Gooseberry grafting: how to grow a standard, planting and care with a photo

The beautiful standard gooseberry is recognized to become a decoration of the site and amazes relatives and guests. You can get such a plant by grafting a gooseberry, 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 plant 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 illumination, the berries are relatively larger and with better taste. Flowers and ovaries are much less affected by spring late frosts.
2. Beautiful type of plant, which is taken into account in landscape design.
3. Used in small areas to save space.

Pros and cons of growing gooseberries on a bole

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

The main advantages of this cultivation include:

• a standard bush covered with flowers and berries looks extremely impressive and attracts attention;
• the risk of powdery mildew damage to leaf blades and berries decreases;
• this shrub gives fruits one and a half times more than usual;
• more convenient to care for, handle with special tools;
• easier to take care of the near-trunk area;
• harvest comfortably.

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

• require more care: remove root shoots, sprouts that appear on the stem;
• despite the large size of the fruit, the yield is falling;
• in cold climates, there is an increased risk of frost damage if the variety is not hardy enough;
• increases the likelihood of damage to the plant currant glass;
• The vital activity of a plant depends on the trunk, the main and single shoot.

What gooseberries are grafted on

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

Fruit trees and bushes

You can grow gooseberries on a fruit tree. But it is suitable for experimenting gardeners as it comes with a lot of risk.

Cherry is used extremely rarely, despite the success of foreign experiments. Survival is average. In practical application, numerous rejection of grafted parts has been noticed. But with effective 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 established grafts is low. The grafted part does not hold well.

Thus, the use of fruit trees is considered an experimental option.

When grafting, golden currant seedlings are used, and gooseberry cuttings are grafted onto its bole.Currant stock must be grown from cuttings or layering on their own. Moreover, forcing is not carried out by a bush, but is directed to the formation of vertical shoots.

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

Compatible gooseberry varieties

In the process of choosing a rootstock, the question arises: how to graft gooseberries on gooseberries? For such a procedure, it is necessary to choose the right variety:

1. Oregon Gooseberry: Great for high rainfall or high water areas as currants tend to develop dropsy (edema) in these conditions.
2. Common Gooseberry: Excellent as a rootstock, along with Oregon and Golden Currants.
3. 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

In order for the vaccination procedure to be effective, you need:

1. For winter grafting, it is important to properly prepare cuttings and stock. Cuttings should be strong annual shoots. Rootstock: 1-2-year-old currant seedlings. Before the spring vaccination, the cuttings must be in a dormant state.
2. For grafting in the spring, prepare the cuttings in the first weeks of winter, store in the snow, move to the refrigerator when heat appears.

When should I get vaccinated?

The gooseberry grafting procedure is carried out in summer, winter or spring. Grafting by cuttings on previously prepared and sufficiently strengthened rootstock seedlings is carried out throughout the growing season:

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

Vaccination in winter and spring brings excellent performance, which is carried out in the last week of February - early March.

How to graft a gooseberry on a bole: a technological process

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

Preparing the scion

For winter grafting, cuttings of a varietal plant (scion) are harvested. The thorns are cut from them. Stored at temperatures from 0 to 3 ^{оС. Wet sand, peat or sawdust is used for storage.}

Preparing the rootstock

Rootstocks for grafting in winter are dug up in autumn. They must be stored in the basement, wet peat, sand, sawdust are used. The optimum temperature for preservation is 0-3 ^oC.

Step-by-step vaccination technology

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

It is necessary to choose so that the rootstock and scion correspond to each other in diameter. The vaccination procedure is carried out in February-March. Rooted cuttings of the rootstock are placed in a cold basement in the fall. After vaccination, until the moment of fusion of both parts, they are placed in conditions with a temperature regime of 18 to 23 degrees. Keep cool until disembarkation.

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 reproduction by layering upwards. Grafting is carried out in the butt with a cutting that is almost lignified. In the autumn period, such a graft will take root, the shrub with grafted cuttings is divided.

In splitting, grafting is carried out in the spring, even before the onset of the growing season, and at the end of summer.

Grafting is recommended to be carried out using the improved copulation method according to the following plan:

1. On the rootstock, determine a strong vertically formed sprout. Cut the remaining shoots under the base.
2. Choose a scion stalk that matches the diameter of the scion.
3. On the scion from below, make an oblique cut, try to make its length correspond to three values of the cutting diameter. Then place it in a container with a solution of "Heteroauxin".
4. On the rootstock, make a similar cut at the required height. As a rule, it is 0.6-0.8 m. Moisten the resulting cut with "Heteroauxin".
5. Get the stalk from the "Heteroauxin" and make a tongue a couple of millimeters in size on the lower incision.
6. Attach the edge of the cutting to the rootstock, outline the section of the cut. It should match the location of the tongue, and perform a similar one on the stock.
7. Join both parts in a puzzle pattern - tongue to tongue.
8. Tie the grafting site with special tape (self-destructive) or similar material.
9. Cut the cutting from above and cover the grafting site with tape with garden pitch. The kidneys on the entire surface of the bole, which are from the graft down, blind. Tie the plant to a support.

How to grow and care for standard gooseberries?

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

• shaping in stages on a long or low stem;
• with vaccination.

It is believed that getting gooseberries on your own stem is easier.

Steps of action:

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

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

How to properly shape and trim a bush

When the grafted shoots grow back, it is necessary to remove all leaf blades and thorns on the rootstock. Do not let them germinate during the summer. It is also important to remove the growth of the root part. 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 are 20 cm long, remove their growing points. This is done to stimulate the branching of shoots in the current season. Further formation is carried out arbitrarily, taking into account personal desires.

Pruning bushes is easy, and getting a spectacular spherical shape is not difficult. To get the orb:

• at the end of the second season, you need to try to grow about 6 leading shoots;
• main conductor shortened 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 the old branches, but gradually, observing symmetry. All shoots that have grown below the vaccination site are removed in a timely manner.

Advice for gardeners on 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 clean from the bark and impregnate the lower end.
2. The garter must be done three times: two on the trunk and on the crown. If the shrub is fruitful, then to prevent breaking off the branches, the support is taken longer, and fixing bases are led from it in several directions.
3. When planting several bushes, fastening is done on horizontal trellises.

The standard gooseberry is an ornament and is successfully used in landscape design. It is easier to care for, but such a plant requires special care and timely proper pruning.

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