Cranberry size. How do we benefit from cranberries? What are the benefits of fresh wild and garden berries? Choosing the type and variety of cranberries for growing in the regions

Cranberries are the only berry that can be kept fresh from harvest to the next harvest. Moreover, vitamins and other healing substances in the berries will remain in the same proportions as when harvested.

Description

Cranberries belong to the Veres family. It grows in the form of evergreen shrubs. The branches of the plant are creeping, thinly thread-like, rooting.

In the wild, this berry - Swamp cranberry (in Latin, Ochusosсus palustris) grows in swamps (upland, transitional), along the marshy banks of reservoirs or in sphagnum coniferous coppices and forests. The distribution area of ​​cranberries is the temperate zone of the entire Northern Hemisphere of the planet. The plant is especially common in the forest belt of tundra and forest-tundra of Asia, Europe, and North America.

Photo of cranberries collected in a swamp

The first time cranberries were grown was in 1816 by an American (from Massachusetts) Henry Hall - he created a small, rather primitive plantation. The berry was first planted on an industrial scale near Boston in 1983.
Since then, breeders have created more than 200 varieties of cranberries, but for industrial purposes they are most often grown garden cranberries– large-fruited cranberries (American). In the USA, Ukraine, Belarus and many other countries, this shrub is called “crane berry”, “crane berry”: with berries it is very similar to a crane with its head bowed on a thin neck.

In the photo - garden cranberry

Conditions for growing cranberries

How cranberries grow in natural conditions, we all know very well. In order for this crop to grow well in a personal plot, the plant needs to create conditions that are as close to natural as possible.

Cranberries are completely unpretentious, frost-resistant plants, so growing a crop at home will not be difficult. The main things to take care of:

Lighting

The place for planting beaks should be well lit and protected from winds. If there is insufficient light, crop yields drop.

The soil

The optimal soil for planting cranberries is peat taken from central or high bogs. In such soil, plants take root very well and grow quickly, throwing out many generative buds.

Although it is not at all necessary to plant the crop on peat soils - even depleted soils are suitable for planting cranberries. The only condition when choosing soil is that it should not be too dense. To create the maximum soil for the successful growth of large-fruited cranberries in the garden, it will be enough to add coarse river sand and a little peat to the soil (if it has a dense structure).

Moisture

Water is the most important component, without which successful cultivation of garden cranberries cannot be achieved. The culture is a moisture-loving plant: it is very important for it to receive a lot of water. If there is a lack of moisture, the cranberry may die.

Acidity

When growing garden cranberries, that is, creating a special microclimate for the plant, you need to remember about the acidity of the soil. The optimal soil acidity (and the best for cranberries is acidic peat) is 3.5–5.

Photo of large-fruited cranberry variety “Pilgrim”

Selecting a site for cranberries

Taking these requirements into account, we can say that the described creeping shrub should be planted in sunny places with high humidity. It is advisable to choose an area where groundwater is located almost at the very surface. Therefore, if there is a lake or a small stream near the house, then cranberries will grow very well on their bank. It’s not even very scary when the crop turns out to be partially darkened by trees growing on the shore - in diffused light, garden cranberries also grow well.

Don’t forget about moisture – it should be maximum. If this is the shore of a reservoir, where groundwater is located at the very surface, then no special devices need to be made. But when cranberries are planted directly in the garden, you will have to work a little harder.

In this case, you need to dig a shallow trench (width - 1 meter, depth - about 30 cm), and line its sides with material that does not allow water to pass through. Slate, glass, film or plastic bottles are perfect for this purpose. Gardeners often resort to unusual methods - they use old bathtubs, troughs and other similar containers as stationary containers, digging them into the ground.

Figure 1. Planting cranberries in a prepared trench

When the trench is dug, it is covered with prepared substrate.

Naturally, few people have acidic soil near their home - this is not a problem. It will be enough to cut off the top layer of soil about 25 cm thick and replace it with the mixture:

• forest humus – 1 part;
• sand – 1 part;
• forest land - 1 part;
• peat - 2 parts.

