Gooseberries are a popular culture that is grown not only in private farms, but also on an industrial scale. The huge variety of varieties bred by breeders often makes it difficult for gardeners to plant a plant in their area. One of the best options is the large-fruited Plum variety, which has a lot of positive characteristics.

Selection history

Variety Plum was bred at the All-Russian Research Institute. I.V. Michurina, dealing with gardening problems. His cultivation was carried out by the breeder-scientist K. D. Sergeeva.

The new culture was obtained by crossing the Malachite gooseberry variety with a combination of Northern grape pollen and slightly prickly seedlings. After passing the research, the mid-early Plum variety was included in the State Register in 1986.

Description

Gooseberry Plum variety is represented by a vigorous bush with a compact crown. The shrub grows in erect shoots with thick spikes located along the entire length. Gooseberry leaves are dark green, not pubescent, with short teeth and a weak matte sheen (there are also glossy ones). Sheet platinum - 5-lobed.

The variety belongs to large-fruited - ripe berries have a weight of up to 6.5 g. Fruits are round-oval, brown-red in color - they are also called prune or prune (in an overripe state).

The skin is elastic, has weak veins and a light wax coating, and the flesh is juicy. On the palate - fruits are sweet with a delicate acidity, have a plum flavor. On a tasting scale, taste is rated at 4.2 points out of 5 possible.

The special value of gooseberry fruits lies in their chemical composition and healing properties. The berry contains a large percentage of vitamins of groups A, B, C, as well as useful minerals (manganese, potassium, copper, phosphorus).

At the same time, the calorie content of the product is quite low (44 kcal per 100 g), so it is prescribed for diets. It is proved that gooseberries are able to reduce the risk of developing lung cancer, diseases of the cardiovascular system by one third, and significantly strengthen the immune system.

Important! Atgooseberry food intake should be limited to people suffering from exacerbation of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, ulcers and gastritis. It is also not recommended to use it for nursing mothers, since gooseberries can cause flatulence in infants.

Advantages and disadvantages

• Based on the description of the culture, we can distinguish its main advantages, namely:
• plentiful productivity;
• frost resistance;
• large fruits;
• dessert taste and benefits of berries;
• undemanding to leaving;
• resistance to powdery mildew.

• Disadvantages gooseberry Plum also has:
• the presence of a large number of sharp spikes on the shoots, which makes it difficult to care and harvest;
• the inability to grow a similar crop from seeds (as, incidentally, in the case of other varietal species).

Video: Plum Gooseberry

Drought resistance, frost resistance

The culture is able to tolerate a drop in temperature to -30 ° C, not afraid of spring return frosts. Shelter for the winter is required in those regions where very little snow falls.

Gooseberries have an average drought tolerance - they can remain without watering for about 1 month, but this should not be allowed, since the lack of the necessary level of soil moisture will slow down the development of shoots, and may lead to their death and loss of crop.

Productivity and fruiting

With proper care, the gooseberry Plum gives an abundant harvest annually - up to 5 kg from the bush. It comes into bearing for 2-3 years after planting. The variety is mid-early - ripe berries are harvested in mid-July.

Landing

Proper fit means a lot. It is important to choose a safe place, time, and also responsibly approach the acquisition of seedlings.

The timing

Some experienced gardeners prefer to plant gooseberries in early spring. Occupation is quite risky - if you miss the right moment, the young plant will not have time to take root before the start of the growing season and, most likely, will disappear.

It is better to carry out planting work in the fall, in September, when the growth of shoots stops and the seedlings can easily adapt before the onset of frost.

Choosing the right place

Gooseberries love open sunny areas, but weak partial shade will do. It is necessary to choose a place where there are no drafts, and strong gusts of wind will not provoke fruit fall.

For a crop, it is important that the soil is moist, but not waterlogged. Conditions such as wetlands and high groundwater flow can cause plant root disease. It is better to choose a drier area and regularly water the gooseberries, controlling the level of humidity.

The landing site must be well fertilized. It is better to apply top dressing directly to the planting holes.

1-2 months before you plan to plant bushes, dig holes 40-50 cm deep, fill the bottom with a drainage layer (gravel, broken brick), and pour fertilizer on top: 5 kg of manure, 25 g of potassium salt and 30 g superphosphate (all components must be mixed with several shovels of earth).

Now you need to water the pits well (10 liters each) so that the fertilizers are absorbed into the soil.

