Blueberries: when and where to collect, when it ripens, when it begins to bear fruit

Blueberry is a perennial berry plant of the genus Vaccinium (lingonberry), of the Heather family. In Our Country, other names of the species are also common: pigeon, water drinker, gonobobel, fool, drunkard, titmouse, lokhina, tibunitsa. Blueberries grow in the wild, they are grown in small garden plots, as well as in specialized farms on an industrial scale. Next, a description of the common blueberry and other varieties of the culture will be given.

General description of blueberries

Blueberries are close to other fruit and berry crops of the genus Vaccinium – lingonberries, cranberries, blueberries. These are shrubs, semi-shrubs and shrubs with erect or creeping branches, creeping rhizome, juicy blue berries, the life span of the plant is 90-100 years.

Origin of blueberries

According to scientists, the lingonberry family has an ancient origin. Fossil remains of some species, including blueberries, were found in continental deposits dating back to the Tertiary period of the Cenozoic era – 63 million years BC. The genus was distributed in the west of Europe, in Africa, North and South America, Asia. Subsequently, it migrated and changed, adapting during growth to new climatic conditions.

Why is blueberry called blueberry

The name “blueberry” comes from the color of the berries. They are very similar to blueberries, but are lighter in color and do not contain coloring juice. Interestingly, in English, the word “blueberry” also refers to blueberries and lingonberries.

Varieties

There are about 200 types of crops in the world, including industrial varieties and hybrids. The most common of them are:

• Blueberry marsh, or ordinary (Vaccinium uliginosum) is the most common species in Eurasia and North America. Bushes have a height of 30-90 cm. A densely branched root system is located in the upper soil layer. The plant develops short underground shoots, from which new above-ground shoots grow, forming a bush.

  

• Blueberry forest or gonobobel – shrub up to 50 cm, with bluish-blue, obovate leaves, white or pink flowers, rounded or pear-shaped berries. It grows in deciduous and coniferous forests, mountain and shrub tundras, not far from peat bogs. The range covers the middle lane, the Far East, the Urals, Siberia and the Caucasus.

  

• Volcanic Vaccinium vulcanorum – an oceanic species found in Kamchatka, in the Magadan region, along the entire coast of the Sea of ​​u15buXNUMXbOkhotsk up to Cape Dezhnev. Grows on volcanic plateaus, scree, small gravel, deciduous woodlands, meadow tundra. A small shrub up to XNUMX cm tall with open or erect shoots. A characteristic difference is the presence of last year’s wilted leaves on the shrub. Berries ripen in late August or early September.

  

• angustifolia (Vaccinium angustifolium) – undersized shrub, 5-70 cm, with rounded serrated leaves, cylindrical white flowers, small bright blue berries. It grows in the mountains of eastern Canada, in the northwestern United States, found on rocky soils, the outskirts of swamps. Shoots grow at an angle to the surface of the earth, which allows the plant to hide even under a small layer of snow and survive harsh winters. Easily tolerates the vagaries of the weather. The yield per bush reaches 1,5 kg. Berries ripen early – in late June or early July.

  

• Tall or shield (Vaccinium corymbosum) – characterized by variability of signs. The height of the bush is 1-4 m, the shoots are slightly ribbed, the leaves are large, shiny, smooth. The flowers are white or pale pink, the berries are large, the color varies from blue to black. Widespread in wetlands and humid forests of the United States.

  

• Blueberry Eshi, or rod-shaped, or Rabbit eye (Vaccinium ashei), is common in the southeastern United States. Reaches 9 m in height, due to abundant root shoots forms dense thickets. It is thermophilic, tolerates drought and heat well. Small berries are inferior in taste to other species and cultivars.

  

• South (Vaccinium australe small) – bushes from 1 to 3 m in height, leaves are large, entire or serrated, elliptical in shape. Shoots are slightly ribbed, light brown or red. Flowers are white, berries are blue. It grows mainly on the Atlantic coast of North America.

  

Garden (Vacciniumcorymbosum) blueberries unite more than fifty cultivars bred in the XNUMXth century by crossing wild varieties:

• Canadian;
• southern;
• Eshi;
• tall species native to the USA.

Shrubs of various garden varieties grow up to 2-4 m in height, are characterized by high productivity, berries appear 2-5 years after planting. With proper care, garden varieties bear fruit abundantly for 30 years.