To this mixture you can (and even need) add forest needles or soil from the area where cranberries grew before. The point is this: in nature, this culture grows in symbiosis with a fungus, forming mycorrhiza. The process of feeding cranberries - thin roots-threads of the fungus absorb nutrients from the soil, which are then transferred to the roots of the host plant. Without such a symbiotic society, the garden cranberry will soon die.

All its layers are laid evenly and compacted a little so that soil shrinkage is minimal. River sand for the substrate must be cleaned of coarse impurities, because it is a very important component of the soil:

• thanks to it, soil aeration improves;
• sand reduces water evaporation;
• it improves filtration;
• protects against the appearance of weeds on the site;
• prevents cranberries from rising in winter - when the air temperature rises;
• reduces temperature fluctuations near the ground surface.

Preparing the soil for planting

Before planting seedlings, the soil must be loosened by digging it to a depth of 10 cm and leveled. After digging up the soil, you can see how much moisture it has. If the soil is too dry, water it - up to 10 liters of water per square meter.

It is better to buy cranberry seedlings in a store or take them from friends - you can grow planting material yourself, but this process is quite difficult and long.

Preparation of seed material begins with stratification: keeping seeds at low temperatures for at least 5 months. And after sowing the seeds, shoots will appear only after two months. Therefore, it is much easier to propagate cranberries vegetatively - by cuttings or digging in the shoots with soil, as well as by dividing the bush.

Planting seedlings

To see how cranberries grow and give a good harvest in your garden, you need to adhere to certain agricultural techniques for planting creeping plants and cultivating them.

First you need to accurately determine the landing time. Garden cranberries can be planted if the top layer of soil has thawed to a depth of 10 centimeters. Moreover, the crop can be planted both in spring (early) and in mid-autumn - mid-October, November, when soil moisture is still quite high and the air temperature is already low.

Before planting, the seedlings are kept in a solution of special growth stimulants and fungicides. You need to water the crop with the same solution after planting it in the ground.

Before planting garden cranberries, dig holes to a depth of 10 cm and with a distance in the row and between the rows of 20-30 cm. Each prepared hole is spilled with warm water, into which 1-3 seedlings are then inserted. The optimal height of a normal seedling is 12 to 30 centimeters. Cranberry cuttings up to 15 centimeters long should be planted with a planting peg (2-3 cm of seedlings are left above the soil). Longer cuttings are carefully pressed into the soil. The seedlings are carefully sprinkled with soil without compacting the soil.

Cranberry cuttings usually take root on the 20th day. Their survival rate is about 95%.

Since cranberries love moisture very much, the plantings should be mulched. As mulch, you can use ground tree bark, chopped hay or straw, pine needles, and leaves in the decay stage. Sometimes moss is planted under cranberries - it absorbs water and retains it for a long time.

The photo shows cranberries of the large-fruited variety "Crowley", grown at home in a pot

Care

How to grow cranberries in your garden to achieve maximum yield? Remember, planting a plant in prepared soil is just the beginning. The main thing is to learn how to properly care for it.

Watering

This is a very important point, since without moisture the crop will die. Immediately after planting the seedlings in the ground, they must be watered daily for a week. Further watering is carried out as needed, but the top layer of soil should always be moist. Checking the humidity is simple: squeeze the soil in your hand, taken from the surface of the bed - if the soil is not held in a coma and water does not ooze from your fist, the humidity is normal.

Remember that a mature berry plant requires less moisture, a young one requires more. But in both the first case and the second case, the soil on the surface should always be wet.

Reduce watering from mid-August - the bushes must prepare for winter. If a large-fruited cranberry enters the cold unprepared, it will freeze in winter, although the plant is considered winter-hardy.

Fertilizer and soil acidification

By watching how cranberries grow, you can determine when the plant needs fertilizer. By the way, when preparing the soil for planting, you should not forget about enriching it with mineral fertilizers. For every sq. m. it is necessary to apply up to 6 buckets of peat, up to 70 g of mineral fertilizers and about 60 g of superphosphate.

