How to tie a gooseberry

It is far from uncommon to grow gooseberries on the site. These are delicious and healthy fruits. Gooseberries, like other plants, need careful care, one of the points of which is the garter of the bush. We will tell you how to tie a gooseberry in this article.

How to tie a gooseberry: the purpose of tying

The gooseberry is a lush shrub that can grow to a large crown. If the gooseberries are not tied up, then the branches will fall to the ground. This can lead to the rapid multiplication of fungal diseases. Also, old branches can break under the weight of fruits and leaves. Therefore, they certainly need support.

In places where the trunk is cracked or damaged, various microorganisms can start - the causative agents of common diseases of the shrub. In this regard, it is necessary to regularly form the gooseberry crown, cut the bush. And also organize a support for spreading branches.

In addition, a properly formed and tied bush will look much better than a careless decaying bush. The best support for the gooseberry will be a frame, trellis or stem.

Support organization

As soon as you decide to plant a shrub, you should immediately think about support. Pre-design and install it. It is logical to tie up the shrub at the same time as the procedure for pruning the bush is performed. The bush should be tied up either in the autumn or in the spring.

It is best to form a bush in early spring, before the buds bloom on the plant. In the summer, pruning is not carried out, since the plant should spend all the nutrients and forces on the ripening of the fruits, and not on the restoration of cuts and broken branches.

You can also prune the bush after the crop has been harvested. The term will depend on the early maturity of the gooseberry variety. But usually it is September, August.

How to grow gooseberries

Tie up the gooseberry should be based on the method of growing the shrub. Some grow gooseberries with a stem, someone on a trellis, and someone just a bush. Each cultivation method is different from others, therefore, in more detail about each one below.

If your support is constructed from wooden materials, it should be remembered that since wood products can lose their appearance and functionality over time, as they are exposed to moisture attack by insects and rodents, it is best to soak all parts of the structure with a special antiseptic solution, and also varnish or paint.

How to tie a gooseberry: the classic way

Basically, gardeners grow gooseberries in a bushy way. So, around the bush, supports are built in a circle. In addition, they can be arranged in any shape, along the perimeter or with a rhombus, or a triangle. In modern fertility shops, ready-made supports for berry bushes are presented for sale. Such as currants, gooseberries and others. It is not difficult to make such a support yourself from scrap materials.

The support is made from wooden blocks. Along the perimeter, given that the bush will grow to the size you need, you should drive in several pegs, and attach wooden boards to their tops using self-tapping screws. The height is selected individually, depending on the maximum height of the shrub of this variety.

You can make a support from reinforcement in the same way. However, a welding machine will be needed here, since all, prepared to the required dimensions, the rods will need to be welded to each other.The resulting structure will hold the growing gooseberry branches.

Now constructions are made from plastic pipes. They must be made in the same way as the previous options. The only thing to keep in mind here is that this material is not very durable and long-term storage. Therefore, in the winter, the structure will have to be dismantled so that it does not deteriorate during the winter under the influence of moisture and low temperature.

Alternatively, you can use a composite plastic. It is more durable and will last longer.

Formation of the trunk

In this case, if you decide to form a stem, then you should wait until several branches grow on the bush and choose the strongest of them. It is important that the branch grows straight up, since the lateral shoots are not suitable for the formation of a trunk. It is from such shoots that the crown of the bush will form. In the future, those branches that do not have enough strength to grow to the top are cut out, as well as side shoots or shoots that grow downward.

Nowadays it has become very fashionable to create trunks in the form of a fan. In addition to the fact that it looks interesting and unusual, this method allows you to perfectly save space in the garden, especially if there are not so many acres.

How to tie a gooseberry: creating trellises

The last in the history of the construction of a support for shrubs is the trellis. This method has already shown a visible result, therefore it has become popular among experienced gardeners. So, on the sides of the growing shrubs, it is necessary to install a pair of supports, and a wire is stretched between them. The distance between the wires varies and depends on the growth rate of the shrub. As a rule, it is 20 or 30 centimeters.

The order of the three strongest and strongest shoots growing upward are bred on different sides, clinging to the wire. Thus, the plants do not interfere with each other, do not give shade. The berries are better illuminated by the sun, and, therefore, they will taste much better. In addition, air circulates well between the branches.

This garter method is very helpful for the gardener in caring for the plant. Since it is easier to take care of such a bush, in particular, when it comes not to one bush, but to a whole gooseberry plantation. There is no effect of thickening of greens, besides, it is much easier to collect fruits from such a bush.

Before preparing the gooseberry for winter, you will need to remove the plant from the support, in order to avoid freezing of individual branches. Since it is possible that the shrub will have to be covered in winter.
In the case of a U-shaped trellis, it is necessary to put supports at the end and at the very beginning of the row in the form of the letter P. In this case, the wire is stretched along the growing plantings.

The distance is selected individually, depending on the growth of the shrub. It is necessary to tie branches to the wire also on the sides. This method of garter will allow you to collect twice as much crop, in a small area occupied by gooseberries, of land. In addition, on divorced branches, the fruits will ripen better, faster and more evenly.

It may be necessary to work hard when designing the support and in the process of tying the shrub, but in the future this work will bring you a lot of benefit, since the shrub will grow more comfortably on the erected supports. The branches will not break, the harvest will be more abundant and will delight you with its taste.