Planting And Reproduction Of Actinidia

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

Read the previous part of the article: Actinidia - general information and features of cultivation

Planting actinidia

It is better to plant actinidia in a permanent place in the spring, but you can also in the fall. The landing pattern is 4x4 m, i.e. the correct planting of the plant will be when all the lower branches are illuminated by the sun during the day.

The fact is that an actinidia leaf that is in the shade produces about ten times less glucose than a fully illuminated one, and, therefore, an underdeveloped bud will grow in the axil of such a leaf, and next year this bud will not produce a good shoot. When planting, the size of the planting holes is 60x60 cm with a depth of 50 cm.

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After digging, it is filled with a sod, leaf and humus mixture. About 8-10 kg of humus, 200 g of superphosphate, 50 g of ammonium nitrate, as well as 300-400 g of wood ash are introduced into the pit. When planting a plant in a hole, you need to pour a couple of glasses of barley into it. Sprouted grain creates a lot of stimulants, a lot of beneficial microbes are bred on it, a large number of worms appear, and the soil in the root zone noticeably improves.

Having planted actinidia, it is necessary to pour manure or humus into the trunk circle, and close it on top with any mulching material or old film, roofing material, it is advisable to fix them well. Moisture holds well under the mulch, optimal conditions are created for the development of the root system, adventitious roots are created and, as a result, a good annual growth is obtained. And with proper formation - and early fruiting. The root system of actinidia is densely branched, the bulk of the roots of 2-3-year-old plants develop horizontally within a radius of 60-80 cm, in a layer 25-40 cm deep from the surface. The maximum depth of root penetration into the ground is up to 120 cm.

Top dressing

Actinidia is responsive to high doses of organic and mineral fertilizers. However, nitrogen fertilization must be applied in a limited amount so as not to cause prolonged growth of shoots. In the spring, before bud break, add 30 g of ammonium nitrate, 15 g of double superphosphate, 15 g of potassium salt per 1 m? bite stripes.

After harvesting, to increase winter hardiness, actinidia is additionally fed with 20 g of double superphosphate and potassium salt. Adult bushes should be fed with fertilizer solutions. At the same time, their consumption is reduced, and they are easier to digest. Actinidia is demanding on soil moisture, therefore, watering is necessary in dry years.

Pinching and trimming

In the summer, it is necessary to monitor the growth and development of plants, direct the shoots in the right direction and pinch them so that they bush and release generative shoots.

This promotes better maturation of the wood and earlier and more abundant fruiting. Green pruning and pinching are designed to keep the various branches of the plant in balance. It allows you to limit the growth of strong shoots in favor of weaker ones, i.e. the more vertically the growth branch or shoot grows, the shorter it needs to be cut.

The first pinching is carried out over the 8-10 bud of the shoot above the last fruit, and after 20-25 days, the repeated pinching is carried out over the 3-4 leaf above the previous pinching. If such work is not carried out, the actinidia bushes thicken strongly, a large number of shoots are formed, a huge mass of leaves. At the same time, few flower buds are laid, and, therefore, the yield of the plant decreases.

The shoots that have grown over the summer period 2-4 meters long can be used only at the beginning of the formation of vines or to replace the fruiting shoots, and during autumn pruning they are cut or cut to a certain length. Pruned branches are used to harvest cuttings, which, after proper storage, are used in spring for vegetative propagation of plants with the characteristics you desire.

Reproduction of actinidia

This culture is easily propagated by seeds and vegetatively. When grown in gardens, the leading role belongs to vegetative reproduction, and seeds are sown for breeding purposes. The seeds of actinidia are characterized by a deep state of dormancy due to an underdeveloped embryo.

Therefore, stratification is necessary for their good germination. The easiest way is to immediately sow the newly collected seeds into boxes prepared and filled with earth, press them to the soil and cover them with a thin layer of soil, then water gently. During the winter, boxes should be stored in a basement at temperatures close to zero. In the spring, raise them from the basement and put them in the shade, water through a strainer, preventing the top layer of the earth from drying out. Can be kept in a room at a temperature of + 18 … + 20 ° C.

Seedlings of actinidia are very small, they appear in 3-4 weeks. In the phase of 3-4 true leaves, plants dive into boxes, into open ground or into a cold greenhouse with a distance of 5-7 cm between plants. In this case, the planting is shaded from direct sunlight. The main care for them is watering, loosening the soil, weeding. It is necessary to very carefully approach the feeding of young plants, not to overfeed them. It must be remembered that when feeding at the end of July, the wood of the lianas does not have time to ripen, and the plants may freeze out the next winter.

By autumn, young seedlings of actinidia reach a height of 20-30 cm, have formed buds and mature wood. When frost comes, they must be covered with fallen leaves and, if possible, spruce or pine branches. And it is best to dig them up before the first winter and place them in the basement. Actinidia seedlings begin to bear fruit at 4-5 years, while splitting into male and female plants is close to 1: 1. The sex of plants is determined during the first flowering by the structure of the flower, and it remains unchanged for the entire period of their life. They are planted in a permanent place, as a rule, in the spring, in the third year of life.

