Proper care of gooseberries in the autumn is a guarantee of its long-term fruiting, as it allows the plant to gain strength after harvest and prepare for hibernation. In addition to competent processing, bushes need to provide a favorable living environment to prevent the development of fungal and viral diseases. Read about how to care for gooseberries in the fall.
Autumn tillage
In order to provide gooseberries with optimal living conditions before the winter season, it is necessary to take care not only of the shrub itself, but also of the soil. It is necessary to deal with the elimination of weeds and fallen leaves, as well as digging, loosening and mulching.
Foliage and weed removal
The first thing to do is to clean up the garbage, because in the basal area there is an accumulation of foliage, as well as crushed and rotten berries. All garbage should be collected and burned. If this is not done, then the fallen leaves and berries will become a suitable environment for the development of diseases and fungi, as well as an excellent shelter for pests.
Fallen leaves without signs of illness can not be burned, but used as compost.
In autumn, weed should also be weeded under the bushes, since they take food from the gooseberry root system, deplete the soil and affect the increase in humidity, which can trigger the development of viruses. Private guests under the gooseberry bushes are wood lice and wheat grass.
Large weeds should be dug up with a bayonet shovel, and at the end a rake to clear the land of accumulated debris. In order to avoid harm to the roots of gooseberries, it is extremely important not to pull out the rhizomes of the weeds, namely to dig out.
Experienced gardeners recommend leaving the aboveground part of the weeds in the aisles around the bushes and in the trunk circles, slightly chopping with a shovel. In the future, green mass will become a good fertilizer and preserve soil friability.
Digging and cultivating
The ground under the gooseberries must be dug up to perform several tasks:
- destroy pests and spores of fungal diseases;
- prevent soil compaction, as this can lead to the fact that the roots of the plant are deficient in oxygen, rise to the surface and freeze in winter;
- return the soil to a loose state after compaction during harvesting.
Unlike spring digging, in autumn the soil does not need to be broken, but rather turned over with a pitchfork. Loosening is carried out carefully in the middle of the bush and in the near-stem circle with a depth of 5-7 cm. You can deepen along the perimeter and in the aisles by 12-15 cm.
Mulching and hilling
To protect the root system from the coming frosts, to preserve the porosity of the soil and improve its water-air regime, mulching should be carried out after the autumn treatment of the bushes, and it is recommended to do this before frosts appear.
The following components can be used as mulch:
- peat;
- compost with dry leaves;
- rotted sawdust.
The optimal layer of mulch is 10-15 cm. In the spring season it needs to be removed, while destroying wintering pests. After the soil should be slightly loosened to ensure its rapid heating.
If the bushes are heavily infected with a moth, in the autumn they should be bumped to a height of up to 12 cm. In spring, after flowering, the earth needs to be scooped up around the perimeter of the crown to prevent the formation of extra roots for the plant in it.
Watering the bushes in the fall
The shrub should never feel a lack of water, since this is a threat to beginners to grow shoots and the future harvest. In addition, gooseberry branches can dry out in the cold if the plant goes to winter with a dry root system.
Sufficient moisture reserves in the soil will protect the shrubs from freezing in the winter.
If heavy rainfall fell in the fall, then watering should not be carried out, since waterlogging is also undesirable for gooseberries. If the weather is dry and warm, then you should water the plant at the rate of 3-6 buckets per bush. You need to pour water under the root or along the grooves. Watering should be carried out 2-3 days before digging, so that the soil has time to dry.
To prevent infection of the bushes with septoria, anthracnose and powdery mildew, some gardeners resort to the following irrigation method:
- A small ditch is dug around the bush, and along the perimeter of the crown.
- Pour water into the ditch at the rate of up to 30 liters per shrub. The fact is that the gooseberry root system is notable for its power and goes far deeper into the soil, so quite a lot of water is required to moisten the longest and farthest roots of the culture.
- The ditch is covered with an earthen layer after absorbing water into the soil.
After the appearance of flowers and before setting fruit for watering the plant, you can use the drug Ideal - a liquid type fertilizer based on nitrophoska.
Rules and features of pruning bushes
Gooseberry is a berry shrub, so it grows quickly, obscures itself, often gets sick and bears worse fruit. To avoid such consequences, it is recommended to carry out autumn pruning, as it contributes to:
- improving the flow of sunlight and air to the branches located inside the bush;
- reduce the risk of developing diseases and damage by harmful insects;
- giving the shrub the correct shape, so the plant will be easier to care for.
