Gooseberry varieties Masheka: description, subtleties and nuances of its cultivation

Gooseberry Mashek was bred by Belarusian farmers about 20 years ago, and to date, the variety is one of the favorites among gardeners. It is appreciated for its stable yield, attractive appearance and, of course, for the pleasant taste of berries. In addition, the fruits of Masha are universal, they are good and fresh, and in the preparations.

Description gooseberry variety Mashek

Gooseberry Masheka - a variety of Belarusian selection, which was created by A.G. Volzunev - a famous scientist-agrarian, doctor of agricultural sciences. The breeder brought a huge number of new varieties of gooseberries, while Masheka is considered to be one of the best.

In season, the gooseberry bush of Mashek is strewn with ripe berries

The variety got its name in honor of the hero of Belarusian folk art, a noble robber and protector of all the oppressed by the name of Mashek.

The appearance of the bushes

The gooseberry bush Mashek - thick and sprawling - looks very impressive, especially during fruiting. The plant is medium-sized. Light green thick shoots grow obliquely. Branches are not pubescent, with yellowish-brown spikes. Leaf blades have a dark green hue, they are leathery and wrinkled, have a slight sheen. The teeth along the edges are blunt and short. Ovaries not pubescent, unpainted.

Mashaeka berries are orange-red.

Table: characteristics of the fruit

Table: advantages and disadvantages of the gooseberry Mashek

The subtleties of planting and agricultural technology

The variety is characterized by high productivity. Masheka will give her owners delicious and fragrant berries, if you provide the bush with the necessary care and choose the right place for planting.

Where to place

To plant Masha, pick up a flat and bright place, protected from the winds. Groundwater should not lie closer than 1.5 m to the surface.

Gooseberry Mashek recommended to plant on a flat and bright place

The soil in the area for planting gooseberries should be slightly acidic, fertile and loose. If the earth is sandy or clay, then it is recommended to plant a crop only after its preliminary improvement. A year before planting, 15 kg of organic fertilizers per 1 m must be applied to the sandy soil² (it can be humus, manure or compost), and in clay, in addition to organic matter, add sand. Experienced gardeners are also advised to add 50 g of potassium sulfate and 40 g of double superphosphate per 1 m².

Despite the fact that the culture tolerates the acidity of the substrate rather well, if its pH is lower than 5.5, it is necessary to produce liming. The best fertilizer for this purpose is dolomite flour (application rate - 1.5 kg per 1 m²).

When and how to plant

Experienced gardeners advise to plant gooseberries in the fall, about a month before the start of frosts. With such planting dates, the plant manages to take root well and to tolerate winter cold. It is also permissible to plant seedlings of Mashaeka in early spring before buds open, but in this case, young gooseberries must be abundantly moistened.

On the selected site you need:

1. Dig up the soil and remove all weed roots.
2. Plants should be placed at a distance of approximately 1-1.5 m from each other.
   

   Gooseberry seedlings should be placed at a distance of 1-1.5 m from each other

3. Dig holes measuring 50x50x50 cm.
4. Add 1 bucket of compost or well-rotted manure to the soil, as well as 40 g of potassium sulfate or 1.5 tbsp. wood ash, 100-120 g of superphosphate.
5. Fertilizers mixed with soil and fill the pit to a third of the volume.
6. Cover the nutrient mass with ordinary soil and moisten it.
7. Place the seedling in a pit without tilting and deepen 5 cm more than it was grown before.
   

   When planting, the seedling should be buried in the soil 5 cm more than it grew before.

8. Fill the roots in the planting pit with soil without fertilizer, slightly compact the surface and pour (0.5 buckets of water).
9. Finally fill the hole with soil, make a hole around the seedling and water again (0.5 buckets).
10. Mulch the well with humus, peat or dry earth to reduce moisture evaporation.
11. Trim all shoots, leaving 5-7 cm above the ground.
12. Cover the sections with garden var. This is necessary so that the young plant is not attacked by pests.

In the first years of life, seedlings develop slowly. First, the roots grow stronger, and only in the second half of summer the shoots begin to grow, and Mashek will give the first berries for the 3rd year. Full fruiting of gooseberries occurs when 15-20 strong and healthy branches are formed on it (in the 5th year of life).

The nuances of care

To get a rich harvest of sweet and sour gooseberries Mashek, you should make a lot of effort. If you strictly adhere to the agrotechnical schedule, then you can achieve high yield bush for 18-20 years. Techniques that will achieve this result are quite simple and accessible to every gardener. This is a timely watering, feeding and forming pruning of the bush.

Water abundantly

Gooseberry Masheka declared by its creators as a drought-tolerant plant, but requires abundant moisture in spring and early summer. It is best suited for this purpose by sprinkling irrigation and drip irrigation (if several plants are planted in a row on the site). Another great way to moisten the soil near the bush is to water in the grooves. For this:

1. They dig small trenches around the bush in a radius of about 30-40 cm from the base.
2. 20 l of water are poured into each groove. Water does not need to be heated; gooseberry roots are not afraid of cold moisture.
3. The moistened substrate must be mulched with dry grass, straw or sawdust.

In dry summers, more frequent and plentiful watering is necessary (3-5 buckets for each bush).

Moistening is recommended to be stopped before the ripening of berries begins. Excess moisture during this period will interfere with the collection of sugar content in the fruit, as a result of which the berries will turn out to be watery and acidic.

Abundant watering in the grooves is a great way to provide gooseberry roots with the necessary moisture.

Another plentiful watering should be carried out in the fall (20-40 liters under one gooseberry bush). The plant responds well to winter hydration. The so-called water-charging irrigation will help the plant easily tolerate winter cold.

