Decorative and useful mountain ash: varieties, description and photos

Autumn beauty - a very useful and beautiful mountain ash delights with its decorative qualities not only in autumn, when its foliage is painted in orange and red shades and juicy bunches of berries appear, but also in spring and summer. In the spring, thanks to the lush flowering, and in the summer - unusually carved rich green leaves.

All of us in childhood have tried rowan berries at least once and remember this tart taste with bitterness. But experienced gardeners know that once the frost is over, the berries become much sweeter. This applies to the common mountain ash, which we often see in city parks and courtyards. But the breeders did not pass by such a wonderful tree and brought out new varieties of mountain ash, which differ in taste, color of foliage and even color of berries.

If you decide to plant a mountain ash on your site in order to harvest from it and prepare various desserts and tinctures, it is recommended to plant a tree not alone, but in pairs or more. This will increase yields several times. Before buying rowan seedlings, you need to figure out for what purposes it will settle in your garden: either it will be a decorative tree that successfully decorates the landscape, or a storehouse of nutrients and vitamins. The choice of the variety depends on this. Our catalog contains the most popular varieties that are safely grown in the Moscow region.

Content

• Listen to the article
• Description
• Planting chokeberry When to plant
• Planting in spring
• Planting in autumn

Growing chokeberry

Chokeberry in spring

Summer care

How to care for the fall

Chokeberry processing

Watering

Top dressing

Chokeberry pruning

When to trim

Pruning in spring

Pruning in the fall

Reproduction of chokeberry

How to propagate

Cuttings

Seed reproduction

Reproduction by root suckers

Reproduction by layering

Dividing the bush

Chokeberry grafting

Diseases

Pests

Types and varieties

Chokeberry properties

Healing properties

Contraindications

Red rowan for diseases

Red mountain ash is contraindicated in some diseases, such as:

• gastritis with high acidity;
• urolithiasis, but only in the stage of exacerbation (during remission, the use of berries is allowed);
• hypotension (low blood pressure);
• heart attack and stroke, as mountain ash thickens the blood and can lead to a second attack;
• coronary artery disease and heart failure.

Diseases put a person in a certain framework, sometimes very strict, but if you do not adhere to the doctor's recommendations, the condition may worsen.

Hemorrhoids

Hemorrhoids is an unpleasant disease that many are ashamed of and try to cure using folk methods. Rowan is the plant that is allowed to be used for treatment in this case. Its positive effects are due to its anti-inflammatory and revitalizing effect.

Since berries help to heal wounds, with hemorrhoids they are often added to pharmaceuticals. Everyone chooses their own method of using rowan fruits: someone makes compresses, someone puts tampons. In any case, even internal use will help to recover, since the berries do not cause constipation, which provokes an exacerbation of the disease.

Diabetes

Diabetes is one of those diseases in which dietary control plays a very important role.Diabetics have to give up most berries, as their glycemic index is large. But this does not apply to red rowan. However, there is another side to the coin: berries do not help lower blood sugar. It turns out that you can eat them, but besides saturating the body with vitamins, there will be no other improvements.

Biliary dyskinesia

Dyskinesia of the biliary tract is a chronic disease, as a result of which the motility and tone of the walls of the gallbladder, as well as its ducts, are impaired. According to statistics, the disease most often affects women after 40 years.

In case of illness, doctors do not advise eating red rowan berries, drinking infusions and teas from it, since this will be a big load for bile with impaired function. Fruits provoke increased production of bile, and this can be extremely dangerous for a diseased organ.

Constipation

Rowan is one of the best natural cures for constipation. In addition to a diuretic, the fruits also have a laxative effect, but at the same time they cannot cause disorders. It is best to drink tea or eat berries in the morning on an empty stomach, then they will be more effective. Rowan should be eaten until a regular bowel movement is established.

Planting and caring for chokeberry

• Landing: from late September to early October or mid to late April.
• Bloom: from the second half of May or from the beginning of June.
• Lighting: bright sunlight.
• The soil: wet, loamy, neutral. Sour, salty and dry sandy soils of chokeberry are not suitable.
• Watering: most important is sufficient moisture at the beginning of the growing season and during the period of fruit formation. Water consumption for watering - 2-3 buckets for each bush.
• Top dressing: when grown on rich soils, it is enough in the spring to dig up the soil in the near-stem circle with 50 g of ammonium nitrate and mulch the root area with organic matter - compost or humus. On poor soils, after spring feeding at the beginning of summer, a bucket of mullein solution (1: 5) or bird droppings (1: 10) is poured under each bush, and in the fall, 100 g of superphosphate and half a liter of ash are added.
• Cropping: in the spring.
• Reproduction: layering, green and lignified cuttings, dividing the bush, grafting and root suckers. Sometimes chokeberry is propagated by seeds.
• Pests: brown fruit and red apple mites, green apple aphids, hawthorns, rowan moths, cherry slimy sawflies.
• Diseases: peripheral wood rot, moniliosis (fruit rot), comb, septoria spot.

Read more about the cultivation of chokeberry below.

How is it useful for women?

A woman is most susceptible to mood swings, and teas and infusions of red rowan will help correct this. On critical days, fruits and decoctions from them will help reduce pain. Infusions will also be useful when periods are very heavy. For a woman, this is dangerous, as it can lead to anemia, loss of strength and other unpleasant consequences.

With menopause, there is not only a change in the hormonal background, but also other changes, for example, sudden surges in pressure, nausea, increased sweating, etc. You can get rid of all these symptoms not only with pills, but also with the help of decoctions and teas from red mountain ash.

Chokeberry (chokeberry) - description

The chokeberry plant is a winter-hardy deciduous strongly branching shrub about 3 m high with a root system located close to the surface. At a young age, the crown of the plant is compact, but over the years it can reach a diameter of 2 m. Young shoots have a reddish-brown tint, but gradually become dark gray. Aronia leaves are simple, whole, elliptical, 4 to 8 cm long, 3 to 5 cm wide, alternate, with crenate-toothed edges. The chokeberry leaf on the upper side of the plate is leathery, shiny, dark green in color, and its underside is whitish due to pubescence.

In the second half of September, rowan leaves begin to acquire purple-red tones. White or pinkish fragrant chokeberry flowers with purple anthers, collected in dense corymbose inflorescences, open in the second half of May or early June. The shiny spherical fruits of black or purple-black ashberry with a bluish bloom ripen in August or September. The weight of the wild-growing chokeberry fruit does not exceed one and a half grams, the cultivated chokeberry fruit is larger. Aronia berries ripen in August or September.

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Chokeberry is grown as a fruit, medicinal and ornamental plant. She is a relative of such horticultural crops as apple, pear, plum, bird cherry, cherry plum, quince, apricot, peach, nectarine, almond, rosehip, hawthorn, cherry and sweet cherry, with which she belongs to the same family.

We will tell you how planting and caring for chokeberry in the garden is carried out, in what ways it is propagated, which varieties of chokeberry can be grown in the southern area, and which are more suitable for the middle lane, what are the benefits of chokeberry and what can be harmful to chokeberry ...

Features of the rowan tree

Rowan is a shrub or tree, the height of which does not exceed 12 meters. The shape of the crown is round, there is pubescence on the surface of the red-gray stems. In mature trees, the bark is smooth and glossy, it has a brown-gray or gray-yellow color. The alternate pinnate leaf plates are about 20 centimeters long, they include from 7 to 15 pointed elongated leaves with a serrated edge, their front surface is matte, green, and the back is painted in a lighter shade and has pubescence. In autumn, the foliage changes its color to red and golden hues.

The terminal lush corymbose inflorescences have a diameter of about 10 centimeters, they consist of a large number of white flowers that have an unpleasant aroma. The fruit is a juicy red-orange apple with a diameter of up to 10 mm. Such a tree blooms in May – June. The berries ripen fully in the last weeks of the summer period, or the first - in the autumn.

When planting, it should be borne in mind that such a culture reacts extremely negatively to smoke and gas pollution in the air, as well as to swampy and stagnant water in the ground.

The wood of the mountain ash tree is distinguished by its elasticity and hardness, it is very easy to process it. In ancient times, it was used to make runes and spindles. The berries of this culture are used to make fabric dyes.

Planting chokeberry

When to plant chokeberry

Like almost all fruit and berry plants, chokeberry is best planted in autumn - at the end of September or early November, although it takes root well after the spring planting, carried out until the end of April. This culture is undemanding to the composition of the soil - it grows well even on acidic or dry sandy soils. Only saline soils are not suitable for her.

If we talk about preferences, then it blooms and bears fruit best in well-lit areas with neutral, moist loamy soil. Since the root system of the chokeberry is located at a depth of only 50-60 cm from the surface of the site, the close occurrence of groundwater will not harm it. Most often, chokeberry is planted as a hedge.

Planting chokeberry in spring

How to choose healthy chokeberry seedlings? When buying chokeberry seedlings, first of all, pay attention to the condition of their roots - they must be strong, healthy and have 2-3 branches at least 25-30 cm long.If the roots look dry and weathered, they may not take root or the seedling will hurt for a long time ...The roots of such a seedling must be kept in water for 2-3 days before planting so that they are saturated with moisture and restore elasticity. If the inner side of the bark of the seedling is green, then the seedling is alive, but if it is brown, do not buy it - it will most likely not take root.

Before planting, cut off diseased, broken and dry roots and shoots on the seedling, and then lower the root system into a clay mash.

