Seabuckthorn: how flowers, planting and care, varieties for the suburbs

Very many gardeners are not very flattering about the sea-buckthorn, considering it a very prickly plant with sour berries. Yes, and after uprooting of older plants there remains a large number of trees. All these drawbacks have a wild sea buckthorn tree. But modern varieties of culture will certainly please any gardener.

A bit about culture ...

The sea buckthorn tree is a fairly common plant for our country. Large thickets of culture are found in Central Asia and the Caucasus, the Altai and the Baltic, and also in Eastern and Western Siberia. Since ancient times, the fruits of sea-buckthorn are used in processed and fresh form.

As a decorative culture, sea buckthorn began to breed 150 years ago. Withdrawing of industrial varieties were engaged in the Scientific Research Institute of Horticulture. Lisavenko, MA, in which several fairly promising species were obtained. Particular interest in sea-buckthorn began to manifest in the last decades, when the beneficial properties of fruits were revealed.

In the Moscow region sea buckthorn began to spread in the forties. She appeared in the region thanks to the employee of the Botanical Garden of the Moscow State University Tatyana Trofimova. Currently, the culture has received an incredible spread in the suburbs. In order to successfully grow the plant and harvest, you need to know some features of planting sea buckthorn and care for it.

Value of sea-buckthorn

The popularity of culture is associated with its incredible useful properties. A few people know how the sea-buckthorn blossoms, but how it looks, everyone knows. Small bright berries contain vitamins B, P, B2, E, B, C and carotene (provitamin A). In addition, the fruits are rich in manganese, iron, boron, magnesium, sulfur, aluminum, titanium and silicon. Outwardly, they represent a juicy kryanko sour-sweet or sour for taste, enriched with acids. The content of acids in different varieties, of course, is different, this indicator ranges from one to four percent. But the sugar content is in the range of 1.6 - 6.4%. However, it is worth noting that not only the fruits of culture are endowed with nature with a large number of useful substances. Seabuckthorn leaves, for example, contain many vitamins C and A. As the bright fruits ripen, the number of vitamins in the foliage drops sharply.

Speaking about the useful properties of culture, it is worth remembering sea buckthorn oil, which is richer than all known vegetable oils in terms of the amount of biologically active substances. It is actively used to treat a variety of ailments, especially it is effective in cases of skin problems - frostbite, burns, radiation injuries.

In folk medicine for a long time using sea buckthorn for the treatment of rheumatism and gastrointestinal problems.

Is the sea buckthorn harmful?

Despite all its useful properties, sea buckthorn can harm those people who suffer from allergic reactions. In addition, it is worth remembering that the fruit contains a lot of acids, which are harmful in pancreatitis, cholecystitis and inflammation of the duodenum.

Biological features of culture

Sea-buckthorn is a fairly spiny and branchy shrub whose height reaches 3.5 meters. Culture can be a tree up to six meters high. The trunk of the plant is covered with black-brown or dark-gray bark. And the sea buckthorn leaves have a characteristic two-color color: from below are silvery and green from above. Under favorable conditions, culture quickly grows.

When and how does the sea-buckthorn bloom?

However, it has one feature. In nature, there are male and female plants. But how to distinguish male and female sea-buckthorn is a question that invariably interests all gardeners who have an intention to get a crop. If you plant same-sex trees on the plot, you will not be able to get fruits from them. The thing is that the culture is wind-pollinated, although sometimes there are species with bisexual flowers.

In order to plant seedlings of both sexes, it is necessary to understand how to distinguish sea buckthorn from males from females. Unfortunately gardeners, in the early stages of finding differences is almost impossible. They become a little noticeable from the moment of the bookmarking of flower buds. On male sea buckthorn they are much larger than on female buckthorn. It is interesting that they are laid on two-year-old shoots. Very few people know how the sea-buckthorn blooms. This is due to the fact that the flowers of the culture are completely nondescript, so no one notices them against the background of fragrant apple, peach and cherries.

Blossom trees in May or April. Flowers appear together with foliage. However, on heterozygous bushes they have different color. On the female sea-buckthorn they are yellowish, but for the male - silvery brown. You can not name beautiful inflorescences. The flowers of the sea-buckthorn merge with the foliage a little, and therefore are not noticeable.

