Gooseberries are loved by summer residents and gardeners for the fact that this bush is extremely unpretentious, and its berries contain a lot of useful and tasty fresh, compotes and preserves. Wanting to get a more abundant harvest, many are wondering about the correct reproduction of gooseberries. This issue is perhaps the most tricky one in growing shaggy berries, and requires detailed consideration.
How to propagate gooseberries?
If the purpose of propagation of a bush is to preserve the qualities of a variety, then the seeds for these purposes are not suitable, since such a method is unreliable and absolutely does not contribute to the preservation of valuable plant characteristics. This feature is widely used in breeding, when new varieties and hybrids are harvested using both targeted breeding and free pollination.
But since in the conditions of simple philistine garden plots and vegetable gardens it is often important to preserve the variety you like, in most cases resort to vegetative propagation of gooseberries.
The following ways of vegetative propagation of gooseberry are distinguished:
1. Division of the bush. The method is suitable for plants older than 2 years. To do this, the mother bush is excavated in the fall long before the onset of frosts or in the spring approximately one month before buds swell. The old branches are removed as much as possible, the young branches are shortened, the plants are divided into axes, each of which receives developed roots and shoots.
2. Reproduction of gooseberry by layers is most often used by amateur gardeners, as the most simple and effective method:
- horizontal layers - suitable for shrubs at the age of 3-4 years, it is good that from one bush you can get up to 10 full layers. For this, one-year shoots are selected from both sides of the bush and fit into the furrows of the earth so that they come into contact with it, they do not need to be sprinkled with soils. The tips of the shoots should be pinched for 3-4 cm and fixed with wooden pins. In the summer, young shoots hills and fertilize, and in the autumn, the cuttings with an independent root system can be cut off from the bush, divided and planted separately;
- arc-shaped layers are grown in the same way, with the only difference being that they are fixed in the middle with a single wooden stud, and the end is lifted up and tied to the pre-pounded peg. From arcuate layers, fewer seedlings are produced, but they are much stronger and start to bear fruit more quickly;
- vertical litters - for their reception, the mother bush is cut off early in the spring, leaving "hemp" 15-20 cm high. In the summer they should be watered and hilled, and when the young shoots grow to 10-15 cm, the middle of the bush should be sprinkled with earth, in order to to prevent the branches from converging. Cut off vertical layers for planting in late autumn or next spring.
3. Reproduction of gooseberries by cuttings is effective and expedient only for American varieties or their hybrids with European ones. The following types of cuttings stand out:
- lignified - prepared in spring and autumn, using annual shoots taken at the base of the bush. The upper parts, 20-25 cm long, are best rooted;
- green cuttings - harvested in summer, when the growth of shoots is suspended. For this, the green tops are cut from all branches of the adult bush 5-6 years old and rooted in greenhouses. For reliability, slice sites can be processed with growth stimulants;
- combined cuttings - green annual shoots with a plot of two-year-old wood at the base. They are well rooted and relatively non-demanding to the conditions - the quality of the soil and the humidity of the air.