Chokeberry planting is carried out on a cloudy day or in the evening. If you are planting chokeberry as a separate plant, place it from other shrubs and trees at a distance of at least 3 m - this way the mountain ash will receive uniform illumination, and it will be convenient for you to care for the bush. The depth and diameter of the planting pit should be about 50 cm.

The infertile layer of the soil removed when digging a hole is mixed with a bucket of humus, 300 g of wood ash, 150 g of superphosphate and the hole is filled with this mixture to a third of the depth, after which the hole is filled up to half of the volume with soil from the upper, fertile layer and a bucket of water is poured into it. When the water is absorbed, a seedling with roots treated with a clay mash is placed in the center of the hole so that the root collar is 1.5-2 cm underground.Carefully spread the roots of the seedling, fill the hole with fertile soil, lightly tamp the surface and water the seedling again with the same amount of water, and when it is absorbed, mulch the trunk circle with a layer of straw, peat or humus 5-10 cm thick.

After planting, shorten the shoots of the seedling to 15-20 cm, leaving four to five buds on them.

Planting chokeberry in autumn

Performing an autumn planting of chokeberry is no different from the spring procedure. Why do experienced gardeners prefer to plant chokeberry in the fall? Because during the winter, the soil around the seedlings settles and compresses, and the chokeberry quickly grows in spring.

Rowan in landscape design

Rowan tree in landscape design can play a secondary or major role. Pergolas and arches are decorated with weeping mountain ash, it is also planted on the lawn or on the edge of the forest, far from other trees, like a salt plant.

Such a plant looks great in a group with other shrubs and trees, for example, with pigs, spirea, snowberry or barberry. Rowan also goes well with conifers (thuja, pine, fir or spruce). Especially in autumn, when the motley rowan tree looks very impressive on a bluish or green background of conifers.

Also, this plant can be planted with deciduous trees: linden, black poplar, maple, ash and white willow. Most types of mountain ash are able to emphasize the spectacularity of viburnum, fieldfare, mountain ash, honeysuckle and wrinkled rose. From shrub mountain ash, you can create a hedge against which perennial flowers will look great. When choosing a place to plant such a culture, one should not forget that it reacts extremely negatively to the polluted and smoky air that is inherent in cities.

Growing chokeberry

Chokeberry in spring

Planting and caring for chokeberry does not contain any subtleties that should be written about. Spring work with shrubs begins in late March or early April: at this time, sanitary and formative pruning is carried out and the stems are treated with lime. In April, chokeberry is sprayed from pests and pathogens that have successfully overwintered in cracks in the bark or in the soil under bushes. In May, when weeds begin to appear from the ground, be vigilant and do not let them come into force - remove immediately.

In the spring, chokeberry is fed with nitrogen fertilizers.

Chokeberry care in summer

Caring for black chokeberry in the summer, when insect pests appear en masse, requires attention: it is very important to monitor the health of the garden by regularly examining the plants so as not to miss the onset of the disease or the appearance of harmful insects. At the first symptoms of pest or disease damage, treat chokeberry with appropriate formulations - folk remedies or chemicals.

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Despite the fact that chokeberry is drought-resistant, in a dry, hot summer, it needs watering, after which it is convenient to loosen and weed the site.

How to care for chokeberry in autumn

Chokeberry fruits ripen by the end of August, but they need to be harvested only after the first frost. In the fall, chokeberry is planted and its seedlings are taken care of, which must be prepared for winter. With the onset of a dormant period, chokeberry is subjected to sanitary pruning and processing from pests and pathogens that have settled in the bark of a tree and the soil under bushes for the winter. Young bushes huddle high, and the trunk circle is covered with dry leaves or spruce branches. Adult plants hibernate without shelter.

Chokeberry processing

Growing chokeberry and caring for it involves carrying out preventive treatments against pests and diseases. They are carried out in early spring, before bud break: the shrub is sprayed with one percent Bordeaux liquid. In the fall, after the fall of leaves, the autumn preventive treatment of chokeberry is carried out using the same drug or the like for it. Instead of Bordeaux mixture, you can treat it with a 7% urea solution - in this way you will take preventive measures and feed the shrub with nitrogen fertilizer.

Watering chokeberry

For chokeberry, watering is very important at the beginning of the growing season, especially in the heat in the absence of rain. The next important period for chokeberry from this point of view is the beginning of fruit formation. Calculation of water - 2-3 buckets for each bush, depending on the age of the plant. Watering is carried out in furrows made around the bushes at a distance of 30-40 cm from the crown projection.

After moistening the soil, it is convenient to loosen the soil in the trunk circle and remove weeds. The first time the soil around the bushes is loosened in early spring, then during the summer another 4-5 loosening is carried out to a depth of 6-8 cm. It is very important to loosen the soil around the chokeberry bushes after harvesting, and then mulch the area with peat, manure or compost.

Top dressing of chokeberry

In order to get a good harvest, chokeberry must be fed regularly. On rich, fertile soils, it is enough to add 50 g of ammonium nitrate under each bush in the spring and mulch the trunk circle with organic fertilizer - manure, compost or humus. If the soil is poor, then after spring feeding, at the beginning of summer, under each bush, you need to pour a bucket of mullein diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 5, or a bucket of bird droppings solution at the rate of 1 part of fertilizer to 10 parts of water.

In the fall, after harvesting, under each chokeberry bush, you need to add half a liter of wood ash and 100 g of superphosphate.

What other types of mountain ash are there?

In addition to black and red, there are several more species of this plant: pomegranate and forest. They are less common and few people know about them, and few people deal with them. And yet they are also very useful and can be applied.

Pomegranate.

Pomegranate mountain ash is also known. This tree successfully adapts in many regions of Russia, stands out for its frost resistance and undemandingness.

Berries of this variety are usually not eaten fresh, they are used as raw materials for making jams, jellies, home wines and juices.

Up to 20 kg of harvest can be harvested from 1 tree.

Forest.

Mountain ash is found everywhere and is no less useful for humans than other varieties.

Frozen, it can be stored for a long time and is suitable for preparing a variety of dishes. But to find it you need to look for it in the forest.

Rowan red and black chokeberry are an excellent herbal remedy for many diseases. Be sure to use it to strengthen your health!

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Chokeberry pruning

When to prune chokeberry

If the chokeberry is not cut off, then it will expand in breadth and stretch upward, fruiting will move to the periphery, illuminated by the sun, and a barren jungle will form in the middle of the bush. To prevent this from happening, you need to regulate the number of branches and the height of the bush. All work on pruning chokeberry should be carried out in the spring.

Pruning chokeberry in spring

Chokeberry seedlings, as we already wrote, in the first spring are cut at a height of 15-20 cm.After a year, leave a few strong branches from the emerging growth and level all the shoots in height, and cut the remaining growth at the base. After a year, add a few more branches from the undergrowth to the bush and carry out an equalizing pruning. Add several branches from the growth every year until there are about ten of them, and then we can assume that the chokeberry bush is formed.

Now you need to make sure that the shoots do not grow too densely - the light must penetrate into the very thick of the bush, otherwise flower buds will not be laid there, and therefore the fruits will not be tied. For this, a thinning pruning of chokeberry is carried out, combined with a sanitary one for the purpose - competing, low-value, growing inside the crown, as well as diseased, broken and dry shoots are removed from the plant.

In chokeberry aronia, branches younger than 8 years old are considered fruitful, and as soon as some branch reaches this age, it must be cut out, and instead a developed shoot from the root growth should be left. Try to carry out 2-3 replacements annually, without increasing the diameter of the base of the bush. You need to cut or saw down old branches as close to the ground as possible so that pests or pathogens do not settle in the remaining stumps.

When the whole bush seems old and tired to you, carry out a radical rejuvenating pruning - cut off all the branches, regardless of their age, and when young growth appears in the place of the old bush, start forming a new bush from it. You already know how to do this.

Pruning chokeberry in autumn

If absolutely necessary, you can carry out a sanitary pruning of chokeberry in the fall, if it turns out that after harvesting, broken branches appeared, or you find shoots affected by pests. In this state, of course, the bush cannot be left for the winter. Thickening shoots can be removed in summer so that the plant does not waste energy on feeding unnecessary branches. But rejuvenating and formative pruning is carried out only in the spring. Do not forget to process the cuts of thick branches with garden pitch.

When to harvest the fruit?

Collect rowan berries should be according to certain rules:

• the weather must be dry;
• collection takes place early in the morning;
• containers for berries should be small.

You can start collecting mountain ash in September and November. In the first case, the berries are harvested for ripening, since, despite the fact that their color is already red, the taste is not yet what it should be. It is the brushes that need to be collected, after which they are tied together and suspended in a cool place. In the second case, the berries are already harvested directly for cooking. In November, the berries are already well separated, and you can pick them separately from the brush.

If rowan is harvested in September, then there is a risk that it will remain tart even after aging. To avoid such a situation, immediately after collecting the brushes with berries should be put in the freezer for several hours, and only then sent for drying.

Reproduction of chokeberry

How to propagate chokeberry chokeberry

Reproduction of chokeberry occurs by generative (seeds) and vegetative methods - layering, cuttings - green and lignified, dividing the bush, root suckers and grafting. Most often, the seed propagation method of black chokeberry and green cuttings are used.