If the bed does not have the necessary acidity, it is advisable to water the area with acidified water at a rate of 10 liters per square meter. m. For acidification, oxalic or citric acid is used (50 g of acid is diluted in three liters of water). You can use malic or acetic acid (9 percent) - 10 grams of acid per liter of water. Sulfuric acid is also used, one drop of which is dissolved in a liter of water. Experienced gardeners recommend using electrolyte from batteries.

Photo of cranberry variety “Severyanka”

It is recommended to fertilize garden cranberries from early spring until the end of July. Fertilize the beds with complex mineral fertilizers once every 21 days. It is better to fertilize along with watering, dissolving fertilizers in water. During the cranberry growing season, 3-4 feedings are needed.

Reduce the amount of fertilizing in the third year of growth of creeping shrubs.

Fungicide treatment

To protect cranberries growing in damp microclimates from fungal diseases, the plant is treated with fungicides. During the growing season, several such treatments are needed:

• During budding, cranberries are treated three times, with weekly intervals between treatments. This will help crops get rid of diseases such as blight and gray mold. Treatment can be carried out with Skor or Horus preparations - 4 grams of the drug per 10 liters of water;
• during bud break, the crop is pollinated with Bordeaux mixture (1%) or Azophos;
• after flowering (if necessary), it is recommended to treat the crop against mold one more time;
• in November the area is treated with 1% Bordeaux mixture.

For the first few seasons (usually within 3 years), garden cranberries must be carefully looked after: loosen the soil, water, fertilize, remove weeds from the site, and mulch every 2–3 years. Mulching is carried out with a layer of coarse sand up to two cm on ice in winter. Sand can be replaced with peat chips. Manual weeding on cranberry plantations is carried out 2-3 times during the summer.

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In the fourth year, care mainly comes down to watering, as well as mowing weeds growing above the cranberry plants. In the same year, cranberries, planted as seedlings, will give their first harvest - it is harvested in early autumn. It is at this time that the bushes begin to thin out, cutting off branches that interfere with the neighbors: they will become new planting material.

In the 7th year after planting large-fruited garden cranberries, the bed is rejuvenated. The simplest method is to fill the plantation with a mixture of clean river sand and peat (1x1). The thickness of the layer is about 6 cm. This way we will form a new nutrient layer. Young cranberry shoots will very quickly break through it.

Photo of a manual cranberry harvester

We hope that from our article you learned how to grow cranberries, and in the coming years, a healthy red berry from your own garden plot will appear on your table!

Photo of floating cranberry

Photo of cranberries collected on the edge of a flooded plantation

Kurlovich T.V.
Candidate of Biology Sciences, State Scientific Institution "Central Botanical Garden of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus"

Large-fruited cranberry: its meaning and cultivation characteristics

Photo 1 – High-quality large-fruited cranberry fruits – a valuable source of vitamins

Large-fruited cranberry is a perennial evergreen shrub 10-15 cm high, having two types of shoots: creeping and erect. Creeping shoots are lashes 1.5-2.0 m long and serve to quickly spread the plant over an area. In addition, from the second year, erect shoots from 5 to 15 cm long grow on them from the axillary buds. Flower buds are located on the erect shoots and the crop is formed. The fruit of the large-fruited cranberry is a juicy, large, dark red berry with a diameter of 1.8-2.2 cm. Thanks to the presence of benzoic acid, the berries remain fresh for a long time.

Photo 2 – Large cranberry berries at full ripening

Growing and care

The ability of cranberries to grow and form a crop in poor living conditions has secured its reputation as a plant with little demand for soil fertility. When grown in cultivation, this plant actively responds to relatively small amounts of fertilizer.

According to American researchers, cranberries need 4 times less nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium than corn to form the same biomass of the above-ground part of the plant. However, it is more difficult to control the nutritional process of cranberries compared to other crops. This is due, first of all, to the specifics of the plant itself, which is a perennial evergreen shrub, in which only part of the absorbed mineral substances are carried away with the berry harvest.

