Tips on how to rejuvenate old honeysuckle bushes

How to care for the crown

When initially planting seedlings, the branches are not shortened. In the future, for five years, crown care consists of pruning broken branches.

In the eighth – ninth year of the bush’s life, signs of aging appear. They are expressed in drying out of the tops.

At this time, the plant must be rejuvenated or replanted. During rejuvenating pruning, dried tops are removed to the point where tops form. Skeletal branches are not pruned, because in the branches of the skeletal branches there are dormant buds, from which a new crown subsequently grows.

Anti-aging pruning is carried out in the first ten days of April. It stimulates high fruiting.

Seasonal pruning of decorative honeysuckle

Pruning of decorative varieties of honeysuckle is carried out from spring to autumn. During the first 3–5 years of plant life on the site, the crown is formed according to the required pattern. In the future, they only trim the branches that go beyond the overall picture, and also remove the dried ones, beaten down by frost.

Curly - spring/autumn

In the spring, liana-like bushes undergo sanitary pruning. But it is carried out not before the kidneys begin to swell, but after. The fact is that this event aims to remove shoots whose buds do not bloom. It will not be possible to determine this with accuracy before the sap flow begins. When the growing season has started, all branches are inspected. Trim off those parts that remain bare after the buds swell. The cut is made 1–2 cm above the swollen growth point.

Video: Honeysuckle, pruning

After thinning, standard disinfection procedures described for fruit crops are carried out. Throughout the season, the plantings are watered, fertilized and the soil around them is loosened. As the shoots grow, they are tied in a vertical position to the fence or walls of the gazebo. Fastening is carried out using special plastic figure-eight brackets, which can be purchased at a specialized store.

In autumn, damaged branches are removed. The direct formation of a fence or other structures from vegetation begins when it reaches the upper edge of the support (the wall of a gazebo or fence). To create the impression of a dropped surface, a row of string is stretched over the vegetation and, using pruners, they begin to cut off the strongly protruding areas.

Shrubs - spring/autumn

Standard types of honeysuckle are trimmed as follows:

in the spring - eliminate all shoots damaged during the winter period;
in the fall - they form beautiful bushes of the same height, aligning them with twine, as in the previous version.

To give different shapes, special templates are used. You can buy them in the store. Using the template is quite simple: you need to put it on the plant and trim the branches that extend beyond the edges.

Important! When performing figure trimming for the first time, do not use electric scissors, otherwise there is a high risk of ruining the intended figure. To get a good harvest of honeysuckle, the crown of the plants must be regularly thinned, thereby ensuring full access of food, light and water to the fruiting branches

Thanks to the same agricultural technique, every gardener can create interesting and unusual landscape compositions from the decorative varieties of this plant.

To get a good harvest of honeysuckle, the crown of the plants must be regularly thinned, thereby ensuring full access of food, light and water to the fruit-bearing branches. Thanks to the same agricultural technique, every gardener can create interesting and unusual landscape compositions from the decorative varieties of this plant.

Rejuvenation of the honeysuckle bush

Signs of plant aging

Bushes are thickened
The bark on skeletal branches peels off longitudinally
Stem shoots dry out at the tops
Weak flowering
Lack of fruits

In this case, it is better to completely trim the bush to the level of the stump. In early spring, before flowering, the skeletal branches are cut off, leaving a stump 50 cm high.

The ground around the plant is dug up with the simultaneous application of fertilizers (50 grams of superphosphate, 50 grams of potassium salt, 70 grams of ammonium nitrate per 1 square meter).

After pruning, the dormant buds will begin to grow and growths of up to 60 cm will appear. Fruiting will begin next year. Flower buds will appear at the tops of new shoots; they do not need to be shortened.

When to prune honeysuckle

You can start pruning edible honeysuckle only when it is dormant. In the spring - before the buds wake up, in the fall - after the bush sheds its leaves. Decorative honeysuckle can be pruned throughout the growing season.

Pruning of shoots happens:

sanitary;
formative.

Honeysuckle is a cold-resistant plant, but its branches can be damaged by frost. During sanitary pruning, dead branches damaged by low temperatures, broken and dry shoots, as well as branches damaged by fungal diseases and pests are removed. Trim to healthy wood. It is recommended to do this pruning every year.

Peeling bark on honeysuckle branches is not a consequence of the disease. This is its specific feature. This crop is also characterized by the presence of a large number of small dry twigs.

Formative pruning is carried out on adult plants. Old branches that do not bear fruit are cut out, shoots are removed, and weak branches are shortened. This pruning is done once every 2-3 years on edible honeysuckle and once a year on decorative ones.

Pruning honeysuckle in spring

In spring, pruning is carried out in two stages.

Before the beginning of the growing season, in March-April - at this time it is recommended to limit yourself to sanitary pruning, since the shaping one traumatizes the bush, and if you expose edible honeysuckle to it in the spring, you should not expect a big harvest.
After the buds open, then all non-viable branches will become visible.

Video: how to prune honeysuckle in spring

Pruning honeysuckle in autumn

In autumn, formative pruning is carried out from August to October. The time is chosen depending on the climatic characteristics of a particular area. You can start working when the following conditions are met:

Replanting an old bush

Transplantation of a fruit-bearing old bush is carried out in the fall. Until the plant is five years old, no special preparation is required.

The transplant is carried out as follows

a sunny place is selected, without drafts and stagnant water;
a hole is being prepared for planting with a depth of 50 cm and dimensions of 70x70 cm;
Organic and mineral fertilizers are loaded into the planting hole in a double dose;
fertilizers are mixed with garden soil;
a mound is made from garden soil and a bush is placed on it;
its roots are straightened, and more roots should be directed to the south;
the roots are covered with garden soil;
the soil around the planted plant becomes compacted;
a bucket of water is poured under the planting;
mulched with peat.

