Kalina: description, planting and plant care, application, fruit and ornamental varieties, reproduction, diseases and pests | (Photo & Video)

Viburnum (Viburnum opulus) is a deciduous woody plant from the Adox family.

Currently, there are many varieties and varieties of viburnum, which have both economic and decorative use. Viburnum fruits are edible and have a number of useful properties, due to which they are used in cooking, medicine and cosmetology.

Viburnum is very widely distributed, since it is not demanding on the conditions of detention and is quite frost-resistant. The agrotechnics of the plant is simple and it can be grown on almost any type of soil.

The article provides a description of the plant and how to grow it.

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plant description

Flowering viburnum

viburnum is a fairly large shrub with about a dozen skeletal branches. In rare cases, it can be found in the form of a tree or standard culture. The plant belongs to centenarians, the average age of viburnum can reach 50 years. The height of the branches varies widely - from 0.5 to 6.5 m. The bark is grayish-brown, cracking along with age.

Bare shoots have a round section, in very rare cases, longitudinal ribs appear on them. Coloring in addition to gray can be reddish or yellowish. The core of the shoots is white, sometimes with a reddish tint, its shape is hexagonal.

There are fruit and barren shoots of the plant. The barren ones end at the top with one kidney, the fruit ones - with two, between which the end of the shoot is visible. All plant buds (including leafy ones) have a pointed shape. No generative buds form at the shoot nodes.

The leaves of viburnum have petioles several centimeters long. The leaves themselves are quite large (up to 10 cm long and up to 8 wide). Usually they are three- or five-lobed, pointed with three divergent veins. From above they are smooth, dark green, from below - slightly pubescent, grayish-green hue.

red viburnum leaf

The fruit flowers of the plant are bisexual, collected in umbellate inflorescences, which are groups of several panicles up to 8 cm in diameter and up to 5 cm long. The inflorescences also include barren flowers located at the edges. The inflorescences themselves are always at the ends of the branches. Flowering occurs in early June and can last up to 1.5 months.

In ornamental varieties, fruit flowers may be absent altogether, but the size of the barren ones is quite large. In addition, the volume of decorative inflorescences is always larger, and they sometimes take very original forms (pyramid, ball, etc.)

Inflorescences of ornamental varieties, consisting of barren flowers

The fruits are spherical or oval in shape and are bright red drupes up to 10 mm in diameter. The stone is large, flattened, relatively wide. The pulp of the fruit is juicy, with a bitter and astringent taste.

Ripening occurs in August-September, but the harvesting of the fruits occurs somewhat later, because after the first frosts, the bitterness of them almost completely disappears. Viburnum bears fruit abundantly - on average, from 5 to 10 kg of berries are removed from a bush during harvesting. Usually, the collection and storage of berries is carried out without separation of the brush. Harvest viburnum fresh at a temperature of +5-8 ° C can be stored all winter.

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The use of viburnum

Large bush during fruiting

Kalina has many useful propertieswhich are widely used in medicine and cosmetology. 100 g of viburnum berries contain the following vitamins:

Minerals:

The healing properties of viburnum are used for colds, diseases of the cardiovascular system, nervous system, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. In cosmetics, viburnum juice is used to remove freckles, remove blackheads and skin cleansing procedures.

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Varieties

Viburnum ordinary

In addition to the common red viburnum, there are several varieties of the plant, which are mainly the results of selection and cross-breeding. Allocate fruit and ornamental varieties. Below are the best varieties of viburnum recommended for cultivation.

fruit varieties

red coral

Red coral is a variety with an average maturation time and a compact crown shape. Its height rarely exceeds 1.8 m. Fruit weight is about 0.9 g. Productivity - up to 10 kg per bush. The fruits keep for several months. Due to its compactness, it is often cultivated in household plots and cottages of a small area.

Taiga ruby

Taiga ruby ​​is a tall variety (up to 3.5 m), ripening in August. The fruits are small in size (not more than 0.6 g), having a spherical shape and a characteristic dark cherry shade. The clusters are relatively small, but there are many of them. Berries have a sweet taste. Gives up to 9.5 kg of yield per bush. Possesses the increased winter hardiness. Resistant to pests and most diseases.

Garnet bracelet

Pomegranate bracelet - a universal variety with large berries weighing more than 1 g. It has record yields (up to 15 kg per bush), for which it is valued by gardeners. The bush is medium-sized, up to 2 m high, the branches are sprawling, the fruit clusters are dense.

Decorative varieties

Roseum (Viburnum opulus Roseum) or Buldenezh

Roseum (Viburnum opulus Roseum) or Buldenezh - one of the most common varieties of viburnum, used for decorating garden plots and parks. The height of the bush can reach up to 6.5 m, although specimens of the order of 2.5 m are predominantly found.