The main amount of them is concentrated in the leaves and stems as a necessary reserve for laying and forming the next year's harvest. It is also necessary to take into account agricultural practices that are unusual for other plants, including intensive use of water. Mobile nutrients migrate along with water along the soil profile, and some of them are inevitably lost and go beyond the root zone of plants. In this regard, it is advisable to carry out frequent fertilizing with small doses of fertilizers.

Photo 3 – Fruiting of large-fruited cranberries

Cranberries are planted in the spring (cuttings) or at any time (spring, summer, autumn) as seedlings in containers. Substrates for planting are prepared from sphagnum, high-moor peat with an acidic reaction (pH from 3 to 5) with the addition of coarse sand and sawdust (5:1:1). To prepare the bed, you need to remove the soil to a depth of 20 - 30 cm (the length and width of the bed at the gardener's request) and make something like a dam out of it around the bed. Fill the resulting pit with the prepared substrate, compact it slightly, and water it. On clay soil, the pit depth is no more than 5-10 cm; the bed is made 15-20 cm above the soil surface to ensure the outflow of excess water.

The seedlings are planted according to the 25x25 pattern, the planting is watered and then constantly maintained at high humidity. Manure and compost are not placed under the cranberries, but they are fed annually with small doses of fertilizers: at the end of April with ammonium sulfate (3-4g), double superphosphate (6g) and potassium sulfate (3-4g), at the end of May before flowering - the same amount of sulfate ammonium per 1m2. It is very important to keep cranberry plantings free of weeds. Over the years, plantings become very compacted, and the shoots do not reach the ground where they take root. Then the creeping shoots are partially cut out, and the planting is mulched early in spring or late in autumn with a 1-2 cm layer of coarse sand. Cranberries can grow in one place for several decades. Fruiting of young plantings begins in the third year, and a full harvest in the fourth year. From one square meter you can collect up to five liters of berries.

Healing properties

Among many garden and wild fruit and berry plants, cranberry occupies a special place as a medicinal plant. The presence of a complex and rich complex of biologically active substances in its fruits has created its reputation as an extremely important food product and an indispensable therapeutic and prophylactic agent in folk and scientific medicine.

Photo 4 – Collected cranberry fruits

The high biological value of the fruits ensures their effective use for various colds, infectious diseases, and malaria. Cranberry has a beneficial effect in cases of metabolic disorders, vascular spasms and hypertension. It is an effective remedy against scurvy, caused by a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in food and accompanied by loss of muscle strength, lethargy, fatigue, dizziness, swelling and bleeding gums, loosening and loss of teeth, and other more serious consequences.

Photo 5 – Cranberries have strong antioxidant properties

It is known that both the nutritional and therapeutic and prophylactic benefits of cranberries are due to the content in it of many compounds necessary for humans: sugars, organic acids, phenols, vitamins, triterpenoids, tannins and pectins, and microelements.

Among sugars, the main place is occupied by glucose and fructose; cranberries contain sucrose in smaller quantities. A large set of organic acids: citric, malic, benzoic, ketobutyric, ketoglutaric, quinic, oxalic, succinic, chlorogenic, etc. The presence of the entire complex of organic acids, and especially benzoic, explains the high shelf life of fresh berries during storage, their protection from fungi, bacteria and insects. Food preservation is based on the antibiotic properties of benzoic acid.

Cranberries can play a certain role in a person’s vitamin balance, especially when systematically included in the diet. In addition to vitamin C, the berries contain thiamine (vitamin B0, folic acid (B5), riboflavin (B2), pyridoxine (B6), nicotinic acid (vitamin PP). The content of carotenoids in cranberries is low and in this indicator it is significantly inferior to many fruits and vegetables plants - sea buckthorn, mountain ash, apricot, rose hips, spinach, parsley, etc.

In recent years, the value of cranberries as an important source of phylloquinone (vitamin K1) has been demonstrated. Phylloquinone deficiency entails a disruption in the formation of prothrombin in the blood. Based on the content of phylloquinone, cranberries are classified as valuable K-vitamin carriers, not inferior to such studied sources of the vitamin as cabbage, green tomatoes, strawberries, etc.

