How to care for gooseberry after harvesting

Gardeners appreciate gooseberries for abundant harvests, simple care, undemanding to the fertility of the soil and heat, delicious dietary berries.

For the high content of vitamins and minerals it is called northern grapes. With competent care the bush fructifies to fifteen, under especially favorable conditions - up to thirty years. Productivity reaches twenty-five kilograms from a single plant.

In this article, we will just talk about how to care for gooseberry in August and September, and also learn how to grow bushes in the country

The main types of care for gooseberry in summer and autumn

Care for a prickly berry for the season includes:

• pruning and thinning;
• watering;
• weeding;
• protection against pests and diseases;
• top dressing;
• loosening;
• mulching.

Start work should be with the choice of a landing site. Preferred solar, protected from the wind areas. To the fertility of the soil, gooseberry is not exacting. Can not tolerate waterlogged lowlands.You should choose the places where the groundwater does not approach closer than one, and better - one and a half meters to the surface.

Excessively light, heavy, acidified soils will have to be pre-cultivated. When planting, it is necessary to make fertilizers, remove dry and damaged roots, cut off shoots on the seedlings. Root neck to deepen about three to five centimeters lower than the bush grew in the nursery. Planted better in the autumn before the onset of frost. Autumn plantings take root better than in spring.

Pruning and thinning of gooseberries in the country

The first pruning is performed immediately after planting the seedling. Shoots shorten, on each retain two to three kidneys. A year later they form several strong, ready-to-winter one-year-olds.

Sanitary pruning is performed regularly. Remove broken, diseased, damaged stalking, twisted shoots.In autumn, the forming pruning is carried out.

Some varieties of gooseberries, as well as specimens growing in particularly favorable conditions, give abundant basal growth. There is a danger of thickening. In these cases, excess shoots are carefully removed.

Watering

Gooseberries do not tolerate stagnation of moisture in the soil. Therefore, it can not be planted in the lowlands, where the spring springs are long, or the groundwater is high. At the same time, the berry needs regular and abundant watering. In the first year of plant life such a measure provides an active growth of strong shoots.

In the future, a sufficient amount of moisture contributes to a greater yield of large delicious berries.Under the young bushes you need to pour out ten to twenty liters of water every week, twice as much for adults.

If there is no possibility to water gooseberries every few days, you can apply another scheme. Abundantly shed after flowering during the growth of berries and shoots, then - when the ovary appears, in autumn to perform water recharge irrigation to create conditions for the growth of the root system and the preparation of plants for wintering. Each time, pour at least five buckets of water under the bush.

To avoid soil erosion and stagnation of fluid at the root collar, a groove is arranged around the perimeter of the crown. The drop method has proved to be well: the liquid consumption decreases, the efficiency rises. Mulch helps significantly reduce the frequency of watering.

Gooseberries are well tolerated short dry periods. But prolonged drying will reduce the number of berries, it happens, not for one season.Therefore, it is important to maintain a soil moisture level of at least 70 percent.

During the ripening of the fruit should be watered evenly and regularly. Otherwise, berries can crack.

Weeding and fertilization

The absence of weeds is an important condition in the cultivation of gooseberry. You need to remove all the grass under the bushes and in the inter-row, preferably manually, especially carefully - the grass is creeping. The problem is complicated by the spiny nature of most varieties and the fact that the fibrous root, which is widened in breadth from the surface of the earth, is easily damaged.

Mulching, among others, helps to solve this problem.Some gardeners use trunks made of roofing material or manufactured in an industrial way from modern materials. Such shelters do not miss the light, and the growth of grass beneath them is oppressed.

It is not recommended to use herbicides on personal plots to combat weeds in berries plantations. There is a danger of accumulation of a chemical in the soil under berry bushes with regular processing for several years.

Protection against pests and diseases

During the vegetation period, it is necessary to inspect the gooseberries regularly (ideally - daily), in order to notice the first signs of the appearance of pests or diseases. If detected, immediate measures should be taken to suppress the lesion.

More often other harmful insects gooseberries populate:

• aphid;
• kidney mite;
• glass;
• sawfly
• flamer.

