How to care for honeysuckle in autumn and properly prepare for winter: fertilizing, pruning and shelter
So, the honeysuckle berries are ripe, the harvest is harvested. What to do next so that next year the honeysuckle will again delight us with the harvest?
Next, we will analyze the main issues related to the proper care of honeysuckle after fruiting, including in the fall when preparing for winter.
Important! This article will focus mainly on caring for edible honeysuckle (blue), as well as a little about decorative curly (honeysuckle or Tatar honeysuckle, which red inedible berries).
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What to do with honeysuckle after fruiting: main summer and fall activities, as well as preparation for winter
So, the composition of the main agrotechnical methods for caring for honeysuckle after fruiting and in autumn, as a rule, includes the following:
Interesting and important to know! If honeysuckle after fruiting, the leaves fall almost immediately (at the same time they turn black sharply, as if they are sick with something), then this absolute norm... The fact is that almost all plants that bear fruit early do this. But this does not always happen.
- Honeysuckle is known to be very moisture-loving plant, therefore, if the autumn is dry, then it is advisable to continue honeysuckle to water and at the end do water charging irrigation.
If the autumn is rainy, then water-charging watering is not required.
- Pruning.
- Autumn feeding.
- Treatment for pests and diseases (as needed: as a rule, honeysuckle does not get sick, and no one attacks it)
- Shelter (mulching).
- Transfer. Since the bush wakes up very early in the spring, the transplant is most often carried out in the fall (if necessary).
- Reproduction (of necessity).
Advice! About, how can honeysuckle be propagated in different ways in spring, summer and autumn, read in this detailed material.
Pruning honeysuckle in autumn
If at first the shrub grows relatively slowly, then after 4-6 years, rapid growth begins, and without regular pruning, the shrub simply overgrows and begins to shade itself. Therefore, it is recommended to carry out lightening or thinning pruning honeysuckle, cutting out old and young shoots growing inside the bush and shading the rest.
Naturally, you should never forget about sanitary pruning, which is necessary in general for all shrubs and trees.
Sanitary pruning includes complete removal of weak, and pruning dry and broken off shoots to healthy tissue.
Concerning timing of pruning honeysuckle, then it can be trimmed like autumn (preferable), and in early spring (during this period it is especially convenient to do sanitary pruning, because poorly overwintered shoots are visible, although they are usually few). Moreover, in both cases, it is desirable to cut in a leafless state, however, in the spring, the shrub wakes up very early, so you may simply not be in time and damage the swollen buds.
Video: autumn pruning of honeysuckle - preparing for the new season
Features of pruning curly honeysuckle honeysuckle
Curly honeysuckle is most often called honeysuckle. This is a decorative climbing shrub, which is often used by landscape designers for landscaping various low objects - fences, gazebos, arches, gates.
Creeping vines are pruned to rejuvenate the plant and give it the desired shape.
- As a rule, only 4-6 main skeletal branches are left, and the rest are removed.
- The side branches are shortened by 1/3 each year to stimulate their more active branching.
- And when the honeysuckle reaches the required height, then pinch the tops.
- And, of course, they do regular sanitary pruning.
In general, you can cut = shape the honeysuckle as you like.
Video: how to arrange a beautiful honeysuckle bush honeysuckle
Autumn feeding of honeysuckle after fruiting
Shrub is very fond of feeding organic matter, and they can be given simply by pouring them under the bush (for example, as mulch) once every 3-4 years (it is believed that the most suitable fertilizer for honeysuckle is it is rotted horse manure = humus).
In general, the scheme for feeding honeysuckle during the growing season is as follows:
- after fruiting (in autumn) — phosphoric and potash fertilizers (superphosphate + potassium sulfate, diammofoska, potassium monophosphate or any ready-made complex fertilizer marked "Autumn");
And if you are a supporter of organic farming, then your choice for autumn is bone meal (phosphorus) + wood ash (potassium).
- in early spring - nitrogen fertilizers (ammonium nitrate, urea, infusion of mullein or bird droppings);
- during flowering and the beginning of fruiting (including for curly inedible honeysuckle) - complex fertilizers that contain all the main macroelements.
As for how to apply top dressing, after fruiting, it is best to fertilize the plant with a liquid solution directly under the root (it is also allowed to make top dressing in dry form).
Preparing honeysuckle for winter: do I need to cover
Edible honeysuckle is characterized by increased winter hardiness and is able to withstand frosts down to -35 ..- 45 degrees, and flower buds - up to -8 degrees. Therefore, in the spring, she is not afraid of any return frosts.
That is why honeysuckle can be grown in almost all regions, which means that it is ideal for the Middle Belt (Moscow Region), as well as the North-West (Leningrad Region).
Accordingly, there can be no talk of any special honeysuckle shelter for the winter.
However, despite the fact that honeysuckle itself winters well, some gardeners still reinsure themselves and cover the shrub with spruce branches (or even better, just mulch with leaves), but only if the bush was recently planted (especially in the fall).
By the way! Ornamental honeysuckle, the same curly honeysuckle, is considered less frost-hardy than edible, however, it is covered and mulched, as a rule, only in the first years after planting.
Thus, now you know how to care for honeysuckle after fruiting, what to do in the fall and during the preparation of the shrub for winter. As you understand, there is nothing difficult in growing honeysuckle, you just need to follow a few rules and tips.
Worth knowing! There is an opinion: honeysuckle is a forest shrub, it needs minimal care, so the main thing is to place it correctly on the site (choose a suitable place and plant several bushes at the right distance).
By the way! The site has detailed material about how to plant honeysuckle in spring and in the fall.
Video: preparing honeysuckle for winter