Old bushes, more than six years old, must be pruned to 50 cm from the surface of the ground.

Diseases and pests

Honeysuckle is resistant to fungal diseases that affect other berry bushes: powdery mildew, anthracnose, and others. Damage to leaves by berry pests is observed. They cause the greatest harm in June from flowering to ripening of the berries.

More serious pests of honeysuckle are birds. Bullfinches peck out the apical and even part of the axillary buds in winter. This is observed annually in the wintering areas of bullfinches and causes a decrease in yield.

Recovery of the crown after such damage occurs within one growing season due to the awakening of the middle and upper buds in the series.

Blackbirds destroy ripe berries, however, if the harvest is timely, the losses are insignificant.

When to pick berries

A week after ripening, you can begin harvesting. During this time, they significantly improve the taste: sugar accumulates, acidity decreases, bitterness disappears. In ripe berries, the connection with the stalk is weakened, so they fall off easily.

During the selection process, varieties with weak or medium shedding were selected. Average is typical for most varieties.

Berries with weak shedding are harvested in one go when they are fully ripe.
Fruits of varieties with medium shedding are collected in two stages as they ripen. The berries are separated from the stalk without breaking the skin, so the collected berries do not leak and are well preserved for 24 hours at room temperature. Store in the refrigerator for three days.

Features of culture

To understand how to properly care for honeysuckle, let's consider the biological and physiological characteristics of this plant.

Honeysuckle is a self-fertile, cross-pollinated crop. If pollen from its own plant falls on the pistil of a flower, it does not set fruit and does not produce seeds. At least 3–5 different varieties of shrubs must grow in one garden, otherwise there will be no berries.
The plant is slow to start. And although the first berries are produced already 2–3 years after planting, a good harvest occurs only from 6–7 years, and peak fruiting occurs at 15–25 years of age.
The harvest grows on non-lignified shoots of the current year. This must be taken into account when caring for honeysuckle and not cutting off the tops of the branches in the spring.
The plant prefers moisture-absorbing fertile loam with good aeration and neutral acidity (pH 7.5–8); it loves to be fertilized with wood ash, which slightly alkalizes the soil.
The root system of honeysuckle is superficial, it is easily damaged when digging, loosening, and requires irrigation during dry periods. Like raspberries, an optional but desirable element of agricultural technology is mulching the tree trunk circle.

Repeated flowering and fruiting

Honeysuckle shoots begin to grow during flowering, from the end of the first ten days of May. The growth of the shoot is completed by the time the berries ripen in the second decade of June.

But young honeysuckle plants have an interesting feature. At the end of July, when the shoots have already finished growing, part of the apical buds awaken and the so-called Ivanov shoots grow from them. In August, re-blooming is observed on these shoots. The berries ripen in late August - early September. Usually the second harvest is smaller in number of fruits.

Most modern, new honeysuckle varieties rebloom in late summer.

Types of pruning. The timing of them. Scheme

Honeysuckle fruit buds have their own developmental characteristics. This determines which pruning technique can be used at different stages of plant development.

In the lower part of the bush, on the branches, only buds are formed that give growth. They are characterized by a solitary arrangement.

From the middle and above, the bush contains generative ones - fruit and buds for shoots. Let's remember what shoots and buds look like:

Calendar of work on caring for honeysuckle plantings

March – Sowing seeds.
April – Sanitary pruning of bushes every two years. Rejuvenating pruning of old bushes. Spraying with a 2% nitrophen solution every two years. Inspection of plants after autumn planting. Application of nitrogen fertilizers: 20 grams of urea, or 50 grams of ammonium nitrate, or 40 grams of ammonium sulfate per square meter. meter of tree trunk circle.
May – Application of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers: 40 grams of double superphosphate and potassium salt or 100 grams of nitrophoska per square meter. m. Loosening, weeding of tree trunk circles.
June – Harvesting and planting green cuttings. Collection and processing of berries.
July – Loosening, weeding of tree trunk circles. Spraying against pests that chew leaves. Caring for green cuttings. Sowing seeds.
September – Planting in the ground for growing rooted cuttings and seedlings. Digging tree trunk circles. Mulching tree trunk circles with compost every two years.
October – Preparing the soil and planting honeysuckle in a permanent place in the garden. Sowing seeds.

Good luck to you and a good harvest!

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Processing honeysuckle in spring

Honeysuckle rarely gets sick, but a fungal infection can still affect it, so in the spring, 2-3 days after pruning, you can carry out preventive treatment of honeysuckle bushes.

Spraying with copper sulfate

The best option is to treat the plants with 1% copper sulfate. After filling the sprayer with the solution, try to treat the bushes as thoroughly as possible.

It is better to do this after pruning for the simple reason that you have already thinned out the bushes as much as possible, so the treatment will be as effective as possible.
Don’t just spray from above, try to water the bushes from all sides, to do this you will have to dance near the bushes, sit down, walk around the plants, perhaps move large shoots to the sides in order to properly treat the inside.

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If you carry out this treatment, you can forget about such a disease as tuberculosis. This is a dangerous disease of honeysuckle, when red tubercles form on the surface of the shoots and the bush slowly dies. _________________________________________________________________________________

Treatment for frostbite

During the same period, you can inspect the shoots for frost damage; this phenomenon is very rare on honeysuckle, but still occurs. You can tell that a shoot has been damaged by frost by looking at the cracks in the shoot, where bacteria then accumulate and the shoots begin to dry out.

If such a shoot is large and it would be a pity to remove it, then you can pour a maximum of copper sulfate into such a crack, wetting the cavity well, then wait until it dries and cover it with garden varnish, and paint over it with garden paint - this way you will prevent bacteria from entering the crack and save the plant.