Content
Sprawling gooseberry bushes with fragrant berries and rich green foliage have occupied pride of place in private household plots for many decades. Breeders continue to work intensively to create more promising varieties in terms of yield. Gooseberry Green Rain is a new, hybrid variety that many experienced gardeners do not yet know about, but whose popularity is growing every year.
Description of gooseberry variety Green rain
A powerful, large, but compact and neat bush with erect erect shoots has dense foliage and medium spreading. The variety is distinguished by its low studding: the main part of rare and small thorns is concentrated near the base of the branches.
Very large, weighing up to 7 - 8 g, the berries of the Green Rain gooseberry have an oval, pear-shaped shape, unusual for such species. When ripe, light green fruits acquire a yellowish color, and a clarified, large veining is clearly visible through the skin. Long stalks make it easy to pick the berry from the bush. The variety is suitable for cultivation in the North-West regions of Russia, Siberia and the Far East. The plant does not require supports.
Drought resistance, frost resistance
Gooseberry Green rain does not need shelter for the winter, as it has high frost resistance. Even in the zone of risky farming in the most severe winters, plants do not freeze. They are not afraid of thaws in winter, after which many "tender" shrubs cannot recover, and young shoots are completely frozen over.
Gooseberry variety tolerates Green rain and drought. But for abundant fruiting, he needs periodic watering during the dry season.
Fruiting, productivity
Gooseberry bears fruit. Green rain in late July-early August with fragrant, sweet berries with a honey flavor. The late-ripening variety is not prone to shedding, but overexposure of the fruit on the branches can lead to crackling of their thin skin.
Young gooseberry seedlings of the Green Rain variety begin to bear fruit as early as the 2nd year after planting, which indicates the early maturity of the culture. Abundant harvests can be obtained a little later - in the 4th - 6th year of cultivation. Large berries are densely arranged along the branches, hanging down in huge, green clusters. From one bush, you can easily get up to 4 - 5 kg of sweet berries, which can be eaten fresh or for the preparation of canned berry. Large, strong berries are not baked in the sun, and the fruits picked on time can easily tolerate transportation.
Advantages and disadvantages
Gooseberry Green rain, as is clear from the description of the variety and the visual photo below, has undeniable advantages, which allows it to be widely used for cultivation in summer cottages. Some of the main advantages are:
- good productivity;
- resistance to drought, frost, winter thaws;
- unpretentiousness to growing conditions;
- disease and pest resistance;
- excellent berry taste and versatility of their use;
- early entry into fruiting.
There were no obvious shortcomings in this gooseberry variety.The only relative disadvantage can be considered the late ripening of berries.
Breeding features
A lot of planting material can be obtained by propagating gooseberries Green rain cuttings. They are prepared from the shoots that grow at the base of the bush of this variety. You can cut off only the upper part of the shoots by dipping the cuttings into a root-stimulating solution. After the roots appear, they are placed in a light, peaty soil. Seedlings are regularly watered, weeded and loosened. For the winter, the pre-warmed bed is covered with material. Fortified cuttings can be planted in a permanent place in the second year after cuttings, in the fall.
As practice has shown, the most productive and effective way of growing gooseberries Green rain is propagation by layering. To do this, choose annual basal shoots on 3 - 4-year-old bushes for laying in a specially dug trench. These shoots are bent to the trench and laid to a depth of 10 cm, sprinkling with soil. The soil in the grooves must be kept moist and loosened regularly. By autumn, the rooted cuttings reach a height of 17 - 20 cm and become sufficiently developed for independent growth. However, it is better to leave them near the mother plant for the winter.
Planting and leaving
The gooseberry will yield its full harvest. Green rain will be in a well-lit area, protected from wind and drafts. It is better to plant a light-loving plant in slightly acidic or neutral, loose and fertile soils with deep groundwater. Their level should be at least 1.5 m. Previously, 15 - 20 days before planting seedlings of this variety, the entire area is dug up with the removal of weeds, roots and other vegetation. River sand must be added to dense soil, and acidic soil must be limed. Gooseberries can be planted in spring or early autumn. When planting, it is worth making sure that the root collar deepens by about 5 - 6 cm. This measure will stimulate the formation and growth of new shoots.
Gooseberry Care Green rain comes down to watering, top dressing and spring pruning. Despite the fact that the plant is considered drought-resistant, during the growing season it needs watering four times. It is necessary to shed abundantly the bushes in the middle of spring, when building up green mass, as well as during flowering and fruit formation. Watering is stopped about half a month before harvesting so that the berries do not become watery. Top dressing of gooseberries Green rain is reduced to the spring application of nitrogen, summer and autumn - mineral fertilizers. In the spring, nitrogen fertilization will allow the plant to gain green mass, then the gooseberries are fed with superphosphate 3-4 times during the growing season. Spring sanitary pruning is done to remove damaged, dry branches.
Growing rules
In order for the harvest of honey, sweet berries to please with its staggering amount, you should adhere to certain growing rules:
- planting pits should be 50/50 cm in size, with a distance of 80 - 100 cm from each other;
- when digging holes, the upper fertile layer of the earth is removed and mixed with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers;
- a small amount of a nutrient substrate is poured into the hole, followed by a spreading of the root system, a seedling is installed, the planting hole is covered with fertile soil with fertilizers;
- in the spring, the trunk circle is loosened and mulched with foliage, sawdust, rotted manure, which will preserve moisture and additionally fertilize the plant.
The video clearly demonstrates the rules for caring for gooseberries and how to reproduce them:
Pests and diseases
A promising gooseberry variety Green rain has good resistance to pests and dangerous diseases. Spheroeteca and anthroknosis are not afraid of him. But, improper agricultural technology does not exclude the risk of development:
- white spot;
- rust;
- mosaics.
With white spot and rust, the bushes are treated with fungicides. Mosaic is practically not cured. However, preventive measures will prevent diseases from developing. In the spring, before the buds swell, and closer to autumn, after the harvest, the plants are treated with 1% Bordeaux liquid. Copper-containing preparations prevent the development of dangerous, incurable diseases, which guarantees good harvests of gooseberries Green rain.
Conclusion
Gooseberry Green rain will delight you with stable, large yields for many years, if you do not labor-intensive care measures. The popularity of the gooseberry as a berry crop continues to grow, because its fruits are a source of vitamins and minerals. Well, breeders continue to delight gardeners with new, more promising and unpretentious varieties of care.