Photo 6 - High-quality large-fruited cranberry fruits of the Stevens variety

The varietal large-fruited cranberry and the local species - swamp cranberry - are identical in nutritional value and differ only in the quantitative content of individual components included in the biochemical complex. Most varieties of large-fruited cranberries are characterized by a lower total sugar content compared to swamp cranberries. They also contain less organic acids, which can be determined even by taste. A distinctive feature of large-fruited cranberries is the high enrichment of its fruits with pectin compounds.

Large-fruited cranberries are of high value in providing the A-vitamin needs of humans, since most of its varieties contain 1.5-2 times more D-carotene in the fruits than in the berries of wild swamp cranberries.

The consumer qualities and biochemical value of ripe berries change significantly during storage. It is best to store cranberries at low temperatures (2-4°) and high relative humidity (85-90%).

Sometimes cranberries are harvested in the spring, after the snow has melted (snow berry). Although it tastes more pleasant than berries picked in the fall, it is juicy, but it is less fortified (virtually devoid of vitamin C) and biologically less valuable. An important requirement for fruits intended for medicinal purposes is their full maturity (when harvested in the autumn).

Photo 7 – Planting material for large-fruited cranberries with a closed root system

In the tundra, forest-tundra and forest belt of the European part of Russia you can find various forms bog cranberry , and small cranberries (Oxycoccus microcarpus).

Both of these types contain the same set of biologically active substances and have similar healing properties. However, due to the low yield of the latter, almost no one collects or prepares its small (weighing 0.2-0.3 g) fruits.

However, we will not talk about them, but about large cranberry (Oxycoccusmacrocarpus), in which gardeners have recently shown increased interest. And this is not surprising. The composition of its berries differs slightly from common cranberry : large-fruited is sweeter - it contains more water and less ascorbic acid (up to 40 mg - in 100 g of berries, in marsh - up to 70 mg). It is more productive, and its berries are larger - up to 2.5 cm in diameter. It contains more pectin and carbohydrates.

Large-fruited cranberries have been cultivated in North America for more than 180 years. By the end of the 20th century, the area of ​​plantations in this country exceeded 15 thousand hectares, and the annual gross berry harvest reached 250 thousand tons. Today, at least 200 of its varieties are known, differing markedly in shape, color and size of the fruit.

It is an evergreen shrub with thin erect ends or creeping reddish stems more than 1 m long. Its oval or oblong leaves are larger than those of our marsh cranberry. The flowers are dark pink, drooping. The roots are superficial, thin, with mycorrhiza. Prefers acidic, very moist, peaty soils. Loves sunny places or partial shade.

In landscaping, large-fruited cranberry is used as a ground cover plant.

In some areas of the European part of the USSR, they tried to grow it back in the 80s of the last century. However, this experience was unsuccessful. According to experts, the main reasons were “shortcomings in the selection of areas and soil preparation, uncritical transfer of technological and agrotechnical methods for growing cranberries from America to Russian conditions, poor knowledge of the biology and ecology of American varieties, and lack of cultivation experience.”

The fruits of mid- and late-ripening varieties of American cranberries did not have time to ripen before the onset of autumn cold weather; the shoots were often damaged by spring and autumn frosts, as well as winter frosts (during periods of little snow).

Simultaneously with large-fruited ones, wild swamp cranberries were planted on separate plantations. This species turned out to be more frost-resistant, but its fruits were clearly inferior in size to American varieties, and accordingly the yield turned out to be low, which made its cultivation unprofitable.

In recent years, domestic breeders have accumulated some experience in breeding large-fruited cranberries. Therefore, today it can be found not only in the collections of scientific institutions, but also in private plots.

