What is the sea buckthorn, planting and caring for it, especially reproduction - I will tell you about all this in this article. Valuable healing qualities of this culture are known all over the world today. It is cultivated, cultivated, and medical and cosmetic preparations, as well as various culinary delights are made on its basis. All parts of sea buckthorn have medicinal value, are used in folk and official medicine. Depending on the place of residence and on the attention paid to it, the sea buckthorn can be a low sprawling shrub or a powerful tall tree.
- Features of sea buckthorn
- Why is it difficult to collect sea buckthorn?
- How to plant sea buckthorn?
- Care for sea buckthorn
- How to propagate sea buckthorn?
- Sea buckthorn varieties
Sea buckthorn photos:
Where does sea buckthorn grow? In its wild form, it grows on stony and sandy soils, in river valleys, near streams, water bodies, on sea shores. Because of this, it is often called sea thorn, sand berry, dune prickle. This culture is spread all over the world, is a representative of the Loch family. To date, the efforts of breeders brought many of its varieties.
Where the sea buckthorn grows in the wild, photo:
Features of the sea buckthorn
On our domestic expanses its name is explained quite simply - the branches of the tree are abundantly strewn, plastered with bright orange fruits from all sides. The leaves are narrow, elongated, shade of blue, the flowers are so inconspicuous that at first glance they are easy to take for leaves. As already mentioned, depending on the cultivar, sea buckthorn can be short or high.
When does sea buckthorn bloom? By the very beginning of May or closer to its middle, small short tassels bloom on the branches, in each of them there are 3-5 small flowers of yellowish shade. Flowers bloom in the first place, the leaves follow them.
Here you need to mention one particular feature of sea buckthorn - only females are blooming, there are bunches of stamens on the male trees. There is pollen on these stamens, which is easily carried by the wind to the female inflorescences, as a result of which pollination occurs. If you slightly disturb the blooming male branch, you can see a little cloud of this very pollen. Sea buckthorn flowers have no aroma, so do not attract bees.
How sea buckthorn blooms, photo:
In order to get a good harvest, you should definitely plant male and female trees together. Fruits give only female plants, male are only pollinators. Sometimes one male representative is enough for pollination, which can grow at a considerable distance( up to 50 meters) from female specimens. Windy weather contributes to the process.
Sea buckthorn is female and male - their difference is that the male tree can even grow from wild shoots, but the female must necessarily have a “cultural” origin. As mentioned above, the floor of the tree is determined by the appearance of the buds. The male variety is easiest to identify in spring or autumn, the female can be easily identified in summer when the tree is flowering and fruiting. Female kidneys are much smaller than male ones, covered with a pair of scales. Male buds are larger, voluminous, have from 5 to 7 covering scales.
Male sea buckthorn floor - right, female - left, photo:
Male branch in spring 
Female branch in spring When does sea buckthorn ripen? From the last weeks of August until the beginning of October, depending on the climate in the growing region. However, there are some nuances: the time of harvesting depends on the purpose for which you need berries. For freezing or consuming fresh sea buckthorn, fruits should be harvested at the very beginning of their ripening( the end of the calendar summer-beginning of autumn).By this time they are already saturated with vitamins, but they are hard enough to touch, they do not ooze juice. If berries are needed to get butter, to make all kinds of preserves, jams, sauces, then you need to wait until they are fully ripe. Ripe fruits are filled with juice, slightly soft.
содерж to content ↑Why is it difficult to collect sea buckthorn?
This task is rather difficult, the process can be traumatic due to the sharp spines that cover the branches. The sea buckthorn has short enough stem, and the ripe berries are soft to the touch, easily crumpled under the fingers. Plus, the juice of the fruit is very sour and can cause irritation of the skin of the hands with prolonged contact. What to do in this case?
There are radical methods in which branches are cut with fruits, but this is quite cruel to a tree. Experienced gardeners have found a way out of this situation. To begin with, before harvesting, put on the clothes that you will not feel sorry for getting dirty, and this will inevitably happen. The second rule is to collect fruits from the top of the branch towards the bottom.
How to collect sea buckthorn:
- The first method is rough, in which the branches with fruits are neatly cut and immediately frozen. Frozen berries are easily removed from the branches, but this method is suitable only for those cases when you need them just frozen.
- The second method is manual, and cherries, cherries, apricots and other fruits are collected in the same way. It is traumatic, takes a lot of time, requires increased attention.
- The third method is “skilled hands”, i.e.manufacture of auxiliary devices.
