Content
Today, berry crops are gaining more and more popularity, because their cultivation is quite simple and even beginners can do it. Toro blueberries have great reviews from summer residents, because they have large berries with an excellent taste. Blueberries are a versatile berry that can be used raw or canned.
Description of Toro blueberry variety
According to the description, Toro garden blueberry is a Canadian variety obtained by selection from Earlyblue x Ivanhoe. The authors of the variety are A. Deyper and J. Galette. The variety was obtained more than 30 years ago.
Toro's blueberry is a plant up to 2 m high, with powerful shoots. The bush is moderately spreading, with a high growth rate.
Blueberry leaves are elliptical in shape, their length is 3-5 cm. The color of the leaves is bright green.
Fruits of a bluish-blue hue and round shape, rather large, their diameter is up to 20 mm. They are collected in large clusters, similar to grape clusters. The fruits do not crumble when ripe and do not crack.
Features of fruiting
The Toro blueberry variety is considered self-pollinating. Cross-pollination can degrade blueberry fruit quality, so it is best to plant a monoculture. It is well pollinated by insects. Best of all, blueberries are pollinated by bumblebees.
Blueberry fruiting times range from 30 to 40 days. The fruiting period lasts from early August to mid-September.
Toro blueberries are large, with a diameter of 17-20 mm; up to 75 berries per 0.25 l. The maximum recorded size of Toro blueberries is 24 mm. Weight - about 2 g. The berries are easily detached from the brush, the place of separation is dry, its area is small. When harvested, Toro blueberries do not crack.
The yield of Toro blueberries is from 6 to 10 kg per bush.
The flavor characteristics of the variety are excellent. The Toro blueberry variety belongs to the dessert category.
The area of application of Toro blueberry fruit is universal. They are used raw and processed. Processing includes the manufacture of various sweets, juices, jams, etc. Toro blueberries tolerate preservation well in a wide variety of versions.
Advantages and disadvantages
The advantages of the Toro blueberry variety include:
- excellent taste, thanks to which the blueberry replaces its closest competitor - Bluecorp variety, which is one of the best dessert varieties;
- abundant fruiting (6-10 kg per bush);
- almost simultaneous ripening of all fruits;
- ease of collection and storage;
- one of the largest blueberries with a similar ripening period;
- good growth of Toro blueberries, in comparison with other varieties;
- high frost resistance - from - 28 ° С to - 30 ° С.
Disadvantages of the variety:
- relatively high whimsicality and exactingness to soils, especially to the level of acidity;
- low heat resistance;
- drought sensitivity;
- weak resistance to fungal diseases.
Breeding features
Mostly Toro blueberries are propagated by cuttings. They are prepared at the end of autumn, a stalk 10-15 cm long is separated from the parent plant and rooted in a mixture of peat and sand in a cool place.
The blueberry stalk should be regularly moistened and rooted several times a year.The formation of the root system and buds takes a long time - about two years.
A seedling ready for planting, obtained from a cuttings, is capable of bearing fruit the next year after planting.
Planting and leaving
Toro's blueberries have certain planting rules, since the requirements for the soil, to put it mildly, are non-standard, and mistakes at this stage are critical. Next, we will talk about planting and caring for Toro blueberries in more detail.
Recommended timing
Planting should be done either in early spring or late autumn. Blueberries must have time to adapt to the moment of blooming of vegetative buds.
Site selection and soil preparation
For Toro blueberries, well-lit areas with well-drained soil are chosen, since blueberries do not like stagnant water. The optimum acidity of the soil is pH values from 3.8 to 4.8. Despite the high level of acidity in the soil, a high calcium content is recommended in both the soil and groundwater.
Landing algorithm
Plants are planted from containers into planting pits with dimensions of 100 x 100 cm and a depth of about 60 cm. The substrate must first be placed in the pits. It includes the following components:
- peat;
- sand;
- rotted pine litter.
The components are taken in equal proportions and mixed thoroughly.
Before laying the substrate, drainage must be placed on the bottom. It is best to use gravel for this purpose.