Selection and preparation of planting material

When choosing gooseberry seedlings, make sure that they do not have damaged or dry shoots. Each bush should have developed roots, about 20–25 cm long, and several strong shoots with buds. Better to buy 2 year old seedlings.

Before planting, it is better to treat the bushes with growth biostimulants, such as, for example, Kornevin, which not only contributes to the development of the root system, but also reduces the impact on the culture of unfavorable conditions (drought, waterlogging, etc.).

Landing pattern

If several seedlings are to be planted, the distance between the holes should be about 1.5 m. In a multi-row planting, the distance between the rows is 2–2.5 m.

The procedure for landing is as follows:

1. The seedling is placed in the hole, spreading the root system.
2. They fill up with soil to the middle of the landing pit.
3. Watered, spending 5 liters of settled water.
4. Fill up the soil, slightly compacting the landing.
5. Watered, spending 6-7 liters of water.
6. The trunk section is mulched with peat, sand or sawdust.

Features of seasonal care

Gooseberry Plum does not require increased attention from a person. Nevertheless, in order to protect the culture from diseases and provide it with normal conditions for development and fruiting, care is necessary.

Soil care

Gooseberries are responsive to moist soil, so they need periodic watering. After planting, the bushes are watered especially intensively - 10-12 liters of water for each planting 3 times a week.

By the end of spring, if there is no drought, watering can be reduced to 1-2 times a week. Before budding, one water-charging irrigation will not hurt, when 20-25 liters of water are applied under each plant.

In summer, watering depends on the amount of precipitation, you need to regularly check the soil - it should be moist, but not wet.

A break can be made during the fruiting period - excess soil moisture can give the berries a sour taste.

The soil under the shrubs is loosened once every 2-3 weeks, but not deep, so as not to damage the roots.

This is necessary so that the soil crust does not form, and the air flows unhindered to the rhizome. Simultaneously with loosening, the site is weeded, eliminating weed grass.

Preventative treatment

Gooseberry preventative treatment is aimed at eliminating factors that can provoke a disease of culture. First of all, this is the maintenance of landings in proper condition.

Throughout the season, the bushes should be inspected, thinned out so that they do not turn into thickets, comply with the rules of irrigation and apply fertilizing on time.

In addition to these main points, periodic treatment of gooseberries with biological and chemical preparations is required. In early March, shrubs are sprayed with hot water (+ 70 ° C), and, after a couple of weeks - with a 2% solution of Bordeaux mixture. In the fall, after pruning, the plants are treated with copper sulfate. Throughout the entire season (except for the fruiting period), such drugs as “Prophylactin”, “Fitoverm” can be used for prevention.

Top dressing

Gooseberries have been fertilized since the 2nd year. After winter sleep, the plant needs a lot of strength to build up shoots. During this period, the bushes need organic top dressing - 6-7 kg of compost or manure are applied under each shrub.

Before starting budding, the soil near each shrub is fertilized with 5 l of mullein solution, which is prepared from the calculation: 20 g of the product per 10 l of water.

After harvesting, plants that have lost a lot of energy during the season require mineral fertilizers. You can purchase complex compounds with a high content of potassium and phosphorus.

Support

The organization of the support will allow the gooseberry to develop better - the bush will look neat, well ventilated and warmed up. During fruiting, the lateral stems can bend to the ground and take root, and the garter of the shrub will not allow this.

Support can be made in two ways.

The first is good for lonely growing specimens: wooden stakes (4-5 pieces) are driven around the bush, which are wrapped in three rows of wire with a height of the upper tier of about 1.5 m, and the bottom - 50-60 cm from the ground.

Being in such a fence, the bush will significantly save space on the site.

The second method - trellis, is used if several shrubs are planted in a row. Supports are driven in along the edges of the row, between which the wire is also pulled in 3 rows.

As the shoots grow, they are evenly distributed on the trellis, fixing with twine. This type of support makes harvesting easier.

Pruning

Starting from the age of 2, gooseberries need to be trimmed. The two main procedures for cutting shrubs are carried out in autumn and spring. In the spring-summer period, the plant gives a lot of new shoots and can turn into thickets in a couple of years without human intervention. As a result, the shrub is poorly lit by the sun, the fruits are smaller, and diseases progress in full swing.

Did you know? Gooseberries can be grown in a standard form, turning into a decorative tree. To do this, you first need to leave one strong shoot, which will become a trunk as a result, and constantly cut the rest of the shoots.

Spring pruning is preventive, it is carried out very early, before the start of active vegetation. Dry, damaged branches are removed from the bush, and last year's shoots are also shortened by a third.