In order to preserve varietal characteristics, actinidia is propagated vegetatively - green and lignified cuttings, layering. Propagation by lignified cuttings provides a small yield of well-rooted seedlings, but this method allows you to transport varietal material over long distances. Vegetatively propagated plants begin to bear fruit in 3-4 years.

Green cuttings are recognized as the most effective way to propagate actinidia. They start harvesting at the beginning of the browning of the bark on the shoots of medium growth, this happens around 2-4 weeks of June. Cuttings 12-16 cm long with 2-3 buds are taken from the middle part of the shoot. The lower leaves are removed, the upper ones are shortened by half. Prepared cuttings must be kept for 24 hours in a root growth stimulator - 0.05% heteroauxin solution. This contributes to better rooting and improved quality of the root system.

The planting depth of green cuttings in a greenhouse with a small layer of sand is 5-8 cm. They need to be watered abundantly and shaded. The rooting period lasts 20-25 days.

The success of growing seedlings with lignified cuttings depends on the timeliness of harvesting, the quality of the cuttings, the correct storage before planting and caring for them after planting. The core of the shoot in all species of actinidia is hollow, with the exception of the actinidia polygam, in which the core is solid.

During vegetative propagation of actinidia, it is necessary to pay attention to the degree of the ratio between the development of wood and core. And the greater this ratio, the higher the ability of this cuttings to root and, therefore, healthier seedlings grow from them. Therefore, when harvesting cuttings in autumn, the ratio of the total diameter of the cutting to the diameter of its core is visually determined; it should be at least two units.

Cuttings should be harvested in late autumn from healthy, high-yielding, well-developed bushes. One-year, well-developed and mature shoots are cut. Cuttings are cut from the middle and lower parts of the generative-vegetative shoot 15 cm long, 8-12 mm thick.

Before planting, they are well preserved, wrapped in a damp burlap, in the basement at a temperature of 0 … + 5 ° C. In early spring, before planting, the lower cuts of the cuttings are updated. To stimulate root growth, cuttings are treated with heteroauxin - according to dosage. The top of the cuttings is waxed.

One of the techniques that accelerate rooting is furrowing and blinding the lower eyes of the cutting. Before this, it is necessary to carefully examine the cutting, paying attention to the position of the leaf scar, which should be directed to the bottom, and correctly determine the bottom and top of the cutting.

The lower end of the cutting is pulled along the teeth of a hacksaw, creating shallow wounds so that its wood is not touched, the lower eyes are removed and placed in a solution of a root growth stimulator for a day.

After that, you can carry out kilchevanie (this is a preliminary planting of the cuttings in a pre-prepared hole with the bottom up to ensure the uniform development of the entire cutting, after which it is normally planted in a greenhouse - ed.), Which is very laborious, but you can immediately plant them in a prepared greenhouse, leaving a distance in a row between cuttings of 5-8 cm, and between rows - up to 20 cm.

In this case, the cuttings fit into the grooves at an angle of up to 30 °, one or two buds are left on the surface. With an inclined planting, the cuttings take root faster and grow, since their lower part is in a well-warmed and moisture-saturated soil. After that, the grooves are covered with earth, poured abundantly with heated water, the frame is installed and covered with a film. The planting can also be mulched with manure with a layer of 2-3 cm.

This greenhouse is placed in the shade of trees so that the morning or evening sun warms it. The air temperature under the film should be about 30 ° C. As the seedlings grow during the summer, they are fed several times with slurry or mineral fertilizers - urea at the rate of 50-60 g per 1m? area, while in top dressing at the end of July it is necessary to exclude nitrogen, leaving only phosphorus and potassium for better ripening of the shoots. To speed up their ripening in young plants, pinch the tops.

The easiest way to reproduce actinidia is by layering. At the end of May, as soon as the green shoots reach the required length, a strong one-year branch is laid on the bottom of the prepared ditch, pinched it, the upper end is tied to a peg and covered with fertile soil with a layer of 8-10 cm, leaving the tops of young shoots free, watered and mulched.

When propagating actinidia by seeds, it should be noted that freshly harvested seeds have the highest germination, which must be immediately planted into the ground to a depth of 0.5 cm, where they undergo natural stratification.

Selection of seedlings

When choosing and buying seedlings of actinidia, you need to pay attention to the following features:

- what do you buy: a seedling or a rooted stalk. The seedling has an axial shoot from the apical bud, and the young shoots of the rooted cutting come from the lateral buds, and the cutting itself is visible, - the roots of the seedling must be closed, placed in the ground or in wet moss, - the floor of the cutting you are buying will be prompted by the gardener, so you need to buy 1 -2 male and 5-6 female plants. If you buy seedlings, then you need to purchase 10-12 of them, which will ensure the availability of both male and female plants.

Read the next part. Formation and pruning of actinidia →

Victor Guzenko

experienced gardener, Lida

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