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Chokeberry propagation by cuttings

For the reproduction of chokeberry woody cuttings, annual, well-ripened shoots from two to four-year branches are needed.They are cut in the fall, in the second half of September, so that they have time to take root before the frost and winter well. Cuttings should have 5-6 eyes, 15-20 cm long. Do not use the upper, unripe part of the shoot for propagation. The upper cut on the handle is made oblique to the kidney, and the lower cut is straight, under the very eye.

Cuttings are planted at an angle of 45 º at a distance of 10-12 cm from each other, leaving only two buds above the surface, the lower of which should be at the level of the surface. The soil around the cuttings is squeezed, watered and mulched with peat.

Reproduction of black chokeberry by green cuttings is possible only if there is a cold greenhouse, which is quite easy to build. In a greenhouse, a layer of coarse washed river sand with a thickness of 7-10 cm is laid on the dug clean soil.

Cuttings are cut from healthy bushes - you can cut off the tops of any branches of the bush. The length of the cutting is 10-15 cm. The lower leaves are removed from the cuttings, and 2-3 upper leaves are shortened, leaving only one third of each. A longitudinal incision is made above each kidney; several such incisions are made on the bark in the lower part of the cutting. Then the cuttings are immersed with their lower ends in a solution of a root formation stimulator for 6-12 hours, after which they are washed with clean water and planted in a greenhouse - obliquely, at a distance of 3-4 cm from each other.

After compaction of the soil around the cuttings, they are watered through a fine sieve and covered with a transparent dome. There should be a space of at least 20 cm between the dome and the cuttings. Cuttings take root at a temperature of about 20 ºC, and if it rises to 25 ºC, it is necessary to arrange airing with the cuttings. With regular moistening of the soil and maintaining the desired temperature and air humidity, the cuttings will take root within 3-4 weeks, after which you can begin hardening procedures, and after a week and a half, the cuttings are planted in open ground for growing.

The survival rate of green cuttings is 70-100%. As soon as the cuttings are taken in the open field, feed them with a solution of 30 g of ammonium nitrate in a bucket of water or a weak solution of slurry. Caring for cuttings in the garden consists of regular watering, loosening the soil and removing weeds. Chokeberry seedlings are planted in a permanent place in a year, next fall.

Seed reproduction of chokeberry

To get chokeberry seeds, you need to rub the ripe fruits through a sieve, then lower the seeds into water so that the pulp floats up, rinse and, mixing the seeds with calcined river sand in a ratio of 1: 3, put them wet for 90 days in a vegetable refrigerator box for stratification. Remember to keep the sand moist at all times. If the seeds begin to hatch earlier than they can be sown outdoors, the temperature should be lowered to 0 ºC.

When the soil in the garden is ready for sowing seeds, make grooves 6-8 cm deep in it, sow the seeds that have grown in them, seal and mulch the bed with sawdust or humus. When two true leaves form at the seedlings, they are thinned out, leaving a distance of 3 cm between the seedlings. The next thinning by a step of 6 cm is done at the stage of development at the seedlings of 4-5 leaves. The last time you need to thin out the seedlings at a distance of 10 cm next spring. All this time, the garden is watered, the soil is loosened on it, weeds are removed and once in the spring they fertilize with slurry.

Seedlings are ready for transplanting to a permanent place by the fall of the second year.

Reproduction of chokeberry by root suckers

Every year, root shoots grow around the chokeberry bush. The number of offspring formed depends on the variety of chokeberry, the presence of nutrients and moisture in the soil. In a year, the offspring form a root system, and they can be cut off from the mother plant with a shovel and transplanted to a new place. Before transplanting, the offspring shoot is shortened to 2-3 buds.

Reproduction of chokeberry by layering

Chokeberry can be propagated by arcuate or horizontal layering. To do this, in the spring, they dig up the soil under the bush, choose well-developed one-year or two-year shoots with strong growths as a layering, dig grooves under them, put shoots in them, fix them in the furrows, and pinch the tops remaining on the surface. They take care of the layers of chokeberry, as for any others: they water, carefully loosen the soil around them, remove weeds.

When the shoots that have developed from the buds of the cuttings reach 10-12 cm in height, they are sprinkled up to half with moist soil or humus, after 2-3 weeks, when the shoots once again grow to such a height, the procedure is repeated. In the fall, and even better next spring, the layers are separated from the bush and transplanted to a permanent place.

Reproduction of chokeberry by dividing the bush

This method is justified in the event that you have to transplant the chokeberry bush to another place. In the spring, before the start of sap flow, a mountain ash bush is dug out, all old branches are removed from it, the root system is cleaned of soil and divided with a pruner or an ax into the required number of parts, each of which should have developed young roots and 2-3 healthy, strong shoots. The cuts on the roots are sprinkled with crushed charcoal, after which the cuttings are seated in the designated places.

Reproduction of chokeberry by grafting

It is best to use a rowan seedling as a stock. The rootstock is wiped from dust and cut at a height of 12 cm from the surface level, after which a deep split is made in the cut through the center. The cuttings are cut from both sides in such a way that a wedge is formed, which must completely enter the rootstock split. After the scion enters the cleft, treat the scion and rootstock sections with a garden pitch and wrap the grafting site with budding film. Put a strong plastic bag on the seedling and fix it tightly below the grafting site - this way you will create the greenhouse effect necessary for the growth of the scion and rootstock. It will be possible to remove the package in a month.

It is best to vaccinate in the spring, when sap flow begins.

Beneficial properties for the body

The rich composition of red rowan berries helps the human body fight many diseases. For example, it helps well with urolithiasis and cholelithiasis, and also strengthens the immune system, which contributes to recovery after prolonged ARVI. Berries are also effective in atherosclerosis, since the amygdalin (vitamin B17) contained in them prevents lipids from oxidizing and enhances the body's resistance to oxygen starvation.

In folk medicine, mountain ash occupies the first positions, as it is an antimicrobial, hemostatic and diuretic. The large amount of vitamin C in the berry allows it to be used as a medicine against scurvy. This is a disease that develops with a sharp lack of vitamin C, collagen synthesis is disrupted, as a result of which the connective tissues lose their elasticity and strength.

Traditional medicine used rowan berries as a contraceptive. The fruits were finely crushed to a puree state and mixed with boiled water, after which they were filtered. The resulting liquid was used by women to douche after intercourse to avoid unwanted pregnancy. It is difficult to call such a method 100%, since its effectiveness has not been proven.

Berries

Rowan berries are healing and help:

• normalize hormones;
• improve vision, therefore, teas are recommended to be drunk for the prevention of glaucoma;
• strengthen the walls of blood vessels;
• relieve fatigue and improve sleep;
• normalize the digestive tract and genitourinary system.

Rowan berries lower blood pressure, so doctors recommend it to people with hypertension.

Leaves

Leaves also have a positive effect on the body.They contain the maximum amount of disinfecting substances, therefore, in folk medicine, decoctions from them are used to treat fungal diseases.

To obtain the necessary substances, you should grind the leaves until the juice appears. The resulting mass is applied to the affected areas daily at night for 10 days. If the procedure is regular, the effect will appear on the fifth day. Such compresses can also be applied for scratches and wounds: this way they will heal faster and no infection will get into them.

Tea made from red rowan leaves helps fight swelling. The video below will tell you more about its preparation.

Bark

Rowan bark is also a valuable part of the plant. Unlike berries, it must be picked just during the period of active sap flow (mid-July). The bark must be removed from thin branches, the main trunk must not be touched, otherwise the tree may die. Before using, dry the bark in the fresh air until it begins to crack and break.

The bark broth is prepared in small portions. Only 10 grams of raw materials are poured with 200 milliliters of boiling water. After that, the drink is infused for 6 hours, filtered and started to take 1 tablespoon three times a day.

The drink helps fight:

• rheumatism;
• hypertension;
• cystitis;
• sclerosis.

Also, infusions can act as antiseptic drugs, as they disinfect and kill pathogenic organisms very well.

Diseases of chokeberry

Among the diseases that affect chokeberry, gardeners most often have to deal with the following:

Peripheral wood rot caused by honey agarics. Disease control is carried out with one percent Bordeaux liquid or another fungicide. Severely affected bushes are subject to destruction, for which they are dug out by the roots and burned.

Fruit rot, or moniliosis, from which the berries become soft, turn pale and mummified, and light brown spore-bearing pads appear on their surface. Affected berries, if not removed from the bush, can hang on the branches all winter and in the spring infect young flowers and chokeberry ovaries with moniliosis. As soon as you find the disease, treat the bush with copper oxychloride or the same Bordeaux mixture.

Septoria spot, which appears on the leaves of chokeberry in mid-summer in light brown oval spots with a darker border. With the development of the disease, the tissue inside the spots dries up, cracks and falls out. As a prophylaxis for septoria, in addition to the spring and autumn treatment of chokeberry with Bordeaux liquid, it is necessary to collect and burn fallen leaves. If a disease is detected, the bush and the soil under it are treated with Abiga peak or copper oxychloride.

Grebenshik is a fungal disease that occurs on a plant weakened by root rot. The fungus looks like thin leathery brownish-gray or whitish plates. The branches affected by the fungus must be cut and burned. As a preventive measure, the bush is treated in spring and autumn with a Bordeaux mixture, Abiga peak or copper oxychloride.

In addition to the diseases described, diseases such as bacterial necrosis or bark cancer, brown spot, verticillium, rust and viral ring spot are affected by chokeberry.

Use in cosmetology

Many cosmetic products are made from natural ingredients. Rowanberry is one of the products that are used not only as food, but also as masks for the face and hair. The big plus of the berries is that they can be used for any type of skin and hair, you just need to choose auxiliary ingredients that will enhance the effect.

