How to plant standard gooseberries, cultivation, planting and care

A beautiful standard gooseberry is recognized as a decoration of the site and amazes loved ones and guests. You can get such a plant by grafting gooseberries, or by growing it yourself. It is important to choose the right varieties with winter hardiness and carry out work in accordance with the requirements of agricultural technology.

Why graft gooseberries

There are several reasons for grafting gooseberries:

1. Creation of standard plants. When the crown is slightly raised, it is easier to care for the “berry tree”: harvesting and pruning. With uniform lighting, the berries are relatively larger and have better taste. Flowers and ovaries suffer significantly less from late spring frosts.
2. The beautiful appearance of the plant, which is taken into account in landscape design.
3. Used in small areas as it saves space.

Pros and cons of growing gooseberries on a trunk

Growing gooseberries on a trunk has its own distinctive characteristics, which are characterized by positive and negative sides.

The main advantages of such cultivation include:

• a standard bush covered with flowers and berries looks extremely impressive and attracts attention;
• the risk of damage to leaf blades and berries by powdery mildew is reduced;
• such a bush produces fruit one and a half times more than usual;
• it is more convenient to care for and treat with special means;
• it is easier to care for the tree trunk area;
• comfortable harvesting.

When choosing this method of cultivation, it is recommended to take into account the negative aspects:

• require more care: remove root shoots and shoots appearing on the trunk;
• despite the large size of the fruits, the yield decreases;
• in areas with cold climates, the risk of frost damage increases if the variety is not frost-resistant enough;
• the likelihood of damage to the plant by currant glass increases;
• the vital activity of the plant depends on the trunk, the main and single shoot.

What are gooseberries grafted onto?

Gooseberry grafting is carried out on berry crops (red currants and gooseberries), less often on fruit trees.

Fruit trees and bushes

You can grow gooseberries on a fruit tree. But it is suitable for experimental gardeners because it involves a lot of risk.

Cherry is used extremely rarely, despite the success of foreign experiments. Survival rate is average. In practical use, numerous rejections of the grafted parts have been observed. But with successful grafting, the appearance of large berries with non-standard taste characteristics is noted.

Rowan and plum are used if it is not possible to choose a suitable rootstock. The percentage of surviving scions is low. The grafted part does not hold well.

Thus, the use of fruit trees is considered as experimental options.

When grafting, use golden currant seedlings, and gooseberry cuttings are grafted onto its trunk. Currant rootstock must be grown from cuttings or layering yourself. Moreover, forcing is not carried out by a bush, but is aimed at the formation of vertical shoots.

In addition, experienced gardeners recommend using yoshta, which is a hybrid plant of currants and gooseberries. Advantages: straight shoots, quite strong, resistant to winter frosts, immune to harmful insects and common diseases. For this rootstock, it is necessary to leave a single shoot and pinch off the resulting lateral shoots, which will entail the rapid formation of a thick trunk.

Compatible gooseberry varieties

In the process of choosing a rootstock, the question arises: how to graft gooseberries onto gooseberries? For such a procedure, you need to choose the right variety:

1. Oregon gooseberry: great for areas with a lot of rainfall or deep water, as currants tend to develop dropsy (edema) in such conditions.
2. Common gooseberry: Excellent as a rootstock, standing alongside Oregon and golden currants.
3. The Malachite variety is characterized by an average ripening period, the bush is vigorous, resistant to low temperatures, which is its advantage.

Necessary conditions for the procedure

For the vaccination procedure to be successful, you need to:

1. For winter grafting, it is important to properly prepare cuttings and rootstock. Cuttings must be strong annual shoots. Rootstock: 1-2 year old currant seedlings. Before spring grafting, the cuttings should remain dormant.
2. For grafting in the spring, prepare cuttings in the first weeks of winter, store them in the snow, and move them to the refrigerator when it gets warm.

When should vaccination be done?

The procedure for grafting gooseberries is carried out in summer, winter or spring. Grafting by cuttings onto previously prepared and sufficiently strengthened rootstock seedlings is carried out during the growing season:

• from July to mid-September - in a side cut;
• in the last weeks of summer - in the butt or with an oblique wedge;
• from July to August - budding with a peephole with a piece of wood.

Excellent results are achieved by vaccination in winter and spring, which is carried out in the last week of February - early March.

How to plant gooseberries on a trunk: technological process

Taking into account the time of the grafting procedure, cuttings are prepared in the fall or immediately before the grafting itself.