At the beginning of the 19th century, an enterprising farmer from Massachusetts named Henry Hall tried to grow cranberries on his plot. Not the swamp one that is well known to us, but the one that grows in North America. This large cranberry (Oxycoccus macrocarpus). As you can easily guess from the name, its berries are larger (up to 20-25 mm in diameter) and resemble cherries in appearance. It is more thermophilic and has vigorous growth. Over the course of a year, creeping shoots grow up to 150 cm, vertical ones - up to 18-20 cm and form a thick green carpet. Large-fruited cranberries bloom at the end of June - after the marsh cranberries bloom. The fruits ripen in September, and in October the plants begin their dormant period.

The attempt to domesticate large-fruited cranberries was a success. Gardeners looked for plants with the largest berries in the swamps, transferred them to their plots, and propagated them. By the middle of the 19th century, the area of ​​plantations in the state was already 1,500 hectares, and more than 130 varieties were bred. In 1936, even a special magazine began to be published in the USA Cranberries- "Cranberry". At the end of the last century, it was grown on 15 thousand hectares, and the yield increased tenfold. Now large cranberries grown in Canada, New Zealand, and European countries.

In Russia, the founder of the Gardening Society, Eduard Regel, was the first to become interested in this plant - a small plantation was created in the St. Petersburg Botanical Garden. In the USSR, they tried to grow the crop in a number of areas, but were not successful, probably due to the incorrect selection of varieties.

Needs abundant and regular watering.

Diseases and pests: brown rot, weevil caterpillars, black-headed fireworm.

Large-fruited cranberry is the result of the work of breeders who improved the qualities of wild cranberry bushes. The plant, which naturally grows in swamps, shady and damp places, has not yet taken root in Russian gardens. It’s a pity, because cultivated cranberries are large, juicy, and have a high content of vitamin C and other vitamins and minerals. Planting large-fruited cranberries on your plot means providing yourself and your family with a healthy product for the whole year, because cranberries contain a full range of vitamins that can be preserved in frozen, processed and dried form. It is no coincidence that cranberries can be found in any store in every city. But the supply of this valuable gift from forests and swamps does not last forever. So why not plant it as a crop in the country?

This useful shrub as a crop was first studied at the beginning of the 19th century in America. Breeder Hall from Massachusetts planted the first plantation of this plant, and ten years later, in 1829, the US Department of Agriculture developed and launched a program for breeding cultivated cranberries. The scientists were given the following task: to develop varieties that will be immune to diseases and will become high-yielding and large-fruited. Thus, six varieties appeared that met these requirements, they were called American or large-fruited:

• Pilgrim cranberry;
• Franklin variety;
• Stevens;
• Bergman;
• Bekayat;
• Wilcox.

Such magnificent cranberries can be grown today in a summer cottage

In the middle of the 20th century, Europeans also began breeding cranberries; they have been doing this in Belarus, Ukraine, Finland, and since 1966 in Russia. It should be noted that cranberries have been used by Russians for centuries and were popular in ancient Rus'. Suffice it to say that the name Prince Klyukva was given to the character of Boris Akunin’s story of the same name, which tells about events in Rus' in the 13th century.

Thus, research by Russian scientists has proven that it can be successfully cultivated in our country, but this requires our own varieties, oriented to certain climatic conditions of Siberia and the northeastern part of the country. Then, at the Kostroma forest station, the first seven varieties of domestic cranberries were bred, which repeated the properties of bog cranberries. First of all, a cultivated plant needs special soil, which differs from the soil of other orchards. These are highly acidic soils, similar to peat bogs.

Features and characteristics of varieties

Cranberries are called northern lemons for their distinct sour taste. The large-fruited cranberry bush differs from the marsh cranberry in the presence of two types of shoots: erect and creeping. The erect shoots are thicker than those of the marsh cranberry, and the creeping shoots develop up to two meters in length in one season. It is from them that the roots are formed, which give life to a new erect shoot. Flowers are formed on such erect shoots, and berries appear from the flowers. Flowering time is June-early July.