Meanwhile, it is worthwhile to understand that incorrect and untimely pruning will make the shrub weak and worsen its productivity. So that after picking berries, it is worth determining the optimal timing and rules for this gardening manipulation.
When to trim?
It is necessary to concentrate on pruning the bush in November, and this procedure is carried out in two periods:
- After harvest. Pruning of sanitary properties is carried out, in which dried out and diseased branches are eliminated.
- After leaf fall. The rejuvenating and formative pruning option is carried out after the sheet falls, but before the cold comes, the minus temperature is established.
Autumn pruning is to leave 5 strong shoots with a uniform arrangement to each other. They should bring a crop next year.
What to crop?
Trim is necessary:
- all branches affected by any ailment, dried up and with visible damage;
- branches with a very low location (other shoots cast a shadow on them, they lack nutrition and solar heat, so they do not give a good harvest);
- branches with excessive thickening of the crown (they grow in the center or inside the plant itself and begin to become confused with other branches);
- all old branches (five years of age and older).
A young and infirm growth with thin branches is shortened to the largest kidney. It should not go to the inside of the bush, but to the outside.
There are also so-called “zero” shoots growing from the ground. If they are strong, they should be shortened by a quarter above the kidneys for optimal branching. Weak shoots need to be completely cut to prevent shading of the crown. The number of shoots should not be more than four.
The right cropping technique
Trimming an old gooseberry bush is best with a delimber or a sector that has long handles. Of course, you can use the usual pruner, which is designed to trim young branches, but when working with it you can prick, because the bush is spiny. To save hands, wear protective gloves, such as a welder.
The sector must cut to the base all the lower and old branches, as well as substitution shoots. Excessive growth and competitor branches should also be eliminated without hemp, in close proximity to the branching area. It turns out that pruning the old branch goes to the place where it branches or there is a young growth.
In order to successfully shorten the fragile young shoots, on the outside it is important to find a strong kidney and trim above it with an indent by a centimeter.
Young shoots differ from the old ones in that they are thinner and lighter. So, the old shoots are quite thick and have a dark brown tint, close to black. Consequently, with aging, the branches of gooseberries become thicker and darker.
Gooseberry pruning tips and tricks, the blogger shares in the video below:
The scheme of the formation of culture by year
To get strong bushes and good yields, it is advisable to follow a clear pruning scheme for years:
- immediately after planting seedlings - all shoots are shortened, leaving 3-4 buds above the soil surface;
- after 1 year - all shoots are cut into 4-5 buds, leaving several zero shoots (during the same period, sanitization is started - diseased branches and those that are directed to the center of the bush are removed);
- after 2 years - spend pinching of zero shoots (1/4), and also shorten the growth on skeletal branches;
- after 3-4 years - they will do the same manipulations as in the previous period, not forgetting about sanitary pruning;
- for the 5th year onwards - carry out sanitary pruning, and then rejuvenating, completing the process with manipulations of the type of 2 years.
Every year, you should leave 2-3 new zero shoots of substitution.
Stub formation
The standard method of forming a bush is also used, which makes caring for it easier. The method consists in the formation of a round shape of a bush with branches of different ages. It is important to determine the height of the stem. The meter is considered standard, so the side shoots are even up to this mark.
A soft tube is put on the trunk to prevent the passage of light, a little more than a meter long, and they tie the bush to the support for the fortress. Next, shorten strong young branches, about half the length, and old (from 7 years) completely removed.
This method significantly saves space on the site and allows good lighting. But for this type of pruning, only frost-resistant gooseberry varieties should be chosen, because a tall bush is less resistant to cold.
Autumn top dressing
Gooseberries bear fruit abundantly, therefore, they need enhanced autumn top dressing. She will prepare the bush for laying flower buds next year. The plant needs fertilizers such as:
- Phosphorus. With its deficiency, the leaves become stained, the shoots thin out, the fruit buds are poorly formed. In the case of prolonged phosphorus starvation, the winter hardiness of the plant decreases, so it grows more slowly, does not branch, and does not give lateral shoots.
- Potassium. Its deficiency becomes the cause of chopping and underdevelopment of berries. Without potassium, the leaves become streaked and die. In addition, the plant is quite difficult to survive the winter, which is extremely dangerous for the northern regions.
