Beneficial features Sea buckthorn was known to the Ancient Greeks. Thanks to high content in the fruits of this plant there are a number of organic acids, it has strong healing properties. And the vitamins and microelements contained are necessary to the human body to combat many colds. That is why many prudent gardeners grow sea buckthorn on their plots. Although the plant is not too demanding, it requires some care every year, the basis of which is pruning. Before you begin this simple procedure, you need to take into account all the rules for pruning sea buckthorn and approach this issue responsibly and seriously.

When to prune?

Some gardeners believe that pruning can be done at any time of the year when there is free time. This is partly true, but there are still some aspects that need to be taken into account.

• Most often produced pruning sea buckthorn in spring to prepare it in advance for the warm season. You need to choose a period when there is no significant warming yet, and the tree is in the dormant stage. It is during this period that there is a possibility of pruning as correctly as possible and causing minimal harm to the tree.
• And here pruning sea buckthorn in autumn carried out with the aim of getting rid of, so to speak, everything unnecessary. Old, dried out, diseased branches - all this is removed. In this way, you prepare the tree for winter and completely eliminate the possibility of harmful insects living in its bark.

Trimming Features

There are other features of pruning sea buckthorn. For example, it is completely undesirable to treat wounds after cuts with garden varnish or any other putties. This way you will only harm the plant without meaning to.

It is also very important that the tool used is well sharpened and sharp. A dull pruner mauls the wound and the bark, and a bad saw does not cut, but tears. Of course, there is now a huge selection of such tools in stores. But remember that you need to know what to choose. Since not everything offered is of high quality.

It is enough to prune young trees once a year, forming the correct crown. And rejuvenating pruning of sea buckthorn is necessary for older trees. With age and not proper care the tree grows and gains beautiful shape and unkempt appearance. Therefore, it needs to be unloaded, lightened and rejuvenated. With proper care, a sea buckthorn tree can live and bear fruit for up to 50 years.

Trimming sea buckthorn video

The more often sea buckthorn begins to be cultivated in our areas, the more pressing the issues of maintaining it in cultural form become. This plant tends to form impenetrable thorny thickets, and even thornless varieties grow very quickly. In this article we will tell you how to prune sea buckthorn and in what time frame.

Purposes and types of pruning sea buckthorn

According to its life form, sea buckthorn is a tall deciduous shrub. Like other fruit plants, its pruning can serve different purposes:

Optimal timing for pruning sea buckthorn

About best timing There is no consensus yet for pruning sea buckthorn. In most cases it is traditionally performed in early spring or in autumn, after leaf fall. However, some fruit growers have positive practical experience in summer pruning of fruit-bearing sea buckthorn.

U summer pruning there are three advantages:

1. Shrunken and damaged shoots that require removal are clearly visible.
2. Fruiting shoots are clearly visible.
3. The shape of the crown is better understood.

If pruning is performed in spring and autumn, the distribution by type of operation is carried out as follows: in spring - formative, restorative, regulating and rejuvenating; in the fall - sanitary.

Technological techniques for pruning sea buckthorn

When pruning sea buckthorn, two standard techniques are mainly used - complete removal of branches “into a ring” and shortening (trimming) of shoots with transfer to a bud or side shoot. In some cases, other methods may be required. It all depends on the task set by the gardener:

Necessary tool for pruning sea buckthorn

In order for gardening operations to take place without complications such as fungal infections or drying out of sea buckthorn branches, all tools must be clean, sharp and of high quality.

The standard tool set includes:

1. Secateurs – for trimming, pinching and shortening thin shoots (up to 25 mm).
2. Lopper - for trimming, pinching and shortening high-lying or thick shoots (25-50 mm).
3. Garden saw – for removing large branches.
4. Garden knife - for shortening thin shoots, girdling or trimming.

