Black Chokeberry Is Not A Mountain Ash At All. Planting, Care, Cultivation. Beneficial Features. Photo

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Black Chokeberry Is Not A Mountain Ash At All. Planting, Care, Cultivation. Beneficial Features. Photo
Black Chokeberry Is Not A Mountain Ash At All. Planting, Care, Cultivation. Beneficial Features. Photo

Video: Black Chokeberry Is Not A Mountain Ash At All. Planting, Care, Cultivation. Beneficial Features. Photo

Video: Black Chokeberry Is Not A Mountain Ash At All. Planting, Care, Cultivation. Beneficial Features. Photo
Video: How to Grow Aronia: An easy shrub with tasty nutritious berries. 2024, March
Anonim

The Rosaceae family includes two interesting plant genera - Aronia and Sorbus. Aronia and mountain ash are relatives in the botanical hierarchy, and at the genus level they have biological differences. It is enough to look closely at the structure of the leaves, the general habit of the plant, the distribution area, the requirements for the environment and the chemical composition to understand that these are different plants. Translated from the Greek, the specific epithet of chokeberry is translated as black fruit, hence the full name in Russian - black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa). The people often mistakenly call it black chokeberry.

Black chokeberry, or Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)
Black chokeberry, or Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)

Chokeberry is also confused with "Michurin's chokeberry" and is also often called black chokeberry. From a botanical point of view, Aronia Michurin is not completely chokeberry, but only its variety with a different set of chromosomes. That is, at the biological level, these are different plants of the same genus. Michurina chokeberry (Aronia mitschurinii) also totally Rowan. The rowan, by its biological characteristics, belongs to a completely different genus - Sorbus, with a typical name in the plant system - ordinary (Sorbus aucuparia).

Content:

  • Botanical description of chokeberry chokeberry
  • The distribution area of chokeberry
  • Aronia - medicinal raw material
  • Useful properties of "chokeberry"
  • How to grow black chokeberry
  • Care for "chokeberry"
  • Reproduction of "chokeberry"
  • Chokeberry varieties for cultivation in summer cottages
  • Protection from pests and diseases

Botanical description of chokeberry chokeberry

Aronia translated from Greek means helper, help, benefit. Black chokeberry is the first helper of man, since ancient times an irreplaceable healer in the treatment of many and many of his ailments.

Under natural conditions, black chokeberry grows from 0.5 to 2.0 m in height. Cultivated forms reach 3-4 m - it is a large branched shrub, the crown of which becomes spreading with age, occupying up to 2-2.5 m in diameter.

The root system of chokeberry black-fruited is fibrous, well-developed, occupies the upper 40-60 cm layer of soil, needs irrigation with a lack of moisture. The root system does not extend beyond the external parameters of the crown. Annual shoots are red-brown in color, eventually covered with gray-brown bark.

Chokeberry leaves are shiny, simple, petiolar. The location is next. The leaf blade is whole, obovate, large, sometimes almost square (6-8x5-7 cm) with a serrate edge and marginal notches. The tip of the leaf blade is sharp. The color of the leaves of chokeberry is bright green. Black-brown glands are clearly visible along the central vein of the leaf blade. By autumn, the color of the leaves takes on different shades - orange, red, purple, which gives the bushes a bright, elegant decorative effect.

Chokeberry flowers are bisexual, medium-sized, regular. Corolla is white, slightly pinkish. The flower contains 15-20 stamens, whose purple anthers hang over the stigmas of the pistils, giving the flower an unusual appeal. Flowers are collected in complex plates up to 6 cm in diameter. The flowering of "black chokeberry" begins in May - June and lasts 2-3 weeks.

Fruiting of chokeberry begins in the 2nd - 3rd year. The fruits ripen in August - early September. Fruits are round black, apple-shaped achenes with a bluish bloom. In biological ripeness, the fruits are juicy, sweet, slightly tart. The fruit pulp contains 4-8 oblong seeds.

The fruits and flowers of chokeberry in appearance very much resemble the flowers and fruits of mountain ash, hence the second erroneous name of chokeberry (black chokeberry).

Black chokeberry, or Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)
Black chokeberry, or Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)

The distribution area of chokeberry

Eastern North America, where wild chokeberry grows naturally, is considered its place of origin. The distribution area of chokeberry aronia covers zones of temperate climate around the globe. It is successfully grown in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan. In the Russian Federation, it grows in separate bushes in forest glades, edges, in the undergrowth of the forest and forest-steppe zones of the European part. Black-fruited mountain ash is widespread in the Central, Volga regions, in the North Caucasus. Winter-hardy culture grows in almost every courtyard in the Ural region, West Siberian, North-West, even in Yakutia, and other regions of the Asian part of Russia. In areas characterized by winter temperatures above -35 ° C, chokeberry is bent to the ground for the winter, covering it with spruce branches or snow.

