Sea buckthorn: planting and care in open ground. The best varieties for growing in Siberia, the Moscow region, and central Russia

Growing sea buckthorn

Sea buckthorn is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub, usually 1–3 m high. Sea buckthorn is a medicinal plant. Growing it in your garden is not difficult at all. If you create the right conditions, she will delight you with healthy and tasty fruits.

Many people fail to grow sea buckthorn because the tree suddenly begins to die. To prevent this from happening, it is important to know that the roots of sea buckthorn are in the top layer of soil and go far to the sides of the tree, so digging up the ground can easily injure them.

Choosing a landing site

Planting a sea buckthorn seedling

Sea buckthorn is a very light-loving and moisture-loving plant, so the planting site should be sunny. In the shade it will grow and bear fruit worse.

The tree should be planted at the edge of the plot, away from the garden. To avoid damaging the sea buckthorn root system when loosening the bed. A damaged root will cause wild growth to grow. You can loosen the top layer of soil, no more than 10 cm deep. Along with loosening, humus and mineral fertilizers are added.

Caring for sea buckthorn seedlings after planting

Sea buckthorn can rightly be called a very unpretentious plant. If you initially choose the right place and plant it in open ground, then there should be no problems with growing it. However, in the first time after the autumn procedure, you need to pay attention to the shrub and properly care for it.

Features of caring for sea buckthorn after planting in the fall:

• Immediately after planting, you need to draw up a tree trunk circle . To do this, you just need to make a roller of earth around the trunk at a distance of about 50 centimeters.
• Then you need to water the seedling abundantly , pouring water into the circle around the trunk. You will need about 3-4 buckets for one tree. Without life-giving moisture, the seedling will not take root.
• If some time after planting the ground settles, then you need to fill the soil to the previous level .
• If, after watering, the seedling is buried deep and its root collar is underground, then you need to carefully lift it by the trunk and once again compact the soil around it with your hand or foot.
• Mulch the tree trunk using, for example, lowland peat, rotted sawdust, rotted compost. The optimal mulch height is 7-10 centimeters. Mulch will not only slow down the evaporation of moisture, which is necessary for comfortable rooting and adaptation, but will also protect the root system of the seedling from winter frosts.
• A very important point in care after planting is preparing young sea buckthorn for winter. In addition to mulching, you need to provide shelter. However, in the southern regions there is no need to cover.

How to choose sea buckthorn seedlings

It is better to select and plant sea buckthorn seedlings in early spring. Then over the summer the tree will take root well and overwinter normally. Seedlings two years old are suitable for planting.

Selection of seedlings

1. It is important to ensure that the seedlings are healthy and appropriate for the plant variety. The two-year-old seedling has a height of about 50 cm and a diameter of 10 mm, it also has 5–8 skeletal roots, 25 cm long.
2. The bark adheres tightly to the wood, has a healthy appearance, is not wrinkled or scratched.

To avoid tree diseases, you should not plant raspberries, strawberries, or where stone fruit trees grew: apple trees, pears, cherries, apricots.

It is better to have 2-3 female trees and one male tree on the site for pollination.

Choosing a place, time and seedlings

Sea buckthorn grows in the wild on the shores of lakes, flooded areas of rivers, and mountain slopes up to an altitude of 2100 m. The culture is widespread in Siberia. It is planted to stabilize sandy soil, road slopes, and ravines. And all because sea buckthorn has a superficial root system that envelops the top layer of soil, and it spreads far beyond the crown of the tree. The growth can be found within a radius of 3–5 meters. In addition, this is a dioecious plant: if you want to get a harvest, you need to plant at least two bushes: male and female. When planning a site for sea buckthorn, be sure to take these features into account.

Wild sea buckthorn usually grows near water bodies and on mountain slopes

Sea buckthorn berries are a natural multivitamin concentrate. They contain many vitamins: C, PP, B1, B2, K, E and carotene, organic acids: tartaric, oxalic, malic, as well as trace elements: manganese, boron, iron.

When is the best time to plant

The best time for planting is spring, before the buds bloom on the seedling. Even adult sea buckthorn does not overwinter well: during winters with little snow, the surface roots freeze and some of the branches dry out. In addition, this crop has a very short dormant period; at the first thaw, it opens buds, which are subject to severe spring frosts. And a young and fragile bush has even less chance of surviving as a result of autumn planting. He needs to adapt and take root well in the new area. It is impossible to do this during the short autumn. There are recommendations to plant sea buckthorn in the summer, abandoning autumn planting. However, in summer it is better to buy seedlings with a closed root system, that is, grown in containers.

