The honeysuckle with the mysterious name Morena was bred at the end of the last century and is of Russian origin. Seedlings met the expectations of breeders: in cold climates, bushes developed well and tied large berries of dessert flavor. After passing the variety tests, Morena spread to private gardens and stayed in them for a long time.
The origin of the variety Morena
This honeysuckle variety was bred in St. Petersburg. Morena seedlings were obtained as a result of the joint work of A. V. Kondrikova and M. N. Plekhanova. The originator is the Vavilov Research Center. Today this variety is one of the best for the North-West of the Russian Federation. However, Morena grows well and bears fruit in any region of Russia. In 1995, she was listed in the State Register of Breeding Achievements for all regions.
Morena honeysuckle with large and sweet berries is a valuable gift to gardeners in the northern regions
The word "moraine" has several meanings. In geology, the so-called chaotic accumulation of stones formed as a result of the movement of ice. In Slavic mythology, Morena is the goddess of winter, disease, death, the wife of Koshchei. And from Spanish, morena translates as black-headed, brunette, dark-skinned. By the way, the second name of Morena's honeysuckle is the Little Mermaid.
Grade description
The Morena bush grows to an impressive size - 170 cm in diameter and the same height, it has the appearance of a hemisphere. The leaves are large, lanceolate, slightly folded along the longitudinal vein. The shoots are smoothly curved, covered with bright greenish-brown bark. In general, the shrub looks very decorative, so it is often used in landscape design.
For fruiting, Morena needs pollinator varieties. They can become such varieties: Blue Spindle, Viola, Malvina, Blue Bird and other species of honeysuckle with the same flowering and ripening period. The variety belongs to the early. The first berries of Morena can be tasted in mid-June or July, the exact ripening period depends on the weather and the region of growth.
Berries Morena large, pitcher-shaped, covered with a wax coating
The length of Morena berries is up to 3 cm, weight - 1-2 g, in shape they resemble a jug or amphora. The skin is blue-blue, dense, so the berries can be transported. The pulp is tender, sweet and sour, bitterness is absent. The aroma is, but poorly expressed. Tasting score - 4.5 points. Moraine cannot be called fruitful: from one bush they collect 1.5 kg of berries, with good care and favorable weather - up to 2.5 kg. Grade value: early ripening of large and tasty berries that do not show off from branches for a long time.
Landing Morena
Honeysuckle is unpretentious, grows even on poor clay and rocky soils. But large and tasty berries can be obtained if you choose a sunny place for it and fertilize the soil. The best periods for planting: spring, before budding, and autumn, a month before the onset of cold weather.
Video: the history of honeysuckle, the benefits of its berries, planting and care
Landing Rules:
- Planting scheme for the vigorous Morena - 2 meters between the bushes and 2-3 meters in a row.
- The parameters of the landing pit are 50 cm in diameter and 50 cm in depth.
- Pour a bucket of humus or compost into the pit, add 100 g of double superphosphate and 30 g of potassium sulfate. Mix all this inside the pit and make a mound from the resulting mixture.
- Place the seedling in the center of the pit, spread the roots along the slopes of the knoll.
- Sprinkle with earth taken out when digging. Deepen the root neck by 3 cm.
- Tamp the soil lightly around the seedling, make a hole and pour a bucket of water.
- Mulch or cover with dry soil.
Landing on a knoll inside the landing pit: the seedling is located in the center, its roots are spread on the slopes of the knoll, you need to fill up the earth, taken out from above
In one place, honeysuckle can grow and bear fruit well for 20-25 years.
Care Features
The most time-consuming part of caring for shrubs is their formation and thinning. Honeysuckle starts to grow very early in spring, so it needs to be cut in the fall after leaf fall. However, Morena is not prone to thickening. The first 4 years it is better not to touch it at all. You can not shorten the young branches! Honeysuckle bears fruit on the semi-lignified growths of last year, so cutting them will deprive yourself of the crop. Only remove frozen, dry twigs.
Only 4-5 years after planting, you can begin to form a bush. During this period, you should delete:
- all branches bent to the ground, horizontally located;
- shoots growing inside the bush;
- broken and dry shoots;
- old, thick, stunted branches with small growths.
If there are few productive branches in the bush, then the old ones can not be cut, but shortened to a highly developed vertical shoot.
Shoots to be pruned are marked with red strokes: small thickening center of the bush, growing inward. Plus anti-aging pruning: old branches with short increments are trimmed to the nearest long vertical shoot
Another nuance of care - in early spring it is recommended to fertilize the bush not with nitrogen fertilizer, like most crops, but with ash. And this is logical, especially for Morena, who sets and produces crops in early summer, even 1-2 weeks earlier than strawberries: for flowering and fruiting, potassium, phosphorus and trace elements are needed, and there are a lot of them in ash. For feeding, it is enough to sprinkle wood ash in melting snow. And when the soil warms up, loosen it and add organic matter - mulch with humus or compost.
Water Morena during the period of berry growth, after harvesting and in the fall, before the onset of cold weather. Irrigation rate depends on how well the earth absorbs water, 2-3 buckets or more can go under the bush. Honeysuckle does not get sick, pests rarely settle on it. As for the shelter for the winter, then it is not required. The variety is winter-hardy, appeared in harsh climates and adapted to it.
Video: on the importance of watering, fertilizing and thinning
Berry picking, storage, use
Honeysuckle has a very short harvest. Although Morena is notable for low flaking, its berries will not hang on branches all summer. Harvest can be harvested in 2-3 receptions, visiting the bush every other day. Fresh berries can not be stored for a long time - a maximum of 2-3 days in the refrigerator.
Honeysuckle fruits are good to eat fresh. Many people like to grind them with sugar and mix with milk, can be added to cocktails and fruit drinks. Jam from this berry has a bright memorable taste. Moraine can be frozen, after thawing it does not flow, retains its shape. Dried berries are also added to tea.
Honeysuckle fruits are rich in pectin and tannins, organic acids and sugars. They contain magnesium, iron, iodine, copper, phosphorus, potassium, silicon, zinc, sodium and calcium. In folk medicine, honeysuckle is used for diseases of the stomach, intestines, liver, kidneys, and hypertension.
Video: jam "five-minute" from honeysuckle
Reviews for Morena
This year's Morena both in appearance and taste far surpasses all my varieties (I have no Bakcharsky varieties so far). Of my 10 varieties, Morena seemed to me the most beautiful, large and dessert and without bitterness, in such a dry spring it showed excellent results (there were no rains for May), it wintered well, and was all covered with large dessert berries, the branches did not dry out, unlike some other varieties, the berries are very large, but light and not more than 2 g, for example, the Commonwealth has two grams of berries and it is bitter this year.
babay133//forum.prihoz.ru/viewtopic.php?t=3196&start=1335
If you really want not bittersweet, but tasty and even sweet - look for the varieties Nymph, Morena, Leningrad giant, Cinderella, Blue spindle. And do not look at the size of the berries - this is not always an indicator of their pleasant taste.
Helga//www.forumhouse.ru/threads/17135/
I’m growing a bush of Honeysuckle edible, a variety of Morena. Faded early, berries have ripened. This year there are not many berries, since last fall I had to transplant it. They taste like blueberries.
Ded//smoldachnik.ru/forum/yagodnye_kultury/topic_546
Morena is a godsend for residents of the northern regions, where gardeners are not spoiled by large and sweet berries. This honeysuckle is very easy to care for, but its yield is low, and pollinators are also required. Therefore, on the site, in addition to Morena, you need to grow another 1-2 bush honeysuckle of another variety.