• According to reviews from gardeners, the company’s pruning shears have proven themselves well “Grinda". This best option in terms of value for money. The blades are hardened, coated with Teflon, and hold an edge well.
• When choosing a lopper, you should pay attention to the brand "Fiskars". Their products justify their price in terms of reliability and in some cases can allow you to do without a file.
• To make cutting out large branches easier, you can purchase a battery saw rather than a manual one - for example, from the company " Bosch." Even a weak female hand can handle such a tool.
• When buying a garden knife, it makes sense to pay attention to the German company "Tina." This is old trademark, not cheap, but produces knives of excellent quality.

Tip #1. A good garden knife allows you to make perfectly smooth cuts and in some cases can replace pruning shears.

Types of garden putty for treating pruning wounds

Trimming fruit trees impossible without proper processing of sections. Garden putties are used to seal the wound and prevent it from turning into entrance gate for pathogens. Traditionally, garden varnish or oil paint based on drying oil. However, now the choice of putties in garden centers is large enough that you can try alternatives:

Tip #2. There is no need to cover the saw cuts and cuts with garden soil the “old fashioned way” - it may contain dormant spores of pathogenic fungi and pathogenic microorganisms.

Formation of sea buckthorn seedling by bush

To form a neat sea buckthorn bush, the three most developed shoots are left on the seedling, and the rest are removed. The remaining skeletal branches are shortened to a height of 20-25 cm from the soil surface. This is done if the seedling is grafted.

If sea buckthorn is rooted, you can use shoots coming from the root to form a bush. In this case, all existing shoots of the seedling are greatly shortened (to a height of 15-20 cm from the soil). Suitable skeletal branches are selected from the most well-located offspring shoots that will appear shortly after pruning.

Formation of sea buckthorn seedling on a trunk

Most interesting way formation of sea buckthorn - growing as a tree, on a trunk. Its advantage is not only that the form is more aesthetically pleasing, but also that it saves space on the site. Another advantage of this growing method is the longevity of the plant. As for the yield, it is the same for both bush and tree forms of sea buckthorn.

You can form a sea buckthorn tree according to this plan:

1. In 1st year: choose a strong shoot from the shoots that goes vertically upward. The rest should be completely removed.
2. For the 2nd year: pinch the grown conductor, leave 4-5 lateral buds on top, and blind all the underlying ones.
3. For the 3rd year: Continue forming the side shoots, shortening them by the same length so that neither one gains advantage. Remove all underlying and root growth that appears.

Some varieties of sea buckthorn are genetically tree-like. These are usually tall plants, so it is necessary to control the process by shortening the central conductor at the desired height and regulating trimming of the crown.

Rejuvenating pruning of old sea buckthorn

Starting from the 7th year of the plant’s life, you can begin work on rejuvenating sea buckthorn. The point of rejuvenation is to replace branches that have stopped growing and laying flower buds and reduced yield with young ones.

To replace old branches, a promising side shoot is selected and growth is transferred to it. You can also use tops. No need to worry about them growing vertically. For correction, the top shoot is bent in a horizontal position, a loose loop of twine is thrown over it, and the other end is tied to a peg.

After pinching the top, the top will begin to branch and lay flower buds. There is no need to try to rejuvenate all the branches of sea buckthorn in one season. It is better to break this process into 2-3 stages.

3 mistakes when pruning sea buckthorn

When forming sea buckthorn, it is important to avoid the following mistakes:

Error 1. Leaving shoots going inside the bush.

Such branches greatly thicken the crown and worsen the lighting and humidity conditions. As a result, sea buckthorn yield decreases and the risk of developing fungal infections increases.

Error 2. Heavy pruning of side shoots.

When performing pruning, it is important to remember that sea buckthorn lays generative buds in the upper part of the shoots. Therefore, you should not get too carried away with shortening them, especially in the spring. So you can be left without a harvest.

Error 3. One-step deep pruning leaving many wounds.

