Gumi shrub. How to plant, grow and propagate it. Care rules

Sometimes in the gardens you can see small shrubs that look like cherries. It could be a gumi bush. The berries of these shrubs are much healthier.

Gumi shrub: photo of berries

Gumi shrub: description

Gumi is a shrub culture from the sucker family. This deciduous plant can grow up to two hundred and fifty centimeters high and one hundred fifty centimeters wide. Its numerous branches are simply covered with thorns, which are four to five centimeters long. This is a fairly high-yielding crop, because up to twelve kilograms of berries can be harvested from one ten-year-old bush.

Gumi's foliage is glossy, without lint and veins, the edges are also smooth, without gaps. It begins to bloom in late spring, early summer. Inflorescences are light beige or whitish, very small in size, outwardly similar to bells, grow on short legs. During flowering, the Gumi fruit shrub exudes a pleasant aroma that is somewhat reminiscent of lilacs.

Fruit bush Gumi: photo

Gumi berries cover the bush extensively, it is literally strewn with them from mid to late summer, this is due to the fact that the fruits do not ripen at the same time. Themselves from themselves Gumi berries are oval in shape up to two centimeters in length, their weight can reach only two grams. They grow on elongated legs, they are of a rich red hue with a whitish speck. Their advantage is that when they ripen, they still do not crumble. Their flesh is fleshy, sour-sweet, giving off edge. It may taste like a mixture of apple, cherry and dogwood.

The fruits of the Gumi berry bush are very useful, because they have a high content of vitamin C. Also, the Gumi berry contains: Vitamin A, Vitamin E, lycopene and seventeen amino acids, all of which have tonic and anti-inflammatory effects.

Freshly picked Gumi berries are very tasty, but do not forget that you can also make jam or jam from them.

Gumi: photo of berries

Fruit bush Gumi: planting

This is a fairly unpretentious plant, but you still have to take care of its correct planting.

The best time to plant

It is best to start planting Gumi in the middle of spring, at a time when the danger of severe frosts has already passed. The importance of spring planting is that during the spring and summer the bush adapts and takes root, which may be a decisive factor in future wintering.

Berry bush Gumi: photo

Which place to choose

The fruit shrub Gumi loves warmth and therefore a place for planting it must be chosen so that it is illuminated by the sun's rays throughout the day. But it is important that there are no strong gusts of wind and cold drafts at this place.

Plants from this family tolerate hot weather well, they calmly tolerate heat up to forty-five degrees of heat, and some varieties calmly survive even fifty-five degrees of heat.

Berry bush Gumi: photo

Landing rules

In general, the Gumi berry is considered self-pollinated, but experienced gardeners note that if there are several pieces of this plant on the site, then the bushes will bear fruit more abundantly. Based on these data, you can plant two or three shrubs, maintaining a distance between them of one hundred fifty to two hundred centimeters.

This plant prefers soils rich in micro and macronutrients, and because of this, the land must be prepared in advance.The hole needs to be dug about fifty centimeters deep and sixty to eighty centimeters wide. At the very bottom, you need to lay out a drainage layer of expanded clay, gravel, or pebbles. The soil mixture should consist of: turf, coarse sand and organic humus. You also need to add: wood ash, nitrogen fertilization and double superphosphate.

During planting, you need to deepen the neck of the root system by about five to seven centimeters. Then water and mulch well.

Gumi berry: photo

Berry bush Gumi: care

While the culture is unusual, the rules for caring for it are not overly complex.

• Watering... Watering should be regular and stable. One bush will have to spend about one bucket of water. It will be even better if you water the crop with a hose so that the water also gets onto the foliage.
• Weeds. They must be promptly and thoroughly removed around the plant.
• Mulching... It is necessary to provide the plant with a layer of peat mulch or fallen leaves.
• Top dressing. You can feed and fertilize with organic matter or minerals, in the first years of life you want to do this very abundantly and generously.
•  Wintering. In winter, the bush must be protected with a covering material from possible frosts. Its branches need to be bent to the ground.

It is important to remember that it is strictly forbidden to wrap the plant with burlap or thick film. Because of this, the plant can rot and die.

Fruit bush Gumi: photo

Shrub propagation methods

Each method has its own nuances, which should be adhered to, that the bush has grown healthy.

Using seeds

This is a rather difficult and not the most productive way you can choose. Shrub seed germination is only ten percent. With this method of reproduction, the bush will begin to bear fruit at least in the fifth year of its growth and development.
But if you still decide to try this method, then the seeds will have to be prepared:

• Selected seeds should be placed in a container with slightly damp sand and left there for about five months. It is imperative to maintain a high level of moisture and a temperature of eighteen to twenty degrees Celsius.
• Then the seeds must be kept in a place with a constant temperature of five degrees Celsius. It is best for this stage to fall in the winter, so that with the arrival of spring it is already possible to plant the plant in open ground.

Gumi berry: photo

Vegetative method

This is the most convenient and productive way you can choose. At the beginning of autumn, you need to select those layers that are located as close as possible to the soil, then make a small incision on them and process them with root. Then the layering must be laid in a previously prepared hole, sprinkled with earth. After this procedure, you must not forget about the importance of watering. And with the arrival of the next spring season, the rooted cut can be separated from the parent bush. This must be done very carefully, and the instrument must be clean and sharp.

Gumi berry: photo

Using cuttings

This is not the most optimal way for a given plant, but it has a place to be. Cuttings do not take root very well and give roots. If, for example, sea buckthorn grows on your site, then you can try to graft a branch of a bush to a related tree.

Fruit bush Gumi: photo

Insect pests and possible diseases of gumi

The main advantage of the Gumi berry is that it is highly resistant to various diseases and insect pests.
And even if suddenly the crops in the neighborhood are affected, then the shrub will continue to grow and develop in full measure.

If you provide the Gumi fruit shrub with proper care, then it can develop and delight you with a good harvest up to twenty-five years.