For facial skin

To prepare face masks, you should prepare fresh red rowan berries, from which you may need both juice and pulp.

There are several options for masks, so everyone can choose the appropriate option:

1. Mask for inflammation and acne. Rowan berries are ground in a mortar or through a meat grinder to make a gruel. This mass can already be applied to the skin for 10 minutes, and then rinsed with water. Or you can add potato starch in a 1: 1 ratio. The starch mask should be kept a little longer - 15-20 minutes, after which it should be washed off with warm water. Mountain ash will help get rid of acne and inflammation. Starch stimulates blood flow, as a result of which the complexion of the complexion improves, which is also influenced by the carotenoid, which is found in large quantities in berries.
2. Mask to maintain skin tone. A mask based on mountain ash and honey will give a rejuvenating effect. The berries are also crushed to a puree state, but so that the juice goes. Two tablespoons of the resulting mass must be mixed with one tablespoon of honey. If the mixture is too thick, you can add a little boiled water to it. Keep such a mask on your face for no more than 15 minutes, then rinse with warm water.
3. Vitamin mask. A mask of mountain ash and carrots (preferably young) will help to saturate the skin with vitamins. The berries and vegetable are crushed and mixed in equal proportions, after which the mixture is applied to the skin. The mask should be kept for 15 minutes and then washed off. The skin after it not only looks good, but is also cleansed.
4. Whitening mask. You can get a whitening effect by mixing red mountain ash, parsley and kefir. It is better to take a fermented milk drink two or three days old, when the maximum amount of good bacteria has accumulated in it. All components are mixed in approximately equal proportions, and the resulting mass is applied to the skin of the face. To get the desired effect, you should keep the mask for 20 minutes and only then rinse with water.

Any version of the mask should be applied only to cleansed skin, kept for 10 to 20 minutes. Regularity is the key to success, therefore, the procedure should be carried out 2 times a week. The duration of the course may vary. Even if you do these masks constantly, there will be no harm.

In addition to masks, you can make a cream based on red mountain ash at home, which can be used immediately after the masks. In addition to the fruits, you will need a regular baby cream. The berries should be chopped to a puree and squeezed out, since it is the juice that is needed. A small tube of baby cream needs 20-30 drops of juice. It is necessary to store the resulting product in the refrigerator, and no more than a month, since it contains natural ingredients.

You can also make a scrub from dried rowan fruits, crushed into flour, mixed with cream. It is advisable to massage the skin with the resulting mass for at least three minutes.

The lotion, which is prepared from the juices of red rowan and cucumber, will also be useful. Both liquids are mixed in equal proportions, placed in an airtight container and sent to the refrigerator. Using the lotion daily, you can notice how the complexion is evened out, wrinkles are smoothed, and the general condition of the skin improves.

Rowan juice can be frozen and wiped on the skin in the morning. This will help improve blood flow, even out color and smooth out wrinkles.

For hair

Infusions and rinses from mountain ash will help restore damaged hair and strengthen the hair follicles.

To prepare a natural conditioner-conditioner, you will need 15 red rowan berries, seven leaves of the same plant and, if desired, an essential oil to obtain the desired aroma. The specified amount of ingredients will require 280 milliliters of water. First, the liquid with berries and leaves is boiled for 10 minutes, after which it is allowed to cool and filtered. Essential oil is added to the already cool rinse aid. Regular use of this product makes hair strong, it falls out less, becomes shiny and well-groomed.

From sweating feet

Decoctions can also be helpful with excessive sweating of the feet.Evening baths will not only relieve fatigue, but also help get rid of an unpleasant odor.

From warts

Rowan gruel helps to fight warts, it is enough to apply chopped berry pulp daily to the affected areas.

Chokeberry pests

Pests affecting chokeberry bushes include:

Brown fruit and red apple mites are small insects that can seriously harm not only chokeberry, but also fruit crops such as pear, plum, cherry and apple trees. Their larvae, appearing after the flowering of chokeberry in large numbers, feed on the sap of the leaves, making punctures in them. After three weeks, the larvae turn into adults, ready to lay the larvae on the plant again - several generations of ticks develop in one season.

To cope with the infestation of ticks, drugs Karbofos, colloidal sulfur, Tedion, Cydial, Kleschevit and the like will help you, which need to be alternated, since the tick's body is able to develop immunity against them.

The green apple aphid is a small sucking insect that affects young seedlings more often. In addition to the fact that it feeds on the sap of the plant, weakening it, aphids, like ticks, are a carrier of incurable viral diseases. A preventive measure against aphids is the treatment of chokeberry before bud break with Bordeaux liquid, Nitrafen, Karbofos, and if insects are found on the plant, it will be necessary to spray the chokeberry with Decis, Metaphos, Biotlin, Ambush, Cyanox or the like.

Hawthorn - the caterpillars of this butterfly eat up the buds during their blooming, then they damage the flowers and leaves of the chokeberry, leaving only streaks of them. To protect the chokeberry from the invasion of these pests - and the hawthorn can lay up to 500 eggs at a time - in early spring, before the buds open, the mountain ash is treated with a Bordeaux mixture, Oleocubrite or Nitrafen. Before flowering, chokeberry is sprayed with Zolon, Karbofos or Chlorophos.

Rowan moth - the caterpillars of this insect eat up the fruits of the mountain ash, which is why they become covered with dark spots and are bitter. This pest affects not only the chokeberry, but also the mountain ash, and in some years even the fruits of the apple tree. The methods of dealing with mountain ash moth are the same as with hawthorn.

The cherry slimy sawfly is a black insect with a shiny abdomen and transparent wings. It appears on the chokeberry at the beginning of July and before the beginning of autumn it has time to severely damage the leaves of the plant. The female sawfly lives no more than a week, but during this time she manages to lay up to 75 eggs under the lower skin of the leaves. The larvae that appear eat the leaves, leaving only a net of veins from them.

Sawflies are destroyed by treating chokeberry with 20-30 g of Chlorophos dissolved in a bucket of water. Spraying rowan with a solution of soda ash or lime can cope with the sawfly.

How to prepare for the winter?

It is believed that the best time to pick is November, when the first frosts have already been, due to which the berries have lost their bitterness. But the berries collected during this period are extremely difficult to keep fresh, and therefore you need to know how to properly harvest them for the winter.

How to dry at home?

Dried mountain ash is a classic version of harvesting for the winter. From such berries, both tea and jam are obtained, and they can also be added to pies, cereals, made flour from them, and also used in various dishes of Russian cuisine.

Before drying, the berries are separated from the brushes, washed under running water, laid out on a cotton towel and allowed to dry. After that, you need to place the fruits on a baking sheet and send them to the oven to dry at a temperature of 70-75 degrees (some reduce the temperature to 40 degrees, but then drying will take longer).

The process continues until the berries stop sticking together. You can check this by squeezing a few pieces in your hand.Dried mountain ash must be moved into glass jars and closed with a lid.

Other procurement methods

But not only dried mountain ash can be prepared for the winter. There are several more options for how to do this correctly. At the same time, the fruits will not lose their properties.

1. Dried mountain ash. For this method of harvesting, berries that have already survived the frost are suitable, that is, they were harvested not earlier than November. The berries are separated from the brushes and dipped in boiling water for five minutes, and then sent to cold water for 12 hours. In this case, it is very important to change the fluid throughout the entire time. The soaked mountain ash is spread on a towel and allowed to dry. Already dried berries are covered with sugar. At the first stage, add 250 grams and leave for 20 hours at room temperature. When time passes, it is necessary to drain the resulting juice, as it may contain bitterness, and then add the next 250 grams of sugar. In this form, the rowan stands for another 20 hours, after which the juice is again drained and the rowan is poured with sugar syrup. The amount of liquid must be adjusted individually, based not only on the volume of the berries, but also on taste preferences. The mountain ash filled with syrup is put on the fire and heated to 85 degrees (it is convenient to check the temperature with a culinary thermometer). At this temperature, it is necessary to keep the berries for no more and no less than seven minutes, then remove from heat and after half an hour repeat the heating procedure two more times. Everything that remains after cooking is sent to the oven to dry at a temperature of 30-40 degrees.

   

2. Frozen berries. This method does not require special skills and helps to save time. Before sending the mountain ash to the freezer, the berries are washed and allowed to dry. If you send them wet to the freezer, they stick together, and then it will be inconvenient to separate them. In the cold, it is better to store the berries in special vacuum pouches or sealed containers so that foreign odors do not get into the container.

   

Harvesting rowan berries for the winter is also possible in the form of compote, jam or jam. And some even make marshmallows from rowan fruits.

Types and varieties of chokeberry

There are many varieties of chokeberry. Among them there are excellent domestic and foreign varieties of chokeberry that have proven themselves well in our culture, many of which, in addition to excellent fruiting, are also distinguished by high decorative qualities. The best ones include:

• Nero - frost-resistant and shade-tolerant variety of German selection with shiny dark green leaves, which turn yellow-red in autumn. The berries of this variety, collected in bunches, are very large, sometimes twice as large as those of other chokeberries. They are also high in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
• Viking - a high-yielding and frost-resistant Finnish selection of chokeberry with shiny green leaves and the same shiny fruits, larger than black currant berries;
• Black-eyed - unpretentious and very resistant to diseases and pests, frost-resistant variety, which is also an excellent honey plant. Its berries, reaching a diameter of 1 cm, are distinguished by a reduced berry astringency in comparison with other varieties;
• Hugin - a winter-hardy and highly decorative variety of Swedish selection, which must be pruned with great care. Hugin's bush reaches a height of 2 m, its leaves in spring and summer are dark green and shiny, in autumn they acquire a bright red color. The berries are large, black and shiny.

