Honeysuckle: description, planting in the open field and care (20+ Photos & Videos) + Reviews

Honeysuckle - a shrub with many roles

Honeysuckle is a shrub of medium height with a dense, branched crown. The homeland of the plant is East Asia, however, it has spread beautifully throughout the Northern Hemisphere up to the Arctic Circle. There are about 200 types of honeysuckle, of which about a dozen grow in the post-Soviet space.

The plant has a wide application: it is used and how ornamental shrub, capable of braiding hedges and landscape objects, the fruits of some species are also eaten and used in folk medicine. At the same time, one should not forget that poisonous varieties of honeysuckle are quite widespread and poisonous. The plant is quite unpretentious, planting honeysuckle and caring for its bushes require minimal time and effort.

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Botanical description

All existing types of honeysuckle are outwardly very similar to each other and differ mainly in the color and shape of fruits and flowers. The plant is a shrub with a height of 2 to 3 meters, its diameter rarely exceeds 1.8 m.

Caucasian honeysuckle bush

flowers honeysuckle is quite large. They can be white, yellow, pinkish or blue. The flowers are arranged in pairs, at the ends of branches or, in some cases, at the corners of leaves. The flower has five petals, but the shape of the petals may be incorrect due to frequent cases of their fusion, so even on the same bush you can find flowers and inflorescences that are completely different in appearance.

honeysuckle flower

Fruit the honeysuckles are usually arranged in pairs and often, like the petals, tend to coalesce. The shape of the fruit is the most diverse - from round to elongated, cylindrical, similar to bananas, and so on. The color changes from red and yellow to blue.

Poisonous fruits of honeysuckle

Wood honeysuckle is very strong and fibrous. In some cases, during vegetative propagation of a plant, the root system has to be cut with a saw; breaking even young shoots is often very difficult. At the age of a few years, the honeysuckle may begin to lose the outer shell of the bark, and it may seem that the wood is bare on the plant, however, this is normal for the plant and you should not worry about this.

Fruits of edible Altai honeysuckle

Bush honeysuckle is able to grow in one place for several decades. The life expectancy of a plant with proper care can reach up to 50 years. Most species and varieties of plants are frost-resistant. The branches are able to withstand frosts down to -50°C, and the flowers can endure frosts down to -8°C for several days, after which they remain capable of pollination and fruiting.

The structure of young shoots of honeysuckle is such that they are able to cling to obstacles and even attach themselves to minimal irregularities on surfaces.. This is often used in landscape design to weave honeysuckle into various decor elements in the garden and backyard - from simple fences to plant sculptures.

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The need for proper pollination

Honeysuckle has one interesting feature. Its yield depends on the quality of pollination. Moreover, the plant prefers cross-pollination. In fact, even one bush is able to produce crops, since the plant is monoecious. However, in this case, the yield will be very low, about 500 g of berries from one bush. An increase in the number of plants will not give a noticeable increase in yield - from a dozen bushes of one variety, a yield of about 1 kg per bush is obtained.

Compact planting of honeysuckle in two rows

To obtain more or less significant yields, it is optimal to plant 10-15 trees of different, but close in origin varieties. This is how effective cross-pollination can be achieved. It is recommended to plant three trees of each variety. In this case, the yield will be about 5-6 kg from each bush.

In addition, it is recommended to plant bushes not in rows, but in a more compact way, for example, in the form of a square or triangle with a uniform distribution of varieties along its corners and sides.

Pollinators also play an important role in successful cross-pollination. Honeysuckle is pollinated by bees, but bumblebees are best suited for this role. If you have bumblebee nests on your site, you should not get rid of them to get a good harvest. You can additionally attract insects for pollination if, at the beginning of flowering, the plants are sprayed with a solution of honey or sugar in water with a concentration of 20 ml of a sweet substance per 10 liters of water.

Read also: Honeysuckle: description of 19 popular varieties, their diversity and features, how to distinguish poisonous fruits (35 Photos & Videos) + Reviews

Planting honeysuckle

Choice of landing site

Despite the high frost resistance, the plant is thermophilic and prefers open sunny areas. On all sides, these areas should be protected from the wind by trees, fences or buildings. In partial shade or shade, the formation of generative buds is significantly inhibited in the plant, and the yield can decrease up to ten times.