The distance when planting between plants should be at least 2.5 m by 1.5 m.If planting in rows is used, then the distance between bushes is from 80 to 100 cm, between rows - up to 4 m.
Shake the blueberry roots before planting to avoid clumping them. The seedlings are buried 4-6 cm below the level to which they were buried in containers. Next, you need to mulch Toro blueberries with litter or peat.
Saplings with a height of more than 40 cm are shortened by about a quarter.
Growing and care
Growing and caring for a plant is quite simple, but it requires strict adherence to plant agrotechnology. The main points in growing are timely watering, proper feeding and control of the acidity of the substrate. The latter is the most important, since the acidity of the soil is the most important parameter on which the health of the plant and its yield depend.
Watering schedule
The irrigation schedule is individual and does not have any specific dates. The main requirement for irrigation is to maintain a constant level of moisture in the substrate, but without overfilling it with water.
Feeding schedule
They feed blueberries three times per season:
- In the spring, half the volume of nitrogen fertilizers should be applied.
- A week before flowering, half of the remaining volume is applied.
- During fruiting, the entire volume of nitrogenous fertilizers remaining after the first two dressings is applied, as well as potash fertilizers.
The total amount of dressing applied throughout the season depends on the age of the blueberry. Ammonium sulfate or urea is used as nitrogenous fertilizers. Their number is about 30 g per one bush up to two years old. In plants older than 4 years, this number doubles. Nitrogen fertilizers are applied in a diluted form at a concentration of no more than 2 g per 1 liter of water.
Potassium sulfate is used as potassium sulfate in an amount of 30 g for two-year-old plants and 60 g for four-year-old plants.
It is also recommended to bring humus or rotted manure under the plant for the winter under the snow.
Reddening of blueberry leaves is a sign of insufficient soil acidity. In general, in the fall it turns red in any case, but if this happened in the middle of summer, then the substrate needs acidification.
Acidification can be carried out using acetic, citric or malic acid. It is allowed to use colloidal sulfur for this purpose.
If citric acid is used, it is necessary to dilute 5 g of acid in powder form in 10 liters of water and pour the resulting mixture onto an area of 1 sq. m.
For acetic acid, take 10 l of water and 100 g of acid.
When using colloidal sulfur, it is necessary to add it in an amount of 40-60 g per plant.
Pruning
Pruning is done before bud break - in March or April. In the first 4 years of life, the plant needs only sanitary pruning, in the following years - also formative.
The main purpose of formative pruning is to keep the branches from thickening too much. If necessary, cut off excessive growth on the periphery of the bush.
It is important to completely cut the branches of the lower tiers more than 2 years old, especially those of them that droop too much. The plant must maintain a raised stem, and these branches will interfere with the normal growth and formation of berries.
In addition, the lowest branches should be pruned so that they do not interfere with the processing of the plant. It is recommended to completely remove too old branches for 5-6 years of plant life.
Preparing for winter
For the winter, the shrub should be covered with foil to prevent it from freezing. Despite the relatively high frost resistance of blueberries, in the event of a winter with little snow, there is a possibility of plant death.
The main thing in wrapping is to provide thermal insulation for the lower and middle parts of the bush. It is recommended to wrap the entire bush with foil or agrofibre, and cover the bottom of the plant with sawdust or pine branches. The height of such a shelter is about 30-40 cm relative to the ground level.
Pests and diseases
The main problem in the cultivation of Toro blueberries is fungal infections. Most often, the symptoms are manifested in yellowing of the leaves and damage to the root system. For the treatment of fungal diseases, the standard use of copper-containing preparations, for example, Bordeaux fluid, is recommended.
Conclusion
Toro's blueberry is one of the best varieties of this crop in terms of the combination of positive and negative qualities. At the same time, its growing conditions cannot be called too complicated - in terms of labor intensity, garden activities for growing blueberries do not differ too much from similar activities for the same currants. The main thing in growing blueberries is to monitor the acidity level and respond in time to its deviations from the norm.
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