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The prince is an amazing berry with a royal name, with which not every gardener is familiar. It seemed to combine several berry crops at once. It looks like raspberries, strawberries, bones, and blackberries at the same time. At the same time, the aroma of ripe berries resembles pineapple. From the outside, it seems like an unpretentious northern berry, but growing a princess cannot be called a simple matter, and here it is necessary to take into account many nuances. It is not for nothing that it is still considered a great rarity.
Features of growing berries princess
The prince or arctic raspberry belongs to the pink family. However, among the people she has many more names: khokhlushka, mamutka, raspberry, drupe and others.
The princess is a herbaceous perennial plant, not exceeding 30 cm in height. The triple leaves are very reminiscent of strawberry or strawberry leaves. The princess is distinguished by a long, thin, woody creeping rhizome located at a depth of only 15-25 cm. With its help, the plant can spread over considerable distances and grow in whole meadows.
Raspberry or purple flowers with 5 petals are very attractive. They bloom singly at the tops of the shoots from about the end of May. Flowers can be admired for quite a long time, about 25-30 days. Berries in the form of a juicy drupe appear on plants from mid-July to late summer. Moreover, on the prince in the second half of summer, you can simultaneously find flowers and fruits.
The berries are very similar in shape and size to ordinary raspberries. True, their color is more complex and can vary over a fairly wide range: from dark pink, red, to almost burgundy or purple. The ripe berries of the princess are distinguished by a sweet, rich, very delicious taste with a mixture of strawberry and pineapple aromas. It is not for nothing that this berry was highly valued in Russia and noble people were ready to pay any money to get it to their table.
To understand all the features of the development of the princess and the requirements that this berry makes for growing, you need to take a closer look at its habitats. The prince loves to grow in mosses on the edges of coniferous and mixed forests and on the outskirts of peat bogs in the cold and temperate zones of the Northern Hemisphere. Sometimes these plants can be found in the mountains at an altitude of about 1200 m above sea level.
This reflects the love of the princess for the cool climate and the relative humidity of the soil and air. But it should be noted that the berries do not grow in swamps, but on their outskirts. That is, for planting an ordinary princess and subsequent care for her, a wet, but not oversaturated area is needed. In addition, when growing a princess, the acidity of the soil and its saturation with nutrients are quite important. As in the case of lingonberries and cranberries, the princess needs special microorganisms for stable flowering and fruiting, the vital activity of which is possible only in a relatively acidic soil environment.
Plants need cross-pollination, without which the berries are not formed.Therefore, at least two varieties of princes should grow on the site, and even better three or more.
Towards autumn, the entire aboveground part of the plants dies off completely, while the underground rhizome continues its activity. In spring, new shoots appear from underground buds, bearing flowers and berries.
However, very few berries are formed on the bushes. In the wild, to pick up even a small basket of princess berries, you need a clearing of decent size.
Even after the breeders tried to "tame" the princess and breed her cultivated varieties, the yield remained minimal - literally a few small berries ripened on the bush. The problem was solved only when they crossed the Swedish princess and the Alaskan bone bone. As a result, we got varieties of garden princes with a yield of about 150-200 g per sq. m. The weight of one berry was about 1-2 g. The most famous varieties were named by the female names Anna and Sophia. The cultivation of a varietal garden berry of the princess is of much greater interest to an ordinary gardener than her ordinary relative growing in the wild.
Due to the decorativeness of the flowering bushes of the princess, growing it on the site can bring, in addition to gastronomic, purely aesthetic benefits.
How the princess multiplies
There are only two ways to reproduce the princess berry: using seeds and dividing rhizomes.
Seed propagation is a long and rather laborious process, but if you have patience, you can end up growing a fairly decent amount of beautiful and healthy bushes of this valuable plant.
The seeds quickly lose their germination, so it is better to take them for sowing directly from the berries. For good germination, the seeds of the princess need stratification. That is, it is best to place them at a shallow depth in wet sand in any suitable container. It is kept during the winter in a cellar or even buried in the ground, protected by a lid from insects or small mammals.
In the spring, the container is placed in a bright and warm place, where shoots can be observed soon. At the end of summer, grown young plants are usually planted in the garden.
Vegetative methods (using root suckers and dividing the bush) are simpler and faster for the reproduction of the princess. In addition, they allow you to guarantee the preservation of the maternal traits of berry bushes.
You can divide the bushes either in late spring or in September. From one plant, you can theoretically get up to 200 plots, the rhizome grows so much in breadth. It is better to plant plots, keeping the soil on the roots and making sure that each one has at least two shoots.
