Harvest of sea buckthorn is going from late August to the second half of September, after which it is necessary to provide competent care for the bush so that it can withstand the winter and be able to recover until the next season. As part of the autumn care, you will need to trim the bush, organize a competent regime of watering and fertilizing. Read about these and other manipulations for plant care.
When and how to harvest in the fall?
From the second half of August until the end of September, harvesting is carried out. The exact time depends not only on the sea buckthorn variety, but also on how the berries will be used in the future:
- fresh or frozen - pick berries at the beginning of ripening, when they have a dense skin and contain the maximum amount of vitamin C;
- for the preparation of sea buckthorn jam, juice or marmalade - pick berries in the second half of September, when they become soft;
- for the preparation of sea buckthorn oil - pick berries a week later from the moment when they acquired a soft consistency, but they should not be ripe, because in this case they will burst when trying to tear them from the stem.
In order for the shrubs to remain healthy and be able to bear fruit abundantly next year, first of all, it is necessary to correctly collect the fruits, which is a rather time-consuming process and can be done in several ways:
- Manually collect the berries, cutting them from the branches with the help of small scissors or tongs. Previously, you can cut a whole branch, and then sort the berries at home, but in this case you can damage the plant and it is unlikely that you can immediately cut all the branches with fruits. Such a method will require a lot of time, but will maximize the quality of collecting sea buckthorn.
- Cut branches with berries from the shrub and freeze them. In this form, it is quite easy to tear the berries from the branches. This method is used mainly in the case when the fruits are planned to be stored frozen.
- Pull the berries with your hands from the peduncle, but proceed carefully so that the soft peel of the fruit does not break off, and the juice does not flow directly onto the hands.
- Put a container for juice under the branch of the bush and slowly pass along the branch with your hand from the base to the tip, actively crushing the berries. The method is used to obtain sea buckthorn juice directly from the bush. For an hour of work, you can squeeze up to 4 liters of juice.
- With the first frost, spread an awning under the bushes and shake the plant. The method is used for the extremely late harvest of ripe berries for the preparation of sea buckthorn oil.
Prolonged contact of the skin of the hands with sea buckthorn juice can provoke severe irritation, so rubber gloves should be used when harvesting.
If sea buckthorn is collected in large quantities in the autumn, then it is more advisable to use special devices for these purposes:
- Cobra. A popular folk instrument, for the manufacture of which a piece of wood and steel wire are used. A handle is made of wood, and a loop is made of wire, which in shape resembles a wick of a hot candle. Using an awl, you need to attach a loop to the handle, getting a design that resembles a snake. With this device, you can easily and quickly get berries, cutting off their stalks. They can reach even the most inaccessible places of the bush.
- Scraper. It is made of steel wire coated with an aluminum sheath, about 50 cm long. In the middle of a piece of wire, make one curl like a spring. To do this, the wire can be wrapped once around the neck of a glass bottle. Align the ends of the segment and bend to one side at an angle of 90 degrees. Using a similar tool, it will be possible to easily squeeze a twig and peel the berries from it, simply moving the scraper down.
- Tube. For its manufacture, a can is used. From it you need to cut a workpiece, which is twisted into a tube. Its optimal length and diameter is 100 mm each, so that it exceeds the size of sea buckthorn berries by about 4 mm. Wrap the resulting tube with electrical tape, leaving a little space at the edges, and attach a plastic bag from below to it. The finished device must be brought to the peduncle with the upper part and lightly pressed. The cut berry in integrity and safety will slide down the tube into the bag.
- Slingshot. It is required to make a slingshot with a string from a fishing line. Holding the branch with one hand, the second you need to cut the berries from it, using a homemade slingshot.
Using such devices, you can collect up to 10-15 kg of sea buckthorn berries.
Pruning sea buckthorn
Sea buckthorn is a tall deciduous shrub that, among other fruiting plants, needs competent pruning. The plant is rather painful to such garden manipulations, therefore it is extremely important to responsibly approach all its details - from choosing the timing of work to processing the slices after trimming.
Choosing the type of autumn pruning
You can trim the shrub at any time of the year, except winter, but thorough work is best done in the early spring before warming, during dormancy, to restore the plant after winter. So, in the spring season, the following types of pruning are performed:
- formative - the necessary shape is attached to the crown of the plant;
- regulatory - the specified shape of the crown is supported;
- restoration - a neglected or damaged crown is put in order;
- anti-aging - fruiting of an old plant is restored, productivity increases.
Thanks to such regular pruning of shoots, branches actively grow, which in the future will contribute to the laying of many flower buds on shortened shoots.