To combat them apply:

• copper vitriol;
• solution of carbophos;
• biological insecticides.

They use folk remedies:

• Sprinkle plants with infusion of wood ash (pour one kilogram of ash with three liters of boiling water and insist for a day);
• before the end of melting snow and before the appearance of green kidney cones, they once water the bushes with boiling water from the watering can;
• plant next to the bushes (one and a half to two meters away) plants that repel pests: garlic, dill, marigolds, chrysanthemums.

To these preparations and in ash infusion it is useful to add a small amount of a soap solution.

If, despite the measures taken, the pests have not disappeared, you can repeat the treatment after flowering (except for boiling water).

Diseases of gooseberries and ways of treatment

Spheroteka (powdery mildew).Fungus. Treatment should begin immediately after the discovery of the first signs - white plaque. Apply: Bordeaux mixture, sodium hydrogen carbonate solution (5g per 1 liter of water), ash infusion or a solution of soda ash (50g per 10 liters of water).To prevent the problem in the spring and closer to the fall, sprayed with Karatan or analogues.Immediately after flowering twice, with an interval of eight to ten days, treated with infusion of cow dung.

Septoria (white spotting).First, brown plaques appear. Affected leaves must be removed and burned immediately. Treat the bushes with a solution of boric acid. For the prevention of loosening, apply copper sulfate to the soil.

Buckwheat rust.The first symptoms are orange spots on the leaves. For treatment, treat after flowering Bordeaux liquid. For prevention in the spring, shed the soil with a solution of potassium permanganate.

Anthracnose of gooseberry.Brownish brown hillocks on leaves. Treatment: spray the bush with a solution of copper sulfate, the ground below it - a solution of boric acid, Bordeaux or zinc liquid.

For the mechanical protection, the trunks, which are arranged, for example, from roofing felt have proved to be very useful. Stowed under a bush, they prevent access to pests from the soil.

How to feed gooseberries?

Berry is responsive to systematic, but not excessive top dressing. In early spring, nitrogen fertilizers are introduced in the form of a solution: 50 grams of ammonium nitrate or urea at a rate of 20 to 30 g per square meter of planting (approximately 60 g under the bush).

Practice the scattering of granules under the bushes on the snow at the very beginning of melting:nutrients, gradually dissolving, are delivered to the roots by thawed water.

Potassium, phosphorus and organic fertilizers are left in the autumn.

Loosening

The surface of the earth must be kept in a loose state. Under the crown periodically periodically loosen to a depth of three to five centimeters, if necessary, simultaneously closing the fertilizer and removing the weeds.

Mulching

As the mulch use a mature compost, humus, dry paly foliage and grass, overgrown peat. Cover the podkustovoe space layer of not less than 5cm. Mulch retains moisture, well structures the soil, stimulates an increase in the amount of organic matter, slows the growth of weeds.

How to care for gooseberry after harvest in August and September

In late summer and autumn, the foundation of plant health and the harvest of the next season is laid.You should start immediately after picking berries, and before the onset of frosts:

• make thorough weeding under bushes, remove weeds, fallen leaves and other remnants of vegetation;
• abundantly shed every plant;
• to make top dressing;
• dig through the earth under the bushes and in the inter-row,
• to treat shrubs with means of protection against diseases and pests;
• cut old and weakened branches;
• blanching;
• prepare for wintering.

Soil cleaning

Immediately after the removal of fruits, gooseberries are carefully weeded, removing grass, weed roots, accumulated sticks, twigs and other debris from under it. The fallen leaves are immediately burned to avoid wintering in them pathogens.

Creating a reserve of moisture

Approximately one month before the arrival of frosts, it is important to produce the so-called water recharge irrigation. For each bush you need at least 50 - 60 liters of water, you can pour in two or three stages.A stock of liquid will allow gooseberries to persistently bear the cold, to resist diseases, to form fruit and vegetative buds.

Autumn feeding

After harvesting, gooseberries are fed superphosphate (up to 50 g) and potassium chloride (up to 30 g). As a potash fertilizer, you can make one liter of ash.Phosphorus fertilizers affect the yield increase.Potash provides drought resistance, frost resistance, increase immunity to fungal diseases.