A device for gathering sea-buckthorn berries - between capers there is a nylon thin rope. Gardeners go for various tricks: a sharp scraper is used to fix a long stick with tape, which, as it were, comb berries from branches. Your assistant should be at the bottom and hold either an open bag or an open umbrella for picking berries. Sometimes use a knife with a long handle and collect the fruit on the same principle. However, the most convenient device is considered to be a “cobra” - this is a popular name that stuck among gardeners and summer residents. The device is a loop of dense wire, which is securely attached to a long holder. You can drill two holes at the end of a round stick and pass a wire through them. For convenience, the loop itself is slightly bent so that when viewed from the side it resembles a cobra hood, the top of the loop should be slightly narrowed. The place of fastening the wire must be securely fastened( wound with wire), several times wrap with insulating tape. Now you can quite comfortably cut the cobra stalks, from below you can open an umbrella where the berries will fall.
The method of collecting sea buckthorn "cobra" is the most acceptable, low-impact. You can also wait for the first frost, spread a fabric or piece of polyethylene under a tree, then arm yourself with a heavy stick and attack the trunk with branches with it. Frozen fruits will be separated from the blows from the branches and fall on the prepared blanket. Decide for yourself - it will be more convenient for you.
Watch a few videos, perhaps you will use ideas, picking berries with devices that you can easily make yourself, with your own hands.
How to plant sea buckthorn?
Before planting, you need to decide on the variety - the selected species must be adapted to the climate of your region. It is best to purchase sea buckthorn seedlings in proven places, for example, in fruit tree nurseries or in horticultural institutes. Additionally, you will be assured of the purity of the variety. It should be borne in mind that this crop has a very short rest period so that the tree does not “wake up” in the middle of winter, choose those varieties that are designed for cultivation in your area.
Sea buckthorn can be planted with the arrival of spring or autumn, but it is preferable to do it in early spring - so it is better to take root. If you plant a tree in the fall, then a sudden winter warming may trigger its awakening. When choosing a place, give preference to zones near buildings, paths - away from areas where active garden activities are in full swing.
The fact is that the sea buckthorn has cord-like roots, which are located in the upper layers of the soil( approximately 50 cm).They are quite long, can diverge to the side at a distance of more than 10 meters. Thus, the roots can be damaged when digging, they are very sensitive, so even at the slightest injury the sea buckthorn can get sick. Generally, digging the soil nearby this tree is not recommended, even if you do it carefully. Digging provokes the appearance of overgrowth, especially in the places of “hurt” roots. Light loosening hoes will be enough. For this light-loving culture, choose open, non-shaded places.
Since autumn, be not too lazy to bring sand with humus mixed in equal amounts( 2 kg / 1 m² or per hole) into an agreed place, potassium phosphorus additives are also relevant. If there are several trees, then the distance between them should be approximately 2-3 meters. Be sure to attend the male sea buckthorn( for pollination).As mentioned above, 5-6 female trees are enough for 1 male specimen. The process itself is no different from planting other fruit representatives: the hole should be about 70 × 70 × 70 cm, at the bottom you need to form a small hill, gently spread the roots along its slopes. After that, the pit is filled with soil just above the root collar, after its shrinkage the neck should be flush with the level of the soil. After planting, a wide hole is formed around the tree, which needs to be filled with water in the amount of approximately two buckets.
содерж to the content ↑Taking care of the sea buckthorn
Taking care of the seedlings consists of regular watering, you should be aware that the sea buckthorn is moisture-loving. When the seedling is strong and becomes a tree, then it is no longer necessary to water it too often, only during drought. It does not make sense to add top dressing in the near-stem circle, because the cord-like root system of the tree diverges to the sides and stretches for many meters. When the sea buckthorn begins to produce fruits, it can be fed with organic and mineral fertilizers, 1 time in 3 years( 4-5 kg of humus per 1 m², 20-30 potassium phosphate additives).
Sea-buckthorn, photo:
You should also carefully remove the weeds in the area of the circle of the trunk, do not actively loosen the ground( without digging in more than 7-10 cm).Pruning branches and the formation of the crown is best done in the spring, while the buds have not yet dismissed. After the sea buckthorn tree is 8 years old, you can practice rejuvenating pruning - remove old branches, preferring three-year-old sprouts. Dried, frozen, diseased fragments must also be removed.
содерж to content ↑How to propagate sea buckthorn?
The process is carried out using cuttings, sprouts and seeds. It is impractical to describe the seed method in detail, since this method takes too much time. The resulting plants do not inherit the varietal quality of the mother tree, most often it turns out "wild".Often sea buckthorn propagated by seeds in the laboratory to obtain new varieties, hybrids.