What does a blueberry look like

Blueberry is a highly branched deciduous shrub. The upright branches are cylindrical in shape. Young ones are green, mature ones are covered with brownish or dark gray bark. The leaves are small, 0,7-3 cm long, 0,4-2,4 cm wide, smooth, leathery, with purple glands, on short petioles. The shape varies from elliptical to lanceolate. The leaves may be blunt at the end or spiky, sometimes with slightly curved down edges. They are dark green above, lighter below, covered with a bluish wax coating. Berries – spherical, pear-shaped or oblong, 9-12 mm in diameter, thin-skinned. In color they can be blue, blue, black with a bluish wax coating. The greenish fleshy juicy pulp of the berries has a pleasant sweet-sour or sugary-sweet taste, contains 10-13 small light brown seeds located in 4-5 multi-seeded nests.

How does blueberry grow

Under natural conditions, blueberries grow in the tundra zone, on hummocks of swamps, in forests, in the mountains. Adapts to a wide variety of soil and environmental conditions: it can grow on very poor soils, in swampy and relatively dry places. It tolerates insufficient lighting well, but bears fruit better in sunny areas. In garden plots, it is planted in well-lit places protected from the wind, on acidic soils.

How blueberries grow in the forest is shown in the photo:

Where blueberries grow in Our Country and in the world

In Our Country, blueberries grow almost everywhere; on the map, the boundaries of its range cover the territories of the Far East, Primorye, Sakhalin, the Caucasus, the Kuril Islands, Eastern and Western Siberia, the non-chernozem zone of the European part of the country (north and middle zone). Typical habitats are moss swamps, peat bogs, banks of streams, lakes and rivers. The berry shrub can grow in the tundra, in the mountains, and form an undergrowth in swampy mixed and coniferous forests. It occupies a vast range covering Europe, Mongolia, China, Korea, Japan, North America and eastern Canada. Industrial cultivation of the crop annually expands the range of the species, including the subtropical regions of New Zealand, Central Asia, Africa, Australia, Mexico, and Madagascar.

How blueberries bloom

Blueberry flowers – drooping, single or collected in inflorescences of 2-3 pieces, are formed on the tops of annual shoots. Pedicels long, bracts uneven, membranous, greenish. Small white or pale pink flowers are pitcher-bell-shaped, are a corolla with a limb of 4-5 short blunt teeth. The calyx consists of 4-5 rounded sepals. Shrub blooms in temperate latitudes in May-June, in the tundra in July-August for 10 days. The berries ripen 1,5 months after flowering.

Some facts about garden blueberries

Garden blueberries in Our Country are often called garden blueberries or blueberry trees. All garden varieties come from North America – the east of the USA and Canada. Work on the cultivation of wild tall varieties began in the 1900s. At present, about 1000 hectares have been allocated in the United States for the cultivation of highly productive plant varieties, and agro-techniques for growing, methods for combating diseases and pests have been developed. Cultivation of garden varietal blueberries requires some knowledge, it should be borne in mind that it:

• very demanding on soil and lighting;
• has high resistance to drought, frost, diseases and pests;
• the average yield is about 10 kg of berries per bush;
• needs generous watering and regular top dressing throughout the entire growth period;
• bears fruit in bunches of 5-12 berries;
• to obtain large fruits of high quality, it is necessary to carry out anti-aging pruning every 8-10 years;
• an important distinguishing feature is the friendly return of the crop;

Berries from blueberries grown on plantations are harvested both manually and with the help of special devices.

Description of garden blueberries

Garden or American blueberry is a perennial deciduous shrub, having a height of 2-4 m and a crown diameter. Does not form underground shoots, apical young shoots are formed on last year’s growth. The leaves of garden varieties are large, oval, smooth, dark green in spring, scarlet in autumn. The berries are painted in various shades of blue, rounded oblate, sometimes pentagonal. The pulp of the fruit is juicy, white, and tastes sweeter than that of wild species.

Frost resistance of blueberries

Dove is a relatively frost-resistant plant. The lower the bush, the better it tolerates negative temperatures. Frost up to -45 ˚С does not harm wild-growing varieties with sufficient snow cover. Garden culture is less adapted to cold weather, frost resistance indicators fluctuate depending on the variety. Semi-high varieties are able to withstand frosts down to -35 ˚С, high ones – up to -25 ˚С. The danger to the plant is frost in a snowless winter, so bushes of garden varieties at temperatures below zero must be covered.