In the autumn period, sanitary pruning of sea buckthorn is predominantly carried out, which allows you to prepare the bush for winter and prevent the development of diseases and pests. In any case, it should be noted that young seedlings do not need to be touched by secateurs for 2 years after planting, so that they can take root well and begin free growth.
How to crop?
In late autumn, when sea buckthorn enters the dormant period, it is necessary to carry out sanitary pruning of the bush, which involves the removal of the following branches:
- broken;
- sick people;
- dried up;
- improperly growing;
- too old (have a darker color than young ones);
- growing inward.
It is imperative to use well-sharpened sterile instruments for pruning branches so as not to soak and damage the bark. After such pruning, the shrub can grow actively, because it will not spend energy and vitality on unsuitable shoots.
After removing unnecessary branches, it is necessary to process the slices in order to prevent infection of the plant with diseases and pests. In this case, you can use a garden var or putty. For example, slices can be sprayed with a solution of copper sulfate and slightly dried.
Crop Errors
When autumn pruning inexperienced gardeners can make a number of mistakes:
- Leave the shoots growing inside the bush. Such branches thicken the crown very much, which negatively affects the light and humidity conditions. As a result, the yield of sea buckthorn deteriorates and the risks of developing fungal infections increase.
- Strongly cut the side shoots. This is fraught with the fact that the productivity of the bush will sharply decrease. In order to prevent such a mistake, it should be noted that the generative buds of sea buckthorn appear in the upper part of the shoots. So, when performing trimming, in no case should one be overly keen on shortening them.
- Leave numerous wounds after deep cutting. In sea buckthorn, callus is formed quite slowly - cells on the wound surface of the plant in the form of sample tissue. Because of this, the cuts on the plant are tightened rather poorly, but if there are a lot of them and they are large, the bush may die at all. To prevent this, it is also recommended to avoid the method of collecting berries by cutting branches with fruits.
- Damage the root. If, after removing the root shoot, the sea buckthorn dries, its root was probably damaged during pruning. To prevent this, when removing basal shoots, one should take into account that numerous long lateral roots developing horizontally develop on the shrub. In this case, it is advisable to work with a secateurs, and not tear or break off the branches.
How to trim sea buckthorn so that it does not stretch up?
Low-growing varieties of sea-buckthorn do not need to reduce the crown, but tall, tree-like varieties are more whimsical. You need to control their growth from the age of 5. To do this, in the fall after harvesting, it will be necessary to trim the shoots for three-year-old wood, that is, to remove the growth of the last 2 years. In this case, you need to leave a small side branch in the whorl.
Some gardeners resort to another method of forming a low compact crown - they bend the top of a young shrub to the ground and tie it to a peg. Such manipulations will not prevent the awakening along the entire length of the conductor of sleeping buds, from which shoots will grow and form a spreading crown.
Watering and loosening the soil
Particular attention should be paid to the regime of watering the plant if the pruning of the bush was carried out in the summer season. Closer to the fall should increase water consumption:
- for young plants - up to 4-5 buckets;
- for mature plants - up to 8-10 buckets.
Pour water into the trunk circle as the soil dries. In the autumn period, you can lower the water norm to 2-3 buckets, depending on the age of the plant and the root system.
Sea buckthorn is demanding on winter recharge winter irrigation, as it helps to enhance the winter hardiness of the plant.
After each irrigation or precipitation, the soil on the site must be loosened. The fact is that after such a manipulation, nodules form on the roots of sea buckthorn, inside of which bacteria live that fulfill an important function:
- Absorb nitrogen from the air.
- Enrich the root layer of the soil with nitrogen compounds that are vital to the plant.
So, the soil on the site should always be loose, but you need to act carefully, since the root system of the plant is vertical and easily damaged. Some gardeners recommend mulching trunks using one of two types of organics:
- humus;
- compost from the tops of potatoes or foliage of birch, apple tree.
Thanks to this layer of mulch, the frequency of loosening of the soil can be reduced.
Sea buckthorn feed
For active development and abundant fruiting, sea buckthorn is regularly fed, starting from the age of 3. The root system of the plant independently supplies itself with nitrogen, therefore, under a mature bush you need to make only potash and phosphorus fertilizers, but up to 5 years, until the root system develops.
So, a competent scheme of plant nutrition is as follows:
- In spring, sprinkle ammonium nitrate at a rate of 20 g per 1 sq. m plot. Sprinkle fertilizer with a layer of soil.
- Immediately after flowering the leaves of an adult plant that has entered the fruiting period, spray the bush with a solution of liquid potassium humate or Effekton at the rate of 1 tsp. on 10 l of water. Carry out the same treatment 3 weeks after the first spraying.