Fruits of a plant

After flowering, the fruit is tied, which ripen in August or September. Juicy strawberry can have orange or red color. The fruits of wild sea buckthorn are not large, about the size of a pea. They are very densely located on the branches, from where the plant was called "sea-buckthorn". The fruits have a peculiar aroma and a bitter-sour taste. If they are not removed from the tree, then the berries can last on the branches throughout the winter.

Seabuckthorn planting

Seabuckthorn is planted in spring and autumn. As a rule, plants planted in the spring, get accustomed much better, because they are not threatened by winter temperature differences. For a young seedling, both excessive heat and cold can do much harm.

The correct planting of sea-buckthorn in spring is a guarantee that the plant will inevitably take root. However, it is necessary to decide in advance with the variety, it should be adapted to the conditions of your region. Saplings are best purchased in proven nurseries, not in markets. So you can be sure that you have acquired the plant of the kind that you have chosen.

For buckthorn sea buckthorn, you need to find the right place on your site. Preference should be given to quiet areas away from active garden activities. This is due to the fact that the plant has cord-like roots, located in the upper layers of the soil. In order to avoid their traumatism during digging it is necessary to plant the crop in quiet places. However, it is worth remembering that buckthorn buckthorn loves unshadowed bright places.

Since the fall, you can prepare a place for planting. To do this, sand and humus should be added to the soil in equal proportions, and phosphorus-potassium supplements do not interfere. The distance between the trees should be at least several meters. If you plan to harvest, then you need to plant at least 3-4 plants. Five male cultures are enough for one male.

The process of planting a tree or a bush is not difficult. A hole is prepared 70 * 70 * 70 centimeters, at the bottom of which it is necessary to make a mound, on the slopes of which to straighten the roots. Then the pit is filled with soil slightly above the root neck. Around the seedling, you must always form a hole to water it. Two buckets of water will be enough for watering.

Care of the culture

The description of sea-buckthorn would be incomplete, if not say a few words about how to care for it. Young seedlings need regular watering, since the crop is hygrophilous. As soon as the plant gets stronger, the frequency of watering can be reduced. Experienced gardeners do not recommend adding fertilizer to the vicious circle due to the cord-like root system. But after the sea buckthorn blooms and the fruits appear, the plant can be nourished with mineral and organic fertilizers. This is done not more than once in three years.

Care of the plant also includes the removal of weeds. However, you need to do this carefully, so as not to damage the root system. Formation of the crown and pruning of trees should be performed in spring time until the moment of bud blossoming. Blooming seabuckthorn in no case can not be traumatized. After reaching 8 years, the plant must be cut regularly for the purpose of rejuvenation. To do this, remove the old shoots, and leave three-year. In addition, it is definitely worth cleaning the frozen and diseased parts of the branches.

Do not forget about watering adult trees. Sometimes in droughty periods even strong plants can wither or lose a crop.

How to choose a variety for the Moscow region?

Thanks to the hard work of breeders, it is now possible to select a variety for growing in almost any region of the country. The plant fructifies well in the climatic conditions of Central Russia, which means that it is possible to select a suitable variety of sea-buckthorn for the Moscow region. In order to understand which sort to give priority, you need to know what parameters are important for you: yield, maturity, flavor, winter hardiness, fruit size, degree of concentration of oils, content of useful substances, absence of thorns and thorns.

Experienced gardeners recommend paying attention to the following prospective for the suburbs:

1. Lomonosov. This is a medium-sized tree with a small number of spines. Red-orange fruits have an elongated shape and sweet and sour taste.
2. Aromatic. A medium-sized plant with a high yield. The flesh of the fruit has a characteristic pineapple flavor.
3. Botanical amateur. A medium-sized tree with a high yield and large orange berries.
4. Botanical fragrant. A medium-sized tree with orange-red fruits can yield up to 14 kilograms of harvest.
5. Excellent. Early ripening variety of high yield.

Reproduction of sea-buckthorn

Seabuckthorn is propagated in the following ways: by seeds, by layers and by shoots. The seed method is completely ineffective, it is very laborious, and the resulting plants do not inherit the proper qualities of the mother tree.

But when growing young shoots young plants have the same characteristics as the main plant. For gardeners who have seabuckthorn in the garden, the most convenient way of obtaining seedlings is the method of breeding. In the spring branches, located near the ground, are sprinkled with earth. Gradually prikopannye shoots will give roots. Next spring they can be unearthed, cut off from the main plant and planted in a new place.