In addition to those described, Finnish varieties of chokeberry Hakkia, Belder and Karkhumyaki, Danish variety Aron, Polish varieties Egerta, Dabrovice, Galitsianka, Kutno, Nova ves, Belarusian varieties of Nadzeya and Venisa and Russian varieties of Siberian and Michurina chokeberry are popular.

Cooking use

Rowan berries are widely used in cooking, especially in Russian cuisine. But few people realize what can be made from fruits.In addition to classic options such as jam, jam, marshmallow and compote, there are other equally interesting dishes.

What can you cook from red rowan?

From the fruits of mountain ash, you can make an excellent mountain ash wine, but for this one mountain ash is not enough, you will also need apples. Dried berries are used to make flour, which is then added to baked goods and more. For meat dishes, such as goulash, it gives a slight sourness and a pleasant aroma. You can also make jelly, marmalade, fruit drink, tincture and juice.

Ripe rowan berries can be an excellent filling for pies. Also, the fruits can become the basis for artificial mountain ash honey. Such a product has a reddish tint, and its aroma is tart, but pleasant.

How to brew?

Brewing rowan-based teas is considered one of the most useful and at the same time simple procedures. For brewing, you can use both dried and fresh fruits. To make the healing drink as useful as possible, it is also recommended to add black currant, hawthorn and rose hips to it. They not only perfectly set off the taste, but also make the drink as useful as possible.

Making tea is not done the way many are accustomed to. A teapot will not work for these purposes. You will need a large thermos. Such a container creates and maintains the required temperature for the berries to start "working".

If tea is made from several types of berries, then first they are separately poured with boiling water and insisted for 30 minutes. Only when time has passed are they poured into a thermos, where they begin to exchange flavors and infuse together. Tea should be kept in a thermos for at least a day. Only in this case, the berries will give away all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients. You can drink this tea as an independent drink, adding honey to it, or you can add a few tablespoons of the infusion to regular tea.

Tea made from red rowan leaves is no less useful. For its preparation, berries and leaves are mixed in equal proportions (the latter should be washed before adding to tea). You can pour the mixture with boiling water, or you can send it to the stove and boil it for 10 minutes. Filter the resulting infusion and drink 50 grams two or three times a day.

To enhance the taste, red mountain ash can be overheated and only then poured with boiling water.

Chokeberry properties - harm and benefit

The medicinal properties of chokeberry

What is the use of chokeberry for the human body? Aronia is a real treasure trove of nutrients. It contains beta-carotene, vitamins P, K, C, E, B1, B2, B6, macro- and microelements manganese, boron, fluorine, iron, iodine, molybdenum and copper, sugars, pectins and tannins. Chokeberry fruit contains twenty times more vitamin P than oranges and twice as much as black currant. A balanced combination of biological substances in chokeberry berries enhances their healing properties.

Fresh chokeberry berries and juice from them are used not only for treatment, but also for the prevention of atherosclerosis and hypertension, since they have vasodilating, spasmodic, hemostatic, hematopoietic and capillary-strengthening properties. They are also prescribed for patients with certain vascular diseases, which are accompanied by fragility of tissues - capillarotoxicosis, scarlet fever, measles, eczema, allergic vasculitis, since the medicinal properties of chokeberry help strengthen the walls of blood vessels, restoring their elasticity.

Chokeberry berries increase immunity, have a positive effect on the endocrine system, lower blood cholesterol levels, and normalize blood pressure.

Aronia is recommended to be eaten with diabetes mellitus, thyroid diseases, as a diuretic, it is prescribed for allergies, kidney disease and typhus.It improves digestion, increases appetite and acidity of gastric juice, promotes the formation and outflow of bile, and activates the liver.

Pectins, which are part of chokeberry berries, remove radioactive substances, heavy metals and pathogenic microorganisms from the body, normalize intestinal function, and relieve spasms.

The use of chokeberry berries reduces emotional imbalance by regulating the processes of arousal and inhibition.

Burns are treated with fresh chokeberry juice.

We bring to your attention several recipes from chokeberry:

• tincture of chokeberry with cloves: gently mash 1 kg of berries in a jar with a wooden pestle, add half a kilogram of sugar, three clove buds, mix, cover with gauze and leave at room temperature for two days, then pour 1 liter of vodka into the jar, cover it with a nylon lid and put in a dark place for two months, then strain and bottle. Store the finished liqueur in a cool place;
• fortifying drink: pour 20 g of dry chokeberry berries with a glass of boiling water and heat for 5-10 minutes in a water bath, then let the broth cool and strain, not forgetting to squeeze the berries. Take 100 g 3-4 times a day;
• vitamin tea: 2 tablespoons of dry chokeberry berries, pour two cups of boiling water, heat at a low boil for 10 minutes, remove from heat and let it brew for several hours. This tea is consumed three times a day with honey or sugar.

Plant species.

This amazing plant has several varieties.

1. There is a wild forest berry.
2. Red or ordinary, which grows among many gardeners in their summer cottages and throughout Russia.
3. Chokeberry which has become very popular in recent years. She is originally from North America.
4. And pomegranate.

All species have common properties and differences in the composition of useful substances, application and action on the human body. This is exactly what you will learn today.

Useful properties of mountain ash

All of the above varieties of mountain ash combined all the useful properties of this plant. Rowan fruits have a high content of vitamin P, carotene (provitamin A). It also contains vitamins C, K, B2, B9, trace elements. Mountain ash is valuable for its content of pectins, sugars, essential oils and organic acids.

In Bulgaria, rowan juice is boiled with sugar (for 1 kg of berries - 600 g of sugar), such a remedy is used for rheumatism, kidney stones and vitamin deficiencies are treated this way.

Scarlet rowan berries are a hemostatic agent. A decoction of flowers is good in heat. Honey is mixed with fresh leaves and scurvy is treated. A decoction of the bark is used to treat inflammation, gargle for tonsillitis and other throat ailments.

Rowan juice is used to increase appetite. There is a sign that fresh rowan branches thrown into the water disinfect it.

For people with high blood pressure, doctors recommend using berries in their daily diet. Or dry flowers and berries to brew like tea.

Features of growing in the regions

Observations of chokeberry grown in different climatic zones show that it is most productive within the following boundaries:

• in the north - in Leningrad, Novgorod, Vladimir, Ivanovsk, Perm, Sverdlovsk, Tyumen, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo regions, in Gorno-Altaysk;
• in the south, the area is limited to Kursk, Voronezh, Saratov, Samara, Orenburg.

Moscow suburbs

The process of growing black chokeberry in the Moscow region differs little from growing in the Central region. This area is located in climatic conditions where chokeberry shows the highest productivity. In addition, the climate in the region is much milder than the Siberian one. The danger can only be a snowless winter, since the roots of chokeberry begin to freeze out at temperatures as low as -11 ° C. Among the gardeners near Moscow, the following varieties are most popular: Black-eyed, Nero, Dabrovice, Viking.

Siberia, Ural and Yakutia

The introduction of shrubs into the culture in the region was initially carried out by the M.A.Lisavenko Research Institute of Horticulture in Siberia.

Chokeberry can withstand temperatures as low as -30–35 ° C, which allows it to be grown in harsh Siberian conditions. In order to prevent freezing of shoots above the level of snow cover, it is recommended to bend them to the ground before winter (practiced in the regions of Petrozavodsk, Vologda, Perm, Ufa, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan, Omsk and Barnaul). However, you should carefully monitor the application of nitrogen fertilizers, which will not allow the bushes to prepare for wintering in time, and, accordingly, will lead to freezing or death of the plant. Most often, chokeberry in this area is affected by brown spot. Mass ripening of fruits occurs in late August - early September.

Chokeberry is freely grown both in Altai and Siberia

Ukraine and Belarus

In Ukraine, the black chokeberry is cultivated in Donetsk, South-West and other regions. The culture successfully grows in Kazakhstan and almost throughout Belarus. Chokeberry grown in Ukraine is often diagnosed with infestation by pests that are not typical for other regions - a raspberry beetle, a scale insect, a May beetle. Fruit ripening occurs in September, harvesting may be delayed until early to mid-October. In Ukraine, some experts have noticed a tendency to use chokeberry in gardening yards.

In Belarus, the total area of ​​chokeberry plantations is more than 400 hectares. Local varieties of Venisa and Nadzey are considered the most resistant. Ripening of the crop begins in the second half of August.

Care after landing

The plant does not require any special care. The shrub is rarely attacked by pests.

Shelter for the winter

The seedling needs to be prepared for the winter season. It is necessary to bend it to the ground and press it with boards. This is done before the temperature drops to minus indicators.

If you do not follow these steps, the stem may break, and its elasticity deteriorates. When the bush bends down, it is important to ensure that the height of the arc is not higher than 25 cm.

After a stable spring temperature (+15 degrees) has been established, the plant is straightened, because with a long bent state, the shoots undergo a heating.

Do I need to cut the shoots

Shoots are formed in young shrubs quickly enough, so it is necessary to annually destroy the basal stems to avoid thickening. Only 5 branches with buds are left.

