Even while infrequently on the backyards of country houses, you can find such an exotic plant as Actinidia Arguta. This is a perennial shrub in the form of a climbing vine, a length that can reach 20 meters. Since this is a lianate plant, it needs a reliable support along the entire length.
Fruits, or rather, the berries of the plant resemble a kind of kiwi , only a reduced size. For transportation, they are of little use, and the shelf life is small - only 3-4 days. But from them you can cook jam, compotes and eat fresh. Vitamin C is contained in them more than in currant or lemon, and therefore the benefits of actinidia are obvious.
Actinidia Arguta plant is dioecious - this means that for fruiting, which occurs 3-4 years after planting, it will require, besides the female one, also a male plant. Determine their sex will be possible only after flowering, since they differ precisely in flowers.
Actinidia Arguta - planting and care
Planting a bush of actinidia Argut needs in the spring, after all, so he will have much more chances to settle down in a new place than in the autumn planting. Great importance for further fruiting takes place, where it is necessary to grow actinidia. This plant is good fruit only on sunny, well-lit places.
Of course, actinidia can grow from the northern and eastern sides, but then an abundant harvest, and it in an adult plant reaches 10 kg from a bush, you do not have to wait. It is possible to plant a plant when the lower part is in the shade, and all that is above the meter is already located in the sun.
Before planting, you need to make sure that the root system is undamaged and not over-dried, because actinidia is very sensitive to drought and will be ill after planting for a long time. The appearance of foliage and the height of the seedling are not so important as a healthy root system.
If there are dried roots, they must be removed to lower the remaining ones into the clay chatter, which will heal and not give a loss of moisture. Fovea for planting should not be too deep, enough will be 20 cm deep. But the width will depend on the size of the root system - it should be placed freely, and this will take about half a meter in diameter.
Before you place the seedling in the prepared well, it is poured into the humus (1 bucket), superphosphate (200 g), 0.5 l of wood ash and ammonium nitrate (50 g). All this is well mixed together with the soil from the bottom of the pit and this substrate is filled with a rhizome. The soil should be gently compacted as it is being filled. After the hole is filled it is poured with a bucket of warm water.
Care for actinidia is simple enough. It can grow on any soil and its nutrition is quite undemanding. But the plant is very sensitive to chlorine and lime in the ground. Actinidia Arguta is a moisture-loving plant, and the main task of care will be watering, or rather, keeping the upper layer of the earth moist.
To ensure that the soil does not dry out, it is desirable to cover it with any material. If this is not done, then the root system will be very hot, which will lead to the disease of the plant and its death. Loosening the soil in the near-trunk circle should be done very carefully, because the roots lie directly near the surface.
There are other popular types of actinidia Arguta:
- actinide Arguta Pineapple is
a plant up to 6 meters high gives small, but very attractive fruits with a pink-yellow cask. But the main thing is not in this - the taste and smell of fruits is almost identical to the exotic pineapple, which is very appealing to fans of this plant; - Actinidia Arguta Veiki is a dioecious variety that gives relatively large reddish fruits that ripen in October. This species is distinguished by increased winter hardiness, which does not require shelter (up to -30 ° C);
- Actinidia Arguta is self-fertilized - the name itself says that the plant does not need a male plant for fruiting, because the flowers are bisexual. Fruits are well transported.