Selection of planting material

Most often, gardeners simply dig up root shoots in their garden and generously share them with their neighbors. In most cases, such planting material produces a very prickly wild plant with small and sour berries. The reason is that cultivated varieties are grafted onto wild ones, their root shoots repeat the properties of the rootstock, and not the varietal ones. When purchasing seedlings, this also needs to be taken into account; unscrupulous sellers seek to take advantage of the crop’s ability to produce a lot of shoots.

Features of choosing sea buckthorn seedlings:

1. Buy only zoned varieties adapted to the climate of your region.
2. You need at least two seedlings: male and female, but usually 3-4 female ones are planted for one male.
3. Male and female cannot be distinguished until fruiting begins, that is, until flower buds begin to form. Therefore, buy seedlings grown from cuttings. They both repeat the maternal properties and are already easily distinguishable by gender.
4. The type of male seedling does not matter, it is needed only for pollination, it will not bear berries. You don’t have to buy it, but take the shoots from your neighbors or from the wild.

In female sea buckthorn plants, the buds are small, arranged in pairs, while male plants are larger, covered with many lentils

It is easy to distinguish adult plants by sex if both representatives are in front of you and they can be compared. In females, the buds are small and neat, arranged in pairs; in males, they are large, rough, and covered with lentils. Flowering occurs unnoticed, even before the leaves bloom. In female lentils, green small pistils appear in the axils one at a time, rarely 2–3, and in male lentils, brown dusty stamens appear, collected in a short spike.

If the area is small or you want to plant only one sea buckthorn bush, then you can graft a cutting from a male plant into the crown of a female one. Another option: during flowering, cut a branch with anthers from another garden or from a wild bird and hang it inside the crown of your sea buckthorn.

Video: how to distinguish a male sea buckthorn plant from a female one

And one more feature when choosing sea buckthorn seedlings: on its roots there are round growths - nodules. Inexperienced gardeners take them as a sign of disease, refuse seedlings or cut off these formations. Meanwhile, underground nodules play an important role; with their help, sea buckthorn obtains food for itself - it absorbs nitrogen from the air. In adult plants, such growths reach the size of a chicken egg. According to the observations of gardeners, if a tree grows on fertile soil, then the growths are small, almost invisible, but on poor soil, on the contrary, they are large.

Swelling on the roots of sea buckthorn is not a disease, but a biological feature of the crop

Place for sea buckthorn

Choosing a place for sea buckthorn is also not easy.

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1. Plant in an area that you will not dig up, because the roots of sea buckthorn spread up to 5 m from the tree. You cannot dig them up, pull them out, or otherwise injure them.
2. A place in the shade of fences, buildings and trees is not suitable. Sea buckthorn loves sunny areas.
3. You should not plant sea buckthorn along paths or near frequently visited places; the seedling will grow into a lush and thorny bush or tree 3–5 m high.
4. The male plant can be located at a distance of 50–100 m, that is, even on a neighboring site, but between it and the female plants there should be no wind-impassable obstacles in the form of houses, blind high fences, hillocks, etc.

But it’s better not to rely on neighbors and plant male and 2-3 female seedlings at a distance of at least 2-2.5 m and maximum 50-100 m. You can arrange them relative to each other as you like: in a triangle, in a square, in one row. There is a practice of planting in different corners of the site. If some winds prevail in your region, for example, southeastern ones, then plant the male plant on this, that is, the leeward side.

How to distinguish male and female trees

Sea buckthorn buds are blooming

Sea buckthorn is a dioecious tree; it is divided into male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers. The male plant does not produce fruit, it serves for pollination. One tree is enough for 5–7 female seedlings. Female sea buckthorn bears fruit. Without male sea buckthorn there will be no harvest. Trees need to be planted nearby, since pollination occurs with the help of wind.

It is difficult to distinguish these plants, especially at an early age. But there is a difference:

1. The female plant has small double buds. Male specimens have larger buds covered with 3–5 scales.
2. Male seedlings are larger.
3. The leaves have different shapes and colors. On female sea buckthorn the leaves are green, male leaves are bluish and have a larger bloom.

Peculiarities of flowering and fruiting of the crop

Sea buckthorn lays buds on the current year's growth. Pleases with flowering in April or May. Flowers form along with foliage. The fruit of the plant is a juicy drupe with an orange, reddish color with a brown stone, with a longitudinal stripe.

The berries ripen in August-September, have a cylindrical shape and an orange-red or brown tint. The taste of medicinal fruits is bitter-sour and has a unique aroma.