Sanitary pruning should be done by removing old and rotten branches. It is impossible to remove annual shoots, since they will then have fruits.

It is also worth cutting the stems in half every 3 years, increasing the yield of the plant. Autumn pruning is carried out only if the mountain ash is damaged by diseases.

Top dressing

Feeding is done twice a year. This requires ammonium nitrate and potassium salt. Foliar dressing can be done after flowering is complete. It consists in spraying with a urea solution.

Watering and loosening the soil

Rowan requires abundant watering only during the growing season. During the summer heat, the bush needs to be moistened weekly. Adult chokeberry requires about 30 liters of water.

Loosening of the soil and removal of weeds is carried out twice a season. It is worth paying attention to loosening the soil in the fall, since the compacted soil will lead to the freezing of the soil.

Prevention of diseases and pests

The most appropriate time for prevention is bud flowering and the end of the collection of all fruits. Treatment with fungicides acts as a measure to prevent the development of diseases, namely, spraying the bush with Bordeaux liquid. If pests damage the bush, you need to apply chemicals, although, as a rule, the blackberry is resistant to pests.

When to plant: fall or spring?

Chokeberry can be planted in spring or autumn... The most preferable for the development of a seedling and a gardener is an autumn planting. At this time, you can buy planting material with fresh roots at a bargain price.

In the middle lane, chokeberry planted from mid-September to the third decade of October... During this period, the shrub gradually enters a state of relative dormancy, but its roots will develop until the soil temperature drops to -4 ° C.

Therefore, in spring, the plant will immediately begin to build up its vegetative mass. This gives a great advantage to the seedlings of autumn planting, which are ahead in development of plants planted in spring by more than 20 days.

Benefits of autumn planting for the gardener - saving time, the plant does not need additional care, except for a shelter for the winter.

When planting in spring it will be necessary to control the likelihood of recurrent frosts, exposure to dry winds and temperature drops.

Regardless of the general recommendations, when planting a seedling, you need to focus on the average temperature indicators of the region. You can plant at least 20 days before the first frost.... If the deadlines are missed, the seedling needs to be dug in the ridge until spring.

In the spring, the plant is planted before bud breakwhen the air temperature warms up to + 15 ° С.

You can plant at least 20 days before the first frost. If the deadlines are missed, the seedling needs to be dug in the ridge until spring.

Description of the plant

Aronia is a perennial deciduous plant with a superficial rhizome. It takes the form of a tree or shrub with a spreading crown. The height of an adult plant reaches 3 m, and the width is 2 m. The trunk and branches are covered with smooth bark. In young plants, it has a reddish-brown color, and with age it becomes dark gray.

The branches are covered with alternate oval-shaped petiole leaves with crenate edges and a pointed end. The length of the leaf plate is 4-8 cm, and the width is 3-5 cm. A central vein with lateral branches is visible on the surface of the shiny leathery leaf. On the reverse side, there is a soft silvery pubescence. The foliage is colored dark green, and by mid-September, with a decrease in the average daily temperature, the leaves turn purple-red. This gives the garden a special charm.

Chokeberry bloom begins in May, after the foliage blooms. Small corollas, similar to apple blossom, are located in a dense corymbose inflorescence up to 6 cm in diameter. Each bisexual flower with 5 free petals contains a bunch of long stamens with thickened anthers and a stigma of the ovary located just below the stigma. The flowering period lasts 1.5-2 weeks, and by August the fruits begin to ripen - spherical or flattened berries with black or red dense skin. The diameter of the berries is 6-8 cm. There is a slight bluish or whitish bloom on their surface.

Harvesting of fruits begins in October, preferably after the first frost. They are edible and have a slightly tart, sweet and sour taste.

Pruning

Chokeberry needs regular pruning, as this shrub is characterized by rapid growth and overgrowth. The base of the bush expands and fruiting decreases. To prevent this, you will need to form the crown of the plant.

After planting, the plant is pruned 20 cm above the ground. Next spring, 5 strong and well-located branches are selected from the growth from the root and shortened so that the tops are at the same level. This will be the skeleton of the crown, and the remaining branches need to be cut out at the base at soil level. In the next season, the crown is "replenished" with 5 more branches, a year later - 5 more branches. As a result, a full-fledged crown will be formed in 3-4 years, because the number of stems in the chokeberry bush should be 15–20.

And when the bushes reach 15 years of age, they should be freed from old branches, on which there are almost no berries. Chokeberry looks especially impressive when shaping it as a standard, turning into a small tree.

Do I need to cut the shoots?

Pruning is a must for chokeberry, which is growing rapidly. Performing the procedure solves the following tasks:

• growth restrictions;
• creating optimal plant illumination for even distribution of fruits on the branches;
• preservation of the decorative form of the shrub;
• creating good ventilation;
• maintaining the healthy state of the plant.

Sanitary pruning of dry, broken, diseased branches is carried out at any time, it will not damage the plant.

The formation of the shape of a bush, its rejuvenation in warm regions is carried out in the spring, before the buds swell, in zones of cold climates with a short summer in autumn, after the foliage has fallen and the harvest has been collected. The first pruning of branches is done when planting a seedling (up to 4-5 buds). A bush is formed over the next 3 years. The optimal number of branches on a bush is 10-12. Focusing on this amount, old branches are cut, starting, as a rule, when the age of the shrub reaches 7 years. Shoots are chosen based on color. Perennial branches are darker in comparison with young branches. When rejuvenating old bushes, shoots are cut down to the level of the soil. Of the newly grown shoots, 10 are left.

Pruned so as not to leave hemp - breeding grounds for bacteria.

Brief history, description and characteristics of the plant

Chokeberry is also called Aronia chokeberry. It grows wild in the eastern regions of North America. This is a shrub reaching 3 meters in height, with a crown diameter of more than 2 m. Very hardy. The root system does not extend far, but some roots penetrate deeply up to 1 meter or more, although most of them reach a depth of about half a meter. An adult bush has numerous thick trunk branches. Leaves are simple, broadly oval or elongated. The edge of the sheet is serrated. The leaf blade is shiny on top, dense, slightly pubescent on the underside, whitish.

Blooms in May-June. Flowering lasts about 10 days. The flowers are medium, white, bisexual. The corolla has five petals. The flower stalks of the chokeberry are in the form of a shield containing from 15 to 35 flowers, respectively, berries grow: in the form of small bunches of shields. It takes about three months for the fruit to grow and ripen.

When planting a chokeberry bush in the country, you must understand in advance that it will take up a lot of space

The fruit is round, black, with a slight bluish bloom, strongly wrinkled at the end, rather large (with a diameter of 0.5 to 1.5 cm), tastes sour-sweet, astringent, tart. The mass of one berry is 1.0–1.5 g. Each berry contains 4–8 small seeds. Fruits contain up to 10% sugar, 1.3% acids (mostly malic), pectin and other useful substances. The flowers and fruits of the chokeberry resemble the flowers and fruits of the common mountain ash.

This rowan begins to bear fruit in the fourth year of life. The berries ripen at the end of September and do not fall off for a long time. Aronia is a completely winter-hardy crop. It grows especially well on moisture-consuming, fertile soils. In dry years, the berries are less juicy and small, therefore they are planted in well-lit places.

IV Michurin drew attention to this valuable shrub and recommended it for cultivation for economic purposes. In 1900, he purchased chokeberry cuttings from Germany for crossing with red rowan.

The initiator of the widespread introduction of chokeberry in agricultural production is M. A. Lisavenko (Altai). In 1935, he took cuttings in Michurinsk, multiplied, and then planted a plantation in a thousand bushes. Numerous amateur gardeners, who began planting soon after the war, also contributed to its widespread dissemination. Then the seedlings were brought to the north, to the Leningrad region, from where the mountain ash came to the Baltic States and other regions. In Russia, in our time, chokeberry is widespread as a fruit and medicinal crop. It is grown everywhere, especially in the middle lane and northern regions.

Chokeberry varieties

Half a century ago, one could read that there are only a few varieties of chokeberry. Now this does not correspond to reality: through the efforts of breeders, varieties have been bred that differ not only in early maturity or different growing conditions, but also in taste and even color of berries, although outwardly most of them are very similar to each other and are practically indistinguishable. However, the list of the most popular chokeberry varieties among lovers is still small.

The appearance of various varieties of chokeberry berries differs little, they are known "by sight" only by experts

The unpretentious Rubin variety is characterized by increased resistance to diseases, pests and frost. The berries ripen in September, have a rounded shape, up to 1 cm in diameter, low astringency.

Rowan Black-eyed is also very unpretentious, similar in characteristics to Ruby, but loves more sunny areas. Diseases most often bypass the Black-eyed side. Its berries, unlike most varieties, have almost no astringency. They hang on the branches for a long time without crumbling, so they can be collected in one step.

In shaded areas, it is recommended to plant the Czech variety Nero. It can withstand the most severe frosts, the bush is not too large, the maximum height is up to 2 meters. The color of the flowers is interesting: the main one, like most varieties, is white, but red stamens stand out. The berries are distinguished by an improved taste, aroma and increased vitamin content, are well suited for juicing, ripen somewhat earlier than other varieties.

One of the most winter-hardy and late varieties is Aronia Michurina, which can withstand temperatures down to -40 ° C. It grows in a very large bush, above 3 meters. The berries are also larger than usual, not quite round, slightly flattened, very juicy, do not crumble. They are quite suitable for direct consumption, having a sour-sweet taste.

