The first stage of caring for honeysuckle bushes begins with sanitary pruning, which should be carried out before the buds awaken.

At this point it is especially important to remove:

• dry and broken branches;
• shoot;
• branches growing inside the bush;
• branches that greatly thicken the crown;
• branches lying on the ground;
• underdeveloped and too thin branches.

Cover the cuts in thick branches with garden varnish to protect the bush from the development of infections.

Treatment

After a few days after pruning, it is recommended to treat for diseases. This is done with a 1% solution of copper sulfate. Spray all branches thoroughly, especially from the bottom and center of the bush.

Although honeysuckle rarely gets sick, sometimes an infection can affect the plant, so preventative treatment should be carried out. This will significantly reduce the risk of honeysuckle becoming infected with diseases, writes the VKontakte group “Garden Vegetable Garden Seedlings Seeds | Useful Blog.”

Watering and mulching the soil around the bush

Honeysuckle is moisture-loving, so it often suffers from lack of watering. If the spring turns out to be dry, the bushes need to be watered. One adult bush requires up to 5 buckets of water for a single watering.

The next day after watering, the soil around the bush must be loosened and then mulched with humus or compost. Thanks to this procedure, your bushes will retain moisture in the soil for a long time, which will have a positive effect on the quality of the future harvest. It is thanks to watering that the berries become large and juicy.

Top dressing

After the plant wakes up from hibernation, carry out the first spring feeding with urea. It will give the plant strength to grow the above-ground part of the bush.

Fertilizer solution: 1 tbsp. spoon of urea per 10 liters of water.

Apply the second feeding while setting the berries. Its main components are nitrophoska and potassium sulfate.

Dilute 2 tbsp in 1 liter of warm water. spoons of nitrophoska and 1 tbsp. a spoonful of potassium sulfate. Dilute the prepared solution with water to a volume of 10 liters.

Use prepared solutions immediately after preparation. Fertilizer consumption for an adult bush is 20 liters; 5 liters are enough to feed a young plant.