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Cranberries can be 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, evergreen leaves that do not fall and edible red fruits. These plants grow most often in swamps and swampy lowlands, along the banks of rivers and lakes, as well as in sphagnum coniferous forests. Distribution area – Northern Hemisphere: Europe and Our Country, North America.
For cranberries:
- tap roots, a fungus lives on them, the mycelium of which is intertwined with the skin of the roots, draws nutrients from the soil and transfers them to the roots;
- leaves are oblong or ovate, on short petioles, dark green above, ash-colored below, covered with a slight wax coating;
- the flowers are pink or light purple, the fruits are edible spherical red berries.
The Latin name for cranberries is Oxycóccus, the name of a genus that combines several species. Berries of all kinds 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 swamps – peat and sphagnum. This is a creeping shrub with thin stems, leaves with a white lower plate, flowers with 4 petals and dark red berries. They are harvested for food and processing into various products that include this marsh berry.
Cranberry small-fruited
Small-fruited cranberry (or Vaccinium microcarpum) is also a Eurasian species. Differs from ordinary in smaller leaves and fruits.
Cranberry large-fruited
Large-fruited or American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) – originally from North America. Because of the 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 propagating a small number of plants that are available. Propagation by cuttings is the main way to propagate garden cranberries for home beds.
How to grow cranberries from seeds
To obtain seeds, choose large, fully ripe and healthy berries. Seeds are extracted from them: the fruits are kneaded, dipped in water, seeds are selected. They are immediately sown or dried and stored in plastic bags for storage. 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.
Dates of sowing cranberry seeds: fresh – at the end of summer, dry – in spring. For growing garden cranberries from seeds, use pots, boxes, bowls. They are filled with high-moor peat, 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 put in a warm place, watered as the top layer of soil dries. Seedlings appear 2-3 weeks after sowing.
When seedlings of garden cranberries form 4–5 leaves, they are transplanted into greenhouse beds at a distance of 10 cm from each other. Bushes are in the greenhouse throughout the year. Top dressing – with solutions of ready-made universal mineral fertilizers (dosage – 1 tablespoon per 10 liters, water with a solution based on 1 sq. M 1 l). Watering frequency – 1 time in 2 weeks. Water under 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 bed with garden cranberries is mulched with a 5 cm layer of peat and covered with spunbond, under which 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. Pour over and cover with a light film.
After 3-4 weeks, the cuttings will take root (rooting rate is almost 100%). In the place where they will constantly grow, they are placed tightly according to a pattern of at least 10 by 10 cm (this density allows you to get a crop 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.
seedlings
Thin creeping cranberry shoots take root well in the ground even without additional help, so this plant is easiest to propagate with such shoots – you need to separate the rooted young shoots and transplant them into beds.
Growing cranberries in the garden
In order to properly grow garden cranberries on your site, you need to take into account all the subtleties of this process.
How to choose a place
Cranberry is considered a cold-resistant and unpretentious plant, but despite this, growing it on private plots is considered a rather laborious task, as it requires the creation of certain conditions for its growth.
Cranberry is a lover of wet land, so for its cultivation it is necessary to choose just such an area: areas with close access to groundwater or located in lowlands will be preferable. The acidity of the soil should be low – 3-4,5 pH. Peat bogs will be 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 them and the strong wind does not dry them.
Planting cranberries in spring
Cranberries are planted in the spring, as soon as the soil warms up to a depth of 10 cm after the snow melts. needles.
Holes for garden cranberry seedlings should be 10 cm deep, the distance between them should be from 10 to 20 cm. Each of them must be watered and planted in them by 1 plant. The earth around the planted cranberry bushes does not need to be tamped.
Planting cranberries in autumn
Planting is usually not carried out in autumn, but if this must 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 crops.
Cranberry care
Caring for this plant has its own characteristics, which you need to know about when growing it at home.
In the spring
In the spring, when new shoots of cranberries begin to grow, you need to prune: thin out the shoots, loosen the ground and feed the plants with complex mineral fertilizer. It is advisable to mulch the soil around young bushes that have not yet closed. Next to the cranberries, you can plant honey-bearing spices, such as savory or oregano, which will further attract bees to pollinate cranberry flowers.
Lettom
In summer, especially in the heat, it is important to ensure that the soil on the beds with bushes does not dry out and water them in a timely manner. And also you need to weed the weeds in time so that they do not interfere with the growth of cranberries.
In the autumn
At the beginning of autumn, in September or next month – in October, it is already possible to harvest red berries. With good care, garden cranberries can produce 1 kg of fruit from 2 square meters. m of landing area. For the winter, the bushes should be sprinkled with a layer of peat or other plant insulation material so that they do not freeze out during the cold winter months.
Watering
Sufficient soil moisture, especially in the heat, is a necessary condition for the normal growth and development of plants. Therefore, cranberries need to be watered often and plentifully. You can add a little citric or acetic acid 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 cut
It is necessary to cut the garden cranberry bushes in May, when the shoots grow to a sufficient length.
Spring pruning
To obtain a high yield of garden cranberries, it is necessary to cut the creeping shoots on it, thus stimulating the growth of young vertical ones. It is on them that the plant bears fruit.
Autumn pruning
Most pruning should be done in the spring, not the fall. In autumn, the bushes are pruned only if necessary. The pruning form is similar to spring.
Cranberry diseases with a description
Subject to the rules of agricultural technology, garden cranberries are distinguished by excellent “health”, but still they can get sick. It is important to detect the disease in 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. In rainy weather, they are covered with a bloom of fungal conidia. When buds appear on garden cranberries, the lesion passes to them, then to flowers and ovaries. From this, the flowers dry up, and the fruits continue to grow, but rot. Control measures – spraying with copper chloride or fungicides Ronilan, Topsin M, Bayleton, Ditan.
Terry cranberry
This is a dangerous viral disease caused by microorganisms mycoplasmas. The shoots on the affected plants grow strongly, they cease to bear fruit, and those fruits that started 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.
Pestalotia
This disease affects shoots, leaves and fruits of garden cranberries. At first, dark brown spots form on them, then they become gray with dark edges, gradually merging with each other over time. The shoots are bent in the form of a zigzag, and the leaves fall off. The drug for treatment is copper oxychloride.
Gibber spotting
With this disease, premature mass fall of foliage occurs, which greatly weakens the bushes. Signs of spotting – in early August, red-brown small 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. The buds and leaves of cranberries turn red-brown, and a 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 a solution of Fundazol and freezing the earth in the winter cold.
Phomopsis
This is a disease in which the ends of cranberry shoots dry out without prior wilting. 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. Prevention measures – early spring treatment with copper preparations.
Botrytis
This is a gray downy rot that appears on the shoots, green leaves and flowers of plants on wet days. Treatment – preparations containing copper.
red spotting
A fungal disease that causes cranberry shoots to deform and die. Buds, flowers and their pedicels become pinkish. The leaves emerging from the affected buds resemble small roses. Treatment – copper-containing drugs or fungicides.
cranberry pests
Of the pests on garden cranberries, lingonberry leafworm, gypsy moth, apple scale insect, 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 appearance and reproduction of pests, you need to regularly inspect the plants, and if found, treat them with agrochemistry.
The combination of cranberries with other plants
Since garden cranberries prefer acidic soil, garden crops such as tomatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, etc. cannot be planted next to it. But on the other hand, you can plant another no less tasty and healthy berry – lingonberries, which love the same conditions as cranberry.
Preparation for winter
Despite the fact that this culture is cold-resistant, bushes for the winter should 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.