Aronia Michurina is one of the most honored, traditional varieties

The Viking variety (of Finnish origin) is also highly winter-resistant, but differs in the compact size of the bush and rather small berries, 10–20 pieces per shield. At the same time, the total harvest of fruits is not quite black in color, with a tinge of purple, is still quite considerable. The berries are slightly flattened in shape, they can hang on the bushes until the end of October.

Bushes of medium height with a round crown in the Swedish variety Hugin. Berries are red-black, below average size, ripen a little later than other varieties, not very juicy. Hugin is relatively capricious in his care: he does not like radical pruning of bushes. In autumn, the chokeberry bushes of this variety are very decorative: dark green shiny leaves coexist with bright red ones, with a gradual shift of the general background color towards crimson tones. The winter hardiness of the variety is high, but the land around the young plantings should be well mulched for the winter.

Healing properties of the plant

The healthiness of black chokeberry lies mainly in the fact that its berries contain a lot of vitamin R. The composition includes active coloring and colorless substances (catechins, red anthocyanins, yellow flowers). The fruits also contain other vitamins - C, PP, B2, B9, E, but in relatively small quantities. Chokeberry fruits are a rich source of natural food colorings and contain many tannins. Aronia berries are useful in the treatment of certain diseases, including radiation, since vitamin P is an antiradiant. Berries and juice are best consumed with other vitamin C-rich fruits.

Chokeberry juice contains chemical elements useful for the human body: iodine, iron, manganese. A fairly good wine is made from it, and is also used to tint light wines, soda water and other drinks. The yield of juice from fruits is high - 68–75%.

Chokeberry tincture is easier to prepare than classic wine, and is appreciated by amateurs no less

For preventive and therapeutic purposes, they use juice, fresh, frozen or dried berries, various culinary products from mountain ash. It is useful for hypertension, bleeding, diabetes mellitus, kidney disease, rheumatism, hepatitis, and in many other cases. Aronia helps to lower blood cholesterol levels. Fresh, this mountain ash is not very tasty, so they prefer to make jam, marmalade, compote, etc. from it. If you follow the rules of preparation, it does not lose its healing properties.

Protection from pests and diseases

Aronia is considered to be extremely resistant to insect infestation. In addition, she is almost not susceptible to any diseases. However, climatic conditions, proximity to infected plants and illiterate agricultural techniques can lead the plant to a general weakening, which will also affect its immunity.

As a prophylaxis, the bushes are treated with 1% Bordeaux liquid before bud break, in the fall, repeated treatment with the same drug or 7% urea solution is permissible.

As a preventive measure, in spring and autumn, chokeberry is treated with Bordeaux liquid

In addition, in the fall, it is recommended to carefully cut out and immediately burn damaged and diseased shoots, peel off lichens and any growths from the bark, remove leaf litter and carrion from the trunk circle, and dig up the soil in the trunk circle. Weeding and weeding, and picking up construction and other debris can also significantly reduce the risk of plant disease in your garden.

Chokeberry pests

Many fruit and berry plants and shrubs in the garden are susceptible to insects that pose a danger to chokeberry, and this significantly increases the risk. There are at least 20 species of insects and mites that can develop on the chokeberry.

Table: pests and control

Pest	Description	Control methods
Hawthorn	A light daytime butterfly with a wingspan of up to 7 cm. The caterpillars of this insect feed on the leaves of fruit trees and shrubs, their activity begins in spring, with swelling of the buds. The hawthorn caterpillars eat them, after spreading to young leaves, flower buds also suffer. In the middle of summer, eggs are laid (the clutch of one butterfly per season is about 500 eggs) - the clutch can most often be found on the upper side of the leaves. The spread of flowering weeds in the garden contributes to an increase in the hawthorn population.	As a preventive measure, before flowering, it is recommended to spray the plant with insecticides (for example, Zolon, Nexion), before the leaves bloom, treatment with Nitrafen should be carried out.
Different types of weevils	Beetles eating chokeberry leaves.	As a preventive measure, it is envisaged to treat the plant with Karbofos or Chlorophos.
Cherry Slime Sawfly	The insect larvae, initially parasitizing on cherries, cause more harm. Massively eats leaves, leaving only the largest veins. Damaged leaves curl up, dry out and fall off. The peak of activity usually falls on the 20th of July, when the larvae hatch (the sawfly larvae hibernate in leaf litter, pupating in May and laying eggs in June). An adult female sawfly lays about 75 eggs per season.	If an infection is detected, it is recommended to spray the bushes with a 0.2% solution of Chlorophos or Karbofos, irrigation with a 0.7% solution of soda ash is effective. Re-processing is recommended every 7-10 days.
Rowan moth	A pest that lays down two generations. Caterpillars of the first, highlighting a thin web, braid several flowers from the inflorescence, which they feed on until they retire (the buds dry out over time). Pupation of these caterpillars begins by the end of June or the beginning of July, almost simultaneously with which adults emerge, laying eggs on healthy fruits (1 egg from 1 butterfly).The end of July - the beginning of August is the period of appearance of caterpillars of the second order, which feed on fruits braided into cobwebs.	In May, treatment with 0.2% Chlorophos or Karbofos eliminates 95% of pests.
Green apple aphid	Small sucking insects up to a maximum of 2.5 mm in size. The pest feeds on the cell sap of young leaves, which is why they dry out quickly. Young saplings suffer more from aphid colonies.	In the period from budding to flowering, plants are treated with Karbofos or Nitrafen.
Rowan and apple miner moth	Butterflies feed on the fruits of the bush, which eventually become unusable, which significantly reduces the yield.	As a preventive measure, it is recommended to remove leaf litter, dig up the trunk circle, and also clean lichens and mosses from the trunks. Treatment with insect repellents (eg Nitrafen) is effective only on young caterpillars.
Red apple and brown fruit mites	Small insects that actively feed during the swelling of the buds and the appearance of young leaves. In the process of molting, the skins are shed, which give the branches of the chokeberry a silvery sheen.	To kill ticks, it is necessary to regularly change preparations, since insects quickly develop immunity to one substance. As a preventive measure, it is recommended to remove fallen leaves and regularly dig up the soil in the trunk circle.
Fruit sapwood	The bark beetle is about 4 mm long and starts flying in June. It lays the larvae and feeds in vertical passages between bark and sapwood. A clear sign of colonization is the holes that have appeared on the trunks and large branches, plugged with drilling flour.	As a preventive measure, it is recommended to cut out drying out branches and uproot dead plants, treat them in a timely manner against other pests that weaken the plant (sapwood populates only damaged plants, in which sap flow is disturbed). In addition, the enemies of beetles are woodpeckers, titmice, nuthatches, as well as other types of insects (from the order of riders).

Photo gallery: chokeberry pests

Hawthorn butterfly and caterpillar eat buds

Green apple aphid threatens mainly young seedlings From the mountain ash moth, spring treatment with drugs will help

The apple miner moth feeds on the fruits of the chokeberry

Fruit sapwood inhabits only damaged plants

Weevil beetle feeds on leaves

Cherry slimy sawfly initially parasitizes cherry

Brown fruit mite quickly develops immunity to drugs

Only the caterpillars of the mountain ash moth are affected by the drugs

Diseases of chokeberry

Infection of a plant with any virus and colonization by insects are interrelated. A rare insect is able to settle on an unsuppressed, completely healthy specimen. In chokeberry, the following types of diseases are most often diagnosed:

1. Peripheral rot is a sign that accompanies the settlement of mushrooms. Severely affected plant specimens must be removed from the root and burned by treating the soil with fungicides. Only infected bushes are treated with 1% Bordeaux liquid and any fungicides.
2. Moniliosis - fruits affected by fruit rot soften, and then mummify and partially remain on the branches. Any fruit showing signs of disease must be destroyed. It is recommended to treat infected trees with solutions of Bordeaux liquid or copper sulfate.
3. Septoria - diseased leaves are covered in July with light brown spots with a dark border, the inner part of which "falls out" over time, forming through holes. At the end of the growing season, the fallen leaves are removed from the trunk circle and burned. At the beginning and end of the growing season, the soil under the plants and the chokeberry bushes themselves are treated with Bordeaux liquid.
4. Brown spot - the disease manifests itself in the form of small brown spots on the leaves, which form a whitish bloom on the underside. Severely damaged leaves dry out and fall off. At the first signs of the disease, it is recommended to treat the bushes with 1% Bordeaux liquid, and destroy the leaf litter.
5. Bacterial necrosis (bark cancer) - chokeberry is affected by necrosis much less frequently than stone fruits. It manifests itself in the form of areas of weeping and falling off the bark, which at the same time exudes an unpleasant odor. All affected areas must be cleaned 8-10 cm below the damaged tissue, disinfected, and treated with garden varnish. Severely affected bushes are cut and destroyed.
6. Rust is a fungal disease that is yellow spots, on the back of which (the underside of the leaf) spores are located. Affected branches are destroyed, as well as leaf litter at the end of the growing season, chokeberry bushes are treated with 1% Bordeaux liquid.
7. Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that affects young shoots and leaves. It is a whitish bloom, which darkens by autumn. The disease spreads quickly in thickened plantings, humid warm weather contributes to the development. For treatment, spraying with a solution of colloidal sulfur is carried out.
8. Grebenshik is a thin, leathery, grayish-brown mushroom that is most often a sign of root rot. When the bodies of the fungus are found, the bushes are treated twice with solutions of Bordeaux liquid or copper sulfate during the season.