However, the best quality specimens for planting are obtained by cuttings. To do this, in the middle of the summer, cut the branches, treat them with "Kornevin", and then drop it into the moist substrate. On top of the seedling cover with a disposable cup to get a mini-greenhouse. Cuttings should be regularly watered and ventilated. After eight weeks, shelter above them can be removed and further care until the spring. With the onset of heat young seedlings are planted in a permanent place.

It should be remembered that the sea buckthorn is a bipedal plant, and therefore, male and female plants must certainly grow on one site, otherwise you will never wait for the harvest.

Among other things, the lining is planted. On one tree, you can graft branches of a female and a male species. Getting such a plant is a tempting venture, but not always feasible in real life. Grafted pagons do not always get along well, they gradually dry up, not giving a gain. But still it is worth experimenting.

Harvesting

Gathering a large harvest of sea-buckthorn is not an easy task. Labor-intensive work will require you to spend a sufficient amount of time. Berries of most varieties have very short peduncles, and therefore it is not easy to pick fruit. In addition, you need to work carefully, since overpopulated berries quickly rumple. Do not forget about sharp thorns that hurt your hands.

Some gardeners recommend easing the task by cutting the secateur third of the branches along with the crop. Firstly, thus, in the future, plucking berries is much easier and faster, and secondly, the branches can be stored for a long time in the room together with the fruits. Do not worry about cut-off pagons. In their place in the spring a new growth will grow, which will bear fruit in two years. The tree does not suffer from this, because every spring, you still cut old branches anyway.

Diseases to which culture is exposed

Earlier it was believed that the sea-buckthorn is not at all susceptible to all sorts of diseases. However, the more it became common in our gardens, the more often gardeners began to notice that the culture is subject to all the ailments that other garden trees: viral, fungal and bacterial.

The most common sea buckthorn affects these diseases:

1. Endomycosis is a fungal disease that occurs early in August on fruits, as a result of which they become flabby and fill with gray mucus. The integrity of the berries is disturbed, from them flows a fluid that spreads the endomycosis further. Treatment of the disease consists in processing (two-stage) wood Bordeaux fluid (1%). The first time the plant is treated immediately after flowering, and the second - in the middle of July.
2. Black cancer. The disease manifests itself in the form of black spots on large branches. In such places, the bark turns black and gradually falls off, and the wood rots. As a remedy for such ailment, the damaged bark and the damaged wood are removed, after which the fresh sections are treated with copper sulfate and a mixture of mullein with clay.
3. The black leg is caused by soil fungi. It affects only young seedlings. As a preventive measure, young plants should be watered with a solution of potassium permanganate.
4. The scab is caused by fungi and affects fruits, leaves and young shoots, which leads not only to drying up the branches, but also the whole tree. If you notice in the middle of summer on the berries black shiny spots, then it's scab. Gradually the disease will pass to the young branches. As an annual preventive measure, it is necessary to produce sanitary trimming of a tree in the fall period, burning garbage. In addition, 20 days before harvesting, the sea buckthorn must be treated with Bordeaux liquid (1%).
5. Brown and gray rot, as a rule, appears in July during the rainy season. Gray rot causes wrinkling of berries, and brown provokes the appearance of dark spots on the fruit. Affected plants are recommended to be cut down and burned.

Pests of sea-buckthorn

The most dangerous pests for a tree are:

1. Sea-buckthorn moth. Caterpillars penetrate into the swollen buds and destroy them from the inside. The most effective way to control the moth is to treat the culture with carbophos.
2. The sea buckthorn is capable of destroying the entire crop. Insects appear in the middle of June. The larvae of flies hit fruit from the inside. As a preventive measure, it is recommended to treat the tree in July with chlorophos.
3. Sea-buckthorn aphids feed on the juice of foliage and young branches. Insects settle on the underside of the leaf plate, causing it to twist and turn yellow. Many gardeners in the fight against aphids use the old folk methods, processing the tree with infusions of tobacco or peels of onions. If such techniques are ineffective, then you can use carbofos.
4. Sea-buckthorn tick is a very small insect that sucks the juice out of the foliage, causing it to fall off. As methods for controlling the mite, the same solutions as for the control of aphids can be used.

Instead of an afterword

Cultivation of sea-buckthorn is not difficult, performing the simplest rules of care, you can get a good harvest of incredibly useful berries. However, it is wise to approach the choice of a variety suitable for your region. Experienced gardeners recommend giving preference to zoned hybrids. The acquisition of good seedlings is the key to successful cultivation.