The crop begins to bear fruit at 4-6 years of age.

Care

Caring for this shrub is easy. It is important to loosen the soil, water and feed the plant, and remove dried shoots. And then the sea buckthorn will bear fruit for about 12 years. After reaching the time when the tree stops bearing fruit, you can cut it down to the stump, this will stimulate the growth of new shoots, which in the future will bear fruit again.

Watering

Sea buckthorn loves watering, especially in hot weather. When picking berries, we recommend watering the sea buckthorn well and rinsing the berries on the branches in one go.

Top dressing

You need to feed 4 times a season:

• The first time this is done is in the spring.
• the second time during flowering, this is done with a solution of potassium humate.
• the remaining two feedings are carried out after flowering, with an interval of 20 days, for this they use Effecton.

Trimming

An important condition for care is trimming the top. This promotes good crown development. You need to prune before the buds open to remove unnecessary, damaged branches and root shoots. This can be done during harvest. The tree can grow up to 6 meters; for convenient harvesting, it is important to regularly trim the tops. This is done with a sharp garden knife or pruning shears.

For preventive purposes, three-year-old branches are pruned.

Tips and tricks

To get a rich harvest, gardeners use varietal sea buckthorn. If you purchase seedlings of unknown origin, they are unlikely to delight you with tasty and juicy berries. When planting, observe the timing and distance, proximity to other garden plants. During cultivation, it is important to regularly water and fertilize sea buckthorn, and trim old branches once a year.

Experienced gardeners recommend regularly treating trees against insects. Sea buckthorn flies, mites, aphids, and leaf rollers may appear on sea buckthorn. To protect the tree, spray it with a solution of karbofos - 20 g per 10 liters of water.

Mistakes to Avoid

The process of planting and growing sea buckthorn is not much different from growing other garden crops. However, sometimes gardeners make serious mistakes that prevent them from getting a good harvest:

• same-sex seedlings are planted;
• plants are placed at a distance of less than 2 m;
• abuse mineral and organic fertilizers;
• forget about mulching and loosening;
• water with cold water;
• Do not prune old shoots.

A common mistake many novice gardeners make is planting seedlings in shade or partial shade. Sea buckthorn loves the sun. Sometimes gardeners do not have the opportunity to plant 3-5 trees in a sunny area at once, and they choose less lit places. There is no need to do this - it is better to plant one male and one female tree. Otherwise, the plant will bear fruit poorly, and after a few years it will begin to get sick often.

Berry picking

Picking sea buckthorn berries

Varietal sea buckthorn produces a high yield in favorable conditions. The berries grow densely on the thorny branches of the tree, which requires a lot of time and patience when picking the fruit. Harvest at the end of August. But if you make juice from the berries, the harvest is postponed until the beginning of September. Do not tighten too much, the berries become soft and burst.

Options for collecting sea buckthorn

There are several known ideas for harvesting sea buckthorn :

1. The traditional method is to tear off each berry, but this is very long and tedious.
2. They use different devices, for example, a stick with a hook. They are used to remove berries from the branch and they fall into the prepared container.
3. You can cut off the branches along with the fruits and freeze them. Frozen berries are easier to remove from the branch. This method is suitable in case of further freezing of fruits.
4. If you make juice from sea buckthorn, it is better to use the following method. Wash your hands well, or better yet, put on culinary gloves, and squeeze the juice directly onto the branch. You need to start from the base and lead to the end of the branch. The finished juice will fall into the placed basin. You can squeeze up to 5 liters of nectar in an hour.
5. There are also many devices for picking berries. You can take a wooden handle and wire, make a loop from the wire. To pick a berry you need to: put a loop on the fruit and sharply cut off the foot, the berries will fall into the basin.

Recommendations for collecting sea buckthorn

• The berries should be cut from the crown to the bottom of the branch.
• It is also important to wear gloves to avoid scratches from thorns and skin irritation. To avoid ruining your clothes, you can use an apron, because sea buckthorn juice cannot be washed off.
• There is no need to wash the berries, otherwise some of the juice will be lost. Before collecting, you can rinse them directly on the bush.
• It is better to collect in enamel dishes.
• Process on the same day as harvest.

Sea buckthorn varieties

The varieties that I selected for my plot after the dominance of the “savages”:

'Moscow Beauty'

Low-growing variety, up to 2.5 m. Resistant to diseases.
Average yield. The fruits ripen from mid-August to early September (average ripening period). Variety 'Moscow Beauty' Orange berries are large, up to 10 g, with delicate sweet and sour pulp. Refers to table varieties.

