Full description of the barberry ordinary
 Botanical description of the barberry ordinary, useful properties, planting and care

Almost every adult remembers from childhood a pleasant-tasting candy caramel called “Barberry”. This candy is named after the eponymous shrub, which has recently become popular with gardeners in our country.Barberry ordinary - pretty ornamental shrub, especially during the flowering and ripening of fruits.

The plant is grown not only to decorate the dacha, but also to harvest, because of its sour berries, excellent compotes and syrups, jams and jelly, liqueurs and liqueurs, pastila and jelly are obtained.

Armenian and Georgian cuisine can not do without the barberry, pickled berries which give a special touch to dishes of lamb, poultry, veal, rice and vegetables.

Botanical description

According to the description of the Barberry ordinary represents thorny bush reaching a height of 2-2.5 m. Its elongated shoots and trunks are covered with spikes, which allows the plant to be used as a reliable hedge, planting in a row in several bushes at close range from each other.

On the shortened shoots formed the next leaves obovate or elliptical. The leaves do not differ in large size: the average length is 4 cm, width - 2 cm.

Especially beautiful looks foliage in the fallwhen its color becomes bright red or red-burgundy.

 The barberry ordinary - a prickly bush, blossoms in April-May, bright red oblong berries ripen in September-October
The barberry ordinary - a prickly bush, blossoms in April-May, bright red oblong berries ripen in September-October

Barberry shoots grow in arcuate in different directions, creating a sprawling crown, which is easy to form using trimming.

The creeping rhizomes of the shrub are located in the surface layer of the soil and eventually lignify. The bark of the trunks is light brown in color.

The barberry blossoms in April-May, forming a brush of 15-25 yellow flowers. The plant is an excellent honey plant - from the pollen it turns into fragrant sweet and sweet honey. You can admire the flowering shrubs for three weeks.

In place of flowers bright red oblong berries ripen in September-Octobertart-sour taste. The average length of each berry is 1.5 cm, and weight - about 4 g.

Unripe berries are poisonous and unsuitable for food due to their high alkaloid content.

Conditions for growing barberry ordinary

Barberry grows almost everywhereA: in Central Asia, southern and middle Europe, Eastern Siberia and North America. There is a plant in the mountains of the Caucasus and Crimea, which, according to biologists, are his homeland.

Barberry has a good winter hardiness and heat resistancetherefore, among gardeners, he gained fame as an unpretentious and easy-to-care crop that is undemanding to soil fertility and can be successfully grown on poor soils.

The plant is more suitable neutral soil with an acidity index not higher than 7.0. Sour soil before planting lime lime slaked lime, wood ash or ground chalk.

The only requirement that the barberry makes to the place of growth - deep occurrence of groundwater and the absence of prolonged seasonal rains, as excessive moisture is detrimental to the plant.

 Barberry can be successfully grown in metropolitan areas, for planting it is recommended to choose a sunny place
Barberry can be successfully grown in metropolitan areas, for planting it is recommended to choose a sunny place

Barberry can be successfully grown in megapolises. If many plants do not tolerate pollution of urban air, wither and die from dust and gas, then barberry "bad" ecology is not terrible.

An important condition for abundant fruiting is good illumination.therefore, it is recommended to choose a sunny place for landing. If the plant is planted in the penumbra, it will significantly reduce the amount of harvest.

Planting in open ground

Planting barberry in the open ground is carried out both in autumn and spring.

Autumn planting is preferable because in the spring the shrubs start to grow very early. If necessary, spring planting is carried out before bud break.

2-3-year-old seedlings are suitable for planting, although more mature plants (6-7 years) are also well accepted. For the future of the shrub prepare a pit with a depth of 40 cm and a diameter of about50 cm

Fertile soil and fertilizers are poured at the bottom of the pit:

  • rotted manure or compost;
  • potassium fertilizer - 2 tbsp. l (or 2 glasses of ash);
  • superphosphate - 1 cup.

Fertilizers are mixed with fertile soil so that the roots of the seedling do not come into contact with chemicals. After that, the barberry is placed in a prepared pit, covered with earth and tamped down with soil.

In conclusion near-stem circle is watered and mulched with humus or peat.

 Barberry planting in open ground is carried out both in autumn and spring, autumn planting is preferable
Barberry planting in open ground is carried out both in autumn and spring, autumn planting is preferable

Beneficial features

Having planted a barberry on a site, it is possible to receive medicinal raw materials, after all all parts of the shrub contain nutrients. The healing power of the plant has been known since ancient times and was used by healers from Babylon and India.

Leaf preparation for the preparation of medicinal drugs carried out during budding and flowering plants. They contain vitamin C, carotenoids and mineral salts.

Barberry rhizomes also used for treatment, they are harvested in early spring, until the buds have blossomed, or in the fall after picking the fruits.

All parts of the shrub contain berberine alkaloid, which is used to treat diseases of the gallbladder and malignant tumors.

Barberry preparations have different medicinal properties:

  • reduce the tone of the gallbladder;
  • stimulate muscle contraction;
  • reduce blood sugar levels;
  • have an analgesic effect;
  • able to constrict blood vessels and stop bleeding;
  • are anti-inflammatory;
  • reduce blood pressure;
  • destroy the infection in the intestines and liver;
  • are an effective antiparasitic agent;
  • coping with psoriasis and eczema;
  • have a bactericidal effect;
  • relieve general fatigue.
 All parts of the shrub contain nutrients: vitamin C, acids, alkaloid berberine
All parts of the shrub contain nutrients: vitamin C, acids, alkaloid berberine

Depending on therapeutic goals use decoctions of leaves, bark or rhizomes. Broths are not only taken orally, but also used externally to wash wounds and inflamed eyes.

