No, it's not for nothing that gooseberry is called the northern grapes - in its rather small berries there is a real treasure trove of vitamins . But that gooseberries year after year pleased with abundant and high-quality harvest, his bushes need careful and competent care. About the rules of spring care for gooseberry we will talk today.
Gooseberries - growing and grooming in spring
Step 1 - pest control
Spring care for gooseberry begins in early spring, when nature is just beginning to wake up, and snow has not yet come down from the fields. It is during this period that you need to help the bush to get rid of pests that sleep on it. To do this, the ground part of the bush is treated with steam or watered from a shallow watering can with boiling water. Short-term contact with hot water or steam sleeping sleeper can not hurt, but the larvae of insects will destroy without a doubt. To protect a bush it is possible and with the help of decoctions of natural insecticides - needles, white and red elderberry. In especially neglected cases, you can also use "heavy artillery" - preparations "Karate", "Malathion", "Dinadim", etc.
Step 2 - spring pruning of gooseberry
After all the pests are ruthlessly banished from gooseberries with the help of folk or chemical remedies, it's time to cut the bush. As you know, spring pruning of gooseberries is one of the most important stages in caring for it. On the extent to which it will be carried out correctly, the entire crop as a whole also largely depends. And here it is important to have time to get up to the bush with a pruner before the buds on it dissolve. Only after extremely cold and protracted winters, spring pruning of gooseberries is moved for the period of leaf blooming, so as not to miss any of the frozen parts of the bush. In addition to the removal of all branches that have not survived the wintering, during spring pruning the bush of gooseberry is given the desired shape and all unnecessary is scrubbed cleanly - branches and shoots obscuring and thickening the bush. Usually in the bush leave 3-4 basal shoots, located at a sufficient distance from each other. All other shoots are cut off at the root. The left shoots are also trimmed, leaving only 1/3 of their length. Thus, pruning is carried out every spring until the bush is completely formed. In bushes older than 6-8 years during the spring, rejuvenate the bush, pruning old shoots. After pruning old shoots, all sections must be carefully treated with garden sauce.
Step 3 - tillage and dressing
After the bush of gooseberry is cut off, and all trimmed shoots are collected and sent to the fire, it is possible to start processing the soil around the bush. To begin with, it must be gently loosened to a depth of 6-8 cm, while choosing from it the roots of perennial weeds. On the plots between the bushes the ground should be loosened to a depth of 12-15 cm. During the loosening of the soil, fertilizers are brought in under each bush: two matchboxes of superphosphate and one match box of ammonium sulfate and potassium sulfate.
Step 4 - watering
Watering bushes of gooseberry is necessary only in the case of a particularly arid spring.
Gooseberries - care for diseases
Often, gooseberry is the victim of a disease such as powdery mildew. It appears as gray spots on leaves and shoots. To combat powdery mildew, usually weak solutions of baking soda (5 grams per liter of water) or iron sulfate (3 grams per liter of water) are used. It is necessary to process gooseberries with them immediately after the appearance of the first spots on the bush, repeating the treatment as necessary.