Honeysuckle has been known as a decorative plant since the 19th century, however, it began to be used as a berry culture quite recently - at the end of the last century. In a short time, edible honeysuckle managed to win the love of gardeners and found its place in the garden plots. Variety Lebedushka appeared on the market one of the first, but is still in constant demand among gardeners. Why is this variety good and what are its distinguishing features?
Honeysuckle Swan - beautiful and healthy
Edible honeysuckle is a novelty in the European part of the Russian Federation. But in the Urals and Siberia, this shrub has been growing for a long time, they are well acquainted with its beneficial properties. At the end of the 20th century, breeders also paid attention to the plant. Over the past two decades, more than a hundred varieties of edible honeysuckle have appeared, all of which are the result of the work of Russian scientists.
Kamchatka honeysuckle, which is the ancestor of many cultivars, is widespread in the forests of the Russian Far East
Grade characteristics
Variety Lebedushka registered in 1999. It was created at the All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources named after N.I. Vavilova, where more than a dozen varieties of honeysuckle were bred. Kamchatka honeysuckle - vitamin and tasty, resistant to diseases and frosts, is considered the "parent" of the variety.
Distinctive characteristics of Honeysuckle Honeysuckle will interest many gardeners:
- The variety is widely zoned, that is, suitable for cultivation in the south and in the north. No special protection measures need to be taken.
- The plant is winter-hardy and hardy, resistant to climate surprises.
- Berries ripening period is the beginning of June. The first harvest of Swans can be harvested earlier than most strawberry varieties.
- Berries of the Swan are fragrant and refreshing, have a pleasant sweet taste. The mass of the fetus is 1.2-1.6 g, the yield from the bush can reach 2-2.5 kg.
Berries of a honeysuckle the Swan have an original form and pleasant taste
- Universality of application. Berries are suitable for fresh and canned form, they can also be frozen. Juices, compotes, jams are prepared from honeysuckle, added to yoghurts and pie fillings. But it is especially useful in its raw form: the fruits contain many vitamins, as well as a valuable trace element - selenium.
Jam, stewed fruit is cooked from honeysuckle, a filling for pies is prepared
- Bushes of the Swan are very tall (up to 2 m), but in the early years they grow slowly. Therefore, honeysuckle does not require large expenditures of time and labor on the formation of the crown.
In addition, you should pay attention to such advantages of the variety:
- Decorativeness. The main value of the Swan is its delicious fruits, but the bush looks beautiful and spectacular not only during fruiting. It will be a real find for those who value in plants not only benefits, but also beauty.
Edible honeysuckle bushes can be used as hedges.
- Transportability. A distinctive feature of the variety is a dense peel on the fruit, so that they are stored and transported without loss in the first week after harvest.
- Berries do not fall off the bush for a long time. This is especially convenient for those who can not often visit their summer house and harvest.
Honeysuckle berries do not fall off the bush for a long time, so the crop can be harvested at a time
Seedling selection and planting
The key to the future successful development of the plant is a responsible attitude to the choice of variety. Consider several important rules when buying:
- It is recommended to buy seedlings in nurseries and from trusted sellers.
- It is better to buy plants with a closed root system, with three to four branches up to 35-40 cm long.
- Shoots must be resilient, without damage and signs of drying out.
To honeysuckle quickly took root in a new place, it is better to buy seedlings with a closed root system
Swan is not a self-made variety. If the honeysuckle is still not growing on your site, purchase two or three varieties at once (for example, Blue Spindle, Kamchadalka, Malvina, Morena). They will pollinate each other, which will significantly increase productivity.
It is recommended to plant new plants in the fall, in September - October, since during spring planting the bushes get sick and take longer to plant. If there was a need to plant or transplant the honeysuckle in the spring, then this should be done by transshipment, transferring the plant to a prepared hole with a large lump of earth.
Landing of the honeysuckle includes the following stages:
- We dig a hole measuring 40 by 40 cm, a depth of about half a meter. The distance between the bushes should be at least one and a half meters.
To plant honeysuckle, you need to prepare a hole up to 50 cm deep
- We fill the soil with a mixture of compost (2 buckets) with 1 liter of ash and a handful of superphosphate, mix, form a small mound at the bottom of the landing recess (about a third of the height).
- We install a seedling on this elevation, spread the roots (if the root system is closed, then remove the film, but do not violate the formed lump of earth).
Plant seedlings with a closed root system without disturbing the earthen lump
- We fill the roots of the plant with earth taken from the pit, water it with one or two buckets of water, let it soak and condense the soil. Then pour a layer of soil 10-15 cm, but no longer water it.
