Content
Cranberries are not only wild berries, they can also be grown at home. Planting and caring for cranberries in the open field have their own characteristics. You can learn about this, as well as how to grow and propagate this plant, and what diseases it suffers from, from this article.
Description
Cranberries belong to the Heather family. These are low, creeping shrubs with leathery, non-falling evergreen leaves and edible red fruits. These plants grow most often in swamps and marshy lowlands, along the banks of rivers and lakes, as well as in sphagnum coniferous forests. Distribution area - Northern Hemisphere: Europe and Russia, North America.
Cranberries:
- tap roots, a fungus lives on them, the mycelium of which intertwines with the skin of the roots, pulls nutrients from the soil and transfers them to the roots;
- leaves are oblong or ovoid, on short stalks, dark green above, below - ashy color, covered with a small waxy bloom;
- the flowers are pink or light purple, the fruits are edible spherical red berries.
The Latin name for the cranberry - Oxycóccus - is the name of the genus, which combines several species. Berries of all types are edible, so you can grow any of them on your plots.
Common cranberry
Common cranberry (or Vaccinium oxycoccos) grows in Eurasia. Sometimes it forms thickets in peat and sphagnum bogs. It is a creeping shrub with thin stems, leaves with a white bottom plate, flowers with 4 petals and dark red berries. They are harvested for food and processed into various products that include this marsh berry.
Small-fruited cranberry
Small-fruited cranberry (or Vaccinium microcarpum) is also a Eurasian species. It differs from the ordinary one in smaller leaves and fruits.
Large-fruited cranberry
Large-fruited or American cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon) are native to North America. Due to its large berries, it is grown in some countries on an industrial scale.
How cranberries reproduce
For propagation of this garden berry, seeds and cuttings are used. The first method is used mainly in breeding work, and when breeding at home, for breeding a small number of plants that are available. Propagation by cuttings is the main way in which garden cranberries can be propagated for home beds.
How to grow cranberries from seeds
To obtain seeds, large, fully ripe and healthy berries are selected. Seeds are extracted from them: fruits are kneaded, dipped into water, seeds are selected. They are immediately sown or dried and stored in plastic bags. Before sowing the stored dried seeds, stratification is carried out (in a wet mixture of peat and sand) for 3 months at a temperature of 3-5 ° C.
Sowing dates of cranberry seeds: fresh - at the end of summer, dry - in spring. To grow garden cranberries from seeds, use pots, boxes, bowls.They are filled with peat-type peat, the seeds are scattered over the surface and sprinkled with a 2-3 cm layer of sand or 0.5 cm with a layer of crushed moss, and then watered. The container is covered with a film and placed in a warm place, watered as the top layer of the soil dries. Seedlings appear 2-3 weeks after sowing.
When the seedlings of garden cranberry form 4–5 leaves, they are transplanted to greenhouse beds at a distance of 10 cm from each other. The bushes are in the greenhouse throughout the year. Top dressing - with solutions of ready-made universal mineral fertilizers (dosage - 1 tbsp. L. Per 10 l, water with a solution per 1 sq. M. 1 l). Watering frequency - once every 2 weeks. Water at the root, rinse the solution from the leaves with clean water to avoid burns.
At the end of summer, the shelter is removed from the greenhouse, and before the onset of cold weather, the garden cranberry bed is mulched with a 5 cm layer of peat and covered with spunbond, under which the young plants overwinter. In the spring, the seedlings are transplanted into a school, where they remain for 1–2 years, and then they are placed in a permanent place. The first harvest from garden cranberries grown from seeds can be obtained 2-3 years after the final planting.
Propagation of cranberries by cuttings
In order to propagate plants in this way, it is necessary to cut green cuttings from young shoots at least 10 cm long and plant them in moist soil (a mixture of peat, sand, sawdust and needles), mulching it with a peat layer. Drizzle and cover with light plastic wrap.
After 3-4 weeks, the cuttings will take root (rooting rate is almost 100%). In a place where they will constantly grow, they are placed tightly according to a scheme of at least 10 by 10 cm (this density allows you to get a harvest faster). A month after planting, young bushes are fertilized for the first time with mineral fertilizers. The first harvest of garden cranberries from plants planted by cuttings can be obtained in the third year after planting, and abundant fruiting can be expected the next year.
Saplings
Thin creeping cranberry shoots root well in the ground even without additional help, so this plant is the easiest to propagate with such shoots - you need to separate the rooted young shoots and transplant them to the beds.
Growing cranberries in the garden
To properly grow garden cranberries on your site, you need to take into account all the subtleties of this process.
How to choose a seat
Cranberry is considered a cold-resistant and unpretentious plant, but despite this, growing it in private plots is considered a rather laborious task, since it requires the creation of certain conditions for its growth.
Cranberries are a lover of moist soil, therefore, to grow it, you need to choose just such an area: areas with a close approach of groundwater or located in lowlands will be preferable. The acidity of the soil should be low - 3-4.5 pH. Peat bogs are optimal for garden cranberries, but sandy loam and loam are also suitable.
You should not plant cranberries in an open area, it is much better to place them under trees or near buildings, low fences so that the sun's rays do not fall on it and a strong wind does not dry it.
Planting cranberries in spring
Cranberries are planted in spring, as soon as the soil warms up to a depth of 10 cm after snow melts. needles.
The holes for garden cranberry seedlings should be 10 cm deep, the distance between them should be from 10 to 20 cm. Each of them should be watered and 1 plant should be planted in them. There is no need to tamp the ground around the planted cranberry bushes.
Planting cranberries in autumn
In the fall, planting is usually not carried out, but if this needs to be done, then the plants must be planted at least a month before the onset of cold weather, so that they take root. And also in the fall, you can prepare the beds for the spring planting of culture.