The formation of callus in sea buckthorn is quite slow, so cuts on it do not close well. If there are too many of them and they are large, the plant may even die. In this regard, this method of collecting sea buckthorn, in which branches with fruits are cut off, is categorically not recommended.

Gardeners' questions about pruning sea buckthorn

Question No. 1. How to trim sea buckthorn correctly so that it does not stretch upward?

Low-growing varieties of sea buckthorn will not require crown reduction. In tall tree-like varieties, growth control begins at 5 years of age. To do this, in the fall after harvesting, the shoots are pruned into three-year-old wood (that is, the growths of two recent years). This leaves a small side branch in the whorl.

Question No. 2. After removing the root shoots, the sea buckthorn began to dry out. Why did this happen?

Most likely the root was damaged. Sea buckthorn produces many long lateral roots that run horizontally. You need to remove root shoots taking this feature into account, use pruning shears very carefully, and do not try to pull out or dig up unwanted shoots.

Question No. 3. How to care for sea buckthorn after pruning?

The main care after pruning is to process the cuts. Before using garden putty, they can be sprayed with a solution copper sulfate and dry a little. Watering the plant is also important, especially if pruning was done in the summer. It is necessary to pour 2-3 buckets of water under the bush or tree, depending on the age of the plant and the size of the root system.

Question No. 4. If sea buckthorn is completely frozen in winter, is it possible to revive it by pruning?

It is possible if only the above-ground part froze, but the root remained viable. In this case, it is necessary to cut the plant down to the root collar, process the cut, water it well and feed the sea buckthorn. Soon it will produce root shoots, from which it will be possible to begin the formation of a new bush or tree. Do the same if the plant breaks due to wind or snow.

The features of sea buckthorn agricultural technology are simple: it is a light-loving crop, it likes to be unshaded by buildings or other tall views plants, territory. The best soil- medium loam or heavy sandy loam soil of light mechanical composition.

As a result of many years of observations (even by breeder T.T. Trofimov!) in Botanical Garden Moscow State University recommended 4 main waterings for sea buckthorn:

• 1st in May, during the flowering period of sea buckthorn;
• 2nd in June, so that the ovaries of future fruits do not fall off;
• 3rd at the end of July, beginning of August - to enhance the filling and ripening of fruits;
• 4th after harvesting the fruits, in September-October - to better prepare the plants for overwintering, as well as to preserve the plant root system and drying out of the shoots from freezing.

It is also necessary to fertilize sea buckthorn(from the 3rd year after landing it on permanent place). In the spring, in April, ammonium nitrate is scattered around the plant (slightly wider than the tree trunk circles) (at the rate of 20 g per 1 sq. m). Phosphorus fertilizers are applied in the fall to dug up soil (30 g/m²), and acidic soils add phosphate rock (50 g/m²). In the fall, potassium salt (25 g/m²) or wood ash (100 g/m²) is also added.

A special feature of sea buckthorn is its responsiveness to feeding with low concentration chicken manure.

The sea buckthorn harvest is harvested from the end of August to the second half of September, after which the bush must be properly cared for so that it can withstand the winter and be able to recover until the next season. Within autumn care You will need to prune the bush, organize a proper watering and fertilizing regime. Read about these and other plant care manipulations below.

When and how to harvest in the fall?

From the second half of August to the end of September, the harvest takes place. The exact period depends not only on, 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 thick skin and contain the maximum amount of vitamin C;
• to prepare sea buckthorn jam, juice or marmalade, collect the berries in the second half of September, when they become soft;
• to prepare sea buckthorn oil, collect the berries a week after they have acquired a soft consistency, but they should not be overripe, since in this case they will burst when you try to tear them off the stalk.

