Summer is near. Gooseberry bush beckons with dark large berries. If this is an old, productive, but prickly bush, probably the acquaintance with Date is to come. An amazing combination of a noble color of berries and a delicate sweet duet with sourness. And how solemnly the bush looks hung with fruits like a Christmas tree with toys! The date is an oxymoron, someone with a good sense of humor called the northern berry a "hot" name. However, the trick partially worked. The variety has been known for a long time and has entrenched in the plots, but this could not be achieved by a sonorous name alone.
The history of growing gooseberries Phenicia
According to some reports, gooseberries have been known in Europe almost since prehistoric times. Serious cultivation of berries began in France from the thirteenth century, but a significant breakthrough was achieved by English breeders in the nineteenth century. The warm and humid climate of the "land of fogs" turned out to be so favorable for the cultivation of new gooseberry varieties that the bushes of English selection occupied a dominant position in Europe and spread to the American continent. The popularity of gooseberries was the cause of his death. From America to Europe spores of American powdery mildew, a sphere library were brought.
Modern varieties are the result of crossing old European varieties with wild-growing American gooseberries that are resistant to the sphere library. The new non-bearing varieties are resistant to the sphere library, but Phenicia, unfortunately, is affected by this disease and has thorns. The variety is known for a long time, it is considered the gooseberry "folk selection".
Grade description
Gooseberry Phenicus forms tall, sprawling, up to two meters high bushes. Shoots arcuate curved or straight (depending on location), covered with single spikes with the exception of the tops. It has a powerful root system that extends into the depths of at least two meters.
The leaves are medium or large, green, vary in shape on the vegetative and flowering shoots. The flowers are medium, with small greenish-white petals. Most often, flowers are single, less common is a two-flowered brush.
The bush has arched branches
Ripe gooseberry bushes produce berries weighing up to 20 g. They are oval or rounded in shape, almost spherical, green in color, not pubescent. Thick peel covered with a purple blush. On the sunny side, the pigmentation intensity reaches blackness. The pulp is green, juicy, with a pleasant taste, has a characteristic acidity. Sugar content up to 9%.
Of all the gooseberry varieties, the largest berries are in the date, which is why the variety is also called Goliath.
Berries are used for making jelly, preserves, marinades. Wine made from dates has a rich ruby color and an exquisite taste. For preservation, berries are harvested at the stage of technical maturity, depending on the summer, from late July to mid-August. Thick peel makes it possible to transport berries.
For table use, there is no need to harvest immediately, as the ripe fruits do not fall and remain on the branches for up to three weeks without compromising on quality.
Characteristic varieties of dates
Variety Properties:
- Late ripening: berries are harvested depending on the climate in the middle or end of August.
- Self-fertile: the ability to form an ovary after pollinating flowers with pollen of its own variety.
- High-yielding: gives an average of 8-13 kilograms of berries from the bush.
- Full fruiting of the bush begins from 4-5 years.
With thickened landings or lowland location prone to defeat sferotekoy. With rare plantings and sufficient light, only the tops of the shoots are affected.
The variety is resistant to temperature fluctuations, can tolerate thirty-degree frosts. Thanks to a powerful root system, it reacts calmly to insufficient watering. The situation with waterlogging is worse, so it is not recommended to plant Phenicum near the occurrence of groundwater and in lowlands.
The variety is surprisingly tenacious. Bushes for 20 or 25 years give a full crop. According to gardeners, a longer fruiting is possible.
With proper care and compliance with agricultural recommendations from adult bushes, up to 20-25 kilograms of the crop are harvested
The downside of the variety is poor resistance to the sphere library. Relative disadvantages: late ripening, the presence of thorns. Bonuses: high productivity, "longevity", resistance to frost and drought, maximum size and pleasant taste of berries, their long-term preservation on a branch.
Features of planting and care
To ensure a stable and high-quality crop, gooseberries need adequate lighting and fertilized soil. Given the appearance of the bush: sprawling, tall, and how powerful the root system is in Date, they plant a large area for this variety.
Landing is as follows:
- High light areas are selected above the groundwater level. Lightly acidic or neutral soil is preferred. If the plot is acidic, you need to deoxidize it in advance by adding dolomite flour. Gooseberries grow well on loam or sandy loam soils.
- Pits for planting are prepared in the fall. Wells dig at a distance of two meters in the aisles and at least one and a half meters in a row. It is advisable to take into account that close proximity to fruit trees is undesirable for the Date, as their root system can inhibit the roots of gooseberries. The optimal dimensions for the pit are 60x60 cm, and the depth is 40-50 cm.
- For full development and further abundant fruiting of the bush, the planting hole is filled with rotted manure, at least one bucket, 150 g of superphosphate, 40-50 g of potassium nitrate or a large mug of ash are added.
- It is known that in fertile heavy soil, the roots are located superficially, so sand is often added to the soil-forest mixture, improving the mechanical properties of the soil and facilitating the penetration of roots into deep layers.
- After planting, the bush is abundantly watered at the rate of 1 bucket per hole.
- Mulch with humus, ash or pine needles to prevent the evaporation of water and to protect against pests.
Gooseberries can be planted in the spring, but some gardeners believe that during autumn planting, before frosts, the bush manages to take root, and in the spring there is intensive growth and development.
Video: how to plant gooseberries in the fall
In the first years after planting, provided that the landing pit is saturated with enough fertilizer, gooseberries are no longer fertilized. Care comes down to timely pruning. They try to carry out thinning pruning in the fall, so that in the spring they do not injure the shoots once again. And in the spring only weakened by frost weakened twigs are removed. Of the zero shoots grown from the roots, leave two or three of the strongest, the rest are removed.