Large berries of these varieties can reach more than 2 cm in diameter

The list is not entirely complete, but reflecting the main trends in cranberry farming and cultivation of northern berries on private plots:

• Queen of the Garden is a variety of Russian selection, zoned for our low temperatures. The variety is practically without flaws, with large berries, up to 1.9 cm in diameter, with a yield of 300 g per bush. The bushes are branched, evergreen, low-growing. Belongs to mid-season;
• Cranberry Russian Beauty of the North is a high-yielding variety (produces berries up to 2.5 kg per square meter), zoned to our conditions. The stems are tall, up to 70 cm, ripen late, from about mid-September;
• Red Star cranberries are one of the most popular and modern varieties. It is distinguished by excellent productivity and the ability to adapt to any conditions, including severe frosts, down to minus 30. It grows very quickly, expands, and enters a period of active fruiting. In addition to its high taste, this variety is distinguished by its decorative properties. Many summer residents plant a cranberry fence or use it to decorate alpine slides;

This is such a beauty - Red Star cranberry

• Early black cranberry is a fairly large cranberry, the berries of which reach 2.5 cm in diameter. A productive frost-resistant variety, it belongs to the dwarf species. It grows very quickly, creeping shoots quickly grow and attach to the ground, taking root. The fruits are bright, juicy, red with purple;
• Pilgrim is the oldest American variety and ripens late. The berries are dense, crispy, and have high technical characteristics. Large-fruited variety, berries weighing up to 2.2 g;
• Ben Lir cranberry is one of the earliest varieties and begins to ripen in August. It has good yield, up to 2 kg per meter. Dark burgundy berries are beautiful and juicy, but cannot be stored for more than two weeks;
• The Russian variety Sazonovskaya is a rather small-fruited cranberry and belongs to the mid-season varieties. Positive characteristics - high content of nutrients, sweet and sour taste, good shelf life, beautiful appearance. Disadvantages - low yield and the formation of a large number of berries inside the bush;
• Stevens cranberry - planting and caring for this variety, well suited specifically to the conditions of central Russia, is not difficult, since the variety tolerates changes in climatic conditions well and is characterized by high winter hardiness. Stevens cranberries are similar in description to other mid-season and late-ripening varieties. It begins to ripen at the end of September - beginning of October and produces a good harvest.

This is how cranberries are grown in fields in the Arkhangelsk region

Preparing the site

Any large-fruited varietal garden cranberry, like its wild counterpart, needs special soil. The soil must be acidic, so planting on peat bogs is done after deep digging, and if the soil is mineral, then berry seedlings are planted in trenches. A trench is dug as deep as a spade bayonet, half a meter wide or wider. It is important to protect the plot from the spread of weed rhizomes; for this, the walls are usually covered with plastic film or roofing felt; boards are also suitable. Next you need to lay out high-moor peat, sprinkling it with sand.

This is what a cranberry plot looks like

Growing from seedlings

Most often, large-fruited cranberries are propagated by seedlings, which are grown by specialized horticultural enterprises or farms. Seedlings can have either an open or closed type of root system. It is better to take them as adults, that is, between the ages of two and two and a half years. Although there are also very young ones on sale, from 7 to 9 months. The older the planting material, the more expensive it will be, but the harvest will be faster.

Planting and caring for seedlings

Young seedlings are planted in the spring, in May. Cranberries love well-moistened soil, which is also acidic. To plant, you need to dig a hole larger than the pot in which the seedling grew. It is necessary to plant without disturbing the coma, immediately water and sprinkle with mulch.

Care consists of timely, that is, weekly watering; in hot weather you will have to water it daily. Mulching will save water and energy.

Fertilizing is done with complex fertilizers; after two to three years of planting, it is a good idea to maintain acidity with solutions of acetic or citric acid. Any varieties, including Pilgrim cranberry, are similar in planting and care. At first, the shoots are not removed, but after the planting is compacted, the plants need to be thinned out, achieving multi-tieredness. The main rule is to preserve vertical shoots and cut out creeping horizontal ones. This is usually done in the spring, which feeds the buds and forms large berries, or in the fall.

For the winter, cranberries can be covered if the winter in the region has little snow. Cover the bush with a peat layer. In the spring it is not at all necessary to take it out from under the shelter - the bushes will sprout on their own.

