ammonium nitrate - 30 g for each bush;
- urea - 20 g per plant.
Complex mineral fertilizers are applied in accordance with the instructions on the package.
During flowering
During this period, the plant does not require additional feeding, since it has accumulated a sufficient supply of nutrients. On the contrary, during the blooming of the buds, there is a risk of harm by applying mineral or organic fertilizers.
After flowering
In the period between the blooming of the buds and the formation of the ovaries, no fertilization of the honeysuckle is needed. Excessive intervention will prevent the plant from fully bearing fruit, therefore, they are limited only to watering as needed.
How to fertilize honeysuckle in summer
Harvesting ends early. Already in late June - early July, the plant gives up its last berries and begins to prepare for the next season. For feeding honeysuckle in the summer, mineral fertilizers are used. They are brought in in mid-July.
During fruiting
Fertilizers cannot be applied during the ripening period. This will affect the taste and reduce the benefits of the fruit.
After harvest
Additional food is added under the honeysuckle bushes after harvesting the berries. During this period, the shrub buds for the next growing season and needs nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus or complex mineral supplements.
It is best to water the plants once with a solution of nitroammofoska prepared at the rate of 30 g of fertilizer per 10 liters of water.
Important! At the end of the growing season, honeysuckle is weakened, so it needs additional nutrition.
How to fertilize in autumn
Before the onset of cold weather, honeysuckle is fed with organic matter mixed with soil. Mineral fertilizers are not applied, because sap flow has already been completed and nutrients will not be absorbed.
Pruning and watering the honeysuckle after feeding
Plant crown formation does not begin until the third year of life. Until this age, only broken and dead branches are removed.
The process of pruning an adult plant takes place in two stages:
- On the first, all shoots are cut to a height of 35-40 cm from the soil level.
- The next year, the crown is formed, removing excess branches in order to prevent thickening.
To rejuvenate an adult shrub, remove all the lower branches spreading along the ground. Then cut dry shoots and those with few leaves. In the last step, the honeysuckle is shaped into a ball or pyramid.
All types of pruning are carried out in early spring, before the buds come out, but after the onset of freezing temperatures.Sections are treated with garden varnish to exclude the penetration of painful microflora and pests into the wood.
Important! The plant lays buds not only on adult branches, but also on the tops of young ones, therefore, one-year-old shoots are cut off only if necessary to thicken the crown.
Honeysuckle is a moisture-loving plant, especially during flowering and fruiting... In the spring, the shrub is watered as needed, preventing the soil from drying out. During flowering and fruiting, the volume of water is increased - the soil must be constantly moistened. A lack of moisture leads to a decrease in yield and a deterioration in the taste of berries.
In the summer, watering is reduced, in the fall, it is increased again. The soil is periodically loosened so that a crust does not form, which prevents the penetration of air to the roots. It retains moisture well and protects mulching with straw or other organic matter from drying out.
Conclusion
Minimum care and pruning honeysuckle in the spring will respond with a rich harvest of tasty and healthy berries. Mandatory activities - fertilizing, watering, pruning - will not take much time, but will provide the plant with full development. In addition, honeysuckle wakes up very early, when there are few other spring works in the garden.