So that the bushes remain healthy and can bear fruit abundantly in next year First of all, it is necessary to correctly collect the fruits, which is a rather labor-intensive process and can be done in several ways:

• Hand pick the berries by cutting them from the branches using small scissors or tongs. You can first 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 will be able to cut off all the branches with fruits at once. This method will take a lot of time, but will allow you to collect sea buckthorn with the highest quality possible.
• Cut branches with berries from the bush and freeze them. In this form, it is quite easy to tear the berries from the branches. This method is used mainly when the fruits are planned to be stored frozen.
• Pick the berries from the stem with your hands, but act carefully so that the soft skin of the fruit does not break off and the juice does not leak directly onto your hands.
• Place a container for juice under a bush branch and slowly run your hand along the branch from base to tip, actively crushing the berries. The method is used to obtain sea buckthorn juice directly from the bush. In an hour of work you can squeeze out up to 4 liters of juice.
• With the first frost, lay a tent under the bushes and shake the plant. The method is used in extremely late collection ripe berries for preparing sea buckthorn oil.

Prolonged contact of the skin of your hands with sea buckthorn juice can cause severe irritation, so you should definitely use rubber gloves when harvesting.

If sea buckthorn is collected in autumn large quantities, then it is more expedient to use for these purposes special devices:

• Cobra. A popular folk instrument made using a piece of wood and steel wire. A handle is made from wood, and a loop is made from wire, the outline resembling the wick of a hot candle. Using an awl, you need to attach the loop to the handle, obtaining a design that resembles a snake. With this device you can easily and quickly get berries by cutting off their stalks. They can reach even the most inaccessible places in the bush.
• Scraper. Made from steel wire, covered with an aluminum sheath, about 50 cm long. In the middle of the piece of wire, make one curl like a spring. To do this, the wire can be wrapped once around the neck glass bottle. Align the ends of the segment and bend it to one side at an angle of 90 degrees. Using a tool like this, you can easily press the twig and peel the berries off it by simply moving the scraper down.
• tube. For its production it is used can. From it you need to cut a blank, which is twisted into a tube. Its optimal length and diameter are 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 around the edges, and attach a plastic bag to the bottom. The finished device must be brought to the stalk top part and press lightly. The cut berry will roll down the tube and into the bag, intact.
• Slingshot. You need to make a slingshot with a string from fishing line. Holding the branch with one hand, you need to cut the berries from it with the other, using a homemade slingshot.

Using such devices, you can collect up to 10-15 kg of sea buckthorn berries.

Pruning sea buckthorn in autumn

Sea buckthorn is a tall deciduous shrub, which, among others, fruit plants needs proper pruning. The plant is quite sensitive to such garden manipulations, so it is extremely important to take a responsible approach to all its details - from choosing the time of work to processing the cuts after pruning.

Choosing the type of autumn pruning

Shrubs can be pruned at any time of the year except winter, but thorough work It is better to do it in early spring before warming, during the dormant period, in order to restore the plant after winter. So, in spring season trimming in progress following types:

• forming - the necessary shape is given to the crown of the plant;
• regulating – the specified crown shape is maintained;
• restorative – a neglected or damaged crown is put in order;
• rejuvenating – fruiting of the old plant is restored, productivity increases.

Thanks to such regular pruning of the shoots, the branches actively grow, which in the future contributes to the formation of many flower buds on the shortened shoots.

In the autumn period, sanitary pruning of sea buckthorn is mainly carried out, which allows you to prepare the shrub 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 with pruning shears for 2 years after planting so that they can take root well and begin free growth.

How to trim?

In late autumn, when sea buckthorn enters its dormant period, it is necessary to carry out sanitary pruning of the bush, which involves removing the following branches:

• broken;
• sick;
• dried out;
• growing incorrectly;
• too old (have more dark color, than young ones);
• growing inward.

It is extremely important to use well-sharpened sterile tools to trim branches so as not to soak or damage the bark. After such pruning, the bush will be able to grow actively, since it will not waste energy and vitality on unsuitable shoots.