In autumn, each bush is "fed" and organic fertilizers:

• humus - one bucket;
• A diluted chicken manure in the water (1 to 10) or Mullein (1 to 5).

On acidic soils, lime, chalk or dolomite flour is additionally required.

Reference. The fertilizer rate should be increased if the soil on the site is neutral or slightly alkaline.

Autumnal processing of gooseberry

Autumn Trimming

Annually, in the late autumn (before the first frosts), forming and rejuvenating pruning is carried out. One-year-old plants leave three to five strong developed shoots. Choose well located to lay the right bottom of the bush.The rest is cut level with the surface of the soil.The next three to four years also leave some of the most successful increments, the rest are removed. A properly formed adult plant consists of five to six stem cells of each age (annual, biennial, and so on).

The greatest number of fruits, as a rule, ripens on two-four-year branches. All that is older than five or six years, leave no sense. To distinguish "old men" is not difficult, they are the darkest and largest. Preserve four to five strongest annual basal shoots, remove about the same old frame branches and all diseased.Pruning is made as close to the ground as possible.Powerful developed branches on old branches can be preserved, cutting only the waste parts.

Bushes of gooseberry, if necessary, thin out. Condensed are less fruitful: too little light penetrates inside, no ovaries, a fungus settles. In well-lit branches, fruit buds are actively formed and develop.

Open-pit digging

Before the establishment of sub-zero temperatures, the soil around the gooseberry should be carefully, but gently loosened. Depending on the density of the soil, it is "swollen" with pitchforks or digging with a shovel. Over the whole area of ​​the berry, the soil is dug by 18-20 cm, under the crowns - by 5-6 cm. At the same time, autumn fertilizers are closed. Small clumps of land can not be broken.

Pre-winter digging should not be neglected also because it hinders wintering in the soil of pests and pathogens of berry sores. And the cultivation of gooseberries in the open ground for the next year becomes easier.

Prevention of diseases: what to process?

When there are no berries left on the bushes, you can take intensive measures to save diseased plants, treat them with the appropriate fungicides and insecticides.If the defeats have taken on irreversible proportions, the bush will have to be sacrificed, dig it up and burn it.This loss, perhaps, will save the remaining instances.

In autumn, it is mandatory to carry out preventive procedures for the prevention of diseases and the spread of pests. For this, the bush and soil under it are carefully treated with Bordeaux liquid or copper sulfate and a solution of Inta-vir.

How to prepare bushes for winter and what to fertilize?

As a rule, adult berry-eaters tolerate winter well. Young, weakened plants, representatives of thermophilic varieties and gooseberries "living" in cold climatic zones need help.

After all autumn works, planting should be covered: cover the surface of the earth under bushes and in rows 10-centimeter layer of natural protective material - perepredevshego manure, ripe humus, peat, sawdust, small branches. In winter, under such a litter, heat is retained, organic processes continue. In the northern regions, you can additionally pour dry land to the base of the bush, cover the mound with agrospan. With the onset of positive temperatures, it is necessary to remove the entire warming layer, so that the soil warms up in time and the bush emerges from a state of rest.

In the areas of severe winter (in the North in Siberia, in the Urals), as well as in gardens with southern grades and cold little snowy winters, the branches of gooseberries are gently bent to the ground, fixed with rods or planks.From above cover with pine or fir tusks, in addition they cover with snow. Needles not only keep the snow, creates an additional "coat but also serves as an antiseptic, repels rodents and pests. Cover from the snow reliably protects and protects from the cold.

For additional snow retention and protection from cold winds create hedges and install barriers.

Gooseberries are a popular, high-yielding and very responsive culture. Grow it is not so difficult. Factors of abundant harvest - properly selected regionalized resistant to damage varieties, their diverse assortment in the garden, literate year-round care. Timely and properly conducted work will save the efforts of the gardener and prolong the life of the berry bushes.

Garden long-liver - gooseberry - for dozens of years will please lovers of delicious berries.