Cranberry care
Caring for this plant has its own characteristics that you need to know about when growing it at home.
In the spring
In the spring, when new cranberry shoots have already begun to grow, you need to prune: thin the shoots, loosen the soil and feed the plants with complex mineral fertilizer. It is advisable to mulch the soil around young bushes that have not yet closed. Near the cranberry you can plant honey-bearing herbs such as savory or oregano, which will further attract bees to pollinate the cranberry flowers.
In summer
In summer, especially in the heat, it is important to ensure that the soil in the beds with bushes does not dry out, and to water them in a timely manner. And you also need to weed on time weedsso that they do not interfere with the growth of the cranberries.
In autumn
In early autumn, in September or the next month in October, you can already harvest the red berries. With good care, garden cranberries can produce 1 kg of fruit per 2 sq. m landing area. For the winter, the bushes need to be sprinkled with a layer of peat or other plant warming material so that they do not freeze during the cold winter months.
Watering
Adequate soil moisture, especially in hot weather, is a prerequisite for the normal growth and development of plants. Therefore, it is necessary to water the cranberry often and abundantly. A little citric acid or acetic acid can be added to the water to acidify the soil. You need to feed the culture 2 times a month with complex mineral fertilizers.
Pruning cranberries
This agrotechnical measure is necessary for the formation of plant bushes of the correct shape.
What time to trim
You need to cut garden cranberry bushes in May, when the shoots have grown to a sufficient length.
Spring pruning
To obtain a high yield of garden cranberries, you need to cut off the creeping shoots on it, thus stimulating the regrowth of young vertical ones. It is on them that the plant bears fruit.
Autumn pruning
Most of the time, pruning should be done in the spring, not in the fall. In the fall, the bushes are pruned only if necessary. The form of pruning is similar to the spring one.
Cranberry diseases with a description
If you follow the rules of agricultural technology, garden cranberries have excellent "health", but still it can get sick. It is important to detect the disease on time, and for this you need to know the characteristic signs by which it manifests itself.
Monilial burn
This is a fungal disease that affects the tops of young shoots: they wither, then turn brown and dry out. In rainy weather, they are covered with a coating of conidia of the fungus. When buds appear on garden cranberries, the defeat passes to them, then to flowers and ovary. From this, the flowers dry up, and the fruits continue to grow, but rot. Control measures - spraying with copper oxychloride or Ronilan fungicides, Topsin M, Bayleton, Ditan.
Terry cranberry
This is a dangerous viral disease caused by mycoplasma microorganisms. Shoots on the affected plants grow strongly, they cease to bear fruit, and those fruits that were set even before the development of the disease turn out to be deformed and small. There is no cure for this virus, so diseased plants must be uprooted and burned.
Ascochitosis
With this disease, dark brown round spots appear on the leaves and shoots of cranberries, the tissues under them begin to crack over time. Treatment - treatment with copper oxychloride, Fundazol, Topsin M.
Pestalocia
This disease affects the shoots, leaves and fruits of the garden cranberry. First, dark brown spots form on them, then they turn gray with dark edges, over time they gradually merge with each other. The shoots are curved in a zigzag shape and the leaves fall off. The drug for treatment is copper oxychloride.
Gibber spot
With this disease, premature mass fall of foliage occurs, which greatly weakens the bushes.Signs of spotting - at the beginning of August, small red-brown spots appear on the leaves, then they become shapeless, chlorotic with a dark rim, in the center of them you can see the fruiting bodies of the fungus. Drugs for treatment - copper oxychloride, Fundazol, Topsin M.
Cytosporosis
This is the black rot that appears on the berries. Control measures - preventive spraying in spring and autumn with copper preparations and fungicides Topsin M, Fundazol.
Snow mold
This disease develops in early spring. Cranberry buds and leaves turn reddish-brown, yellowish mycelium of the fungus appears on them. By the end of spring, the leaves turn ashy and fall off. If there is no treatment, the plant may die. Control measures - autumn spraying with Fundazol solution and freezing of the earth in winter cold.
Phomopsis
This is a disease in which the ends of cranberry shoots dry out without prior wilting. The leaves first turn yellow, then orange or bronze. Dirty gray spots appear on the shoots, which then turn into ulcers, flowers and berries turn brown. Preventive measures - early spring treatment with copper preparations.
Botrytis
It is a gray, fluffy rot that appears on shoots, green leaves and flowers of plants on wet days. Treatment - preparations containing copper.
Red spot
Fungal disease, from which cranberry shoots are deformed and die off. Buds, flowers and their pedicels become pinkish. The leaves emerging from the affected buds resemble small roses. Treatment is with copper-containing drugs or fungicides.
Cranberry pests
From pests on garden cranberries, lingonberry leafworm, gypsy moth, apple scabbard, cabbage scoop, heather moth may appear.
Prevention of the appearance of insects on cranberry bushes - compliance with agrotechnical rules of cultivation. In order not to miss the moment of the appearance and reproduction of pests, you need to regularly inspect the plants, and if found, treat them with agrochemistry.
Combining cranberries with other plants
Since garden cranberries prefers acidic soil, garden crops such as tomatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, etc. cannot be planted next to it. But you can plant another equally tasty and healthy berry - lingonberry, which loves the same conditions as cranberry.
Preparing for winter
Despite the fact that this culture is cold-resistant, the bushes for the winter need to be sprinkled with peat, fallen leaves of trees, sawdust or covered with any other mulching material. In the spring, with the onset of constant heat, remove the shelter.
Conclusion
Planting and caring for cranberries in the open field is simple, but has its own characteristics. If you follow the tips given in this article, you can grow plants on your site that will delight you with their harvest for many years.
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