How to Prepare Honeysuckle Bushes for Winter - 3 Important Rules

Despite the fact that honeysuckle is one of the most unpretentious shrubs, you still need to prepare it for winter.

After all, the plant for several months sucked nutrients from the soil, spent its energy on growth, flowering and fruiting. All this needs to be replenished in autumn.

Otherwise, you should not count on a good harvest next season. There are three basic rules I adhere to when caring for honeysuckle:

1. Rule one - I do cleaning of the trunks and sanitary pruning. The foliage on the bushes after fruiting begins to turn black and fall off early. I clean out all fallen leaves and burn them.

Otherwise, the mass of leaves will serve as a refuge for harmful insects and pathogens.

I cut off dry and broken branches, if necessary, remove the lower shoots that touch the ground. If the bush is old, then I do anti-aging pruning, that is, I remove the oldest thick branches that form the trunks.

I grease the places of the cuts with garden pitch. If the bush is very many years old, then the yields become scarce and the berries become smaller.

In this case, I cut it out completely, leaving not too high hemp. In spring, the plant will give a lot of young growth.

2. Rule two - I mulch and feed. It is recommended to use potassium-phosphorus fertilizers as autumn dressings.

However, I try not to use chemicals in my garden. Therefore, in the fall I bring under each honeysuckle bush a half-liter jar of bone meal containing phosphorus, and the same amount of wood ash, which contains a lot of potassium.

Next, I loosen the soil in the trunk circles and fill it with mulch. To prepare mulch, I use peat and humus in a 1: 2 ratio.

I spread this loose mixture evenly under the bushes in a layer of about 5 - 7 cm. Mulching provides plants with organic nutrition and retains moisture.

3. Rule three - I observe the irrigation regime. Anyone who thinks that after harvesting the bushes do not need to be watered is mistaken. Honeysuckle loves moisture in moderation.

Therefore, having collected the berries, I continue to regularly moisten the bushes. In dry weather I water more often. Before the onset of the first frost, I water abundantly.

This is done for better wintering of shrubs, since plants need water not only during the growing season, but also in winter.

I do not cover or bend honeysuckle for the winter, since I was convinced from personal experience that this is unnecessary. Shrubs tolerate even severe frosts perfectly. In addition, branches break easily if you begin to bend them.