The genus of chokeberry has 15 species, but it was introduced into culture and served as the basis for the breeding and introduction of varieties in different climatic zones, only one - chokeberry.

The cultivated varieties of "chokeberry" as a valuable medicinal raw material are grown in industrial quantities in Altai. Significant areas are occupied by culture in Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states. It is used as a valuable ornamental plant for decorating landscapes of parks, squares, recreation areas, natural fencing of sites.

Aronia - medicinal raw material

Chokeberry aronia medicinal raw materials are leaves and fruits in fresh and dried form.

Ripe fruits contain up to 10% of sugars, more than 1% of organic acids, up to 1% of pectin and up to 18-20% of dry matter. Chokeberry fruits from 3 to 30% cover the daily human need for vitamins (C, E, B1, B2, B6, B9, K, P, E, PP), macro- and microelements in the form of salts of molybdenum, manganese, copper, iron, boron, fluorine. The iodine content in "chokeberry" is higher than in gooseberries, raspberries, and strawberries. In significant quantities, fruits contain anthocyanins, leukoanthocyanins, catechins. Chokeberry is distinguished by its maximum calcium content, ahead of such crops as black currant, oranges. The fruits contain more than 4%, and the leaves contain up to 1.5% of flavonoids, including rutin, quercetin, hesperidin. The chemical composition of the fruit emphasizes the value of chokeberry as a medicinal and food culture.

Black chokeberry, or Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)
Black chokeberry, or Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)

Useful properties of "chokeberry"

Black chokeberry forms up to 7-9 kg of berries from a bush. The crop is harvested before the onset of frost. They can be used fresh, as well as processed into juice, wine, liqueurs, compotes. Jam, jam, syrup, marmalade, marshmallow, jelly are prepared from berries. The berries are dried in the open air and in dryers at a temperature of +50.. + 60 ° С. Dried fruits are stored in paper bags for up to 2 years. For the use of medicinal teas, the leaves harvested after flowering are dried. Fresh berries of "chokeberry" are stored at zero temperature for up to a year without losing their taste and useful qualities.

Medicinal extracts and infusions are prepared from fresh and dried fruits, which are used at home with reduced immunity, diabetes mellitus, as a prophylactic agent for oncology, hypertension. They are used to treat allergic vasculitis, with vitamin deficiency, which is very valuable, especially for children with metabolic disorders. Cholesterol-lowering cholesterol, improving the functioning of the endocrine and respiratory systems. The fruit is a good antiseptic. Preparations from fruits and leaves are widely used for diseases of the liver, gallbladder, cardiovascular system, and hypertension.

How to grow black chokeberry

Environmental requirements

Aronia chokeberry is not very demanding on environmental conditions. The culture is winter-hardy and shade-tolerant. But in shaded places it practically does not bear fruit and can be used mainly only as an ornamental crop. Easily tolerates frosts -30..- 35 ° С and even -40 ° С. During the growing season, forms higher yields with watering and good lighting. If agrotechnical requirements are observed, the bush grows up to 3 m and forms up to 50 stems of different ages.

Planting "chokeberry"

Black chokeberry is undemanding to the soil and grows normally and develops even on poor soils. Does not tolerate saline and stony soils, flooding of the root system. Delivers acidified soil, but neutral soils are most optimal. Acidic soil is neutralized with ash or dolomite flour, or lime.

For planting chokeberry seedlings, you need to buy in specialized nurseries or use shoots of a known variety.

It is better to plant seedlings in the fall before the onset of severe cold weather or in the spring after the snow melts (if the winters are very cold). Black chokeberry refers to early-growing crops and begins to bear fruit in 1-3 years after planting.

In chokeberry seedlings, before planting, the roots are shortened to 25-30 cm and the stem is cut to 5-6 buds. The seedling is kept for several hours in a root solution or water.

The preparation of the planting pits is carried out 2-3 weeks before the planting of seedlings. The planting pits are dug 50x50x60 cm in size. The distance between the planting pits is 2-2.5 m. If the planting is intended for fencing or for decorative purposes, then you can thicken the planting and plant it after 1-1.5 meters.

If the soil is depleted in nutrients, then the dug soil is mixed with a bucket of organic matter (not fresh), add 2-3 tablespoons of nitrophosphate, a spoonful of potassium sulfate and 2 tablespoons of superphosphate. On fertile soils, you can limit yourself to a bucket of humus and from mineral fertilizers - nitrophosphate. If the soil is dense, you need to add a 0.5-1.0 bucket of high peat or sand.

