Let's Plant Gumi

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

How to propagate and grow this rare fruit plant in our gardens

To say that

gumi is a new culture would be wrong, however, not everyone can immediately describe what this plant looks like, and even more so few people have tried its fruits. It is still a great success to meet gumi on a home plot, but more and more people are willing to plant this plant in the country or in the garden near a residential building.

Features of culture

Gumi fruit

Walking through the market or the fruit sections of shops, you will not find the fruits of this plant. Maybe, of course, you are lucky, and some nice grandmother will sell these fruits, carefully folded in small glasses.

Why is this happening? The main and, it seems, the only problem that gumi does not take root in our areas is the weak winter hardiness and drought resistance of this culture. Shoots that are not bent to the ground and not covered with snow or covering material are likely to freeze in winter, and if there is not enough moisture in the soil during the flowering period, the plants will instantly drop all flowers and not tie a single fruit, or they may even die entirely … Therefore, shelter and watering are two main tasks when growing gumi on the site.

But even knowing about these features of gumi, one should not give up. After all, this is a very pleasant to the eye shrub with nondescript, but cute flowers and very tasty berries that look like overgrown sea buckthorn fruits. They are light red in color with an elongated, almond-like bone inside, which does not interfere with the consumption of the fruit at all. The bone, since it is soft, can also be chewed, because its core contains amygdalin useful for the heart.

The gumi plant is probably the brightest, judging by the fruit, a representative of the sucker family and the closest relative of the more common, winter-hardy and drought-resistant sea buckthorn. However, from a thorny relative, whose shoots are literally strewn with very unpleasant thorns, the

shoots of gumidiffer in that they have only single spines. They can be located on the shoots of gumi either only at the base of the bush, or only on the upper parts of the growths, however, there are plants that have single thorns both on the tops of the growths and at the base of the shoot. The thorns are less sharp than those of sea buckthorn, their tips are as if sawn off, but you can still scratch the skin or tear clothes with them, so you should be careful when harvesting.

Sprig with gumi fruits

The fruits are pleasin

it is a pleasure to collect them, because they hang on long stalks. By the way, if you want the fruits to last longer, then when collecting the stalks, do not tear off the stalks (as they do with cherries) and place them in the refrigerator. There, the fruits can lie for a couple of weeks without spoilage and loss of taste.

Unfortunately, not everyone likes the

taste of fully ripe

gumi. Some notice a pronounced acidity in it, others talk about the "tastelessness" of the fruit. However, it is safe to say that both are wrong. The fruits taste good, they contain a lot of juice which "hides" in the tender pulp, but what the taste of the fruit looks like, everyone decides for himself, but I advise everyone to try it.

When planting gumi on your plot, be aware that this culture, like legumes, has nodules on the roots that accumulate nitrogen, so the shrub can ennoble the soil.

The root system of gumi has a structure that allows you to strengthen the contours of the ravine or prevent wind erosion, and the small growth of the shrub (1.5-2 meters) will not allow the formation of a powerful shadow.

Gumi is a culture attributed to medicinal, and all parts of the plant are used in folk medicine: roots, leaves, shoots, flowers, fruits and their seeds. Mostly in the form of decoctions and tinctures. In official medicine, gumi is not used.

Several types of gumi grow in natural conditions. They are found in Central Asia, as well as in the interfluve of the Volga and the Urals and in the Transcaucasus.

Sakhalin became the center of breeding work with gumi. The first varieties of gumi have been created ther

which are quite difficult to get, there are also natural plantations of this plant with smaller fruits than those of the varieties, which are eagerly collected by the local population, organizing whole trips for this berry.

Blooming gumi

Gumi is a plant for two purposes. Thanks to the pleasant leaves that fall quite late, it can also be used as a decoration for the site. The buds on the bush will burst very early, and already in mid-May small leaves are formed. It will take only a couple of days, and well-developed leaves will appear on the unsightly, dried-looking shoots, and the whole bush will dress in a pleasant outfit. A week later, flowering will begin, it is nondescript, and it is quite possible to skip it if the plant is still small. On an adult bush, hundreds of flowers bloom at once, and this already looks more spectacular. Also imperceptibly and suddenly fruits will appear on the plant, while there are still few berries from other crops. Almost simultaneously with the mulberry, which is just starting to paint its caterpillars-fruits, its scarlet barrels are formed on the gumi.

There are few fruits on young plants growing alone, but on adult, five-seven-year-old bushes that grow side by side, usually a large harvest hangs. A good bush can produce two or even three kilograms of fruit, and even more in the southern regions, where winters are not so severe.

Reproduction of gumi

Noticing a bush in a neighbor's garden, you can ask him for a couple of berries, a lignified shoot or a green shoot of this year. I think that the neighbor will not refuse you, and then you can get the plants yourself and plant them on your site.

