Cranberries - planting and care in the open field

A plant such as a cranberry can not only be harvested in forest hikes, but also grown safely in your own garden or vegetable garden.

Cranberry properties

Cranberries are almost the most popular Siberian berry. It is a shrub from the heather family. Mostly gently sloping shrubs with dark green foliage. They love swampy areas. The root system is in the rod type. Inflorescences are pale pink or pale purple. Its small red fruits are rich in: vitamin C, vitamin B, vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin PP, ascorbic acid, mineral vitamins, trace elements, macronutrients, citric acid, malic acid, ursolic acid, chlorogenic acid, benzoic acid, glucose, fructose, antioxidants, pectins, fiber, and so on.

Such a small berry can greatly help a person in: lowering temperature, reducing inflammation, fighting viruses, strengthening the immune system, preventing the formation of cholesterol plaques, normalizing blood pressure, problems of cardiovascular diseases, strengthening the nervous system, eliminating heartburn, and so on. This miracle of nature can be easily grown in your yard, if you follow simple rules of care.

Common cranberry

It grows mainly on the mainland of Eurasia. Often in peat or sphagnum bogs. Stems are thin, foliage with a white vein, inflorescences of four petals, maroon berries.

Small-fruited cranberry

Also a view from Eurasia. The main difference is that the foliage and fruits are smaller.

Large-fruited cranberry

An American species that is grown on a large scale.

How to propagate cranberries

There are three reliable ways to do this - this is reproduction using cuttings, seedlings, or using seeds. With the help of seeds, cranberries are propagated, mainly by breeders. And reproduction with the help of cuttings is the primary method, using which you can easily form several beds.

Planting cranberry seeds - a method of propagation using seeds

To get the seeds, you need to choose large, ripe, undamaged, completely healthy fruits. You also need to get seeds from, this is easy to do: you need to mash the berries, put them in a glass of soda, and when the pulp settles, catch the seeds. They can be sown immediately, or they can be dried and folded into airtight bags for storage. Before sowing seeds that have been stored for some time, stratification should be carried out in a mixture of peat soil and coarse sand. It must be carried out for three months, observing three to five degrees Celsius.

The timing of sowing seeds is different, if the seeds are fresh, then they can be planted in the summer, and if they are already stored and dry, then in the spring. In order to grow garden cranberries, you can use various containers and containers.They need to be filled with peat soil of a riding type, the seeds themselves must be sown on the surface and covered with two or three centimeters of coarse-grained pitch, or a half-centimeter layer of moss, after which it must be watered. Close the whole thing with a film, in order to create a greenhouse effect, watering is necessary when the upper part of the soil dries up. The first shoots will begin to appear in fifteen to twenty days.

As soon as four or five leaves are formed in the sprouts, they can be transplanted into greenhouse conditions, keeping a distance of ten centimeters between them. In these conditions, future bushes should be kept throughout the year. You can feed with universal mineral products. You need to water once every fourteen days, strictly at the root, for the tender young foliage can get burns.

At the end of the summer period, the greenhouse can be dismantled, and when the cold comes, then put a peat layer of five centimeters on the garden bed and cover it with agrofibre so that the plant overwinters successfully. With the onset of spring, young bushes can be transplanted into a school for the next one or two years, and after this time has passed already transplanted to their permanent place of residence. The very first fruits from cranberries, which were grown from seeds, can be harvested after two to three years of their life in a permanent habitat.

Reproduction method using cuttings

For this method, you will need green cuttings, which will be cut from young shoots. Their length must be at least ten centimeters. They can be planted immediately, in a moistened substrate of peat soil, coarse-grain sand, sawdust, pine needles and mulch all this with a layer of peat. Then pour abundantly and cover with foil to create a greenhouse effect.

After about three to four weeks, the cuttings will already root, since this is the most suitable method, rooting is almost one hundred percent. Next, they need to be planted in the place of their constant growth, keeping a distance of at least ten centimeters. Thirty days after planting, they can be fertilized for the first time using mineral fertilizing. The first fruits of berries from cranberries planted in this way can be harvested already in the third year of her life. And after four years, the harvest will be more voluminous.

Reproduction method using seedlings

This is the easiest way, because it does not require additional conditions. You just need to transplant the rooted young shoots into the garden bed.

Growing cranberries at their summer cottage

For a favorable outcome of events, be sure to take into account all the subtleties and rules of care.

Choosing the right place

This shrub is considered unpretentious and resistant to cold weather, but you still have to make an effort to grow it, because creating suitable conditions is a rather laborious process. This culture loves moist soil, so it should be planted near groundwater, or in the lowlands of the site.

The acidity of the soil should not be high, in the aisles of three to four and a half. The most suitable for growing berries are: peat, loamy and loamy loose soils.

It is not recommended to plant a shrub in an open area; it is best to plant it near buildings, fences, or lush trees so that it is not exposed to bright sunlight and cold drafts.

Planting cranberries in spring

You can plant cranberries after the snow has melted and the soil is ten centimeters warm. If the soil is in a selected place with low acidity, then it is recommended to change the top layer of twenty to twenty-five centimeters to a substrate from a mixture of nutritious humus, forest land, peat soil, coarse sand and organically rotted needles.

