Thorn

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Video: Thorn

Video: Thorn
Video: Путинский Лохдаун 2024, March
Thorn
Thorn
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Blackthorn (Latin Prunus spinosa) - a representative of the genus Plum of the Pink family. Other names are thorny plum, blackthorn or prickly plum.

Characteristics of culture

Thorn is a shrub or undersized tree with a height of 3, 5-4, 5 m, there are specimens up to 8 m high. Over time, the thorn grows strongly, forming dense thorny thickets. The leaves are green, toothed, obovate or elliptical in shape, up to 4-5 cm long. The flowers are small, white in color, bloom in pairs or singly in early spring before the leaves appear.

The fruit is a rounded drupe, blue or blue-violet in color with a bluish bloom. Fruits ripen in July-August, which largely depends on the climatic conditions of growing and the characteristics of care. The fruits hang on the branches until winter, with the onset of frost they lose their astringency, this does not affect the taste in any way. The yield from one bush or tree is 10-15 kg.

In the Volga region, a variety of blackthorns is grown with larger fruits and a less tart taste. Ternoslum has been known since time immemorial, although it is rarely considered as a fruit crop. Typically, blackthorns are grown as a rootstock for other stone fruit crops such as peach or plum. It is believed that this approach improves the winter-hardy properties of grafted plants.

The first thorns appeared naturally by accidental crossing of blackthorns and wild plum trees. The resulting specimen attracted the attention of breeders, after which new hybrid varieties began to appear in many garden centers.

Growing conditions

Thorn is an unpretentious plant, drought-resistant and frost-resistant, prefers well-lit areas, develops much worse in shaded areas. The root system of thorns is powerful, the bulk of the roots lies at a depth of 80-100 cm, so the culture is able to independently extract water. Does not tolerate the thorny plum of saline, poor, acidic, heavy clay and waterlogged soils. Optimal are fertile, moderately moist, drained soils with neutral pH. The distance between plants should be at least 1-2 m.

Reproduction and planting

Thorns are propagated by seeds, layering, green cuttings and grafting. The seed method is generally simple and effective. Crop seeds are sown directly into open ground in the fall under a shelter in the form of healthy fallen leaves or peat. When sowing in spring, the seeds need preliminary stratification. Most gardeners propagate blackthorn by root suckers, the more the plant forms them in huge numbers. It is necessary to plant thorns away from valuable crops, and in order to limit the spread of root shoots, when planting a meter from the near-stem zone, sheets of iron or slate are buried to a depth of 80-100 cm.

Care

Sloe can develop with ease and produce good yields with little or no maintenance. The only thing: the culture needs fertilizing with mineral and organic fertilizers. Once every 2-3 years is enough. Watering is carried out only during a prolonged drought. It is important to carry out formative, sanitary and thinning pruning annually. The shoots are removed together with a piece of the root, but away from the trunk. It is not recommended to dig up the soil in the near-trunk zone, as a rule, this leads to the formation of numerous undergrowth, which is very difficult to get rid of in the future. That is why top dressing is applied superficially.

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