Gooseberry gingerbread man

For a number of decades, this culture has confidently retained its popularity, despite the emergence of new productive and advanced varieties. The reason for this is the successful combination of its positive qualities - a good level of frost resistance, disease resistance, ease of cultivation, excellent fruit properties and ease of care.

The universal culture Kolobok (Kolobok) was bred by employees of the All-Russian Breeding Research Institute in 1988, during the mixing of varieties Smena and Pink-2. She was quickly entered into the State Register and, according to the recommendations, she began to be cultivated in the Central, Volgo-Vyatka and East Siberian regions.

The culture is medium-sized, with medium-spreading, thickened bushes with strong branching, which are formed by multiple thin and curved shoots. Subsequently, the variety requires regular pruning.

Thorniness is weak, and separately growing, not very sharp, shortened thorns grow at an angle of 45 ° to the branches. Young (not lignified) shoots are greenish, of small thickness, elongated, devoid of edges. Mature branches (lignified) acquire light gray shades. The plant's shoot-regenerating ability is excellent.

Leaves are significant or slightly smaller, slightly shiny, greenish, three-lobed, softish, grow in relation to the branches at an angle of 30 ° and keep on a small petiole. The leaf blades are slightly concave in the center, with denticles at the edges.

Flowers are large and medium in size, single or grouped in 2-3 pieces. They are formed on 1-2-year-old shoots, no pollinators are required. However, in the presence of other species, they give out large yields.

The culture is largely dependent on the activities of the bees. According to experimental studies, the apiary located near the planting contributes to both an increase in the number of ovaries up to 5 times, and an improvement in the properties and dimensions of ripening berries.

Any varieties growing at a distance of 40 m and blooming simultaneously are suitable as pollinating plants. Common pollinators of the culture are gooseberry bushes:

• Plum;
• Pink-2;
• Russian.

Of the advantages of culture, we note:

• excellent adaptive ability;
• a small number of thorns, which makes it easier to eat berries;
• high level of resistance to disease;
• excellent yield level;
• good transportability and long-term preservation of commercial properties;
• ripe fruits do not fall off.

Minuses:

• large thickening of the bushes;
• the relative level of cold resistance and drought resistance.

On the bushes of the culture, berries of various sizes are formed - 3-8 g.In configuration, the fruits are round-oval, dark reddish, with medium venation, in color of the veins somewhat lighter than the main tone.

The peel is compacted, when ripe it becomes dark red, with lightened veins. The fruits are covered with an abundant waxy layer and contain about 25 seeds. They can stay on the branches for a long time, but they can be removed easily, with a dry separation.

By chemical composition, fruits include: soluble dry compositions - 12.4%, sugars - 8.7%, titratable acidity - 2.7%, ascorbic acid - 25.0 mg / 100 g, anthocyanins - 25.0 mg / 100 g ...

In terms of taste, the fruits are sweet-sour, and are considered dessert. Tasting score in points - 4.5.

The crop begins to bear fruit early. 2-year-old cuttings are capable of bearing fruit the next year. The ripening period is 40-50 days after the end of flowering. In temperate latitudes, the greatest fruiting occurs in mid-July, and in cold summer - at the end of the month. Maturation is synchronous.

The average yield is 4-6 kg per bush.

The culture has an unusually high level of adaptation of seedlings - up to 85-90%.

Planting of young growth is carried out in the warm autumn season, so that the bushes can take root in the soil in time. The optimal time for this is October, when the frosts at night are not intense, and the soil has not had time to freeze. Areas should be lighted, level and windless. For planting, pits are prepared at a depth of 0.5-0.6 m with dimensions of 50 × 50 cm.

Requirements for the selected seedlings:

• bushes of medium size with small and evenly spaced roots;
• healthy appearance of stems and leaves.

Landing features.

1. It is more expedient to plant the bushes according to a checkerboard pattern, at a distance of 1 m between them.
2. The culture drains the soil intensively. To avoid this, a small recess is made in the near-root space, in which moisture will remain after irrigation.
3. Before planting, it is recommended to soak the roots of the seedlings in a solution of sodium humate (60 g per 5 l of water) for 5-6 hours. 7 days before planting, the bottom of the planting recess is laid out with compost (10-12 cm), and the top is covered with fertile soil (2-3 cm). The trees are set perpendicular to the groove.
4. During planting, the root collar is deepened by 5-7 cm. When pruning, 5-7 renal nodules are left.
5. Planting is followed by irrigation in the amount of 10-12 liters of water for each bush.
6. When planting in the spring, instead of humus, the composition of superphosphate and potassium sulfate is introduced, and the soil dusting is carried out with the compaction of the layer.

Planting top dressing satisfies the plant's nutritional requirements for up to 3 years. In the 3rd year of growth, the culture is stimulated by the introduction of a special composition based on compost.

Bushes should be tied up at 2-3 levels to reduce the stress on the branches.

Irrigation is carried out in the course of the drying out of the soil, without contributing to drying out or stagnation of water. Water the bushes 1-2 times a week. Large pauses in irrigation cause the berries to crack. Loosening and weeding are required.

The culture needs the systematic pruning of aging and unproductive branches. 5-6 buds are left on the branches of one-year-olds. Bushes do not like shading, and grow weakly with intense branching. Abundant fruiting is observed when the bushes have 23-25 ​​stems of different ages.

The final pruning is done in early to mid-October, also pruning all branches older than 5 years. After that, the branches are grouped together and tied. Then add top dressing and dig up the soil.

The culture is characterized by a reliable degree of resistance to the main diseases - anthracnose and powdery mildew. Of the malicious attacks, the most dangerous attacks are:

• kidney moth;
• moths;
• red-gall aphid;

With relatively good resistance to wrecking attacks, plantings should still be subjected to preventive special treatment. Soap solution or chemicals ("Lepidocide", Bordeaux liquid) are often used for these purposes.

The culture was bred for cool climates. It tolerates short temperature drops down to -37 ° C. Somewhat more often, the bushes destroy thaws and significant temperature fluctuations.

The bushes are moderately resistant to short-term droughts, but protracted ones do not withstand.