'Chuyskaya'

Refers to universal varieties. Medium height, grows up to 4 m, with small sparse thorns, orange berries, sweeter than those of 'Moscow Beauty', large (0.8-1.0 g). Variety 'Chuyskaya'. Photo from the site alesad.ru The fruits ripen from mid-August to early September.

Reproduction

There are many known ways to propagate sea buckthorn:

1. The easiest way to propagate is by seeds ; they are sown in the fall. Shoots appear in a month. This method is used when breeding new varieties. Since such propagation produces male plants, they are used for decorative purposes or for grafting other varieties.
2. Propagation by root suckers is used when sea buckthorn is not grafted. In the spring, the offspring is separated from the mother plant, dropped in drops and watered well. When the root system has developed well, it can be transplanted to another place.
3. For propagation by layering, it is better to take annual shoots. The soil needs to be fertilized. After that, small furrows are made near the base of the bush, into which the young shoots are bent. The tops are pinched a little. When young shoots grow 12 cm, they are sprinkled with moist soil with humus. In the spring, the rooted cuttings are transplanted to a permanent place.
4. When transplanted to a new place, sea buckthorn is propagated by dividing the bush . To do this, dig up a bush, remove old branches, leaving young ones. When dividing a bush, choose plants with a developed root system.
5. For propagation by green cuttings, non-fruit-bearing plants are used. In this case, you will need a greenhouse or greenhouse. The cuttings should be 12 cm in size. The bottom two leaves are removed, the cuttings are immersed in the rooting solution for 12–15 hours. Then they are planted in a greenhouse with prepared soil. To do this, fertile soil is mixed with peat and sand in a ratio of 1:3. It is important to monitor the temperature and water the cuttings regularly; after a few weeks, adventitious roots will appear. And after a month, gradually accustoming the plant to the outside air, the film can be removed.
6. The most accessible method is propagation by lignified cuttings . They are prepared in November and stored in the basement. In the spring, they are cut into 20 cm pieces, soaked in water for several days, and then in a rooting agent solution for a day. After which the buds and root makings appear. Cuttings are planted in prepared soil, watered abundantly and mulched with humus. Within a year, healthy seedlings are transplanted to a permanent location.

Recommendations for choosing a seedling

When considering where to plant sea buckthorn on a site, you need to pay attention to the selection of its seedlings. The quality of the harvest and its abundance will depend on this. Experienced gardeners do not recommend purchasing seedlings from unfamiliar sellers. In this case, it cannot be guaranteed that a pure plant variety will be planted on the site.

It is best to purchase biennial plants for replanting. They have 3 to 5 main roots. Their length should be about 20 cm. There should also be a sufficient number of small, secondary roots. The trunk of a biennial sea buckthorn usually reaches 35-50 cm. Its diameter is approximately 7 mm. Several shoots extend from the trunk.

The bark should not peel off. It is elastic and has no defects or scratches. If the wood has a brown tint, this indicates that the plant is freezing. They are not worth purchasing. Such seedlings practically do not take root.

Diseases and pests

Most often, the sea buckthorn tree gets sick from changes in temperature and humidity. The most serious disease is verticillium wilt . This is an incurable disease in which the berries shrivel and dry out. Affected branches should be trimmed and discarded. If this disease appears again next year, the tree must be disposed of.

The following pests are known:

• Sea buckthorn moth . The caterpillars of these parasites crawl inside the kidney and eat away the core. Spraying with Chlorophos will help get rid of pests. This can be done before the buds open.
• The same method is used in the fight against sea buckthorn fly . It can destroy the crop.
• Sea buckthorn aphids infect tree leaves. They quickly turn yellow and fall off. A decoction of onion or garlic peels or 10% Karbofos will help get rid of parasites.

When to plant sea buckthorn in spring

It is recommended to plant sea buckthorn at the end of March or in April. Summer residents wait until the air temperature warms up to the desired level - +12°C. Some gardeners resort to using the lunar calendar. It helps determine favorable days for planting different crops. It is believed that this way the seedlings receive a program for more active growth and rapid development.

In 2022 it is April 14, 18, 19, 28. However, it is worth remembering that the growth of sea buckthorn is most influenced by compliance with agrotechnical measures during planting and care.

Harvesting berries

Sea buckthorn fruits are very rich in vitamins and biologically active substances. Sea buckthorn is very useful and has medicinal properties.

Fresh fruits can simply be frozen or ground with sugar. You can make juice from the berries, make jam or jam. You definitely need to stock up on sea buckthorn oil for the winter. This healing agent is known for its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties.

