Planting fruit bushes chokeberry Aronia

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Aroniaplant. An unpretentious shrub is used not only to obtain a crop of healthy and tasty fruits, but also for landscaping. In summer, the green foliage by autumn is colored with all shades of yellow, golden, red, in the form of single plantings or a living wall, beautifully decorating a plot.
Description chokeberry Aronia

Perennial deciduous shrubs come from the North American continent, having moved to Europe and to the territory of Russia, turned out to be very tenacious, picky and quickly spread as a decorative or wild-growing culture.

Thanks to the selective work of I.V.Michurin and his associates who received large-fruited varieties of chokeberry, she attracted the attention of domestic gardeners.

Planting and caring for chokeberry Aronia require minimal knowledge and application of forces. Unpretentious shrub:
- endures winter without damage;
- begins to bear fruit after 3 years after planting, with yields stable and annual;
- easily lends itself to crown formation.
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According to the description, chokeberry in nature has a height of 2 to 3 meters. At first, the crown of the shrub is quite compact, but as it grows, it becomes more branchy, spreading, wide. The diameter of an adult bush reaches two meters, so gardeners practice annual pruning and plant formation. Distinguishing perennial shoots from new growth is easy by the color of the bark.

The older the branch, the more gray its surface becomes. The bark of one- or two-year-old wood has a reddish or brownish-brown hue.

Although the culture is often called chokeberry, plants are not closely related. This is clearly visible if you look at the foliage of chokeberry Aronia. Unlike dissected rowan leaves, here leafy plates 5–8 cm long are oval or obovate, simple. They have smooth facial and pubescent back surfaces and a jagged edge. The scape is short, dense.

When the leaves of a bush change color from dark green to yellow and purple in autumn, the plant's appearance changes. Against such a bright background, purple with a bluish tint of the hand of ripe fruits look incredibly beautiful.

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The black chokeberry aronia begins to bloom in the second half of May and lasts until the first days of summer, then green ovaries appear at the site of white or light pink flowers. Almost black fruits ripen in early autumn and can remain on the branches until the middle of October without losing quality. Uncollected crops are readily sewn by birds.

Planting chokeberry chokeberry

As with all fruit shrubs, there are two planting dates for chokeberry chokeberry. In the fall, the seedlings are transported into the ground from mid-September until November. In the spring, shrubs are most often planted in April when vegetation begins, but leaf buds have not yet awakened.

When planting chokeberry chokeberry it is necessary to take into account the climatic features of the region. It is important that the sapling has time to acclimatize before the onset of autumn cold weather, and in the spring it does not fall under the frost, which is detrimental to the awakening crown.

The culture is unpretentious and can grow on different types of soil, including nutrient poor sandy soils. The root system is located at a depth of no more than 60 cm, so chokeberry trees are not afraid of close-lying groundwater and spring flooding because of the rapidly melting snow. At such a depth, the soil does not remain excessively moist for long, and the roots do not have time to rot.

Best of all, the plant is settled on loose, fertile soils that easily absorb and absorb moisture. At the same time, the landing area should be located in the sun on the side protected from the cold wind. This will help the seedling to take root and quickly grow.

The landing pits are prepared in advance so that the seedling root system comfortably accommodates it. On average, the depth and width of the future habitat of a plant is a wound of 50–60 cm. If several bushes are to be planted at once, take into account their growth and adhere to an interval of 3 meters for full development and crown lighting.

The soil removed from the pit is mixed:
- with 8–10 kg of selective humus;
- with two glasses of sifted wood ash;
- 150 grams of superphosphate.
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Attention of gardeners description and photo of winter varieties of apple treesNow comes the time of planting chokeberry Aronia. The seedling is immersed in a hole so that the root neck is a couple of centimeters above the ground level, covered with the prepared substrate, compacted and then watered, so that the shrub is well settled on the ground. Pristvolny circle, in order to avoid rapid drying of the earth and the formation of a crust, richly mulch.
In order for the chokeberry aronia to root faster, experienced gardeners advise, before planting chokeberry, to shorten the shoots of the seedling, leaving no more than 5-6 viable buds.

Care of chokeberry after planting

It is very easy to care for frost and drought-resistant shrubs. Aronia needs regular pruning of the crown, three times feeding, removal of weeds, preventive treatment from pests and infrequent, but abundant watering.

Pruning of plants is carried out:
- in the fall, after collecting the fruits and ending the growing season;
- in early spring, before the beginning of the process of awakening the shrub.
In addition to carefully cutting dry, damaged and weak branches, they remove shoots that prevent the penetration of light crowns and insects from pollinators into the crown. Aronia rowan painlessly transfers forming pruning, so it can be grown as a miniature tree. To do this, at the soil level, remove all shoots except the strongest, and then gradually form a stem from it. For this, for several years only a few apical buds are left on the aronia bush, and when the plant reaches the desired height, the growth point is removed and the creation of a compact crown on the top of the stem is started.

Spring begins with the treatment of shrubs from pests and fertilizing with the predominance of nitrogen fertilizers. Re-fertilization should be carried out after flowering, when the ovary begins to fill, another fertilizer should prepare the plant for winter. It is carried out at the end of the summer without the use of nitrogen.

Although black chokeberry can survive in drought conditions for a long time, it needs water to get an excellent harvest and beauty. Watering is important:
- at the beginning of the growing season;
- in the summer, during the pouring and ripening of fruits;
- in the fall before the shrub leaves for the winter.
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Each bush should receive at least 20–40 liters of water once. For the greatest efficiency of the surface root system, watering is carried out at a distance of 30–40 cm from the center of the shrub into shallow furrows.

Pristvolnye circles are kept clean, for which the soil is regularly loosened or sprinkled with mulch.

Pruning chokeberry Aronia and its reproduction by cuttings

Aronia pruning begins with the first year of life. The beginnings form a crown of 10–12 Yilus branches, then, as they age, they gradually substitute new shoots. Rejuvenation begins at the age of 8 years.

If a bush is running and expires, no need to rush it up. It is enough to cut the entire crown under the root in the fall to wait for a strong young growth in the spring. From her in the fall form the backbone of a new shrub.

Strong healthy branches that are to be shortened or cut can be used to obtain excellent planting material and the breeding of chokeberry.

For green cuttings, take non-lignified tops or middle parts with 5–6 live buds. All the leaves, the roof of the upper pair, cut off, and the remaining shortened. Rooting is carried out in a greenhouse, in a light sandy substrate, pre-treated cuttings with growth stimulant. In a year, a full-sized black chokeberry sapling for planting is formed from a small segment of a branch.

Lignified cuttings are pieces of matured one-year-old shoots with several healthy buds. They are cut in the fall and rooted in shkolka so that when planting above the soil surface there are only two buds.

If there is black chokeberry in the area of an adult bush, it can be multiplied:
- separating and sowing root-growing shoots with its own root system;
- specially rooted annual shoots, bending and securing them on the ground.
Young plants quickly take root, only in the first years of life they need shelter for the winter and after a couple of years are ready to please the gardener with ripe bluish-purple or almost black hearths.

Video about planting chokeberry Aronia