In autumn, gardeners will have more painstaking work. After a hot summer, when the shoot actively grew and multiplied, young weak shoots are removed from the bushes, which until winter will have time to form good skeletal branches, but will take away the necessary nutrients from the plant. Old shoots with chopped berries are also cut.

In addition to spring-autumn pruning, throughout the summer it is necessary to monitor the bush, remove dried, weak shoots or affected by diseases.

Harvesting and storage

Starting to harvest, you need to prepare a shallow container - it is better if it is wicker baskets or baskets made of natural material with holes for ventilation. You can use plastic, cardboard containers.

Berries are harvested as they ripen, avoiding ripeness (such fruits are suitable only for quick consumption or processing).

Sometimes gooseberries are harvested in an unripe state - then it is stored much longer and transfers transportation over long distances, ripening with time.

Fresh berries are stored in a cool place for up to 5 days, unripe - about 10 days.

For longer savings, the fruits are frozen or dried, canned jams and compotes are prepared.

Winter preparations

In autumn, you need to take care that the gooseberry wintered safely. For this, both the plant itself and the area on which it grows are put in order. You can start work from mid to late October. First of all, you need to trim the bushes and weed the soil, removing the overgrown weeds.

If leaves remain on the branches, it is better to remove them too. Do this in tight gloves, moving along the stems from the bottom up (in the opposite direction you can damage the kidneys).

After such cleaning, it is necessary to collect all biological residues and burn, so as not to provoke the appearance of a fungus and the wintering of harmful insects. Now the bushes need to be sprayed with drugs that prevent diseases.

The next step is loosening the soil with the simultaneous application of fertilizers, after which the bushes are abundantly watered (25-30 liters of water per 1 planting) and mulched. Gooseberries are cold-resistant crops, but it will not hurt to shelter them for the winter.

The shoots remaining on the bush must be bent to the ground, fixed with wire staples and covered with fir branches or with special material - agrofibre. Now, fed, watered and covered, the shrubs will fall into a state of rest and winter well.

Breeding methods

Gooseberry varieties Plum can be propagated in several ways: seeds, cuttings, layering and dividing the bush. It is rare for anyone to propagate a seed culture - this method is more suitable for breeding, as it is quite time-consuming and does not guarantee that the new plant will take over the signs of the mother.

More often, gardeners propagate their favorite shrub by layering. Work begins in early spring (in March): several furrows up to 10 cm deep are dug around the bush, into which annual shoots selected from the sides of the bush are laid and fixed with wooden staples.

When young shoots appear from the buds of the lying stems, the furrows can be sprinkled with soil. When young shoots reach 15-centimeter height, they are spudded. Throughout the summer, planting is watered and loosened, and in the fall, already ingrained material can be separated from the mother bush and transplanted to a new place.

If you want to to propagate your favorite bush using cuttings, proceed to the collection of material in the first half of July (at this time the shoots suspend growth). Cuttings are cut from stems with a length of not more than 20 cm with 8-10 nodes. For their planting, you need to prepare a container with a substrate of sand and peat in the same proportions.

Cuttings are deepened by 2 cm in the substrate and covered with a film (plastic, glass), organizing a greenhouse. Rooting of the material should take place at an air temperature of + 25 ... + 27 ° C and a humidity of 90%. Plants stay in the greenhouse until spring, after which they are transplanted into the open ground.

Reproduction by dividing the bush is carried out in the fall. Gooseberries need to be carefully dug up with a shovel, cut the rhizome into several fragments and each of them, together with the ground, carefully transplanted into a new landing pit.

Did you know? Previously, gooseberries were much larger than the current berries. American powdery mildew is to blame for everything - a disease that destroyed many gooseberry plantations at the beginning of the 20th century. After this, the breeders have not been able to restore the primary appearance of the fruit.

Diseases and Pests

Gooseberry Plum - the culture is not weak, it has a particularly good immunity to powdery mildew. Despite this, improper care or poor planting sometimes provokes the occurrence of fungal infections. Diseases can also be transmitted by pests, which are not averse to feasting on gooseberries.

If you find that the plant is affected by diseases (powdery mildew, rust, spotting), it should be treated with fungicides "Fundazol", "Topaz". From harmful insects (ticks, moths, aphids, scale insects) insecticides "Confidor", "Aktara" help.

Gooseberries are a wonderful berry culture, the fruits of which have a dessert flavor and a rich vitamin composition. Having planted the Plum variety on your site, you will have the pleasure of annually getting an excellent harvest without spending a lot of time and effort.