How to plant barberry and arrange proper care

Asia Minor is considered to be the birthplace of barberry, so the shrub loves warmth and is well established in the Caucasus regions and Crimea. The plant is afraid of severe frosts, and residents of areas with a harsh climate have to take more care of it, properly preparing for wintering.

Landing methods

Barberry can be brought to your site in the form of a seed, cuttings or seedlings with a formed root system. You need to choose a good location, soil type, and planting time.

Key recommendations

1. Bushes do not tolerate stagnation of water, so it is better to grow barberry on the tops of slopes or small hills.
2. The plant provides a rich harvest, if constantly bathed in sunlight.
3. To develop the root system, the bushes are advised to be placed in the semi-shaded corners of the yard.
4. Barberry can be used to decorate a site or form a hedge. In the latter case, the spacing between the seedlings should be equal to 1.5 m, so that they do not interfere with the neighbors to develop.
5. The plant takes root on loamy soil and chernozem. Ideal land is moderately moist and loose, although barberry is not afraid of drought, and normally tolerates windy weather.
6. Bushes planted in clay soil quickly wither away, and even fertilizers do not help them.
7. Summer residents who are just getting acquainted with this plant are recommended to buy cuttings or young seedlings. It is difficult to grow barberry from a seed, and experienced breeders are mainly fond of this method of reproduction.
8. Seedlings sold in markets with an open root system are placed in the soil either in the last days of leaf fall, or in the early days of March - April, before the buds open. In the first case, barberry adapts faster and takes root better. In the second, it begins to grow actively.
9. Plants with a root system hidden in containers can be planted in the ground in late spring and early fall.

From seed to bush

You can independently prepare planting material in the following way:

• Collect ripe barberry fruits.
• Squeeze the juice from the berries.
• Rub the remaining peel and pulp through a fine sieve to separate the seeds from them.
• Rinse the workpiece, pour onto a baking sheet mishandled by paper.
• Dry in the oven at minimum temperature, or put in a ventilated room.

They recommend planting barberry in the ground in autumn, so that young shoots appear by summer. Make one or more grooves with a depth of 1-1.5 cm, evenly distribute the seeds on them, and sprinkle with earth, slightly tamping it.

If the planting material was obtained from fruits ripened in autumn, it is ground with sand, put into a box, and put in a cool place. The optimum temperature is from 0 to + 6–15. Closer to spring, when the bones hatch, you need to make grooves with a depth of 3 cm, and transfer the seeds along with the sand to the ground.

Thin sprouts after the appearance of a second real leaf in barberry. The distance between the seedlings is at least 3 cm. After a year, the grown and mature bushes can be moved to any corner of the site, the main thing is that between adjacent plants should be at least 1-1.5 m.

Cuttings
The method is suitable for owners of greenhouses or office heated rooms. The basis for the workpiece will be the side branch. Propagate barberry by cuttings in June.

1. Cut off young thin branches no more than 15 cm long. Remove the lower leaves, the base that will be in the ground, treated with drugs that stimulate the growth of the root system.
2. Fill large pots with a mixture of peat with sand or perlite. Moisten the soil, and bury the cuttings on the very leaves. Put in a greenhouse, and cover the workpiece with film to create a greenhouse effect.Be sure to ventilate every 6-12 hours. To loosen the earth regularly, and to moisten from a spray bottle or a small watering can.
3. The cuttings that have taken root and have gained strength are carefully removed from the pots along with clods of earth, and transferred to large containers.
4. Humidify the earth in the new house and fertilize it with any mineral components, such as nitrate or ammonia.

Plants can be moved to the open ground next spring. They should winter in the greenhouse.

Layering
One of the easiest breeding options for barberry. The best time is spring.

• Weed the ground around the bush, clearing the area of ​​weeds.
• Make a ditch with a minimum depth of 20 cm, moisten the soil.
• Choose the strongest annual branch with developed buds.
• Lay the shoot in a ditch, and fill it with black soil, leaving the tops on the surface.
• Regularly introduce water in small portions, it is possible with fertilizers.
• After 2–5 weeks, strong seedlings appear, around which you need to loosen the soil, and destroy all weeds.

In autumn, young bushes can be moved to a permanent place of residence.

Division
This method is not very popular because only experienced gardeners can propagate barberry by division without damaging its root system. Plants often do not take root, and disappear.

• Dig a healthy maternal bush, and clean the roots from the ground.
• Divide the barberry into several parts so that in each "piece" there remains a strong shoot.
• The place is prepared in advance, because the bushes are planted immediately after digging and dividing.
• Seedlings are regularly watered, if necessary, fed with substances that stimulate growth.

Soil preparation

Optimum soil acidity for barberry from 7.5 pH and below. If the indicators exceed this figure, you need to make slaked lime, you can immediately before planting the bushes. Peat is added to the loamy soil and chernozem, which provides good drainage. An alternative is limestone flour.

Pit Diameter:

1. For young seedlings that are under 3 years old, 25 cm is enough, and a similar depth;
2. Barberry, 4 to 7 years old, requires a large fossa. Optimum diameter and depth - from 50 cm;
3. Bushes that will become a hedge are planted in a trench. The depth of the furrow is 40 cm, the width is from 40 to 50 cm.

Healthy supplements
Pits are prepared in advance, it is possible the day before the barberry is planted. They need to make fertilizer, consisting of humus with sand, you can take loose garden soil with compost. Sometimes add wood ash, which not only nourishes the plant, but also protects against some pests and fungus. Superphosphate with potassium salt promotes the growth of barberry.

During drought, the plant needs abundant watering. To keep moisture in the ground longer, the bushes are mulched with sawdust or peat, straw or other options can be used. The layer thickness is about 8 cm.

Care Rules

1. Barberry, who turned 2 years old, needs to be fed with nitrogen fertilizers. Urea is suitable: from 20 to 30 g per 10 liters of water. The next time you add nutrients should be when the plant is 5 or 6 years old.
2. Adult shrubs need to be fed before flowering. They recommend granular agents, you can use "Kemira-universal".
3. Before fertilizing, the soil is loosened, weeds and grass that are too tall are pulled out.
4. If the summer was rainy, barberry does not need additional watering. The plant tolerates drought, but dies from excess water.
5. Bushes are regularly cleaned of dry branches that inhibit growth, and reduce the fertility of barberry. The best time for hygiene procedures is spring.
6. To form a hedge, it is recommended that the branches be cut after flowering. For the first time, annual or biennial shrubs are pruned. Branches can be shortened by a third or half, depending on the desired shape.
7. Instead of chemicals, the plant is fertilized with bird droppings or cow manure diluted in water.
8. So that barberry does not die from subzero temperatures, in the late autumn it is covered with spruce branches. You can pour a layer of scorched leaves under the bush, or peat with straw.
9. During a period of severe drought, the plant is watered 2–4 times a week. Spend 10 liters of water on one bush.

Pests and ways to deal with them

Barberry will become a decoration of the garden, protect from the excessive attention of curious neighbors and passers-by. The roots of the plant are used in alternative and traditional medicine, and from the fruits you get tasty jam or jam, healthy compote and even kvass. Shrubs get along well with other decorative varieties, and need only timely watering and pruning.

Video: Autumn shrubs for the garden - barberry