Watering is an important step in caring for different crops. The vegetation, flowering and further ripening depend on whether there is enough moisture for the plant. This article provides information on how to water gooseberries and what watering methods are best to choose.
Culture Description
Gooseberries belong to the genus of currant plants. Its bushes usually do not grow above one and a half meters. The color of the layered bark varies from dark gray to dark brown. It blooms usually in May with inconspicuous small flowers interspersed with red-green hues. The fruits resemble small watermelons in appearance, have a sweet and sour taste. The ripening of berries occurs unevenly, so it is recommended to collect in parts. Ripe berries are rich in healthy substances and a lot of vitamin C.
Gooseberry twig
How often to water gooseberries and currants
Gooseberry is a culture that grows well and bears fruit if the soil at the roots is in a constant moist state. Watering the bushes daily is not required, you should pay attention to weather conditions. If it rains in a day or two, the roots will have time to absorb enough moisture. If the weather is arid, it is necessary to water the gooseberries once a week with clean water in an amount of about 30 liters under a bush.
For your information! Gooseberries, depending on age, require a different rate of watering. So, for year-old bushes, the seasonal water norm will be no more than 50 liters, 3-5-year-olds - up to 80 liters, 20-year-olds - 120-150 liters. For plants older than 12 years, the norm is calculated depending on the quadrature of the root system, approximately 30-50 liters per 1 m².
The first spring, the gooseberry bush after planting in the fall is recommended to be watered regularly throughout the growing season. The soil where the root system is located should be 65-80% moist. This is usually checked by a special device. In the absence of such, the following method of determination will help: take a handful of earth from the soil at a depth of 20 cm, crumple it in your hand and throw it from a height of 1 m. There remains a whole lump or several large parts of it - the humidity is perfect, crumbled into small components - watering is required.
Gooseberries and currants
To obtain a rich harvest, watering is mandatory during the flowering of gooseberries. It is recommended to pour warm water under the base of the plant so that the ground is saturated with moisture for 30-40 cm.
Note! Despite the fact that plants of the currant genus love moist soil, excessive summer watering can provoke rotting, destruction of the root system, the emergence of harmful microorganisms and the subsequent death of the bush. During a drought, the plant feels depressed, it has a small increase, the berries are smaller, the color of the foliage changes.
Adult fruiting plants require more intensive watering until the first softness of the berries appears. Then the gooseberry watering in the summer stops, thereby making it possible to accumulate sugar in the fruits. After harvesting, watering of the bush resumes until the end of October - beginning of November. At the same time, winter winter irrigation is highly recommended, bringing the soil to a creamy state. It will allow plants to accumulate as much moisture as possible, which will make it easier for them to tolerate frosts and temperature changes in the winter months.
Gooseberry flowers
In the early spring (end of February - beginning of March), even before the buds swell, gooseberries and soil under it are more than once shed with boiling water. Hot water with a temperature of up to 80 ° C will not harm the bush, because it is still at rest after hibernation, and at the same time it will relieve various infections, including powdery mildew spores. Then the bushes are trimmed and sprayed with special chemicals from various diseases and their pathogens. At the same time, the earth is sprinkled with a layer of peat, sawdust or humus. Such a pillow will retain moisture in itself, interfering with the full development of weeds.
Watering Methods
There are several ways to water gooseberries in the summer. Popular are presented below.
Drip
Drip irrigation is fed through specially drawn irrigation lines that are laid at a distance of no more than half a meter from the plant. Such an irrigation system does not require the entry of warm water, since a low feed rate allows the water to heat naturally. In addition, in this system, you can add top dressing for the plant in liquid form.
Drip irrigation
Wet soil, slow irrigation, top dressing will help gooseberries to be saturated with nutrients and not burn their roots, as, for example, when pouring liquid fertilizer on dry soil.
Important! The drip irrigation system requires a small investment, but after installation pays off by saving water consumption.
Aryk
Another economical type of irrigation from the canal. The bush is slightly spudded so that its trunk is at the base of a small embankment. Then, along the perimeter of the root system, slightly departing from the crown, an embankment is laid out from the ground with a height of 10-15 cm. A small ditch should be obtained, which is then filled with a sufficient amount of water.
Aryk
Aryk can be made in a simpler way: dig a recess around the bush the size of a bayonet spade and fill this recess with water. This method of irrigation does not require constant loosening of the soil, it saves time and money.
Note! Gooseberries can also be watered with cold well water. But it is worth considering that with such irrigation, the fruits ripen a little later than when irrigated with warm water.
Spraying
Gooseberry foliage is sprayed only in cloudy weather after sunset, so as not to burn the crown. This method will slightly refresh the leaves from dust and small insects if present.
Spraying
Watering under the root
Watering under the root with warm water after sunset is done 3-4 times a season before the ripening of the first soft fruits. It was at this time that moisture was absorbed by the roots of the plant, without evaporating and without burning them.
Watering under the root
Sprinkling
Sprinkling is the most popular way of watering garden crops among summer residents. A specially installed system does not require any effort, irrigating the plants with water. This method is used when there is a threat of frost throughout the night until sunrise. For gooseberries, this is not the most favorable way of watering, since constant moisture on the leaves can cause the appearance of harmful microorganisms, and watering in sunlight can burn the foliage.
Important! Sprinkling requires a greater consumption of water and mandatory loosening after than the methods described above.
The influx
Another effortless way of watering is with an influx. This is when water flows out of a hose laid on the ground. The position of the hose must be changed several times, so this method cannot be called uncontrolled. In addition, the water spills in different directions, the soil does not always have time to absorb it immediately, which leads to uneven wetting of the open ground.
A few words about fertilizer
To obtain a healthy and fruiting plant, do not forget about top dressing. In the first year of planting, gooseberries need only the correct "drinking regime", loosening and stabilization of the number of shoots. Starting from the second spring, berry culture should be fed. Before flowering, gooseberries need nitrogen, which can be used both in dry and in liquid form. You can add nitrogen up to the second half of August. If you continue longer, this will cause the growth of new shoots of gooseberries, which do not have time to get stronger before the frost.
For your information! The first buds started - it's time to make phosphorus-containing fertilizers. It is recommended to repeat this top dressing a week after the first. The use of basal and spraying superphosphate feeding gives the best results.
In autumn, gooseberries can be fertilized with a mixture of phosphorus and potassium, which will help the wood mature and grow stronger, and the plant withstand the temperature difference in winter.
Fertilizer
Only moist soil is fertilized, which allows not to burn the roots of the plant.
Compliance with the rules of watering, feeding and creating favorable conditions for gooseberries will help to harvest a rich harvest and enjoy the pleasant sweet and sour taste of berries for more than one year.