Plants are propagated by root cuttings in the fall, when the aboveground part of the princess dies off. For this, pieces of rhizome are dug out, about 10 cm long, on each of which there are 2-3 buds. They are planted in a new place to a depth of about 5 cm. Next year, in the spring, a shoot will appear from each bud, and every year their number will only increase.
Princess landing rules
Despite the fact that the princess is a northern berry, and grows with pleasure even in permafrost conditions, growing it in the Moscow region is quite possible. The most important thing is to properly prepare the land and correctly plant it.
Landing dates
If a princess berry seedling was purchased with a closed root system, then it can be planted almost throughout the year. Even in winter, it can be placed on the surface of the soil, freed from snow, and sprinkled with peat on all sides. But in the spring, it is advisable to transplant the plant to a permanent place.
The most favorable periods for planting the princess in the Moscow region are mid-May or mid-September, then the subsequent departure will not cause any particular difficulties.It is during these periods that weather conditions are usually formed in the region, in which the amount of sunlight, temperature and humidity levels are most optimal for plant survival.
Site selection and soil preparation
The choice of a suitable place for planting a princess is largely determined by the region in which they are going to grow it. In the northern regions, for example, in the Arkhangelsk or Murmansk regions, the berry should be planted in open, sunny places. And in the middle lane, for example, in the Moscow region and to the south, it is necessary to find a place so that in the hottest midday hours (from 11 to 16) the plantings are shaded from the sun by a variety of vegetation, buildings or fences.
On the garden plots, the prince will feel very good near water bodies (pond or stream). Plants can be planted in lowlands, where fog spreads in the morning and a lot of dew forms.
Despite the northern origin, the princess loves loose, light and rather nutrient-rich soil. It is important from the very beginning to create a slightly acidic soil environment (ideally a pH of 4.5 to 5.5) and provide it with constant but moderate moisture.
In order for the planted plants to take root well and bear fruit successfully, it is advisable to create a special planting soil for them.
To do this, you need to add to one square meter of the garden:
- a bucket of sand;
- a bucket of sour high-moor peat;
- a bucket of humus (or the top layer of a coniferous forest);
- several handfuls of wood ash.
It is advisable to protect the beds with future plantings of princely berries from the invasion of weeds by digging pieces of slate or other improvised material along their borders to the depth of a shovel bayonet.
How to plant a princess
Seedlings or bushes are placed in the prepared soil at a distance of 20-25 cm from each other. They are allowed to be slightly buried in the ground. You can plant them in rows of two in a checkerboard pattern. In this case, about 80-100 cm is left between the rows.
After planting, the land around the bushes is mulched with moss. It will protect plants from weeds and too bright sunlight.
How to care for a princess
After choosing the right place, preparing the land and planting, caring for the princess itself is not particularly difficult.
Watering schedule
On rainy or cloudy cool days when the air temperature is below + 25 ° C, the princess needs to water the berry only once a week, if necessary. But when the temperature rises above this indicator, it is advisable to water the plants every day, regularly checking the soil moisture.
It is preferable in any case to use drip irrigation, especially if a lot of plants are planted.
How can you feed the prince
It makes sense to feed the berry bushes of the princess only the next year after planting. It is enough to apply a complex water-soluble organo-mineral fertilizer once a year in spring.
Weeding and loosening
For good fruiting, the soil around the princess must always remain free of weeds. Loosening and weeding should be a regular procedure. However, if possible, then you can cover the soil with coniferous litter, moss and the top layer of earth from a coniferous forest.
Pruning rules
The constant need for prince's plants exists only for sanitary pruning. In this case, the bushes are regularly inspected for dried, damaged, or painful leaves or shoots. They must be removed immediately.
In addition to preventing diseases, such an operation gives strength for the development of new plant shoots.
Diseases and pests
Unfortunately, the cultivation of the princess can be complicated by the invasion of pests and pathogens of various diseases.
Therefore, every spring, plants should be prophylactically treated with biological agents:
- against diseases - phytosporin;
- against pests - phytoverm.
Among the diseases to which the prince's berry is susceptible, anthracnose, striped curl of raspberries, tobacco necrosis, and Brazo mottling are most often noted.
Conclusion
Raising a princess is not the easiest, but very useful and interesting activity. Indeed, while this berry is a rarity in gardens, but its decorative appearance and excellent taste will make it a welcome guest on any site.