- Compost. It is a mass of organic type that enriches the soil with nutrients. It consists of tops, weeds and particles of garden plants. It is applied until complete decomposition.
- Ash. In addition to enriching the earth with potassium and phosphorus, it will be a good prevention against diseases and parasites.
It is important to consider that in the autumn period it is not necessary to use nitrogen fertilizers, since they will not bring the plant any benefit and will be washed out by rains until spring.
So, during digging in the soil under one bush, the following fertilizers should be applied:
- 6-12 kg of well-rotted organics;
- 20 g of potash fertilizers (potassium sulfate);
- 30 g of phosphate fertilizers (double superphosphate);
- 300 g of oven ash.
In early autumn, it is also recommended to carry out foliar top dressing of bushes that are older than three years. So, you will need to sprinkle gooseberries with a solution of superphosphate (230 g) and potassium salt (120 g) in a bucket of water.
In the immediate vicinity of frost, peat or humus must be added to each plant to additionally “warm” the root system. The layer should have a thickness of about 10 cm. This is enough to cover the inner part of the bush and the strip near the bush.
In the absence of adequate feeding in the fall, more nutrient fertilizers will have to be applied in the spring.
Features of preparing for winter in different regions
Due to differences in climatic conditions in different regions, preparation for winter takes place at different times. In addition, the intensity of care activities is slightly different. Here are the features of preparing for winter in various regions:
- in the northern regions and the Siberian part of Russia, preparatory activities begin as early as the first month of autumn to do everything before the cold;
- in the southern regions pay special attention to watering, especially if the summer turned out to be arid;
- in areas of central Russia with a predominance of acidic podzolic soils, pay special attention to top dressing - increase doses of organic and mineral fertilizers;
- in the Urals, in the northern regions and Siberia, for successful wintering, bend the branches of the bush and fix them in this position with pegs, and cover the gooseberries with snow or cover with special material from above;
- in the northern regions, special attention should also be paid to timely soil fertilization, since a deficiency of basic nutrient components can lower the plant's immunity by the beginning of the winter period.
Practice has shown that the best way to preserve gooseberries is the snow layer, so in those regions where the winters are really snowy, cultures are advised to spud with a layer of snow immediately after its first loss. If severe frosts hit, then branches can be covered with dry grass as protection. It must be prepared from the beginning of September and partially preserved until the beginning of the spring period.
As a protection against frost, the branches can also be covered with a cardboard or plywood shield.
Parasite control and disease prevention
The autumn period is the time of compulsory processing of the culture from diseases and parasites. It contributes to the healthy development of gooseberries and increases its productivity. To this end, the following procedures should be performed:
- 3% solution of iron sulfate, process the bushes after leaf decay to prevent fungal diseases. In the same way, 1-3% Bordeaux can be used.
- Treat the plant with a 5% solution of baking soda in order to successfully overcome powdery mildew.
- Protect the plant from septoria, anthracnose and gobble rust by treating the soil and the bush itself with oxychloride (40 g per 10 l of water), an emulsion based on soap and copper or an infusion of ash. The foliage on earth must be destroyed by fire.
- Protect the bush from aphids, fires and sawflies by treating it with a solution of Karbofos (20 g per 10 liters of water). For these purposes, infusions are suitable - ash (1 kg per 10 liters of water), husks from onions, finely chopped garlic or potato tops.
For the prevention and operational control of ailments should stock up on such means as:
- Fitosporin;
- Topaz;
- Fundazole.
It is recommended to treat shrubs with these drugs both after harvest, and before the period of the appearance of flowers. They are classified as complex fungicides and are used to protect plants from the most dangerous problems - powdery mildew, anthracnose and leaf rust, which affects even young shoots.
Gardeners Mistakes
Improper actions by a gardener can cause a poor harvest. So, beginners often make such mistakes:
- When preparing the soil for winter, they dig too deep around the bush, as a result of which the root system of the plant is damaged. Categorically it is impossible to deeply loosen the soil in the radius of the root.
- Shrubs are excessively pruned or this gardening manipulation is completely neglected, as a result of which fruit bearing and normal plant development are disrupted. Each year, autumn pruning should be carried out, but strictly in compliance with the previously given rules.
Gooseberries are one of the main “long-livers” of gardens and household plots. If you correctly carry out the autumn work and the corresponding processing of the culture, then every season you can collect a large crop of any berries. It is noteworthy that with proper care, one course can bear fruit for a decade and a half.