Raspberry variety Bell: photo and description

Raspberry variety Bellflower is a deciduous semi-shrub plant, it belongs to the Pink family. Gardeners grow raspberries with different maturityin order to have excellent and healthy berries on your table from the beginning of summer until late autumn. Breeders of the Altai Territory breed raspberry varieties, zoned to the harsh climatic conditions of central Our Country and Siberia. According to the time of fruiting, varietal plant species are divided into early, middle and late ripening. Malina Kolokolchik is one of the creations of Siberian agronomists and botanists.

Our article will help you to find out the main characteristics of this raspberry variety, in the attached photos you will see how the plant and its wonderful fruits look like. At the end, our story is supplemented by a video with useful tips from an experienced gardener on how to properly plant raspberry bushes in the garden.

Description

Common features are characteristic of all types and varieties of raspberries, they can differ in the height of the bush, the size and density of the leaves, and the color of the fruit. Raspberry Bell has all the main features, but also has its own distinctive characteristics:

• raspberry roots Bell – perennial winding rhizome with many appendages forming an extensive root system;
• stems – annual and biennial erect shoots up to 1,5 meters high (some varieties reach 2.5 m), plants of the first year of life have green stems with a bluish tinge, soft, herbaceous, with small spikes-needles, in the second year they become brown, elastic and become woody, after the end of fruiting, the two-year-old stems dry up, in the fall, gardeners break out such branches;
• raspberry leaves Bell – oval petiolate, from 3 to 7 petals grow on the petiole, the surface of the leaf plate is dark green, the leaves are whitish on the back, covered with fine fluff;
• raspberry flowers – small (about 1 cm in diameter) white, five-petalled, with many stamens, collected in small brushes, pollinated by bees collecting nectar from them, flowering begins in May or June;
• raspberry fruits Bell is not a whole berry, but soft grains covered with pulp, fused into a complex fruit (weighing up to 3.3 g) in the form of a bell, red (or yellow, depending on the variety) grains are smooth and shiny on top, slightly whitish inside, all the dome of berries is covered with sparse hairs; fruits are formed on two-year-old shoots.

Raspberry Bell refers to plants with an average fruit ripening period. The berries on the bushes of early raspberry varieties are already turning red, and the Bellflower is only forming the first hard embryos. He takes the baton from the early ripe brothers, when they are already finishing the fruiting season. By the beginning of July, fruits begin to turn red on its bushes, ripening together and quickly.

Productivity

Raspberry Bellflower was registered in the State Register of Patented Plants in 1991. In the short description to the registration sheet, the high yield of the variety is noted, the average figure is given – 105-120 q/ha. In terms of 1 sq. meter plantings it will be 10,5 – 12 kg, or 5-7 kg from one bush (approximately). With such a yield, gardeners will have to try hard, picking berries from the bushes in the midst of a hot summer. You should not linger with the collection of fruits, they ripen together, and overripe berries can crumble.

According to the gardeners themselves, the harvest sometimes exceeds the indicated amount, but this can only be with good plant care plus favorable weather conditions.

Taste and benefit

It is necessary to say a few words about the wonderful taste of berries and their benefits for the human body:

1. The taste of raspberry Bell is pleasant, honey-sweet, not cloying. The grains of the berries are soft, melt in the mouth, without creating a feeling of hardness on the tongue. The juice is spicy with a barely noticeable hint of bitterness from the grains. Tasters gave them a score of 3,8 out of 5.
2. It is useful to use raspberries fresh, in compotes, in jam. They contain many vitamins, trace elements, essential oils that benefit a person. A spoonful of raspberry jam will bring relief to a child who has a cold, increase appetite during an illness, improve general condition, warm and soothe.

Advantages

Among all the descriptions of the virtues of raspberries, the most characteristic for the Bell variety are:

• • resistance to low temperatures – Raspberry Bell can withstand winter frosts down to -20 ° C and below, for this there is an additional way to protect shrubs: in the fall, you need to tilt the bush as close to the ground as possible and fix it in such a position that in winter the snow completely covers it and warms it from burning frosts;
  • raspberry bell tolerates dry conditions well or long periods without watering, it is fatal to her, rather excessive watering than its complete absence;
  • this variety of raspberries, according to manufacturers, is protected from invasion pests, in particular, spider mite, in their reviews, gardeners also note that this is an insect bypasses the plant;

• raspberry bluebell very rarely affected by a fungal disease such as purple spot, which often ruins other raspberry varieties.

Disadvantages

This wonderful raspberry variety also has some disadvantages:

• green leaves of raspberry bushes grow very quickly, closing brushes with ripening berries, they constantly need to be thinned out;
• brushes on raspberry shoots tend to the ground under the weight of large fruits, you need to tie them to the trellisso that during assembly you do not have to bend down and hold the stem with one hand and pick the berries with the other;
• raspberry bell afraid of drafts and stagnant moisture in the root zone, in such cases, the bushes often get sick, the foliage and stems dry, and the roots are affected by root rot;

  Raspberry root rot

  

  Purple raspberry spot

  

• the variety is very sensitive to light, with a lack of sunlight and strong shading, raspberries ripen poorly, become small, lose their sweetness.

Planting and care

You can plant raspberries Bellflower as spring and autumn. At home, growing raspberries from seeds is quite difficult, this is a long process and this method does not guarantee the safety of the plant’s varietal indicators. We recommend growing and propagating raspberries by dividing the bush, it’s very simple. In the second year of life, the plant forms many basal shoots, the tallest and most viable shoots are separated from the common rhizome, while maintaining several healthy roots. Do this in the fall when preparing raspberries for wintering.

During this period, your neighbors in the country or acquaintances have many good raspberry seedlings, which they throw away due to uselessness. If there is no raspberry on your site yet, borrow or buy a couple of seedlings from other gardeners, they will gladly give them to you, it’s still better than just throwing the plant away. When planting raspberries in the garden, follow these recommendations:

1. Choice of landing site. Choose a place for raspberries well lit by the sun. Due to the lack of space, some summer residents plant raspberry bushes along the fence, near the walls of sheds and other buildings, which shade the plant for most of the day. Raspberries cannot develop well and bear fruit in such conditions.
2. The soil in the area allocated for raspberries should be fertile and loose, neutral in acidity. Such conditions are common for garden plots, raspberry Bell is not very picky about the soil.
3. With a sufficient area and number of seedlings, raspberries are planted in rows, between which they leave 2 m, seedlings are planted from each other at a distance of 1-1,5 m.
4. During the autumn planting, the tops of the seedlings are cut by 5-10 cm, it depends on the height of the shoot. In the spring, this procedure can be omitted.
5. The subsequent care of raspberries consists in performing the usual work: removing weeds, loosening the soil, thinning the foliage, tying the stems with tassels on the trellises. Raspberry Bell has enough natural rainwater, but if it has not rained for a long time, it is necessary to water the bushes 1 bucket per plant 2-3 times a week. Once a month, such watering is combined with top dressing.

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