Tatar honeysuckle is one of the most popular plants in landscape gardening culture of different countries and continents. It can be found in the USA and Central Asia, in China, European and post-Soviet countries. The popularity of the plant is easily explained - it is unpretentious, enduringly endures unfavorable external factors, including those accompanying life in megalopolises, it grows quickly and adapts to new conditions, forms beautiful hedges that protect well from snow and wind. We offer a closer look at the Tatar honeysuckle, with its description and technology of proper cultivation.
Choosing a landing site
Tatar honeysuckle (lat. Lonícera tatárica) is a deciduous ornamental shrub with a very dense crown. It reaches a height of 1-3 m. It is characterized by rapid growth - up to 35 cm annually.
Its leaves are ovate, 3-6 cm long, dark green in color, sometimes with a blue, bluish tinge. Blossoms fragrant, medium-sized, pale yellow or white flowers. The flowering period is in May-June. The plant is a honey plant. Bright red fruits appear in July-August In total, there are about 250 species of honeysuckle plants. If your goal of planting Tatar honeysuckle is not only its decorative qualities, but also the fruits, and you are interested in the question of whether it is edible or not, then the berries of this type are inedible.
Because of this, the people called them wolf berries. For the preparation of jam, jam, drinks and dessert dishes use different types (Altai, Kamchatka) and edible honeysuckle varieties (Vitamin, Blue Bird, Dessert, Blue Spindle, etc.), the fruits of which contain vitamin C , carotene, sugars and other beneficial substances.
They taste sour and sour-sweet. Edible fruits are usually blue or black in color. Inedible painted in bright shades of red and orange.
Did you know? The Latin name Lonicera plant received on behalf of the German botanist and physicist Adam Lonitser. The famous founder of the classification of living organisms, Carl Linnaeh, proposed to call the shrub a honeysuckle - Caprifolium. In the future, the honeysuckle was assigned to a separate type of honeysuckle.
Tatar honeysuckle belongs to undemanding plants - it can grow on any soil and under any conditions: in gassed conditions, shade, drought and frost down to -34 ° C. However, in order to achieve the greatest decorativeness of the shrub, you should follow some recommendations on its planting and farming techniques.
Lighting
The best and most lush flowering can be admired if you plant a shrub in a well-lit area or in light shade. The less light will fall on the plant, the worse and smaller it will bloom.
The soil
Honeysuckle prefers to grow in loose fertile soil, which must be well drained beforehand. It can tolerate saline soils, but does not grow on heavy, too wet and poor soils. Also, it should not be planted in the lowlands, where there are frequent water stasis, and in areas where the earth dries out quickly. Groundwater at the landing site should be no closer than 1 m.
The optimum pH level of the soil is 7.5-8.5.
Selection of seedlings when buying
To get a beautiful and healthy honeysuckle Tatar, to carry out its successful planting and care, the first thing you need to choose successful seedlings.
To do this, use these tips.:
- Go shopping at a specialty store.where the consultant can provide you with all the necessary information about the plant you are purchasing.
- Buy for planting two-year seedlingswith 3-4 branches, which have already reached a length of 30-40 cm and a thickness of 5 mm at the base.
- In the store, carefully inspect all parts of the plant.: from top to root. They should not be dried or damaged places. The branches should bend well. They must be with the kidneys.
Important! Peeling of the bark is the norm for honeysuckle. It is because of this peculiarity that people call it "shameless".
- The root system should be well developed. If there is rot or damage, choose another seedling.
- If you plan to plant a hedge, you should purchase 2-4 varieties to ensure their cross-pollination, since honeysuckle refers to the cross-pollinated plants.
Planting rules seedlings
If you purchased a sapling with an open root system, then it should be planted in September. It is at this time that the plant falls into a state of rest and will be able to endure winter favorably.
Saplings with a closed root system can be planted during the entire growing season. The transfer method is well suited for this.
Wells need to prepare for 3-5 days before landing. They should be dug 40 cm long, 40 cm wide and 40 cm deep. The optimal distance between plants is 1.5-2 m for varieties with low growth and 2.5-3 m for high varieties. At the bottom of the landing pit to put a 5-centimeter layer of drainage. For him use broken bricks, gravel, expanded clay and other materials.
In the hole make a soil mixture of this composition:
- sod land (3 parts);
- peat or humus (1 part);
- river sand (1 part).
- compost (2 buckets);
- superphosphate (50 g);
- ash (1 kg).
In the center of the hole make a small earthen mound, which put a sapling. If the root system is open, the roots should be carefully distributed over the pit.
Honeysuckle is well compatible with such cultures as: plum, cherry, cherry, apricot, peach, almond.The hole is covered with earth. The root neck at the same time should remain on the surface. The earth in the near-stem circle is watered abundantly. If after this there was a strong shrinkage of the soil, it is added in addition.
Immediately after watering, the ground in the wheel circle is mulched. To do this, use sawdust, peat, straw or other materials.
Did you know? Berries, flowers and leaves of edible honeysuckle are very useful, are actively used in cooking, traditional medicine, cosmetology and perfumery. Funds based on them help with high blood pressure, heart problems, kidney and liver problems, gastrointestinal disorders, malaria, anemia, psoriasis, bleeding. The amount of vitamin C honeysuckle is not inferior to lemon and currants. In Ayurveda, the plant is classified as aphrodisiac.