The site must be large enough in area. It is recommended to plant bushes at a distance of at least 2.5 m from each other, because when planted at a distance of 1.5-2 m, after 4-5 years, the crowns of individual bushes will come into contact with each other, which will significantly worsen the living conditions of the plant and negatively affect on its productivity.

The plant prefers open sunny areas.

The plant is able to grow on any soil, but prefers light fertile loam. Sandy soils for honeysuckle are highly undesirable. The acidity of the soil should be neutral (a pH level of 5.5 to 6.5 is allowed), but even slightly acidic soils are recommended to be limed with ash.

The groundwater level when planting the plant should not be closer than 1 m to the surface level.

The root system of honeysuckle is fibrous and quite compact, so it makes no sense to create “soil” conditions throughout the entire area (after all, when planting even a few bushes, it turns out to be quite large). Favorable conditions for the plant can only be created in the planting pit.

Selection of seedlings

For planting, seedlings aged 2 years are best suited, having 3-4 large shoots with a height of 30 to 40 cm. One-year-old seedlings should not be purchased, since there is a high probability of their death in open ground conditions.

Also, you should not choose too tall seedlings (more than 1 m high) for planting, since they are at least 2 years older. They are most likely already accustomed to the conditions in which they were grown before. Adaptation to new conditions will affect their delay in development for at least one season.

Seedling with a closed root system

Shoots from seedlings should be flexible, not dried. Each seedling should be carefully examined for damage and foci of fungal infections both on the stems and on the roots.

At the same time, one should not be afraid that the bark on some shoots will lag behind the stem or peel off. This is a feature of honeysuckle and it does not affect the health of the bush in any way.

Each shoot must contain several buds. If there are shoots without buds (even one), it is better not to buy such a seedling.

As mentioned earlier, you should buy seedlings of different varieties (from 3 to 5) for cross-pollination. It is advisable to purchase closely related varieties or varieties whose fruits have similar qualities.

Planting seedlings with an open root system should be done in the fall, best in mid-September. Seedlings that have a clod of earth can be planted throughout the season. But these are general recommendations, the situations on the site are very different, so some exceptions should be considered.

In the spring, planting even seedlings with an open root system is allowed if they have a late vegetation. The usual growing season for honeysuckle is May-June. If the selected variety is later, you can think about planting it in early spring.

Some varieties (for example, Blue honeysuckle, Pallas honeysuckle, Nymph honeysuckle and the like) are generally not recommended to be planted in the spring, even with a closed root system, since its vegetation occurs extremely early - already in the second decade of April. And transplanting a seedling at the vegetation stage has a very negative effect on survival and prolongs the onset of fruiting. On the other hand, these varieties can be planted in the summer, after the growing season is over. In those cases when the summer is hot, it is best to plant early varieties from the end of summer (August-September).

Pit preparation for planting

Honeysuckle seedling before planting

The pit is prepared for planting on the day the plant is planted.. There is no need to carry out any preliminary activities before this. The pit for planting a plant is a round funnel with a diameter of 60 and a depth of 40 cm. It is advisable to lay a drainage layer in the form of broken brick, expanded clay or crushed stone about 5 cm high at the bottom of the pit.

To provide the plant with nutrition in the first years of life, the following components must be added to it:

As the last component, you can use the usual nitroammofoska, or you can use some kind of organomineral fertilizer containing microorganisms that suppress pathogenic microflora.

The soil removed from the ground should be mixed with 3 kg of vermiculite, 200 g of wood ash and 50 g of superphosphate.

Boarding order

After preparing the pit, they proceed directly to landing. To do this, a mound of excavated earth is poured over the previously made compost and ash, enriched with these additives. Its height is chosen such that the root system and 2-3 cm of the shoots of the seedling placed on top of it are completely in the pit.

Watering the bush when planting

The seedling should be carefully placed on top of the mound, roots should be evenly spread on the sides of the mound. After that, the pit is filled with the remnants of the soil. Next, the soil is lightly compacted and the bush is abundantly watered.

Usually, the first watering is done with 10-20 liters of water. In this case, it is necessary that the earth settles a little. The resulting recess is filled with additional soil and lightly compacted again.