We feed

The timely application of both mineral and organic fertilizers will maintain a stable high yield and contribute to resistance to the diseases to which the variety is susceptible.

Feeding rules:

1. It should be noted that the nutrients introduced into the planting pit when planting a seedling will be enough in the first three years of the bush's life. Then, in the autumn, once every 2-3 years, under each gooseberry bush, it is necessary to make about 6 kg of organic fertilizers, 20 g of superphosphate and 1/2 cup of wood ash per 1 m².
2. In early spring, before garden buds, experienced gardeners advise feeding the culture with ammonium nitrate (15 g per 1 m² - for young bushes, 20-25 g - for mature).

With an insufficient amount of nutrients, the leaves comparatively early, even in the summer, acquire an unusual color (a colored rim along the edge of the leaf or purple or violet spots between the veins of leaf blades). If you find such symptoms on a plant, urgently feed Masha, as the leaves of a healthy bush have a dark green color.

Trim and shape gooseberries

Pruning helps to form a full-fledged bush, get large berries and maintain a stable yield. The peculiarity of Masha is that the variety forms a huge number of root shoots, because of which the bush becomes thickened and the quality and quantity of berries decreases. In addition, their growth is delayed until late autumn and the ends of the growths do not mature well. Fruit buds are laid on the shoots of last year, while the main berry harvest is concentrated on shoots of the 1-2th order of branching and 1-2-year-old fruit branches, where up to 3 large berries can form from one bud, whereas on older branches only grows one small fruit.

Proper pruning helps to form a full-fledged bush and get large berries

In order for the fruits of Masha to be sweeter and larger, competent shaping and sanitary pruning should be carried out. The basic rules of procedure are as follows:

1. A year after planting a seedling in autumn, cut the shoots at ground level, leaving the 3-5 strongest.
2. In subsequent years, cut off all weak annual shoots (basal shoots), leaving 3-4 healthy branches.
3. On mature bushes, remove all old branches that have poor fruiting.
4. If there are good growths at the bottom of the old shoot, then cut off only the top of the shoot above the branch.
5. Remove all broken, oppressed, weak and unproductive branches of any age.

Too thickened bushes are recommended to be cut off gradually, with partial rejuvenation of branches that do not have root shoots.

Pruning recommended in autumn

When forming an adult plant (over 10 years old), there are peculiarities. When trimming such a bush:

• we remove all short annual shoots growing at the base. At the same time, it is recommended to leave 3-5 well-formed branches in the lower tier;
• the tops of fruiting shoots are cut to a well-developed lateral branch;
• branches that ceased to give berries, completely cut out in the fall;
• in early August, pinch the tops of skeletal branches by 5 cm. This technique allows you to stimulate the laying of flower buds and increase the winter hardiness of the culture.

Anti-aging pruning of mature bushes is carried out every 2-3 years.

Preparing for the winter

Masheka is a winter-hardy variety, but in regions with severe cold it needs to be additionally covered. To help gooseberries winter well, agricultural experts recommend that water-loading irrigation be carried out in late autumn. In snowy winters it is necessary to fill the bushes with snow and trample it around the gooseberries. A great way to preserve a snow shelter is to sprinkle it with earth or sawdust.

Video: gooseberry care

Diseases affecting the gooseberry variety Masheka

The authors of the Masheka variety claim that gooseberries are resistant to many ailments. However, under adverse conditions, it is affected by such common diseases as anthracnose, septoria and powdery mildew.

Table: diseases and methods of dealing with them

Photo gallery: diseases characteristic of the gooseberry Mashek

Collection, transportation and storage of berries

Gooseberry Masheka has prickly spikes, so you need to harvest with gloves to protect yourself from cuts and wounds. Upon reaching maturity, the berries turn orange-red. They do not crumble from the bush, so all the fruits can be collected at a time.

The berries are firmly held on the shoots, retain their shape and taste even under adverse conditions, for example, in rainy weather.

If you need to transport gooseberries, it is recommended to pick the berries slightly immature (about a week before full ripeness). They are laid out in baskets or plastic containers without closing the lid. In this form, the fruits can be stored for 2-3 days.

Gooseberries can stay fresh for about 2 weeks in the refrigerator. To do this, they are freed from sepals and leaves, washed and laid out in perforated plastic bags, i.e. packaging with ventilation openings.

Mashek gooseberries are good not only fresh, but also as jam or jam

For longer storage, berries can be frozen or cooked. Gooseberries make excellent preparations with a pleasant sour taste: jams, compotes, preserves.

Gardeners reviews gooseberries Mashek

I think Mashek’s strong-pricked variety is the most tasteless, it’s just fresh and sweet. I will get rid of it along with the other varieties of medium taste.

Nelly

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Masha is beautiful, the color of the berries is very rare. You won’t pass by, you’ll definitely stop. And the taste is for an amateur, one is not very good, while the others are simply delighted.

pioneer 2

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The berry is red, elongated, larger than medium. Uncooked, thin peel, small seeds, sweet and sour taste, towards sweet. I'm growing without treatments. The bush is thickening, it is necessary to thin out. The branches lie under the weight of the berries - you need support. Harvested in the first decade of July.

Michailo

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I remembered another wonderful gooseberry variety - Mashek, in my opinion, he is Belarusian.

Tamara

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The Belarusian variety of gooseberry Mashek has undoubted advantages. It has sweet berries and a very beautiful fruit coloration. Masheka is winter-hardy and suitable for cultivation in the Central region. The crop will bear fruit for about 20 years, while gooseberry care is minimal, it is enough to conduct regular watering before setting berries and after leaf fall.