Sea buckthorn — an overview of all the useful properties and folk recipes for home use (100 photos)

A shrub up to 3-4 meters tall, sea buckthorn has branches covered with thorns, green, slightly elongated leaves. Sea buckthorn owes its name to the method of fastening bright, orange-yellow or red-orange berries, which seem to cling to the branches of the shrub.

The berries have a pleasant sweet and sour taste, a pleasant aroma, for which sea buckthorn is called Siberian, or northern pineapple. The plant is widespread everywhere: it is grown in the European part of the country, in Siberia, and in the Urals.

Summary of the article:

The beneficial properties of berries have been known for a long time. It is a storehouse of B vitamins, as well as C, E, P, glucose, fructose, it contains phospholipids, flavonoids, folic, citric, tartaric and caffeic acids, micro- and macroelements.

Useful substances are found not only in sea buckthorn berries, but also in the bark, leaves. In traditional and folk medicine, sea buckthorn is known as a remedy:

having a beneficial effect on the central nervous system;
able to slow down the growth of malignant tumors;
strengthening the walls of blood vessels;
it has an antioxidant effect.

The scope of use of the healing properties of sea buckthorn is wide: for wound healing and in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, chronic gastrointestinal diseases, anemia, exhaustion.

The ability to accelerate tissue repair, tighten wounds is used when using sea buckthorn oil – it is used for burns – thermal and chemical, in the treatment of radiation skin lesions and trophic ulcers.

Sea buckthorn in the garden: how to grow a tree

It is not surprising that many gardeners strive to plant a useful plant on their site. The tree is undemanding to care for, however, it is necessary to know the specifics of choosing seedlings and planting sea buckthorn in the garden.

Soil preparation

The peculiarity of the shrub is that its roots are located in the upper layers of the soil, their growth goes to the sides of the trunk, and not deep into it, which is important to take into account when deep loosening or digging the soil near the plant.

Sea buckthorn is a light–loving plant, so you need to choose an open, sunny place for planting, best of all – away from other plantings, especially annual ones. The reason is still the same – the danger of damage to the roots, which will give wild growth.

Sea buckthorn does not like wetlands, heavy soils. Before planting, the land needs to be fertilized with humus, decomposed peat. Later, fertilizers are applied when loosening, to a depth of no more than 10 cm.

Selection of seedlings

Sea buckthorn seedlings are chosen in early spring so that they take root well over the summer.

Sea buckthorn is a dioecious plant, so both female and male plants need to be planted to harvest (one male per 2-3 female trees is enough). They can be distinguished as follows:

in the female plant, the buds are small, double, in the male – large, having 3-5 scales;
male plant seedlings are larger;
in summer, the plants can be distinguished by the shape and color of the leaves – female trees have green leaves, male ones are bluish, with a noticeable bloom.

For planting, it is better to choose two–year-old seedlings, they have a height of 50 cm, a diameter of 5-7 cm, up to 8 root processes up to 25 cm long.

Important: Pay attention to the bark of the seedling: it should fit snugly to the trunk, without damage.

Planting seedlings

To grow a sea buckthorn tree, you need to prepare a pit with a diameter of 65-70 cm, fertilize the soil. For fertilizer, take 1 kg of humus in each hole, add 200 g of superphosphate, 200 g of wood ash and 1 liter of well-rotted compost.

In the center of the hole, a mound is made, on which the roots of the seedling are carefully laid out. The seedling itself is positioned so that the root neck is at ground level.

The seedling is spilled with water, using up to two buckets for each plant, then sprinkled with earth, add mulch with a layer of at least 5 cm.

Plant care

The cultivation of sea buckthorn will not cause problems to the gardener. The plant loves moisture, so you need to water the bush regularly, preventing the soil from drying out so that the plant does not die.

The plant is fed according to the scheme:

in the spring, when the snow comes down, ammonium nitrate is scattered at the rate of 20 g per 1 square meter around the tree;
in summer, during ovary formation: dissolve 2 tablespoons of superphosphate, 1 tablespoon of potassium sulfate, 2 teaspoons of "Uniflor-micro" in a bucket of water;
in autumn, 100 g of wood ash per 1 square meter of soil or 30 g of superphosphate and 25 g of potassium salt are added to the aisles.

A very important point in the care of sea buckthorn is pruning. It is carried out before the leaves bloom, removing damaged branches and excess root growth. To prevent the tree from stretching up too much (it can reach a height of 6 meters), you need to regularly prune the top.

Reproduction

The reproduction of sea buckthorn is possible in several ways:

seeds that are sown in autumn, the plant will give shoots in a month;
layering, for which they take annual layering: young shoots are bent into prepared grooves, the tops are pinched. When the shoot reaches a height of 12 cm, it is sprinkled with moist soil, and in the spring it is transplanted;
root offspring, separating them from the main plant in the spring. Transplanted when the root system develops;
by dividing the bush: the bush is dug out, the old branches are removed, leaving the young ones;
lignified cuttings: in November, they are prepared and stored until spring in the basement, and in spring they are cut 20 cm, soaked in water, then kept in a rooter. They are planted in the soil when the soils appear on them, and then the leaves of sea buckthorn.

Harvesting

The branches of the shrub, covered with berries, also have thorns, which makes it difficult to harvest. Berries are harvested at the end of August, for juice preparation – in early September, later the berries will become too soft and may burst.

Here are some useful tips on how to collect sea buckthorn:

stock up on gloves and an apron – you will not be able to wash the juice from your clothes;
you can remove the berries with a hook on a stick or a wire loop, which is moved from top to bottom along the branch, and the fruits fall into the container;
if you plan to freeze the berries, you can cut them from the tree along with the branches and freeze them like this: it's easier to remove them frozen;
you can squeeze the juice right on the branch by wearing cooking gloves.

Important: You need to process the berries on the same day, you do not need to wash them, otherwise a considerable part of the juice will be lost.

The best varieties of sea buckthorn

If you look at the photo of sea buckthorn, you will notice that, despite the apparent similarity of berries, they differ in berry size, shape and color.

The work of breeders allowed us to obtain varieties without thorns, which are distinguished by good taste qualities, high yield.

The most popular varieties of sea buckthorn:

with large berries – Essel, Openwork, Elizabeth, Augustine;
without thorns – Giant, Altai, Sunny, Girlfriend;
distinguished by a plentiful harvest – Moscow beauty, Beloved, Chuiskaya, Leveled;
frost–resistant - The gift of Katun, Trofimovskaya, Golden cob, Botanical favorite.

It makes no sense to repeat about the healing properties of sea buckthorn – they are widely known, and the ability to grow this berry in the garden allows you to make preparations for the winter. Berries can be frozen, preserving most of the nutrients, jam and compotes are cooked from it, juice is squeezed, dried, stored in candied form. There are many options for blanks, and all of them make it possible to get a whole set of vitamins in winter, which are rich in sunny berries.