Photo gallery: diseases of chokeberry

Rust-affected branches are destroyed

Powdery mildew is dangerous for young shoots

All fruits with signs of moniliosis are destroyed

Typical signs of brown leaf spot - small spots

A comb mushroom on trunks is a sign of root rot

Typical signs of septoria disease are light brown spots with a dark border

Bacterial necrosis manifests itself as weeping and falling off the bark

Harvesting and storage

Ripening of the culture begins at the end of summer. After tasting the berry, you will feel its astringent properties. Such chokeberry will be stored longer. It is sold, dried for the preparation of medicinal decoctions. For consumer needs, the berries are harvested later, but before frost. The taste of the berries is not so astringent, more sweet. It can be successfully stored, as well as used for making assorted compotes. The most mature mountain ash after the first frost. She is juicy, sweetish. It is used for making juice, jam immediately after collection, without storage. During harvesting, a pruner is used, carefully cutting off the rowan brushes from the branches.

The berries are stored in small boxes (containers) - wooden, plastic, glass. Chokeberry is well preserved when frozen (keep in mind that tannins are tannins - in this case it is destroyed)

Do not use frozen berries for making wine.

Features of the

Aronia is an unpretentious plant to care for, it is resistant to diseases and insect pests. Since the shrub blooms in late spring, it is not afraid of frost. In addition, this is a self-pollinated crop, this process occurs with the help of wind and insects, so the harvest of chokeberry is usually quite high.

Aronia propagates by seeds and vegetatively. It is best to sow seeds in the garden at the end of October, so that the seeds undergo natural stratification in natural conditions. They are deepened into the ground by 2 cm, and seedlings will begin to bear fruit in the third - fourth year. Vegetatively, you can propagate the plant by dividing the bush, layering, grafting or grafting - one or two-year-old seedlings are used for this. For inoculation, they usually take an ordinary rowan stock. If the culture is propagated by root suckers, by autumn they grow up to 40 cm and have a developed root system.

A bit of history

In our country, rowan has been cultivated for a very long time as an ornamental culture. But Michurin appreciated its high taste and medicinal qualities, extraordinary unpretentiousness, frost resistance. It was Michurin who bred a new variety - Michurin's aronia. Aronia Michurina is called black chokeberry, but in fact it is not a mountain ash. For more than 50 years, chokeberry has been an independent genus. Over time, it became known that chokeberry fruits are not only tasty and healthy. Chokeberry fruits are extraordinarily healing.

How to transplant chokeberry to a new location

With timely planting and good care, the black mountain ash quickly turns into a large bush, and after 2-3 years it begins to bear fruit. But sometimes there is a need to move an adult plant to another place. It is better to do this work in early spring, before the leaves bloom on the blackberry.

The vitality of the chokeberry allows it to take root successfully even in adulthood. If a well-developed, dense bush is transplanted, then at the same time the chokeberry can be propagated. To do this, the dug plant is divided into several parts by the root, and the resulting "delenki" are planted as independent seedlings.

Painless chokeberry transplant with a whole bush:

1. The plant is deeply dug around the perimeter of the trunk circle (at least 1 m in diameter).
2. Using a shovel, cut out as large a piece of soil with roots as possible.
3. A clod of earth should be carefully removed from the ground, slowly lifting the mountain ash by the branches.
4. Having laid the roots on burlap or other dense material, they transport the black chokeberry to a new place.

The landing pit is prepared according to the size of the resulting coma. Having abundantly moistened the soil, the roots of the blackberry are placed in it no deeper than in the previous place.

Advice! Gardeners advise, when transplanting chokeberry, to ensure that the bush in the new place is oriented in the same direction to the cardinal points as before digging.

A correctly carried out transplant will not shock an adult black mountain ash. According to gardeners, chokeberry bushes can bear fruit in the same season.

Arony in garden design

Aronia looks good when used to form hedges.

Using chokeberry as a hedge

You can combine the plant with Korean chrysanthemums, perennial asters, hydrangea. Chokeberry berries become an excellent decoration for bushes in the autumn, so trees are often planted alone, next to alleys or garden benches. The fall foliage of the bush will brighten any garden.

Potential threat to natural biodiversity

Chokeberry Michurin (A. mitschurinii) does not occur in nature, with the exception of specimens that have been wild in the last decade. In some areas of Central Russia, Michurin's chokeberry has adapted so well that it settles into forests with the participation of birds. In the 2000s, the phenomenon of naturalization was noted by A. Kuklina in the pine forests of the Ramensky and Orekhovo-Zuevsky districts of the Moscow region. In 2002, the feral A. mitschurinii was first found by A.P. Seregin in the Meschera National Park, Gus-Khrustalny District, Vladimir Region, and later found in the undergrowth of pine forests throughout the region, especially in the eastern and southeastern regions.

In connection with these facts, single plants of Michurin's chokeberry, planted outside the garden plots, and wild thickets pose a potential threat to natural vegetation. Uncontrolled colonization of plant communities by invasive species should not be allowed. It is necessary to preserve natural biodiversity, mechanically or chemically remove representatives of foreign flora.

Photo by the author

Mountain ash requirements for growing conditions

The plant is winter-hardy, unpretentious to the type of soil and climatic conditions, so it can be planted throughout Russia. It is best to grow rowan in bright areas. In the shade, it will also get used to it, but the yield will decrease.Lowlands are good for the plant, since the roots of rowan are shallow.

It is better to give preference to chernozems, peat bogs, gray and soddy-podzolic soils. Stony and waterlogged soil types are unsuitable for growing chokeberry. It is important that there is enough moisture in the soil for the roots, since a lack of moisture slows down the growth of the plant.

How to plant: stages of work

The planting pit and the seedling substrate are prepared in advance, preferably in 1-2 months. During this time, the soil mixture is structured, and the nutrients will take forms that are easily digestible by the roots of the plant. The optimal pit size is 60x60x50 (cm), the landing pattern is 2.5x4 (m).

To prepare the substrate, you will need the top layer of soil removed during the digging of the hole. It is supplemented with components:

• humus or compost 2 buckets;
• superphosphate 120 g;
• potassium sulfate 60 g.

A drainage layer of broken brick or crushed stone is laid at the bottom of the pit, no more than 15-20% of the total volume.

Before planting, the seedling needs to be inspected again.... If damaged roots are found, problem areas are cut off to healthy skin, and dried ones are placed in water for 10 hours.

For better survival, the roots are dipped in a mash made from oily clay, mullein and water.

In light soils, the seedling is buried by 6 cm, in heavy soils by 2-3 cm... Thus, the root collar of the shrub after soil shrinkage should remain 1-3 cm below the ground level.

I am guided by the recommended criteria; at the bottom of the pit, a mound is formed from the prepared substrate. The roots of the seedling are evenly distributed on its surface. It is important to ensure that there are no unnatural folds.

In light soils, the seedling is buried 6 cm, in heavy soils by 2-3 cm, the root collar should remain 1-3 cm below ground level

The roots are covered with soil mixture, periodically shaking the stem to avoid the formation of voids. After compacting the trunk circle and watering the seedling, need to form a layer of mulch... Well suited for this: peat, sawdust, grass cuttings or wood chips.

After planting, the aerial part of the seedling is cut, leaving only 20 cm in length... For autumn planting, the procedure is postponed until spring and carried out until bud break.

Rowan varieties for Siberia

The best varieties for the harsh climate of Siberia include:

• Moravian mountain ash;
• Bead;
• Burka;
• Nevezhinskaya;
• Dessert;
• Scarlet large;
• Pomegranate mountain ash;
• Titanium;
• Sorbinka.

The non-gentile mountain ash adapts best to winter conditions; it is especially important for trees of all other varieties to create optimal conditions for a comfortable existence. To avoid winter death, experts recommend grafting sweet-fruited varieties on the crown of Nevezhinsky.

Rowan flowers can easily withstand temperatures down to -3 ° C. However, it should be noted that this variety reacts negatively to shading. Gardeners also claim that after freezing, the taste of the fruit becomes much better and richer.

It is best to purchase rowan seedlings in nurseries. It is important to ensure that they are free of any mechanical damage, since in the future this can lead to problems with the development of plants, and even to their death.

Insect pests

Moth

Rowan moth very often affects mountain ash. In a year, this pest can damage more than 20% of the fruits. Sometimes the mountain ash moth affects the apple tree. Pupae of mountain ash moth can overwinter in the ground or in fallen leaves, so you should collect and burn the foliage under the trees. Very often this brown butterfly attacks shrubs in June. Around the same time, the butterfly lays its eggs only on the upper part of the fruit, from which caterpillars emerge. The caterpillars gnaw at the fruits and they become unusable.

Chokeberry pruning

Rowan care must necessarily include timely and correct pruning.A lot of shoots develop on the bushes, and some of them must be cut out. The number of shoots that need to be left on one bush directly depends on the amount of light. The worse the illumination, the less sunlight gets to the shrubs, the less shoots should be left. Usually about 10-12 shoots are left on one bush.

Pruning is carried out in March-April. It is important to prune the chokeberry before the buds open. Old shrubs need radical pruning. Only 10 shoots are left on old bushes, which are sufficiently developed and can form a new crown.

On bushes over 10 years old, shoots are cut to a height of 1 meter. The chokeberry is pruned every 4 years. Summer and autumn care for chokeberry is pruning sick, broken branches.