With young breeding, young sea buckthorn inherits all the features of the main tree. Selected representatives are regularly watered in spring and especially in summer, with the arrival of the new spring, the process is carefully cut with a small fragment of the root, and then planted in a separate place of residence.
How to propagate sea buckthorn layering? It is necessary to select those branches that are most closely located to the ground. In the spring, near these branches, small depressions in the soil are made( about 10 cm), the branches bend down and pin to the ground with wire brackets. When these branches give sprouts, the pinned-down place is covered with soil. The following year, again, with the arrival of spring, they are dug out, cut off with the help of a shears and transferred to permanent place of residence or rearing.
The most efficient and productive breeding method is the cutting method. The cuttings of sea buckthorn are no different from cuttings of other fruit trees - everything happens in the same way. Around mid-summer, cut a beautiful and strong cutting( approximately 15–20 cm in length), pinch off the three lower leaves, cut off the cut, use “Kornevin”( optional), bury the end of the cutting in nutrient soil, substrate or in moist vermiculite. A mixture of clean river sand, fertile soil and peat is perfect. From above cover a stalk with a plastic transparent glass to make something like a hothouse.
In the room where cuttings are germinated, the air temperature should be approximately +26. . + 28 ° С.Young livestock should be regularly watered, irrigated with a spray gun, periodically ventilated( raise the cup).After about 8 weeks, the coating is removed, and the stem is fed with potassium-phosphorus additives. The coating is no longer used, the seedling is watered and waiting for a new spring. When it gets stronger, it is transferred to a permanent place of growth.
Sometimes in garden forums you can meet such a question - why does not sea buckthorn bear fruit? The answer is really simple: sea buckthorn is a dioecious culture, in order to get the fruit, the presence of male and female specimens is obligatory in one area. If only “girls” grow in you, then they will not bear fruit, “boys” do not bear fruit at all, but are only pollinators. To solve the problem in the spring can be planted on the site a couple of shrubs of the opposite sex. It is best to choose the cultural male varieties "Aley" or "Dwarf".Just in case it is better to plant two male trees at once, if one of them dies or freezes in winter. Also, vaccination gives good results - you can take several branches from a healthy tree of the opposite sex( for example, from a cottage’s neighbor) and graft them onto your buckthorn with the arrival of spring.
содерж to content ↑Sea-buckthorn varieties
For a good harvest, large and juicy berries, choose only the best varieties that are adapted to grow in your area. Take cuttings from a “trusted” tree or purchase them in a nursery with good recommendations. High-quality sea-buckthorn berries are always large, have a pleasant taste, juicy, do not burst in the hands, abundantly cover the branches of the tree.
The variety Krasnoplodnaya, photo:
The universal variety Moscow Beauty has an average yield, the shrub grows to two and a half meters, from mid-summer until the beginning of autumn it produces large( up to 10 g) juicy berries.
The sea-buckthorn Chui is characterized by a sweeter taste, the branches of the tree are not too densely covered with thorns, the thorns themselves are not long, the size of the fruit is slightly smaller than that of the Moscow Beauty, but larger than the average.
Sea Buckthorn Krasnoplodnaya has reddish berries, which becomes clear from the name, resistant to disease, different vitality and unpretentiousness.
Sea-buckthorn Elizabeth is a classic variety, abundantly fruiting, the berries have a pleasant sweetish taste, large size. It is a very winter-hardy variety, resistant to diseases, matures slightly later than other species, it reaches medium size.
Chuy variety, photo:
Botanical sea buckthorn is more convenient to collect, as its stem is slightly longer than in other species. To obtain valuable sea buckthorn oil most often grow this particular type. Variety Giant fully justifies its name, the tree grows up to 3-4 meters in height, the fruits differ in large size, and the branches are almost not covered with thorns. Giant winter-hardy, berries ripen by September.
Sea buckthorn Favorite is another common variety on our open spaces. It is distinguished by large sweet berries on long stalks, it is easy to gather, it does not wrinkle under the fingers, the bushes are quite sparse, which optimizes the harvest process( easy to get to the berries).This variety is winter hardy, unpretentious, abundant fruits.
In addition to the medicinal value, this culture can act as an element of landscape design on your site. Its long roots, like ropes, perfectly hold the ground. With it, you can create a hedge, and in the company with the rest of the shrubs, it will look very harmonious. From whatever side you look, the sea buckthorn is all good - planting and caring for it will not be a burden to you, as it is unpretentious, incredibly useful and, plus everything else, looks beautiful on the site.