Depressions in the ground must be made ten centimeters deep, keeping a distance of ten to twenty centimeters between them. Plant strictly one plant in each hole. Do not ram the bud around the planted crops.

Cranberries: planting in the fall

Planting cranberries in the fall is not recommended, but there is no other way out or it needs to be done very urgently, then it is necessary to plant about a month before the onset of frost, so that the seedlings have time to take root.

This culture has its own subtleties and rules in care, following which, you can get a decent harvest.

Spring cranberry care

At the beginning of spring, as young shoots will already grow, the bush needs to be cut off, the stems should be trimmed, the soil around the plant should be loosened and the culture should be fertilized with mineral fertilizers. The soil of young bushes, you need to mulch. Plants can be planted next to it that attract bees, this can solve the problem with pollination.

Summer cranberry care

During the summer heat, it is imperative to ensure that the soil on which the cranberries grow is moist and does not dry out. Also remove weeds in a timely manner, because they can interfere with the growth and development of the plant.

Cranberries: care in the fall

Closer to the beginning of autumn, you can harvest a healthy crop. After harvesting, before wintering, it is advisable to insulate the cranberries so that they can winter comfortably and without losses.

Watering rules

For cranberries to grow and develop successfully, its soil must be moist. Because of this, you need to water the bush regularly and abundantly. You can add a little citric acid or acetic acid to the watering liquid to acidify the soil. You need to fertilize about a couple of times a month, using universal complex means.

Cranberries and pruning rules

This process is important for crown formation and proper development of the shrub.

The right time to trim

It is necessary to prune at the end of spring, when the young shoots have already outgrown the required length.

Pruning cranberries in the spring

To get a voluminous harvest, you need to cut off the shoots that spread in order to stimulate new, young, vertically growing shoots, because the fruits ripen on them.

Pruning cranberries in the fall

Autumn to trim the beak, you need only because of extreme necessity.

Cranberry diseases

Cranberries can get sick only with improper care and neglect. It is very important to notice the disease in time so that the necessary measures can be taken and the plant can be cured.

Monilial burn

This is a fungal infection, it affects the upper part of young stems, they begin to fade, dry and die off. In the rainy season, a diseased plant can be covered with fungal secretion. If buds appear on the cranberries, they will also be affected, like the inflorescences. Because of this, the flowers dry up, and the berries continue to grow, but rot. You can fight with spraying.

Terry cranberry

Quite a dangerous viral disease. With her, the stems will continue to grow abundantly, but they will cease to bear fruit, and those fruits that were formed even before the disease will grow very deformed and small. It is impossible to cure this disease, so you will have to completely destroy the bush.

Ascochitosis

This disease can be recognized by the appearance of dark brown spots in the form of a circle, which over time will begin to crack. You can treat it with special treatment.

Pestalocia

This disease affects the stems, foliage and berries of cranberries. Initially, small brown spots form on them, which gradually turn into gray, and from time to time they completely merge with each other. The stems will begin to bend and bend, and the leaves will fall off. It can be cured with copper oxychloride.

Gibber spot

Along with this disease comes a rapid fall of foliage, which significantly weakens the plant. The appearance of this disease is small burgundy-brown spots that grow slightly over time. You can fight with the help of special drugs.

Cytosporosis

In fact, this is the iconic gray rot that appears on cranberries. For control and prevention purposes, spraying with special agents can help.

Snow mold

This disease may appear with the arrival of spring. It manifests itself as a burgundy brown color in the buds and foliage. After two to three months of the development of the disease, the foliage will fall off. If you do not start to heal on time, then the bush will die. You can fight with spraying.

Phomopsis

With this disease, the shoots begin to dry out and the foliage turn yellow. On the stems, gray spots form, which in the course of their development turn into ulcers, and the flowers and fruits acquire a brown tint. This disease can be overcome by treatment with products containing copper.

Botrytis

This is the same gray rot, only with fluffy growths. It affects shoots, foliage, flowers. You need to treat with means that contain copper.

Red spot

Fungal infection in which the stems of the plant gradually deform and die. Buds, inflorescences and pedicels become pink. The foliage that will develop from diseased buds will resemble roses in appearance. You need to treat with drugs that contain copper and fungicides.

Insect pests cranberry

There are insects that like to feast on this culture, namely: lingonberry leafworm, gypsy moth, apple scabbard, cabbage scoop, heather moth. To prevent pests from choosing your plant, you need to adhere to the agrotechnical rules for cultivating the soil. You also need to regularly inspect the cultures in order to take timely measures if something happens.

Neighborhood of cranberries with other crops

Due to the fact that cranberries love highly acidic soil, it is impossible to plant tomatoes, cucumbers, or cabbage crops next to it. It is better to plant a similar berry, like a lingonberry.

Preparing cranberries for the winter

Although cranberries are highly resistant to frost, the bushes still need to be insulated with the help of: peat, fallen leaves, sawdust, or any other organic covering material.

Cranberry

Planting and growing cranberries on your site is not difficult. The main thing is to comply with all the rules of planting and care.