With

sowing seedseverything is simple, but the germination rate of gumi is low. Usually, only a third of the seeds germinate and sprout, no more, so they need to be sown more. This can be done immediately after collecting the fruits and separating the seeds from them, or you can try to germinate them at home by placing them in a bowl on a wet and soft cloth and hiding them from direct rays in the shade. The seeds will hatch, and then they can be transplanted into separate pots with soft and nutritious soil. If it is possible to get gumi plants in this way, then they can be planted on the site from May to the end of August. The main thing in this case is not to destroy the earthen lump. It is better to take a plastic cup in advance, make a hole at its base with a nail heated over the flame to drain excess moisture and fill it with nutritious soil, and when planting with garden scissors, cut the cup, keeping a clod of earth.

On the site for the

shoots of gumi, you need to monitor, shade from the bright sun, weed out, water, feed with small amounts of mineral fertilizers. They can only be transplanted when they are two or three years old. And this must be done very carefully, since by damaging the roots, you can destroy the entire plant.

If you got a

lignified stalk, then try budding on a

gumi seedling (in summer) or copulating in spring. However, this technique is relevant only if you have got hold of some

rare variety of gumi and want to propagate it.

In my opinion, the

most optimal way to reproduce gumiis the rooting of green cuttings. Here, of course, you need to have plants from which these cuttings can be cut. Shoots are cut, then cut into cuttings, in late May - early June. Cut into pieces 14-16 cm long, leave a couple of leaves on the top of the head and plant them in a greenhouse covered with a film, in a soil consisting of a mixture of peat and river sand in a 1: 1 ratio. Next, care for the cuttings begins. It consists in removing weeds and in frequent watering (5-6 times a day). Ideally, the greenhouse should be tropical - a lot of moisture and heat. Then the cuttings will form the roots, they will be small, but they will be quite enough so that when transplanted from the greenhouse into the open ground, a nice looking bush will form from an unsightly cuttings.

Choosing a place, planting and caring for seedlings

Three-year-old gumi seedling

For a

gumi seedling obtained by any of these methods, as well as acquired in a nursery, it is necessary to select the optimal conditions for growth. The first step is to choose a site. When choosing a place for gumi to grow, you need to be guided based on two of its problems, which we mentioned at the very beginning. These are weak drought resistance (especially in young plants, the root system of which is not yet sufficiently developed) and winter hardiness. Therefore, the site should be leveled, without microdepressions in which cold air accumulates, protected from the north (growth of large plants from the north side, the presence of a fence, structure is allowed), and also fertile.

Start

planting gumipossible both in spring and autumn. It is better, of course, if the planting is carried out in the spring, in which case the seedlings will not have the risk of freezing out in the first winter, but you will need to take care of the safety of the seedlings, alas, this is not for everyone. Planting in the fall provides for mandatory frost protection. This is either a cover with a nonwoven fabric, or placing the plant under hoods made of the same nonwoven fabric. Caps are more preferable, since you do not need to bend the shoots to the ground, risking breaking them, or, having poorly fastened them, to see that they unbent again and do this operation again.

For planting gumi, planting holes are prepared. They are dug in such a size that the root system is freely located in the fossa, the roots should not bend or break much. Often, drainage is arranged at the bottom of the hole, a couple of bricks are beaten into small parts, which will prevent stagnation of moisture, and a nutritious soil of the top layer of the earth is laid on top. The seedling is placed on a hill of soil, spread the roots, sprinkle them, compact the soil and water the seedling with 5-6 liters of water. After that, it is advisable to mulch the soil with humus, non-acidic peat or just dry soil with a layer of 3-4 cm. This will prevent moisture from evaporating and will help the plants to quickly take root in a new place.

Of the additional work on the care of plants, one should mention obligatory

watering during periods when there is no rain, preferably daily, as well as sanitary pruning. Sanitary pruning is necessary in order to prevent excessive thickening of the crown of the bush. With this pruning, it is necessary to remove all dry shoots, broken, as well as growing deeper into the crown, which just leads to its thickening.

If you did everything correctly, then two to three years after planting, the first fruits will appear, the number of which on the plant will increase every year.

Gumi varieties

In conclusion, I will name several

varieties of gumi, the planting material of which is easy to get. This is the Sakhalin cultivar

characterized by high winter hardiness, the Moneron variety

which is characterized by large-fruited and high taste qualities of fruits,

Krillon - grows rapidly and is a fast-growing variety and the Taisa variety

characterized by stable yields, sufficient winter hardiness and drought resistance, exceeding this indicator in other gumi cultivars.

Nikolay Khromov,

researcher, candidate of sciences

GNU VNIIS im. I. V. Michurina Russian Agricultural Academy,

scientific secretary of ANIRR

Photo by the author