Honeysuckle Giant's Daughter

Honeysuckle is a fairly common plant in the temperate latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. There are about 190 wild-growing species, but only a few of them are edible. All of them are distinguished by a dark blue or purple color of the fruit, but due to a bluish bloom, they may appear blue. Red, orange and yellow berries are poisonous.

Recently, there has been an active creation of new honeysuckle crops, one of the most promising is the Daughter of the Giant variety.

Description of the variety

The daughter of the Giant is a hybrid of Turchaninov's honeysuckle and the Bakcharsky Giant variety. The cultivar was accepted in 2009 for the State Variety Test, and in 2017 it was included in the Russian State Register.

Specifications

Honeysuckle of the Daughter of the Giant variety forms a rather large bush, reaching 1.7 m by the age of 8-9, with an oval crown of medium density. In the first years it grows slowly, and although it is considered early-growing, it gives a marketable crop not earlier than 5-6 years after planting. It differs from other varieties in that at the beginning of the growing season, young shoots have a raspberry hue, which is commonly called anthocyanin.

The berries of the Honeysuckle Daughter of the Giant are considered one of the largest today, on average 1.8-2.5 g. This difference is due to the unevenness of the fruits, which have a characteristic shape similar to an inverted comma or an elongated pear. Productivity - 3.1-3.5 kg per bush or about 10.2 tons per hectare. Under particularly favorable conditions, up to 17 tons of berries can be harvested from 1 hectare.

The fruits of the Giant's Daughter are dark purple, almost black in color, although due to the wax bloom they may appear gray. Dessert taste, sweet, with a slight sourness, without bitterness. Berries are suitable for processing or freezing, with medium transportability.

The Giant's daughter is a medium late variety of honeysuckle with extended fruiting. Harvesting is recommended to be carried out manually, in 2 stages. The berries are tightly attached to the branches and belong to the category of poorly crumbled (losses up to 20%), but they come off easily and cleanly.

Pollinators

Edible honeysuckle is self-fertile. When only one variety grows on the site, even with the best care and favorable weather conditions, the bush will bloom profusely, but it will give only a few berries. To get a bountiful harvest of honeysuckle, you need to plant at least 2-3 varieties nearby.

Flowers are pollinated by bees and bumblebees. There is no need to lure them specially - honeysuckle is an excellent honey plant and itself attracts beneficial insects to the site. The Daughter of the Giant variety is best grown next to the Bakcharsky Giant, Rapture, Strezhevchanka.

Advantages and disadvantages

The berries of the Giant's Daughter honeysuckle are by far one of the sweetest and largest. Their original shape will not confuse this variety with others. The advantages of the variety include:

  1. Large-fruited and good taste - 4.8 points.
  2. Abundant annual fruiting.
  3. Honeysuckle berries are healing.
  4. Winter hardiness. The daughter of the Giant can withstand temperatures below -50 degrees without shelter.
  5. The variety is poorly shattered, the berries are firmly attached to the branches, easily break off without damage.
  6. Longevity - Honeysuckle can bear fruit abundantly for up to 30 years.

The variety has few disadvantages:

  1. Self-infertility.
  2. Slow growth of honeysuckle in the first years after planting.
  3. Uneven ripening of berries.
  4. Up to 20% of the honeysuckle harvest is crumbled.
Important! Residents of other climatic zones are advised to buy seedlings of the Daughter of the Giant variety grown in local nurseries. It is difficult to adapt it on your own - leave this work to specialists.

Accommodation on the site

Although honeysuckle grows best in its usual conditions - the Middle Lane, with the right approach, it will yield crops even in the southern regions.

The choice of planting material

The best planting material for honeysuckle is 2-3-year-old bushes with a closed root system. You need to buy plants in nurseries - so there is less chance of getting into a mess with a variety or even buying an inedible variety. Choose a honeysuckle with 2-4 even branches and identical internodes.

Important! The best planting time is late summer or early fall.

Site selection and soil preparation

Good lighting of the site is the main condition for the cultivation of honeysuckle, otherwise the plant is surprisingly undemanding. Any soil will do, but on sandstones, fruiting will be weak. The optimum acidity is 5.5-6.6 (slightly acidic soil), the permissible value is 4.5-6.5.

You should not plant honeysuckle in lowlands and ravines - stagnant water and the accumulation of cold air will prevent it from developing normally. For the Daughter of the Giant variety, manual harvesting is preferable; if mechanized harvesting is supposed, choose a flat area. In regions with strong winds, planting protection is needed during flowering and ovary formation.

Planting pits measuring 40x40x40 cm are prepared in advance, 1-2 buckets of organic matter are introduced into each (depending on the fertility of the soil), 50 g of potash and phosphorus fertilizers. If necessary, the soil is deoxidized with lime.