After planting, the earth should be mulched over the entire area of ​​​​the pit freshly cut grass or hay about 5 cm high.

Mulching the bush when planting

Usually bushy plants are pruned after planting. Honeysuckle is an exception to this rule - its planting pruning is not necessary, since it can significantly slow down the growth of the plant and fruiting will be pushed back for another couple of seasons.

Planting seeds

This method is an alternative to planting seedlings or propagating plants by cuttings.

Honeysuckle seedling grown from seed

Despite certain disadvantages, which consist in a relatively long result, planting honeysuckle with seeds has certain advantages:

Landing is carried out as follows:

1. A landing site is prepared for each plant by adding about 10 kg of compost to each planting site, which is mixed with the soil.
   

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2. The area is being irrigated.
   

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3. A hole is made with a depth of 3-4 cm, in which one seed is placed. Seeds are taken from the previous year's harvest, immediately before planting, they should be aged for about a day under the rays of the sun.
   

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4. The hole is filled up and covered with agrofiber that allows air to pass through.
   

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Care of planted seeds consists in daily watering, which does not erode the planting site. After each watering, the soil under the agrofibre is loosened to a depth of no more than 2 cm. In some cases, miniature greenhouses made, for example, from plastic bottles, can be used to germinate seeds and the first months of life of young plants.

Seed germination occurs in 1-2 weeks. They are regularly watered and weeded. For the first winter, the plants are covered with a layer of mulch about 20 cm high. In the spring, a complex top dressing of nitrogenous and potash fertilizers is introduced.

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plant care

Honeysuckle is able to grow on its own, without any care. In addition, this bush is characterized by all the features of weeds: having a fairly fast vegetation and high unpretentiousness, honeysuckle bushes are able to create a solid wall of their shoots in abandoned areas. And if you add drought and frost resistance to this, you get a shrub that has practically no competitors.

A good harvest is the result of proper care

However, all this applies only to the green part of the plant. With such a growth of branches and leaves, the plant will not form berries at all, or will form them in the very minimum amount, about 300-400 g per bush per season. Since gardeners need berries in completely different volumes, honeysuckle care will have to be given enough attention.

Consider the aspects of plant care in more detail:

Watering and loosening

Watering honeysuckle should not be too plentiful. The plant does not tolerate excessively moist soil. If the summer turned out with normal rainfall, the number of irrigations for the entire season should not exceed one per month. Each time, 10 to 20 liters of water should be applied under the plant. In this case, the soil under the bush should be loosened within a radius of about 1 m. When loosening the soil, it is necessary to pay special attention to the presence of weeds and various insects - all this must be removed and destroyed.

Loosening is carried out at a shallow depth

Loosening must be done at a shallow depth, about 7-8 cm. At the same time, if there is a layer of mulch under the bush, it is advisable to temporarily move it, loosen the soil, and place the mulch back. In the case when freshly cut grass, hay or peat is used as mulch, its layer should be renewed every 1-2 months. It is recommended to do this at the same time - watering, loosening, and changing the mulch material.

If the soil under the plant is covered with a hard crust, it is advisable to make a small watering with the obligatory subsequent loosening. Irrigation rates in this case are about 5-10 liters for each bush.

In particularly dry periods, it is necessary to water the plants twice a month with mandatory mulching.

At the time of flower setting and the first month of fruit formation, watering rates are increased by 1.5-2 times, in addition, this reduces the frequency of watering (2 times a month in case of normal precipitation and 3-4 times a month in case of drought).

Plant nutrition

It is believed that the first two years after planting, honeysuckle does not need top dressing. This is true, since the nutrients introduced into the planting hole are sufficient for the development of the plant for about 2-3 years.

Application of mineral fertilizers

After the second growing season is completed, it is necessary to switch to top dressing, introduced into the root system. At the end of the second year after planting, before winter itself, it is necessary to apply organic fertilizers under each bush.

Traditionally, compost or humus is used for this purpose. Regardless of the size of the bush, the first organic feeding should include the following components:

The top dressing material is evenly distributed in a circle, with a radius of 60-80 cm around the bush, slightly mixed with the topsoil and watered a little (about 3-5 liters for each bush). After that, the fertilized soil around the plant is mulched to a height of about 15-20 cm.