Scion preparation

For winter grafting, cuttings of a varietal plant (scion) are prepared. The thorns are cut off from them.Stored at temperatures from 0 to 3 ^OC. For storage, wet sand, peat or sawdust is used.

Preparation of the rootstock

Rootstocks for grafting in winter are dug up in the autumn. They must be stored in the basement; wet peat, sand, and sawdust are used. The optimal temperature for storage is 0-3 ^OWITH.

Step-by-step grafting technology

In the process of cultivating gooseberries with a trunk, grafting is used in the butt, side cut, T-shaped cut and in the split.

It is necessary to choose so that the rootstock and scion match each other in diameter. The vaccination procedure is carried out in February-March. Rooted rootstock cuttings are placed in a cold basement in the fall. After grafting, until both parts grow together, they are placed in conditions with a temperature range of 18 to 23 degrees. Store in a cool place until planting.

At the end of the summer period, grafting is carried out on the mother plant. To do this, you need to form a bush for propagation with layering directed upward. Grafting is carried out in the butt using a cutting that is almost lignified. In the autumn, such a scion will take root; the bush with the grafted cuttings is divided.

Grafting into clefts is carried out in the spring, even before the onset of the growing season, and at the end of summer.

It is recommended to carry out grafting using the improved copulation method according to the following plan:

1. Identify a strong, vertically formed sprout on the rootstock. Cut the remaining shoots to the base.
2. Select a scion cutting that matches in diameter.
3. Make an oblique cut on the scion from below, try to ensure that its length corresponds to three sizes of the diameter of the cutting. Next, place it in a container with a Heteroauxin solution.
4. Make a similar cut on the rootstock at the required height. As a rule, this is 0.6-0.8 m. Moisten the resulting cut with “Heteroauxin”.
5. Remove the cutting from Heteroauxin and make a tongue a couple of millimeters in size on the bottom cut.
6. Attach the edge of the cutting to the rootstock and mark the area of ​​the cut. It should coincide in location with the tongue, and perform similar on the rootstock.
7. Connect both parts according to the puzzle pattern - tongue into tongue.
8. Tie the grafting area with a special tape (self-destructive) or other similar material.
9. Cover the cut of the cutting from above and cover the grafting site with tape with garden varnish. The buds on the entire surface of the trunk, located from the grafting downwards, are blinded. Tie the plant to a support.

How to grow and care for standard gooseberries?

To obtain a standard form of gooseberry, certain knowledge is important. Planting and care require simple but important procedures. As a rule, growing standard gooseberries consists of two methods:

• formation in stages on a long or low trunk;
• using vaccination.

It is believed that it is easier to get gooseberries from your own trunk.

Action steps:

1. During the first year, a standard is formed.
2. From the spring of the second season, the sprout is cut off directly at the level of formation of the crown part.
3. Leave about 4 buds below the cut. They should be located on different sides, the distance between them should be from 5 to 8 cm, remove the remaining ones.

You can get a standard of the desired height from all vigorous varieties: Kamenyar, Ruby pendant, Neslukhovsky and others. Choosing the right variety is an important condition. Large-fruited varieties are predominantly selected.

How to properly form and trim a bush

When the grafted shoots grow, it is necessary to remove all leaf blades and thorns on the rootstock. There is no need to allow them to germinate during the summer. It is also important to remove root growth. If necessary, it can be used as additional rootstocks to obtain other varieties. An important condition is the removal of shoots during the life of the plant.

When the grafted parts reach 20 cm in length, remove their growth points. This is done to stimulate branching of shoots in the current season. Further formation is carried out arbitrarily, taking into account personal desires.

The work of pruning bushes is simple, and getting a spectacular spherical shape is not difficult. To get a sphere:

• at the end of the second season you should try to grow about 6 leading shoots;
• shorten the main conductor by 1/8 of the increment length;
• Cut the remaining branches shorter, giving the crown a rounded shape.

When using such pruning, the rejuvenation process is carried out after 6 years. It is necessary to remove old branches, but gradually, maintaining symmetry. All shoots that have grown below the grafting site are promptly removed.

Tips for gardeners on carrying out the procedure

When carrying out work, it is important to consider the following nuances:

1. Install the support simultaneously with planting. For support, a wooden stake is used, which is important to clear of bark and soak the lower end.
2. The garter must be done three times: two on the trunk and on the crown. If the bush is productive, then to prevent branches from breaking off, the support is taken longer, and fixing bases are drawn from it in several directions.
3. When planting several bushes, fastening is done on horizontal trellises.

Standard gooseberries are a decoration and are successfully used in landscape design.It is easier to care for, but such a plant requires special care and timely, correct pruning.