In a properly formed bush, branches of different ages should be presented for normal plant life. This year's shoots provide the bush with young shoots, which will yield crops in the future. The most fruiting branches are from three to five years. They form the skeleton of a bush. Branches older than 6-7 years are pruned.
Video: Autumn pruning of gooseberries
To prevent fungal diseases in early spring, gooseberry and currant bushes are shed with boiling water. A hot shower protects not only from American powdery mildew, but also, according to summer residents, from some pests.
Video: spring treatment of bushes with boiling water
Processing with boiling water does not completely eliminate the sphere library, but significantly pushes the start of the lesion. For the prevention of the sphere library, it is also recommended:
- In early spring, spray the bushes with a 1% solution of copper sulfate or Bordeaux fluid.
- In the fall, treat with a concentrated urea solution at the rate of 600 g per 10 l of water.
- In the spring, spray the bushes with the infusion of slurry. For 1 kg of manure, add 10 l of water, mix well, filter and process the bushes. Sludge is used as fertilizer.
- Use for spraying an infusion of ash. In a 10 liter bucket you need to pour 1.5 kg of ash, add water and insist for a week, then decant, add 50 g of grated laundry soap for adhesion and treat the bushes.
- Use Fitosporin as a biological defense against fungus.
Regular cultivation of the near-stem circle and weeding of weeds stimulate the growth of gooseberries, have a beneficial effect on its development and prevent diseases. If, nevertheless, the sphere library hit the gooseberries, the deformed tips of the shoots, leaves and berries are carefully removed and burned. In this case, depending on the intensity of the lesion, one of the drugs is used:
- Topaz;
- Vectra;
- Alirin;
- Quadrix;
- Nitrafen No. 125.
All of these drugs are diluted and used in strict accordance with the instructions, observing safety precautions. For spraying use only freshly prepared solutions, no later than three weeks before harvesting berries.
Gardeners reviews
Hello, maybe someone will help to deal with pruning gooseberries varieties Date. I indicate the variety specially: this variety gives very few root shoots (zero), but it branches quite well. The bush was bought last spring, 3-year-old, ZKS, there were 4 zero shoots, nothing was cut during landing. Now there is such a picture: there were 4 zero shoots left, over the past summer I gave a lot of first-order shoots, each about a meter long. And for all 4 zero shoots, the tops gave 3 to four shoots of 20-30 cm, directly from the tops. I do not know what shoots should be cut, there are no frozen and broken shoots.
Sherg. Location: Moscow, plot in a village near Serpukhov//forum.prihoz.ru/viewtopic.php?t=1690&start=720
Sherg, a good variety of dates. Looked at M.A. Pavlova and in the Timiryazevsky catalog about him. He has berries up to 20g, and mine has less than Krasnoslavyanskiy (i.e. less than 6g is obtained). By maturity: mine - harvest in late July-early August, Phenicum - full maturity - in late August. Yes, and all sorts of other differences: my thorns are few, leaves are not cut, flower petals are not pubescent.
Zaryanka. Location: Wedge//forum.prihoz.ru/viewtopic.php?t=1690&start=780
Date is a European variety, the crop is concentrated on wood 2-5 years of age, the maximum number of berries is on 3-year-old wood. As I understand it, your bush is 4 years old and does not require pruning. The only thing that can be done is to remove weak branches, leave the strongest ones, the berry will be the largest in size on them. Well, if the bush is thickened, which is unlikely, then also to order, cut weak shoots leave strong.
Sergey T. From: Tver//forum.prihoz.ru/viewtopic.php?t=1690&start=720
margo1479 said: ↑ Has anyone heard of a hybrid of dates and gooseberries? I understand that this is impossible, but three years ago I bought this on the market (they said that a seedling from the Michurinsky nursery). Here is a bush growing, but there were no dates, no gooseberries on it. Even the most ridiculous. And did not bloom
:)] It seems to me, we are talking about an old gooseberry variety Phenicia, which has nothing to do with dates (like, for example, the Ural grape variety - to grapes). The variety, according to reviews, is fruitful, quite tasty, late, very much affected by powdery mildew. Accordingly, it is necessary either to scald the bush, or to process Topaz. I planted it last fall due to the late fruiting, I want to extend the season of consumption of fresh berries.
Donkey Eeyore. Address: Moscow//www.forumhouse.ru/threads/14888/page-25
I came across a note on this grade on one site
The experience of gardeners from the famous "gooseberry" village of Vargan, in the Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia, is also noteworthy. They traditionally grow only gooseberries of one variety - Phenicia. None of the inhabitants of the village already remember exactly when and where he came from here, but it is difficult to find less than 50 bushes in each master's garden. Most importantly, gooseberry bushes do not get sick there. And all thanks to an effective system of plant protection. Its essence is simple. In the fall, several buckets of manure are laid out under each bush. During the summer season, bushes are watered three times with slurry, and after harvesting the branches and leaves are sprayed with it. The result is amazing. From year to year in the village receive huge yields of dark red berries the size of a walnut, from the bush they collect up to 20 kg.
silyia Brownie. Address: Cherkasy region//forum.vinograd.info/showthread.php?t=5317
Someone considers Gooseberry Phenicia a hotbed of a sphere library, but for someone this is not a problem - and there is no summer without dark juicy berries. The bottom line is that this variety leaves no one indifferent.