Chokeberry is planted similarly to other self-rooted bushy berry crops. When planting, the location of the root collar is monitored. It cannot be buried, since this technique leads to the formation of a large number of basal shoots. If the shoots are not systematically cut out, the bush becomes shaded and loses its yield.

Black chokeberry, or Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)
Black chokeberry, or Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)

Care for "chokeberry"

Chokeberry care consists in loosening the soil, watering, fertilizing, pruning and rejuvenating bushes, fighting pests and diseases.

In the dry, dry growing season, planting chokeberry is watered after 12-25 days and immediately mulched in order to excessive loss of moisture. With age, the frequency of watering is reduced, since individual roots deepen up to 2 - 3 meters and can independently provide the bushes with the necessary moisture.

Chokeberry is fed 2-3 times a year. In the spring, a mixture of manure or poultry droppings with potassium salt or ash is prepared and introduced before bud break. The second time is fed with an aqueous solution of fertilizers before flowering. For top dressing, ash (1-2 glasses), nitrophoska (20-25 g), kemira (20-30 g), other fertilizers containing macro- and microelements are used. In the autumn after harvesting (according to the state of the crop), superphosphate and potassium sulfate are used for feeding, respectively, 50 and 30 g / bush.

In the spring, before bud break, an annual sanitary pruning is carried out. Aronia shoots are cut at soil level. When pruning, unnecessary shoots are also destroyed, leaving 5-6 well-developed, fruitful shoots. At the age of 5-7 years, replacement pruning is performed. To replace the fruiting shoots and limit the growth of the "chokeberry" bush, 2-3 young shoots are left. The shoot actively forms a harvest for 5-7 years and must be replaced. A properly formed bush contains 40-45 stems of different ages. Complete rejuvenation is carried out after 10-12 years, depending on the condition of the bush. Systematic rejuvenation prolongs the fruiting of the bush for a long period.

Reproduction of "chokeberry"

Black chokeberry propagates by seeds and through seedlings. Vegetatively, like all root-sprouting shrubs - by layering, cuttings, root suckers, dividing the bush, grafting.

Chokeberry seeds can be sown directly into the soil in the fall, where they undergo natural stratification during the winter. The grown seedlings are planted in a permanent place the next year. When propagating through seedlings, seeds must be stratified for 3 to 4 months. Further cultivation and care of seedlings, like other plants.

Vegetative propagation of chokeberry bushes is carried out in a similar way to other shrub root-sucking crops.

Black chokeberry, or Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)
Black chokeberry, or Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)

Chokeberry varieties for cultivation in summer cottages

The most popular varieties are domestic and mixed breeding

Nero, Altai large-fruited, Black-eyed, Grandiolia, Rubina, Estland, etc

Of the foreign varieties of chokeberry, the most common are:

  • Finnish - Viking, Hakkia, Belder,
  • Polish - Kutno, Nova Ves, Dabrowice,
  • Danish variety Aron.

Breeding work is mainly aimed at obtaining hybrid varieties of frost-resistant, high-yielding, with large fruits. It is impossible to distinguish the varieties of "chokeberry" by their external characteristics. Differences appear only when the harvest is obtained, when the fruits acquire characteristic taste. Therefore, the varieties selected from catalogs must be purchased only in specialized nurseries, where at the same time you can get qualified advice.

Protection from pests and diseases

Black chokeberry is resistant to pests and diseases. In some years, there are isolated lesions by aphids, mountain ash moth, winter moth, cherry sawfly, mountain ash mite, hawthorn. Pest control is safer for human health to carry out biological products that are used against these pests on other crops: dendrobacillin, bitoxibacillin, verticillin, bicol, boverin and others. Of the chemicals, it is recommended to treat chokeberry with black chokeberry in the spring before budding and in the fall after leaf fall with a 1-2% solution of copper sulfate or Bordeaux liquid.

From diseases, with neglected plantings of chokeberry, bacterial necrosis of bark stems, monilial burn, leaf rust at a close distance from crops affected by rust (apple, pear), very rarely - viral spot can develop. It is best to fight diseases, as well as pests, with biological products, using the time-tested gaupsin, phytosporin, gamair, glyocladin, trichodermin and others. Of course, you can use newer drugs from the recommended annual lists.

Biological products have an effective effect on pests and diseases only if the recommendations are strictly followed. With early spring treatments, chemical treatments can be applied, but only before the flower buds open.

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