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Honeysuckle is an amazing healing berry that confidently expands its halo habitat in our evergrowingcountry and deservedly popular with gardeners and farmers. A small sprawling shrub is often found today in the gardens of our compatriots, and breeding institutions do not get tired to please with new, successful varieties of honeysuckle for central Russia and other regions.
The advantages of honeysuckle varieties for central Russia
Gardeners have long noted the advantage of honeysuckle over other berry bushes and give it pride of place in their gardens, expanding the area for the cultivation of new promising varieties.
Advantages of honeysuckle:
- High winter hardiness. Most varieties can withstand temperatures of -47 degrees. Plants affected by frost, quickly restored after returning frosts and delight fragrant fruits at a time when other berry crops lose 90% of the crop.
- Long life. Honeysuckle bush is able to fully bear fruit for 30 years.
- The high profitability of the crop makes it possible to obtain high yields of berries, which are in demand in the market, on a small area of the area annually( for several decades).
- Honeysuckle belongs to skoroplodny cultures, and many varieties are able to please the fruits in the first year after planting.
- In the middle zone of our country, the first berries can be picked in June, when strawberries and raspberries are still at the flowering stage.
Resistance to pests and diseases, ease of care makes the honeysuckle available for almost every summer resident. Due to its high immunity, the plant does not require chemical treatments and is a valuable product for baby food.
The best varieties of honeysuckle for central Russia
Due to the fact that the climate of central Russia is ideal for growing honeysuckle, scientists breeders are successfully working on creating new and improving old favorite varieties.
Honeysuckle, for successful fruiting, requires a neighborhood with a pollinator plant. It is better to choose from varieties zoned in a particular area.
Long Honeysuckle
This variety is the result of pollination of Smolinsky honeysuckle. The best pollinator for honeysuckle “Long fruit” is “Chelyabinka”.It is desirable to plant with the calculation of one bush on ten seedlings of the main variety.
The honeysuckle variety “Long-growing” is characterized by:
- with a weakly growing bush;
- sprawling branches with thin, weak shoots of violet color;
- long blue, knobby berries of a refreshing, sweet taste.
Long Honeysuckle is characterized by early fruiting and a close return of the crop( until May 25).The peculiarity and value of this variety is that it easily tolerates severe frosts and is not affected by powdery mildew, grows well in shade and partial shade, not demanding to the soil, not prone to shedding fruits.
Best of all, he recommended himself in the Chelyabinsk region, but with good care, he shows excellent results and is distinguished by a rich harvest throughout the central part of Russia.
Advantages and disadvantages of the Blue Spindle variety
The Siberian group of honeysuckle is most common among amateurs and professionals. The Blue Spindle variety, which stands out, deserves special praise:
- high yields;
- compact bush of medium height, dense obstructive crown;
- oval, acuminate leaves;
- early ripeness of the berries;
- elongated fruit black, covered with a bluish bloom;
- variety has a tendency to fall.
Fruits of the variety “Blue Spindle” are used for processing, freezing, as dried fruits. For fruiting plant requires pollinators. He is best suited to such varieties as "Tomichka", "Kamchadalka", "Blue Bird", "Morena".
“Blue Bird” at the cottage area
This variety is popular with many honeysuckle lovers due to its excellent winter hardiness and high yield. Quite often, less successful varieties are sold under this species. In order not to be mistaken when choosing, you must read the description of honeysuckle "Blue Bird".
Features of a grade:
- earlier maturing;
- high level of resistance to pests and diseases;
- weak shedding of fruits;
- requires pollinators;
- has a low spreading shrub, pubescent shoots;
Black berries are distinguished by a blue tint, oval shape, sweet taste with a pleasant aroma. The variety is picky about the landing site and prefers sunny, protected from the wind areas. Fruits well in rich soil and requires a drainage system. With a lack of moisture, the plant can discard the fruit. Therefore, the land under the honeysuckle must be mulched and watering in the heat.
The variety “Blue bird” does not tolerate acidic soil: it develops poorly and bears fruit. To fix the problem, it is necessary to treat the site for planting lime.
Group planting of seedlings, 8-10 bushes per pollinator( not more than 1.5 meters from each other), will ensure annual generous fruiting. Honeysuckle variety "Blue Bird" responds well to spring fertilizing with ammonium nitrate, loosening the soil, adding wood ash and compost to the planting pit.
Tomichka honeysuckle: the pros and cons of growing
The Tomichka variety belongs to the Siberian breeding group, it is notable for its high yield and high-quality fruits, which are used for processing, freezing, fresh consumption, dietary and baby food. Fruits of the “Tomichka” variety can be easily distinguished from other honeysuckle berries. They are characterized by a depressed tip, drop-like shape, black, gray-gray, bumpy shell and thin skin. A bush at a plant tall, sprawling, shoots pubescent.
The main drawback of the variety is the high percentage of fall of fruits. From one bush can collect up to 2 kg of fruit. The variety cannot be called high-yielding, but it is undemanding in its care, it grows and bears fruit even on poor, loamy soils. For planting the plant requires pollinators.“Blue spindle”, “Cinderella”, “Pavlovskaya” - these varieties are best suited for pollination “Tomichka”.
Pavlovskaya variety Honeysuckle
A close relative of this variety is the usual Kamchatka honeysuckle. Bred it at the Pavlovsk Experimental Station of the All-Russian Research Institute. N.I. Vavilova. The plant belongs to the varieties of medium ripening, has a good winter hardiness, amicable ripening quite large for the size of the berries( up to 1.6 g).The peculiarity of the variety is that the berries stick to the shoots and rarely fall off, contain a lot of vitamin C and have a sweet, pleasantly sour taste. From one bush can collect up to 2 kg of fruit. The variety is resistant to return frosts and rapid temperature changes.
The plant requires pollinators and best of all with this task coping varieties "Tomichka", "Blue Bird", "Universal", "Blue Spindle".Honeysuckle "Pavlovskaya" was registered in 1987, but only in 2000 was zoned in the territory of our country.
Central Russia is an ideal place for growing honeysuckle, you only need to choose the right varieties and give them a little love, care and attention.