Has sterile flowers (that is, they do not give berries in principle), collected in large spherical inflorescences, from where, in fact, the name of the plant “boule de tender” came from - a snow globe. The flowers are greenish at the beginning of flowering, then bright white. Often used to create hedges. In winter, it can partially freeze.

Compactum

Compactum is a low shrub with low growth rates. At five years old, the plant has a crown with a diameter of no more than 80 cm. The flowers are pink-white. The inflorescences are dense, but relatively small. The crown is very dense, so the variety is used as a low-growing hedge in gardens and summer cottages. Withstands winters with temperatures down to -30 degrees Celsius.

Harvest gold

Harvest gold - initially has yellow leaves, which change color to emerald green by the end of flowering. Otherwise, it does not differ from the red viburnum.

Xentocarpum

Xentocarpum - frost-resistant and unpretentious variety differs from the classic red viburnum in yellow fruits.

Viburnum pride (Viburnum lantata)

Viburnum pride (Viburnum Lantata) is an ornamental plant up to 6 m tall. It has a dense crown and inflorescences up to 10 cm in diameter.The fruits change color from green to red and then to black as they ripen.

Laurel viburnum (Viburnum tinus)

Laurel viburnum (Viburnum tínus) is a popular ornamental crop that grows in southern Europe and the Mediterranean. It is an evergreen shrub reaching 4 m in height with a crown diameter of about 3 m.

The bush is very dense, bearing many small (up to 5 cm) inflorescences. Blossoms in May-June, ripens from August to November. The fruits have a bluish tint.

Viburnum wrinkled (Viburnum rhytidophyllum)

Viburnum wrinkle-leaved (Viburnum rhytidophyllum) is an ornamental evergreen shrub native to East Asia. Reaches a height of 3 m. It has beautiful long leaves (up to 20 cm) and large inflorescences with a diameter of at least 15 cm.

Widely used for landscaping gardens, dachas and parks in a temperate climate. It can grow on soils of different composition.

Nanum

Nanum is a dwarf variety that has all the properties and general characteristics corresponding to the common red viburnum (except, of course, size). It is grown mainly in small containers: pots or flowerpots.

Sometimes the culture is used as a border plant. Flowering and fruiting rarely. From the point of view of decorativeness, its leaves and crown shape are of interest - an adult plant takes the form of an almost perfect ball.

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shrub planting

Planting viburnum

Regardless of how the seedlings of the plant were obtained, planting seed in open ground is the same. Below are the features of the correct planting of viburnum.

Site selection and preparation

pruning viburnum in spring

In order for the plant to be comfortable, you should choose for it a piece of land with soil of neutral or weak acidity (pH from 5.5 to 7.0). It is not recommended to choose peat bogs, sandy or podzolic soils for planting. It is best to plant viburnum in fertile heavy soils.

The depth of groundwater at the landing site should not be higher than 1 m. This is one of the most important factors determining the longevity of a plant - it does not tolerate too wet soils and frequent prolonged contact of the roots with water.

Kalina is photophilous, but it is not necessary for her to look for areas illuminated throughout the day. Planting a plant in partial shade would be ideal for him. It is best that at a time close to noon, the bush was in the shade.

Pruning viburnum: the formation of a bush

The best planting time is spring, but if you follow the rules for planting, you can plant it in the fall. Preliminary preparation is carried out a few days before planting; it is not necessary to apply fertilizer to the site several months before planting.

Before the formation of pits, the site should be dug up and all remnants of vegetation removed. Poor areas are recommended to be covered with a small layer of humus on top and dug again, but you can not do this, limiting yourself to fertilizing directly into the pit.

In spring, viburnum is planted before leaf buds open, in autumn - after leaf fall, but before the onset of the first frost.

pit formation

Formation of a pit for viburnum

The landing pit has the dimensions of a cube with an edge of half a meter, you can dig it in any shape, the main thing is that the depth be at least 50 cm. The distance between the pits during group planting is from 2.5 to 3.5 m, depending on the varietal variety of the plant.

Moreover, these dimensions are limited not so much by the crown as by the size of the viburnum root system.

The top layer of soil should be removed and laid separately, then mix it in a ratio of 1 to 1 with peat and add nitrophoska to the resulting substrate.

Two-thirds of the resulting substrate is poured into a pit and watered with 40 liters of water. After that, the pit is left for several days in the open air.

Planting a seedling

The seedling should be buried in a hole so that its root neck is 5-6 cm below the ground level.

When the soil at the bottom of the pit is completely hardened, some amount of the remaining substrate is poured onto it with a mound. The height of such a mound should be about 15 cm in relation to the bottom of the pit.