After removing unnecessary branches, the cuts must be treated to prevent the plant from becoming infected with diseases and pests. In this case, you can use garden pitch or putty. For example, sections can be sprinkled with a solution of copper sulfate and dried a little.

Trimming errors

At autumn pruning Not experienced gardeners may make a number of mistakes:

• Leave the shoots growing inside the bush. Such branches greatly thicken the crown, which negatively affects the light and humidity conditions. As a result, sea buckthorn yields deteriorate and the risk of developing fungal infections increases.
• Cut off side shoots heavily. This is fraught with the fact that the yield of the bush will sharply decrease. To prevent such a mistake, it should be taken into account that the generative buds of sea buckthorn appear in the upper part of the shoots. So, when pruning, you should never get too carried away with shortening them.
• Leave numerous wounds after deep pruning. In sea buckthorn, callus is formed quite slowly - cells on the wound surface of the plant in the form of suberizing tissue. Because of this, the cuts on the plant are tightened rather poorly, and if there are many of them and they are large, the bush may die altogether. 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 shoots, the sea buckthorn dries out, it is likely that its root was damaged during pruning. To prevent this, when removing root shoots, it should be taken into account that the shrub develops numerous long lateral roots running horizontally. In this case, it is advisable to work with pruning shears and not pull out or break branches.

How to trim sea buckthorn so that it does not stretch upward?

Low growing varieties sea ​​buckthorns do not need crown reduction, but tall ones tree varieties more whimsical. Their growth needs to be monitored from the age of 5. To do this in the fall after harvesting, you will need to trim the shoots into three-year-old wood, that is, remove the growth of the last 2 years. In this case, you will 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 bush to the ground and tie it to a peg. Such manipulations will not prevent the awakening of dormant buds along the entire length of the conductor, from which shoots will grow and form a spreading crown.

How to harvest sea buckthorn and trim the tree is clearly demonstrated in the following video:

Watering and loosening the soil

Particular attention should be paid to the plant's watering regime if the shrub was pruned in the summer season. Closer to autumn, you should increase water consumption:

• for young plants - up to 4-5 buckets;
• for mature plants - up to 8-10 buckets.

You need to pour water into the tree trunk as the soil dries. In the autumn, you can reduce the water rate to 2-3 buckets, depending on the age of the plant and the root system.

Sea buckthorn requires moisture-recharging winter watering, since it helps to increase the winter hardiness of the plant.

After each watering or precipitation, the soil on the site must be loosened. The fact is that after such manipulation, nodules are formed on the roots of sea buckthorn, inside which live bacteria that perform an important function:

• Absorb nitrogen from the air.
• They enrich the root layer of soil with nitrogen compounds that are vital for the plant.

So, the soil on the site should always be loose, but you need to act carefully, because root system plants are vertical and easily damaged. Some gardeners recommend mulching tree trunks using one of two types of organic matter:

• humus;
• compost from potato tops or birch and apple leaves.

Thanks to such a layer of mulch, you can reduce the frequency of loosening the soil.

Feeding sea buckthorn

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, so only potassium and phosphorus fertilizers need to be applied to a mature bush, but up to 5 years, while the root system develops.

So, a competent scheme for feeding a plant looks like this:

1. In spring trunk circle sprinkle ammonium nitrate at the rate of 20 g per 1 sq. m plot. Sprinkle the fertilizer over a layer of soil.
2. Immediately after the leaves of an adult plant that has entered the fruiting period bloom, spray the bush with a solution of liquid potassium humate or Effecton at the rate of 1 tsp. for 10 liters of water. Carry out the same treatment 3 weeks after the first spraying.
3. During the period of ovary growth, when sea buckthorn is preparing to bear fruit, feed the plant with a solution of superphosphate in granules (2 tbsp.), Universal-micro nutrient mixture (2 tbsp.) and potassium sulfate (1 tbsp.). The dosage is indicated for 10 liters of water.
4. When digging a plot of 1 sq. m. in autumn. m add 30 g of superphosphate, 100 g wood ash and 25 g of potassium salt. If the soil is acidic, superphosphate should be replaced with phosphate rock at the rate of 50 g per 1 square meter. m. If the soil is heavy, it is recommended to add 1/2 bucket of sand or sawdust for each plant.

