Gooseberry Mashenka (Masheka)

The Belarusian gooseberry variety Mashenka, or Masheka, is the owner of unique coral berries. The variety is capricious, it will require some skills from the gardener to care for this shrub, but it pays off with excellent harvests and very beautiful fruits. Included in the Register of Approved Varieties in 2007.

The bush is very tall, up to 150 cm in height, spreading, dense, with thick, slightly curved shoots. Shoots are smooth, without fluff, light or dark brown in color, depending on their age. Leaves are medium in size, dark green in color, wrinkled. The flowers are typical for gooseberries, pale greenish. Thorns are thin, long, solitary, located along the entire length of the shoots. The number of spines is average.

The berries are medium in size, from 2.8 to 4 g, slightly elongated, in shape between round and oval. The color is bright, beautiful, especially in the light - brick-red, at the stage of incomplete ripeness - orange-red. There are many seeds, the pulp is juicy. The skin is medium, smooth, without pubescence, the veins are lighter, more visible, well branched and dense. The berries tolerate transportation very well.

The taste is very pleasant, sweet and sour, delicate and delicate. The sweetness is well expressed. Tasting grade score - 4.0 points. The appointment is universal. Berries are eaten fresh, compotes are made, berry assortments, jams and raw preserves are prepared. The variety is bright, can be suitable for making homemade wine.

A variety of medium ripening. Harvesting - from the end of June in warm regions, from the beginning of July - in colder regions.

Productivity up to 90.1 c / ha, according to other sources - 9-14 t / ha. Up to 6 kg of berries can be harvested from one bush.

The variety is included in the State Register for the Central Region. Can be grown in the Volga-Vyatka region. In colder areas, the Russian Federation will require careful shelter for the winter.

For Mashenka's gooseberries, as for all gooseberries, they choose bright, sheltered places. If cold winters are expected, it is best to plan the site right away so that you can easily cover the bushes with snow completely.

Gooseberries do not like low-lying places with stagnant water, places near paths or near the foundation of houses. The distance from the buildings should be at least 1 meter, and preferably more, the gooseberry has a very actively growing root system in breadth. The soil should be light, breathable, flexible for loosening. The best soil types are sandy loam and loam. Acidic soils are deoxidized with chalk, dolomite flour or slaked lime (from 200 to 500 grams per 1 sq. M, depending on the degree of acidification of the sites).

Planting pits are prepared shallow, you can plant bushes in trenches. The distance between the bushes is 1-1.5 meters. The depth of the pit is 35-45 cm, the diameter is 60 cm. A nutrient mixture is poured onto the bottom of the pit, consisting of 1 bucket of humus, 1 glass of sifted birch or pine ash and 1 tbsp. l. superphosphate. Gooseberries are planted obliquely, deepening by 5 cm.The soil around is well compacted, thoroughly watered, mulched with a layer of organic matter (sawdust, straw, humus) of at least 10 cm if the plants are planted in autumn. Plants planted in spring will need frequent watering. After planting, the branches of the seedling are cut to 2/3 of the length.

The variety is hygrophilous. Water during the period of active growth and in the first year. During fruiting, watering is necessary only if the summer is very dry. Excess moisture will negatively affect the quality of the berries - they will become more watery and tasteless.

The resistance of Mashenka to diseases and pests is high. But in the years of outbreaks of gooseberry infectious diseases, the variety can suffer from American powdery mildew, anthracnose, septoria.

For the purpose of prevention, treatments are carried out before the dissolution of the kidneys with copper-containing preparations. In the "green cone" stage, they are sprayed with Bordeaux liquid from various spots and "Tiovit Jet", which prevents powdery mildew and tick attack. On the sheet, you can spray with a solution of ash: 300 g per 10 liters of boiling water, leave for a day, strain. Such a solution disinfects and at the same time acts as a top dressing.

In the summer, during the ripening of the crop, it is better to use biological preparations: "Fitosporin", "Fitoverm", "Baktofit", "Gamair" and others. These are means of biosecurity, they are safe for humans. However, unlike targeted fungicides, insecticides or acaricides, they need to be used more often - up to 2 times a month.

If signs of anthracnose have been noticed, the preparation "Skor" is used before flowering and after harvesting.

The variety has a high self-fertility. He does not need neighbors of other varieties to tie and give the crop. Productivity can fall under unfavorable conditions: too humid summer, low temperatures, lack of watering, improper formation.

All varieties of gooseberries, if you need to remove the maximum yield from them and protect them from diseases, are carefully pruned. The procedure is performed annually starting from the 2nd year of life. Variety Mashenka gives an active growth, it must be removed so as not to deplete the bush. An approximate pruning scheme.

1. In the spring of the next year after planting, remove all branches except the 3-5 strongest ones.

2. In the fall, they examine, remove all broken, damaged branches or those on which there are traces of diseases.

3. Then the spring sanitary and formative pruning is repeated annually. All young shoots are removed, leaving no more than 4 of the strongest shoots.

4. Old branches are cut every 2-3 years in the fall. Branches over 5 years old do not bear fruit well. They are removed completely, the younger ones are examined and shortened to lateral branches.

Fertilizers for gooseberries are not the most necessary care item. Nitrogen fertilizers are best kept to a minimum. An excess will have a bad effect on plants and can even provoke an outbreak of powdery mildew and a decrease in winter hardiness (green shoots that have actively begun to grow will not have time to ripen by winter and will not stand the cold). During the fruiting period, you can feed the plants with mineral fertilizers with an emphasis on high potassium content.

The variety was released not so long ago, there are few reviews. Mashenka definitely arouses interest - no variety has such a magnificent color. In addition to color, it has a unique taste, although it causes conflicting assessments. Some find the berries of this gooseberry bland, sweet, they lack astringency, others call the taste exquisite. Everyone agrees that the taste is unusual for gooseberries, it is delicate and delicate.

Of the minuses: large thorns, the variety does not tolerate heat above 30 ° C, is often damaged by leaf spots, clearly and sensitively reacts to a lack of trace elements, demonstrates poor growth, is affected by powdery mildew. Among the advantages is an excellent yield, Mashenka is strewn with berries, and they begin to ripen quite early. Bushes reproduce well at home. The variety will be of interest to those who value originality, subtle shades of taste, beauty of berries and plan to harvest very large harvests.