By growing sea buckthorn on your property, you can provide your entire family with vitamins all year round. By consuming these berries every day, the body will receive many beneficial substances.

Nutritional value and medicinal properties of sea buckthorn berries

Sea buckthorn is known throughout the world as a record holder for the content of the most vital vitamins and microelements. Its regular use has long been recognized as the best path to health and rejuvenation. So much has already been written about the composition of its berries that there is no point in giving the percentage content of all substances. A distinctive feature of sea buckthorn from other berries is the presence of fat-like substances (sea buckthorn oil), which improve the absorption of vitamins. Thus, sea buckthorn serves as a powerful tonic and is indicated for the treatment and prevention of vitamin deficiencies in the winter-spring period and during illnesses.

The main beneficial properties of sea buckthorn berries are presented in the following list:

• bactericidal and antioxidant (sea buckthorn oil is used for inflammatory processes and for recovery after poisoning);
• wound healing and analgesic (lotions made from fresh berries heal ulcers, burns and cuts);
• high serotonin content helps restore the nervous system after stress;
• biostimulating (the level of hemoglobin in the blood increases, cell growth is stimulated);
• choleretic (increases appetite, normalizes digestion).

In sea buckthorn, not only the fruits are valuable, but also the leaves and bark. In folk medicine, they are used to treat skin diseases, inflammatory processes in the oral cavity and upper respiratory tract, hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and conjunctivitis.

The use of any product has its limitations and contraindications, and sea buckthorn is no exception. Its use is limited in case of allergic reactions and completely excluded in case of exacerbations of stomach ulcers, diseases of the pancreas and urolithiasis.

General description with photo

The name sea buckthorn is a Russian variation and was given to the tree for the peculiarity of its fruiting - the branches of the plant seem to be covered with short-petioled berries on all sides. The genus is assigned to the Lokhov family. Among its representatives there are both low-growing varieties and very tall varieties. Sea buckthorn leaves are easily recognizable, thin, similar to willow leaves, gray-gray in color. Anyone who does not know how sea buckthorn blooms sometimes mistakes its flowers for leaves in the spring, which appear before them and have a very inconspicuous appearance and a complete lack of aroma. The two most common varieties in cultivation are sea buckthorn and willow-leaved sea buckthorn. The first has a very wide habitat throughout the world, the second grows mainly in the wild nature of India, Bhutan, as well as in Nepal and southern China.

Transplanting young cuttings

Sea buckthorn can also be replanted with green young cuttings. This is a fairly effective way. In this case, it is also important to determine where to plant sea buckthorn. It is recommended to place a bed of young seedlings under the crown of an adult tree. Here they will not be exposed to direct sunlight. However, the process of propagation by cuttings begins with growing a shoot in greenhouse conditions.

The transplantation process is recommended to be performed in the summer (early June). To do this, cut a cutting about 15 cm long. Three leaves from the bottom must be removed. Then it is recommended to treat the cut with a growth stimulator. Such solutions are available for sale in specialized stores. Some gardeners do not use it.

For the cuttings, it is necessary to prepare a soil mixture, where it would be most appropriate to plant sea buckthorn. To do this, fertile soil is mixed with sand and peat. The plant must be grown in greenhouse conditions. The temperature should be about 28 ºС, and the humidity should be 90%.

The cuttings are regularly watered or sprayed with a spray bottle. When roots appear, you can feed the plant with mineral fertilizers. Next, you can begin to gradually ventilate the greenhouse. After 2 months, the film can be removed completely. In spring, strong cuttings are planted on the site.

Features of planting depending on the region

The terrain of Russian regions differs in climate and soil characteristics. Experienced gardeners take these factors into account when planting capricious plants like sea buckthorn.

Secrets of planting sea buckthorn in the Urals

The region is known for severe frosts and unstable weather all year round. In winter there is a lot of snow, so sea buckthorn is planted in areas where it does not accumulate. A fragile tree or bush trunk easily breaks under the weight of a snowdrift. The plant is planted exclusively in spring due to the climate.

Secrets of planting sea buckthorn in Siberia

Frost comes to Siberia every autumn, this region is similar to the Ural region. Frosts come unexpectedly, planting in the fall is unsuccessful. Agronomists recommend planting seedlings only in the spring if the area is cold. Suitable months are April and May - the soil is not frozen, the roots are not in danger.

It is known that Siberia is not rich in fertile soils. Sea buckthorn does not require an abundance of nutrients, but empty soil will not allow the bush to get enough. Before planting, the soil is fertilized with dissolved chicken droppings, slightly increasing the nutritional value.