- During the period of ovary growth, when the sea buckthorn is preparing for fruiting, feed the plant with a solution of superphosphate in granules (2 tbsp.), A nutrient mixture Universal-micro (2 tbsp.) And potassium sulfate (1 tbsp.). The dosage is indicated in 10 liters of water.
- With the autumn digging of a plot of 1 square. m add 30 g of superphosphate, 100 g of wood ash and 25 g of potassium salt. If the soil is acidic, superphosphate should be replaced with phosphorite flour at the rate of 50 g per 1 sq. Km. m. If the soil is heavy, 1/2 bucket of sand or sawdust is recommended for each plant.
Male plants do not deplete after harvest, so they do not need to be fed as much as female plants.
Disease and Pest Treatment
As you know, a problem is better to prevent than to deal with it. So, in order to protect sea buckthorn from diseases and dangerous pests, preventive treatment should be carried out in late autumn:
- remove all fallen leaves from the site;
- remove from the bushes the remains of flowers and fruits;
- clean wounds on trunks and branches, treat them with 3% solution of copper sulfate or special garden putty;
- whitewash boles and skeletal branches with lime to protect the bark from pests.
In late autumn, sea buckthorn should also be treated with a 7% solution of urea or a 1% solution of Bordeaux fluid. Such a measure will protect the plant from fungal diseases and pests. In addition, such treatment should be carried out in early spring.
During the season, when pests appear on the sea buckthorn once a week, the bushes should be treated with a solution of wood ash.
Harvesting cuttings in the fall
In order to root the lignified shanks of sea buckthorn in the spring, from the end of November to the beginning of December it is necessary to properly prepare the raw materials. To do this, choose 2-year growths, the thickness of which is at least 6 cm. They need to be cut with a sharp tool into segments 15-20 cm long.
Cuttings cut in the fall should be prepared as follows:
- Tie in a bundle.
- Wrap in cloth and put in a plastic bag.
- Bury the bag in the hole.
- Throw a hole in the snow. If it has not yet fallen, you can fill it with spruce branches or dry leaves.
Stalks saved in this way must be kept in water for 3 days before planting, which should be replaced several times. It is advisable to add a root stimulant to it. After soaking, the cuttings can be planted in the soil at an angle, leaving at least 2-3 buds above the surface. By autumn, the stalk will stretch to a height of 60 cm, and in the third year it will begin to bear fruit.
How to store the autumn harvest?
The fruits of sea buckthorn collected in autumn can be prepared in several ways:
- Fresh storage. Lay the cut branches of sea buckthorn in a cool room where the air temperature does not rise above 0 degrees. It is imperative that the room is dry, since excessive humidity causes rotting processes. You can store branches with fruits in this way until spring. This method does not involve heat treatment of the fruits, so they retain a maximum of useful substances.
- Quick freeze. Berries cut from the stalks must be laid out in plastic bags, which should be thrown into the freezer.
- Sugar-buckthorn. The berries must be sorted, washed and laid out on a towel to dry, and then in a large container, mix with the same amount of sugar. Arrange the mass in sterilized jars and store in the refrigerator until spring. This sea buckthorn is perfect for making compote or fruit drink.
- Mashed sea buckthorn. If ripe juicy fruits were collected in the fall, this method is recommended. Sea buckthorn should be sorted out, washed and dried on a towel, and then mixed with the same amount of sugar. The mixture can be crushed to a mushy consistency using a meat grinder or blender. After it, it is necessary to put it in banks, which are closed with ordinary nylon covers. Keep in a refrigerator or cellar.
- Water storage. Pour fresh berries with cold boiling water and refrigerate.
- Sea buckthorn juice. Sorted and washed berries must be passed through a juicer and poured into banks, which must be put on sterilization. Sealed juice can be kept in the refrigerator or cellar. The calorie content of the finished juice is 52 kcal per 100 ml.If desired, you can add sugar, honey, other berries or fruits.
Sea buckthorn can be subjected to heat treatment by making compote, jam, marmalade or butter from it. Of course, under the influence of high temperatures, the berries will lose some trace elements, but they will still remain tasty and healthy.
After harvesting in late summer - early autumn, sea buckthorn needs competent care, which involves sanitary pruning of the tree, watering and loosening the soil, and fertilizing with organic and phosphorus fertilizers. In addition, special attention should be paid to processing plants from possible pests and diseases. If all the rules are followed, next year it will also be possible to get a plentiful harvest of healthy and tasty fruits.