Effective drugs with barberry in compresses and rubbing with osteochondrosis, radiculitis, rheumatism and arthritis. Water infusion of bark used in sore throat for gargling.

Barberry berries contain acids - lemon, tartar and apple. Berry juice improves appetite and helps with constipation, providing a mild laxative effect.

Acceptance of barberry fruits with honey is prescribed after radiation exposure as a means of enhancing the body's defenses.

Even the flowers of the plant are used for medicinal purposes. with problems with the cardiovascular system, preparing water broths from them.

Cultivate barberry in the country:

Barberry care

Caring for the barberry is not a big problem. The plant needs infrequent watering, loosening and weeding, feeding and forming pruning.

Watering and weeding

Given the intolerance of the shrub moisture shrub, often watering the barberry is not necessary. In normal weather with sufficient rainfall, the plant does not need additional moisture.

But during the dry heat barberry need to be watered once a week with warm water, avoiding its contact with the leaves. Weekly watering is necessary for young seedlings for better survival in a new place.

In the process of growing barberry is necessary regularly remove abundant basal growth and weeds. After weeding, it is desirable to loosen to a depth of 5-8 cm in order to ensure the access of oxygen to the roots.

Top dressing

If when planting a barberry the recommendations on the application of complex and organic fertilizers were observed, in the first year after planting it is not necessary to feed the plant.

Next year Starting from spring, 20-30 g of urea diluted in 10 liters of water is applied under each barberry bush.. This feeding is carried out once every three years.

When growing a plant to produce a crop, barberries are fed after flowering and in the beginning of autumn with potassium and phosphorus.

For these purposes, they use ready-made complex fertilizers (“Kemira wagon” and analogs) or potash fertilizer and superphosphate 10-15 g of each substance.

 In the spring, the barberries are fed with urea, after flowering and in early autumn with potassium and phosphorus.
In the spring, the barberries are fed with urea, after flowering and in early autumn with potassium and phosphorus.

Pruning

The shrub grows rather slowly, giving a growth of 30 cm per year, but from the first years it needs pruning.

Sanitary pruning. Sick, dry and thickening branches are regularly cut out.

Formative pruning. The formation of the crown of barberry is reduced to the regulation of the number of branches. To do this, decide for what purpose the shrub is grown.

If the priority is getting the harvest, then the bush is thinned more, otherwise with strong thickening, fruiting is sharply reduced.

Rejuvenation Over time, the barberry is aging and needs rejuvenating pruning, in which the old branches are cut out entirely and form new ones instead.

Prune in early spring before the buds begin to blossom. Do not get carried away and do not shorten the branches. remember, that barberry blossoms and bears fruit mainly on annual shoots.

Protection against diseases and pests

Barberry is attacked by various pests and fungal infections, but the main danger to the plant is rust, powdery mildew and barberry aphid.

Rust and powdery mildew. Rust appears with orange spots on the upper side of the leaves. On the underside of the leaves, convex orange-colored pads appear in which spores of the pluccinia fungus are formed.

If the disease becomes threatening, the shoots begin to shrink and the leaves fall off. The close proximity of barberry bushes with fields of wheat, oats and other cereals threatens the spread of rust.

Treat infection with a solution of colloidal sulfur (1.5%) or Bordeaux fluid (1-3%). Processing begins in the first days after the blooming of the leaves and repeat twice more every three weeks.

 The main danger to the plant are rust, powdery mildew and barberry aphid.
The main danger to the plant are rust, powdery mildew and barberry aphid.

Mealy dew is manifested by a white or grayish bloom and affects not only the leaves, but also shoots with berries.

To combat the disease, use colloidal sulfur (0.5% solution) or fungicidal preparations, the choice of which is large enough. Affected leaves and shoots must be cut and burned.

Barberry aphid. Beach barberry - aphid, which settles in the flowers and on the underside of the leaves. If in time not to carry out medical actions, the plant for several days will lose decorative effect.

There are several ways to combat barberry aphids:

  1. In order to prevent the spring barberry sprayed with a solution of soap (1 piece per 10 liters of water).
  2. To prevent the attack of aphids, bushes are treated with a tobacco solution prepared from 0.5 kg of shag and 10 liters of water. For better adherence, soap is added to the solution.
  3. Folk remedies are effective: decoctions and infusions of bitter pepper, garlic, marigolds and other plants that frighten off small pests.
  4. Insecticidal preparations (“Fitoverm”, “Decis” and similar), which are used both for the prevention and for the destruction of barberry aphid colonies, help well.

Barberry - beautiful shrub with Arabic name. It is used in landscape design as an ornamental plant or hedge, which due to the thorns serves as a reliable protection.

Barberry is attractive throughout the growing season: in spring in fragrant delicate buds, in autumn in tassels of red berries and purple foliage.

Given the unpretentiousness of the plant, even an inexperienced summer resident will cope with it, and for simple care the plant will thank the harvest of useful berries.