- The bush is not recommended to be buried in the soil below the root neck. Or you can omit it slightly (by 5-6 cm), which will give an incentive to the formation of additional roots.
- After planting, the plant is not trimmed, that is, left alone for at least a year.
Honeysuckle bushes when planting should be placed at a distance of at least 1.5 meters from each other
When choosing a place to plant honeysuckle, keep in mind that she loves light and does not tolerate frequent cold winds. The southern side of the fence or a row of fruit trees is ideal for a plant.
Honeysuckle bushes need a lot of sunlight and protection from the north winds
Honeysuckle Care
Since the honeysuckle comes from a rather harsh region, it does not require special care. Beginning gardeners only need to adhere to general recommendations for the cultivation of edible honeysuckle. Do not forget that plants need:
- watering in a dry time (especially during the period of fruit formation);
- loosening of soil near the bush;
- weed removal.
All these agrotechnical measures are easy to combine if you apply mulching on the site. As mulch, you can use any materials at hand - straw, compost, film and even old newspapers.
An excellent mulch for honeysuckle is plant compost with the addition of sawdust
Harvesting is the most enjoyable part of the work, but it should be remembered that the young shoots of Honeysuckle Lebedushka are fragile, therefore, it must be treated carefully and carefully. Otherwise, again, it will be necessary to prune the broken branches, and this is double labor. Yes, and next year's harvest will decline.
With simple care, Honeysuckle honeysuckle will delight the owners with a decent harvest
Pruning bushes
Spreading bushes of honeysuckle cause gardeners the desire to "put it in order", cut off as soon as possible and thoroughly. It is not worth rushing with this, since the Lebedushka variety has a moderate branching genetically. In the first two or three years, pruning can be omitted, but dry, damaged and growing inside branches still have to be removed.
Over the next five to seven years, honeysuckle trimming can be carried out in spring or autumn, subject to the following rules:
- The best number of branches in the bush is 12-15, the rest are cut.
- You should take care of young annual shoots that give a harvest, but two-year-olds can be shortened for better branching.
- Plants older than ten years are rejuvenated by radical pruning: most branches are removed under the root, which stimulates the appearance of young shoots.
Old honeysuckle branches should be cut as close to the ground as possible.
- Autumn pruning is done late when the first frosts come. It is not necessary to prune large skeletal branches strongly - this will reduce the frost resistance of the bush.
- Spring thinning pruning is done if it was not possible to thin the bush in the fall, and only on sleeping buds. Following the advice of experienced gardeners, pruning honeysuckle is better to transfer to the fall.
Loppers and garden shears should be very sharp - this will allow you to make an even smooth cut and cause the plant the least damage. All exposed surfaces (sections) must be treated with garden var.
Fertilizer plants
Honeysuckle top dressing is carried out three times during the growing season:
- In the early spring after pruning, the bushes are fed with nitrogen fertilizers (1 tbsp.spoon of urea per bucket of water under the bush).
For spring feeding of honeysuckle, urea is bred in water (1 tablespoon per 10 liters)
- In summer, organic fertilizers and compost are applied under the plants.
- In August or autumn, you can pour half a liter can of ash under the honeysuckle bushes or mulch the soil with humus.
In autumn, under the bushes of honeysuckle, you can make ash as fertilizer
Video: honeysuckle growing tips
Grade Reviews
I am for varietal honeysuckle. I have a swan. Tasty, reminds me of blueberries. The berries are large.
demiga//forumodua.com/archive/index.php?t-2347449-p-15.html
At me, the Leningrad giant turned out to be the sweetest. The swan is small in stature, but there are more berries than leaves. The blue spindle is harvested, this year is the earliest of mine (taste with bitterness), bears fruit for 2 weeks. Karina is not very productive, but the berry is very large, sweet and sour, not yet fully ripened.
Lilia Lagdan//www.sadiba.com.ua/forum/showthread.php?p=911760
Large-fruited honeysuckle varieties are best. These are: Altair, Swan, Omega, Nymph, Violet. Their fruits do not crumble for a long time.
FreddieT [3.5K]//www.bolshoyvopros.ru/questions/77597-kakie-sorta-zhimolosti-ne-osypajutsja.html
Honeysuckle attracted attention not so long ago. Many of its varieties are of interest to gardeners, including Lebedushka. This plant should be planted in his garden, not only for the benefit and pleasant taste of berries, but even simply because of its beauty and picturesqueness.