Are blueberries self pollinating or not?

Blueberries are self-fertile and need to be cross-pollinated. Several bushes should be planted on the site at the same time. Insects serve as pollinators – bees, bumblebees, butterflies, ants. Many garden hybrids are self-pollinating plants, but with cross-pollination, the yield of the bush and the quality of the berries increase.

What plants are blueberries friendly with

Blueberry calmly tolerates any neighborhood. Next to it, it is favorable to plant plants that also prefer to grow on acidic soils – cranberries, barberries, blueberries, lingonberries, cherries. Good neighbors are coniferous, heather, birch, oak, alder, wild rosemary. Most often, several berry bushes of the same variety are planted nearby. It is preferable to plant herbaceous plants next to garden blueberries that will not shade the bush.

When do blueberries begin to bear fruit?

Wild blueberry species begin to bloom and bear fruit annually at the age of 11-18 years. From one bush you can collect up to 200 g of berries. When grown in garden conditions, the plant begins to bear fruit for 4-5 years and produces up to 1 kg of berries per bush.

When do blueberries bear fruit?

Garden blueberries begin to bear fruit 2-4 years after planting. The ripening time of berries depends on the variety:

• early ripe – July;
• mid-season – July-August;
• late – the end of August and September.

When does wild blueberry ripen?

Under natural conditions, the berry ripens 40-50 days after flowering – in late July and early August. Wild blueberries ripen unfriendly, this process stretches for 2-3 weeks. The suitability of fruits for harvest is determined by their sweetness. Immediately after staining, the berries still do not have good taste. After a week, the sugar content in the pulp increases, the weight of the fruit increases.

When and how are blueberries harvested?

Blueberries ripen in the second half of July, they begin to be harvested after 1 week. Unripe fruits have sufficient density for transportation, but do not have a harmonious taste. However, it is important not to be late with the collection of berries: overripe, they fall from the branches at the slightest touch. In addition, they become very fragile, easily damaged. Collect blueberries in dry weather, remove from the branches carefully, trying not to shake. Picking berries immediately after rain greatly reduces the shelf life, after 2 days a fungal coating may form on them.

blueberry harvest time

The beginning of the collection of blueberries falls on August. In the Moscow region, the Middle lane, they begin to harvest already in the first decade of the month, in cold regions – from the second half of it. The berries on the bush ripen gradually, they are removed from the branches until the very frost. The fruits are harvested in several steps by hand or use a special comb (scoop).

Picking blueberries by hand

It is best to collect blueberries without the use of any devices. The manual method of harvesting involves a minimum amount of damage to berries and branches. Its main drawback is low performance. When harvesting, the berry must be removed immediately directly into specially prepared containers, which are placed under the bunch. Hands should be washed well before collection.

Blueberry picking equipment

In small garden plots or in the forest, a scoop with a comb is used to collect blueberries. This simple device allows you to speed up the process by 3-4 times. It can be bought or made. The branches pass freely through the teeth without being damaged, the berries, in turn, fall into the scoop.

For the collection of blueberries on an industrial scale, a mechanized method is more relevant. On large plantations, special equipment is used to collect, clean, sort and pack berries.

What can be cooked from blueberries

Blueberry is a berry with a pleasant taste, widely used for the preparation of a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, confectionery, desserts. Jam is made from it, jams, jellies, sweet syrups are made. Medicinal infusions are prepared from berries, shoots and leaves. Dove is used for diseases of the stomach and pancreas, for pathologies of the heart, blood and blood vessels. Regular consumption of blueberries helps to reduce blood pressure and blood sugar levels, improve intestinal motility, and saturate the body with vitamins. Fruits contain vitamins, micro and macro elements, antioxidants and anthocyanins, which makes the product invaluable for dietary, therapeutic and restorative nutrition.

Conclusion

Blueberries grow almost all over the world. Its beautiful blue berries are tasty, healthy and beautiful. Garden varieties are thermophilic, high-yielding, look decorative in any landscape composition. Picking wild berries for many is a pleasant pastime, recreation with benefits. Every year in Our Country, the cultivation of varietal “sinika” on personal plots, in garden farms is becoming more and more popular.