Male plants do not become depleted after harvest, so they do not need feeding as much as female ones.

Treatment against diseases and pests

As you know, it is better to prevent a problem than to fight it. So, to protect sea buckthorn from diseases and dangerous pests, it should definitely be carried out in late autumn preventive treatment:

• remove all fallen leaves from the area;
• remove the remains of flowers and fruits from the bushes;
• clean the wounds on the trunks and branches, treat them with a 3% solution of copper sulfate or a special garden putty;
• whiten the trunks and skeletal branches with lime to protect the bark from pests.

In late autumn, sea buckthorn should also be treated with a 7% urea solution or a 1% solution of Bordeaux mixture. 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 sea buckthorn, the bushes should be treated with a solution of wood ash once a week.

Harvesting cuttings in the fall

In order to root woody sea buckthorn cuttings in the spring, you need to properly prepare the raw materials from late November to early December. To do this, you need to select 2-year-old growths, the thickness of which is at least 6 cm. They need to be cut using a sharp tool into pieces 15-20 cm long.

Cuttings cut in autumn should be prepared as follows:

1. Tie into a bun.
2. Wrap in cloth and put in plastic bag.
3. Bury the bag in the hole.
4. Cover the hole with snow. If it has not fallen out yet, you can cover it with spruce branches or dry leaves.

Cuttings preserved in this way must be kept in water for 3 days before planting, which should be changed several times. It is advisable to add a root formation stimulator to it. After soaking, the cuttings can be planted in the ground at an angle, leaving at least 2-3 buds above the surface. By autumn, the cuttings will reach a height of up to 60 cm, and in the third year they will begin to bear fruit.

How to store the autumn harvest?

Sea buckthorn fruits collected in the fall can be prepared in several ways:

• Fresh storage. Place cut sea buckthorn branches in a cool room where the air temperature does not rise above 0 degrees. It is extremely important that the room is dry, since excess moisture 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 maximum useful substances.
• Quick freezing. Berries cut from the stalks should be placed in plastic bags, which should be thrown into freezer.
• Sea buckthorn covered with sugar. The berries need to be sorted, washed and placed on a towel to dry, and then mixed with the same amount of sugar in a large container. Divide the mixture into sterilized jars and store in the refrigerator until spring. This sea buckthorn is perfect for making compote or fruit juice.
• Mashed sea buckthorn. If the ripe ones were collected in the fall juicy fruits, this method is recommended. The sea buckthorn needs to be sorted out, washed and dried on a towel, and then mixed with the same amount of sugar. The mixture can be ground to a mushy consistency using a meat grinder or blender. Afterwards, it must be placed in jars, which are closed with ordinary nylon lids. Keep in the refrigerator or cellar.
• Storage in water. Pour cold boiling water over fresh berries and place in the refrigerator.
• Sea buckthorn juice. The sorted and washed berries must be passed through a juicer and poured into jars, which must be sterilized. The rolled 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 preparing compote, jam, marmalade or butter from it. Of course, under the influence high temperatures the berries will lose some of their microelements, but they will still remain tasty and healthy.

Video: how to care for sea buckthorn?

In the next video, the manager of the nursery garden will tell you how to properly prune sea buckthorn, feed it and treat it against pests:

After harvesting in late summer - early autumn, sea buckthorn needs proper care, which involves sanitary pruning of the tree, watering and loosening the soil, fertilizing with organic and phosphorus fertilizers. Besides Special attention it is worth paying attention to treating the plant from possible pests and diseases. If you follow all the rules, next year you will also be able to get a bountiful harvest of healthy and tasty fruits.