Important! To protect plants from ground freezing, they are filled with water: first, a thin 2 cm layer of water, which should freeze. Then it is poured again and completely until all the vegetative parts of the bush are covered. This is an unusual way to keep the berry plant from freezing.

Propagation of cranberries by cuttings and seeds

All types of garden cranberries, except seedlings, can also be propagated by seeds and cuttings. Before sowing, the seeds must be kept in the cold for 4-5 months at a minimum positive temperature. This improves their germination.

Cranberry cuttings

Cranberries are propagated by cuttings from adult plants. You can simply let the creeping shoots that have grown and grown to the ground take root, or it is better to cut cuttings up to 15 cm long from an adult plant and plant them in the soil, 4 cm deep. The planting pattern is 3 by 6 cm. If you plant them in peat, then the cuttings are quite will quickly take root within about a month. They can now be planted in a permanent place.

Diseases and pests: prevention, treatment
Breeders, developing large-fruited bog cranberries, tried to rid the varieties as much as possible from disease damage and give them more resistance against pests. However, this issue has not yet been completely resolved. Pests almost never attack this shrub, but diseases can significantly reduce the yield. First of all, this is berry rot.

No less dangerous is snow mold - this is the name of the spore fungus, which appears as a cobweb on the branches, and also affects the flower cups, causing the death of the ovary.

The fungal disease red spot is also very dangerous for leaves and young shoots.

The third enemy is cranberry overgrowth, and this is also a disease that has a pathogen in the form of mycoplasma, it grows in the cells of the plant and gradually leads to its death.

Important! Carriers of infection of all types are aphids and leafhoppers. They need to be combated by spraying with onion peels or tincture of tobacco dust.

Cranberry seems to be a very promising crop for garden production, which has not yet been properly appreciated by Russian gardeners. However, the fashion for a healthy diet and concern for fortifying the body should lead many to understand the usefulness and importance of this plant, among others, in their summer cottages.

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Garden large-fruited varieties of cranberries, which are grown on private plots or for industrial purposes, differ from wild cranberries growing in nature. The goal of the breeders was not only to obtain varieties that were maximally adapted to closed (greenhouse) or open growing conditions, but also to significantly influence the yield, increasing it several times and improving the taste and size of the berries themselves. I must say that they did it perfectly, and today there are many types of large-fruited cranberries that meet the given parameters.

Popular large-fruited varieties of cranberries in the country

Today we want to introduce you to some of the highest-yielding and large-fruited varieties of cranberries, namely:

• Pilgrim;
• Ben Lear;
• Stevens.

Cranberry Pilgrim

One of the largest varieties: each berry weighs more than 2 g, reaching a diameter of up to 27 mm, a beautiful purple color with a slight gloss and juicy sweet and sour pulp, pleasantly crunchy. The fruits ripen no earlier than October and also differ in shape: the cranberries are not round, but slightly elongated. The bushes themselves are small, maximum 25 cm in height, but very branched and grow quickly.

One adult plant can produce up to 3 kg of berries.

Cranberry Ben Lear

It is also quite a large species: the berry weighs more than 1.5 g, each diameter is 20 mm. It is distinguished by its rounded shape and rich dark color: the cranberries are burgundy, appearing black in the shade. The skin has a matte coating that can be easily wiped off with your finger. The berries taste, as always, sweet and sour, firm, but juicy. The bushes are low, no more than 15 cm, but form many horizontal branches, spreading out in a thick dark green carpet. An early ripening variety - the harvest can be harvested at the end of summer, however, it is stored for a maximum of 2 weeks.

The yield per plant is 1.5 kg.

Cranberry Stevens

The variety can be used as an ornamental crop. The bushes look very beautiful, especially in autumn. At this time, against the background of a reddening leafy carpet, dark red berries with a waxy coating are clearly visible.

In addition, Stevens will delight you with a good harvest: each weighs from 1.5 g to 2 g with a diameter of 24 mm. The pulp is dense, with sourness. Ripening occurs at the end of September. A characteristic feature of the variety is vertically growing shoots and high resistance to major crop diseases.