Care Tips
Care for shrubs will be minimal: watering, feeding, pruning, if necessary, treatment of diseases and parasites. The more thorough the care, the more decorative the plant will be. Although, again, honeysuckle can grow and with rare signs of attention to it, it will simply be less beautiful.
Watering, loosening, mulching
Only planted a seedling in the first year of his life should be watered regularly. In the future, you will need 2-3 watering per season. In the hot period, you must use a bucket of water for each bush. After watering, it is advisable to loosen the soil in a circle at a depth of 20 cm. Every autumn, the bush must be mulched. The mulching procedure will protect the root system from frost and retain moisture in the soil in the spring.
Top dressing
Fertilize honeysuckle recommended three times during the growing season:
- in early spring, before the kidneys are advanced, with preparations containing nitrogen (20-30 g per 1 sq. m);
- before flowering with complex preparations (for example, Kemira-Universal, 20 g per 10 l of water);
- after fruiting in the fall - wood ashes (200 g per 1 sq. m for digging).
Pruning
Pruning shrubs can be in the fall, after the leaves fall, and in the spring, before the buds bloom. As a rule, they follow standard guidelines when pruning - leave 1/3 of the shoots.
Old bushes should be rejuvenated by cutting out dying and weak shoots. This procedure is carried out once in 2-3 years.
Annual sanitary pruning is done on plants over 6 years old. Old, dry, diseased, damaged branches are removed, as well as those that are too close to the soil. Shrubs tolerate a trim haircut well, they retain their shape for quite a long time.
Pest and disease control
The defeat of diseases and harmful insects is the most vulnerable spot of most species of honeysuckle, and Tatar in particular.
Therefore, it is necessary to introduce preventive measures and know the methods by which you can overcome the infection, in case of its occurrence.
The most commonly attacked plants are:
- honeysuckle aphid - sucking pest that can destroy the decorativeness of the shrub, drinking the juice from its leaves and shoots;
- spider mites and honeysuckle - sucking enemy, which is able to destroy the plant;
- shitovki and false shield - as a result of their harmful activity, shoots shrivel and twist, the plant stops growing;
- leaf beetles - parasites gnawing leaves;
- cadren tracks - cause heavy damage to the foliage of honeysuckle.
It will also be useful for you to read about the main diseases of honeysuckle and how to treat them.The list of diseases that can affect honeysuckle shrubs is also impressive. Here are just some of them:
- various types of spotting;
- powdery mildew;
- mosaic.
Important! Chemicals to combat diseases and pests need to buy only in specialized stores. When processing it is necessary to strictly follow the instructions on the package, as well as observe personal safety measures, protecting the body with a special suit, eyes - glasses, airways - mask.However, it is important to remember that the best weapons in the fight against ailments and parasites are preventive and proper agrotechnical measures.
Wintering
Tatar honeysuckle tolerates especially extreme cold, and flowers and leaves can withstand temperatures as low as -8 ° C.
Therefore, the bushes do not need special measures before the winter period. Only young plants up to 2 years old should preferably be covered with spruce leaves.
Reproduction features cuttings
Tatar honeysuckle reproduces in 4 ways:
- grafting;
- layering;
- division of the bush;
- seeds.
The following plants also multiply by cuttings: honeysuckle capricoleum, Chinese juniper, plum, mountain ash, cersis, ruta, silver-suck, hydrangea, felt cherry.Rooting cuttings are placed at an angle of 45 ° in a box with a soil mixture consisting of coarse sand (3 parts) and peat (1 part). Before you can treat them with root-forming agents. Planting is covered with a film under which stable temperature and humidity will be maintained.
Cuttings need to be watered, sprayed and periodically opened. Roots should appear in 2-3 weeks.
In the fall, planting young plants in open ground is not recommended - they may not survive the frost. It is better to cover the box with spruce branches and place it in a protected place.
On the site where the honeysuckle will grow constantly, the young should be planted, already when the weather is warm enough in spring. If reproduction was carried out correctly, then flowering should be expected in a year.
Application in landscape design
The most common use of honeysuckle is planting in hedges. They love to use it for landscaping city streets, parks, alleys, streets.
However, the plant also looks great as a tapeworm. It can be landed at the dacha near the fence or at home, on the background of the lawn. Good plant looks and in the foreground of other ornamental crops, herbaceous, perennial plants.
Did you know? The smell of honeysuckle is often used in perfume compositions such iconic brands as Givenchy (Organza), Chanel (Allure), Burberry (London), Britney Spears (Believe), Cartier (De Lune), Nina Ricci (L'Air), Estée Lauder ( Modern Muse) et al.Honeysuckle Tatar will be the best choice for those summer residents who rarely appear on their sites and can not pay much attention to the care of their greenery.
The use of landscape design also found such plants as purslane, holly-leaf mahonia, feather grass, ampelous dichondra, chubushnik, heliotrope, white turf.Once planted in the right place, a plant with rare and insignificant agrotechnical measures will annually please the owner with its beauty, and a thick hedge from the bushes is able to reliably protect the summer estate from prying eyes.