For planting use a three-year viburnum seedling. Its roots are evenly spread over the mound and the hole is filled with the remnants of the soil mixture. Then lightly tamp and water 10-20 liters of water. It is advisable to immediately form a watering barrier in the near-stem circle surrounding the plant with a radius of 30-40 cm. 

As soon as the water from irrigation is completely absorbed, the surface in the near-stem circle is mulched. Straw, peat, sawdust or humus are used as mulch.

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plant care

viburnum care

Care procedures include standard operations for watering, feeding and pruning the plant. Caring for viburnum is quite simple, and even a novice gardener can handle it.

Watering

Kalina decorative

For normal flowering and productivity, viburnum requires regular watering. On average, one watering per week is enough, but in the end it all depends on the level of natural precipitation. In any case, it is not advisable to allow the top layer to dry out, but excessive flooding of the plant with water should also be avoided.

top dressing

Top dressing viburnum

When growing viburnum, up to four dressings per season are used. All of them consist of dry fertilizers and all are combined with irrigation. Consider top dressing in more detail:

In spring, instead of mineral fertilizers, the plant can be fed organic. Often, for this purpose, bushes are fertilized with rotted manure at the beginning of the season. In autumn, it is allowed, together with humus, to bring up to 500 g of wood ash under a bush.

pruning

pruning viburnum

Spring pruning is done before the start of sap flow. It includes sanitary and shaping. Formative consists in giving the viburnum bush the required shape.

Every season for three years, a third of the old branches are removed, and from the root shoots the same number of young branches is left.

autumn pruning done after the fall. It is purely sanitary in nature. cut off diseased and damaged branches. Cut points are treated with garden pitch.

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reproduction

Formation of vertical layers

Kalina can be propagated in any available way:

Seed propagation is relatively long - it can take up to 6 years from the moment you start growing until the first crops or beautiful inflorescences are obtained. Therefore, vegetative propagation is more beneficial.

The plant can be propagated by cuttings. Rooting occurs in a moist substrate consisting of a mixture of peat and sand. Pre-treatment of cuttings with root is recommended.

But, despite the fact that the duration of rooting cuttings is relatively short, it takes more than a year for the seedlings to get strong enough before they are transplanted into the open ground.

Kalina: reproduction

When propagated by horizontal shoots, the longest lateral shoots are bent to the ground in early spring and fixed with staples. The place of fixation is sprinkled with soil mixture, and the shoot is directed vertically upwards. At the end of the season, roots appear at the bend, but the plant is dug up and transplanted only next year so that the tree forms a stronger root system.

Theoretically, viburnum can be propagated by dividing the bush, but, since the root system of the plant is quite extensive, this method is practically not used.

To do this, in the fall, the lower branches of the plant are shortened, leaving 2-4 buds on them, and the trunk itself is subjected to high hilling.

In the spring, new shoots grow from the pruned branches. When their length becomes about 10 cm, the trunk is additionally spudded by 4-5 cm. After the shoots grow to 20-30 cm, they are dug up and pulled at the base with wire, and then spud again, covering about a third of the length of the young shoots.

In autumn, the layers are dug up, separated from the mother bush and planted in a new place.

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Diseases and pests

Powdery mildew is easily recognizable by the characteristic whitish coating on the leaves.

Kalina can be prone to various diseases. The most common fungal

The most common powdery mildew, it is capable of infecting any plants in the garden and there are a lot of ways to transfer it from culture to culture. 

Disease control is standard: removal of damaged parts with their subsequent destruction and treatment of the plant with copper-containing preparations (solution of Bordeaux liquid 3%, copper sulfate 1%) or various fungicides (Consento, Acrobat, Topaz, etc.)

Viburnum pests include:

The most dangerous is the viburnum leaf beetle. If found, you should act immediately.

A small number of leaf beetle caterpillars can completely destroy the foliage on a bush in a matter of days.

Almost all of these species are well destroyed by insecticides of moderate toxicity. (Confidor, Decis, Actellik, etc.)

Prevention of fungal diseases and pests is carried out in early spring by spraying plants with low concentrations of agents. Usually, the plant is sprayed with copper-containing preparations and fungicides before the buds open, insecticides are treated after.

A week later, the preventive treatment is repeated. From bacterial infections, it is imperative to treat the soil with Fundazol or Fitosporin.

In addition, for preventive purposes, weeds around the plant should be removed in a timely manner, and in autumn, remove fallen leaves from the site, as they may contain pathogens and pests.

VIDEO: Kalina. Landing and care

Kalina. Landing and care

Kalina: description, planting and plant care, application, fruit and ornamental varieties, reproduction, diseases and pests | (Photo & Video)