Planting a bush

Before planting, honeysuckle is not pruned, but only broken branches are removed. They are very fragile, this must be taken into account. The standard planting scheme of the variety is 1.5 m between plants, 2.0-2.5 m between rows. In industrial plantings, plants are placed closer to each other, and the aisles are made large. But you still need to take into account the habit - the variety Daughter of the Giant has a tall and spreading bush.

It is better to start planting in late summer or early autumn, as soon as the heat subsides. Then the honeysuckle will have time to take root, and in the spring it will immediately start growing. The planting hole is filled with water, when the moisture is absorbed, a mound is poured in the middle, around which the roots are straightened. The neck is deepened by 3-5 cm, the soil is poured, squeezed, watered and mulched with peat or humus.

Growing

Only young plants need attention. Adults need minimal care - honeysuckle is quite unpretentious.

Young plant care

After planting, honeysuckle needs frequent and abundant watering. The next day, the trunk circle is loosened - this prevents weeds from developing and provides the roots with oxygen.

Comment! In the first 2-3 years, the Daughter of the Giant variety grows very slowly.

If during planting the soil was well filled with fertilizers and organic matter, honeysuckle is not fed in summer and autumn. In the spring, growth processes should be stimulated by pouring 30 g of urea dissolved in 10 liters of water under each bush.

Adult plant care

In the third year, in addition to spring fertilization, after fruiting on poor soils, honeysuckle is fed with a full mineral complex, and in the fall, a bucket of organic matter is introduced at the root. It is useful at the end of summer to embed ash in the soil - 1 liter for an adult plant, 0.5 liters for a young one.

Further care consists in weeding, loosening and periodic abundant watering in the absence of precipitation.

Pruning and wintering

Honeysuckle The Giant's Daughter was created in the Tomsk region and tolerates temperatures below 50 degrees below zero. She does not need shelter for the winter.

The plant is not pruned until the age of 15, only dry and broken branches are removed. The daughter of the Giant has a sparse crown, but if the shoots fall to the ground or are directed into the bush, they are cut off as early as possible.Without access to the light of the crop, they still will not give, but the nutrients are consumed.

After 15 years old branches are cut out from the honeysuckle at the base, and at 20, if the harvest has fallen, the rejuvenation of the shrub is carried out. To do this, remove all the shoots, leaving 15-20 cm. The branches will grow next spring and the honeysuckle will be able to fully bear fruit for another 5-10 years.

Reproduction methods

Honeysuckle is expensive, so the question often arises whether it can be propagated on its own. There are several ways to get young plants, but not all are suitable for hobby gardeners. This is shown in the table.

Breeding method

Complexity

Problems for amateurs

Final result

Seminal

Low

Seeds sprout very well

Due to cross-pollination, 80-90% of plants have no consumer value, since they do not inherit varietal traits

Green or lignified cuttings

Average

They require a greenhouse or a greenhouse and constant care, with self-breeding no more than 30% take root.

Inherits all varietal characteristics

Horizontal or vertical layering

Low

When harvesting or loosening the soil, the layers often damage

Inherits all maternal traits

By dividing the bush

Low

You can only divide a young, well-grown bush.

It takes root well and quickly enters fruiting

Growing problems

Honeysuckle rarely gets sick and suffers from pests. It can be attacked by aphids, leafworms or willow scale insects, which are fought with appropriate insecticides. Spraying should be done after harvest or biological protection should be used.

From diseases, it is necessary to isolate powdery mildew, which appears due to the close location of infected plants, in rainy summer or during evening watering in cold weather. The shrub is treated with Fitosporin or an appropriate fungicide.

Re-flowering of honeysuckle is possible, which reduces the harvest of the next season. In private households, the buds should be torn off by hand, and as early as possible.

Testimonials

Starovoitov Nikolay Petrovich, 70 years old, Tambov region
Very pleased with the honeysuckle. The daughter of the Giant. The fruits are large, of an interesting shape - you can't confuse them with any other variety. The taste is excellent, the grandchildren eat with pleasure. We are waiting for the bush to grow up to dig in a few branches and propagate.
Amoskina Victoria Leonidovna, 57 years old, Rostov-on-Don
I read about the Daughter of the Giant variety, I really wanted to have it at home. Relatives from the Tomsk region donated 2 seedlings. We were languishing for a long time, hurt, probably, I would have thrown it away, but the few berries that we managed to collect were too good. Now I know that I need to buy adapted seedlings - the northerners were just very hot here. My bushes seemed to have got used to and even started to grow, but I had to tinker with them.
Comments (1)
  1. The Giant's daughter grows well in the Novgorod region. It is better to plant in the sun or in partial shade. In the shade, the berries will be more sour. Berries correspond to varietal characteristics.

    06/14/2019 at 09:06
    Tatyana
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