Next year, in the spring, just before the buds open, mineral fertilizers should be applied under the plant. They should consist of components containing nitrogen, since the purpose of this top dressing is to feed the plant during the growing season.

These can be either ammonium nitrate (application rate is from 10 to 20 g per sq. M), or urea. The latter is desirable to make in liquid form. Under each bush, it is necessary to pour a bucket of water in which a tablespoon of urea was dissolved. It is advisable at other times, except for early spring, not to apply mineral fertilizers containing only nitrogen under the plant.

Next top dressing carried out after the harvest (beginning or end of June, depending on the variety). This top dressing can be both organic and mineral. It is believed that the best option in this case would be complex fertilizers, the main component of which is phosphorus.

An option for such top dressing, in the case of its mineral nature, would be the use of nitrophoska or nitroammophoska (in the amount of 25 or 30 g per sq. M, respectively). If you plan to use organic fertilizers for this top dressing, then you should use a solution of mullein (at a concentration of 1 to 5) or bird droppings (at a concentration of 1 to 10) in a volume of 10 liters per bush.

Such top dressing is carried out regularly during the first five years of the plant's life after planting. Over time, some increase in fertilizer application rates is possible. It is believed that every 5 years the application rate should increase by 10-15%.

pruning

The first 2-3 years the plant does not need pruning. During this period, the plant forms the main branches of the bush, and the side branches do not yet have such a length that would interfere with the growth of both the plant itself and its neighbors.

overgrown honeysuckle bush

Most varieties of honeysuckle require pruning to begin even at a later date; The optimal age to start regular pruning is 5-7 years. Pruning is done in autumn.

However, as the bush thickens, small corrective pruning can be done. First of all, this applies to the so-called "zero" branches, that is, shoots growing directly from the rhizome parallel to the main branches that form the bush. The first fruits on such branches appear no earlier than 3-4 years after their appearance, so you should not force the plants to spend strength and energy on maintaining them.

Pruning side branches

First thing bushes are sanitary pruned: dry, broken and short branches are removed, since their fruiting may not occur at all.

Thereafter thinning pruning is performed inside the bush.All side shoots growing inside the bush are exposed to it. This is done so that light can freely penetrate through the branches and leaves into the very thick of the plant.

The formation of fruits occurs primarily on the strongest shoots, aged from 1 to 3 years. This means that properly formed shoots of this year should not be shortened. It is best to start such pruning with shoots that had a weak growth, but their middle and base are thick and strong enough.

Old lateral shoots that are more than 3-5 years old and their fertility is low can be removed completely. Young (1-3 years) shoots that do not bear fruit are also removed.

Shoots that are too low should also be removed. Firstly, they rarely produce a good harvest, and secondly, they create problems when working the soil around the plant.

For especially old bushes, they resort to radical pruning of the plant. Sometimes it allows you to almost completely restore the yield that the bush had in the first years of life. For this purpose, almost all old shoots and branches are cut off, but only the young shoots around the hemp remain. It is possible that next season the yield will be very small, but in a year the situation will noticeably improve.

In some cases, sanitary pruning of the plant is done in the spring. It consists in removing frostbitten ends of shoots and branches, as well as diseased and broken branches.

Formative pruning, which gives the bush a normal appearance, is usually done immediately after fruiting.

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Plant propagation

Woody cuttings of honeysuckle

Honeysuckle reproduces by all available methods - both vegetative and seed. Vegetative traditionally include the following:

Each of these breeding methods has its own advantages and disadvantages. Let's consider them in more detail.

With the help of offsets

Strengthening the layer with a bracket

By dividing the bush

Reproduction by dividing the bush

cuttings

honeysuckle cutting

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Conclusion

Honeysuckle is one of the most interesting crops from an amateur gardener's point of view. Depending on the conditions of its cultivation, plants can be obtained for a wide variety of needs and situations.: from exotic solutions in the design of the garden to quite a commercial cultivation of its fruits. The abundance of varieties of honeysuckle allows not only to expand the geography of its planting, but also to more narrowly specialize the plant for a particular task.

Honeysuckle edible planting and care

Honeysuckle: description, planting in the open field and care (20+ Photos & Videos) + Reviews