Features of growing and caring for cranberries in the garden
Cranberry marsh plant in the mental representation of most people somehow weakly mates with well-groomed summer cottages, neat garden beds and well-kept gardens. Meanwhile, there are many varieties of garden strawberries that feel great, for example, in summer cottages and in the gardens of the middle lane, giving decent yields of healthy and tasty berries. Read more about growing cranberries in orchards later in the article.
Cranberry planting dates
Most often, this culture is planted in open ground in the spring, starting from the first of April and continuing until the very end of May. A necessary condition for this is the thawing of the soil by at least 10 cm. In regions with a milder and longer autumn, autumn planting of cranberry seedlings from late October to early November is sometimes practiced.
However, since cranberries are not cultivated in the south, but grown in mid-latitudes with a temperate climate, there is still a danger during autumn planting that seedlings do not have time to root before the onset of cold weather and freeze in winter. Nevertheless, such a risk is often justified by the fact that seedlings that are deeply rooted and successfully survived the wintering season develop more intensively than plants planted in the spring.
Landing rules
When planting cranberry seedlings, which in itself does not present any particular difficulties, the most crucial moments are the selection of a suitable site for planting and soil preparation.
Pay attention to information on how to plant and grow cranberries in a summer cottage.
Seat selection
Cranberries prefer an open space with good lighting, although it grows quite successfully with a slight shade. Since in the wild this culture prefers marshy areas, this feature must also be taken into account when preparing the soil for planting. Ground water in the selected area (preferably in the lowlands) should not lie deeper than 25 cm from the surface of the earth. Peatlands are the most optimal soil, but sandy loam and sandy loam may well replace them. It is important to consider that cranberries prefer acidic soils with a pH of 3.5–6.5.
Soil preparation
The above requirements of this plant to the quality of the place of growth predetermine the need for careful preparation of the soil for future seedlings. To do this in the fall:
- At a chosen place in the garden or garden, you need to dig a wide hole up to a half meter deep.
- Install around the perimeter of the support 0.2 m high.
- At the bottom of the pit, you need to pour a drainage layer consisting of broken brick, pebbles or clay shards.
- From above, the drainage layer should be covered with a plastic film with small slots that protect the root system from decay due to stagnation of moisture.
- The film must be covered with a layer up to 0.2 m high, consisting of dry foliage, shredded bark of coniferous trees and horse manure, after which this layer needs to be moistened.
- On top of this, another layer of grassroots peat, fine sand and horse manure should be laid in a ratio of 3: 1: 1.
- The resulting layers need to be covered with earth, pre-mixed with fresh sawdust from conifers and peat.
- After this, the bed must be mulched by means of coniferous sawdust, sphagnum or needles.
Step-by-step landing instructions
The process of direct planting of plants in the soil prepared since autumn proceeds as follows:
- Wells up to 0.1 m deep are dug at a distance of 0.2 from each other and at the same distance between the rows.
- Before landing, the wells are watered with warm water.
- In the case when it is supposed to grow cranberries from cuttings, they are placed in each well for 2-3 specimens with a length of each from 0.05 to 0.2 m. At the same time, a part of the cuttings with a minimum of 0.03 m high above the surface mandatory growth point.
- When planting a seedling in the form of a bush with a developed root system, it is required to immerse it in the soil to a depth similar to that at which it used to grow. In order not to damage the roots, it is advisable to move the seedling into the hole along with a lump of earth.
Video: Planting Cranberries
The subtleties of care
Being an unpretentious and cold-resistant plant, cranberries do not require much effort when caring for themselves. However, in order to grow a full-fledged plant and achieve a good harvest, the culture needs to ensure optimal humidity at any time during the growing season. Read also what are the ways of propagating cranberries.
Optimal watering
The main condition for the comfortable growth of cranberry plants is constant soil moisture. Drought is ruled out here. In dry summers, daily soil moisture is required. The best option for this is drip irrigation. However, with abundant watering, one should not forget that an excess of moisture in the root system of the plant can lead to its decay, which noticeably worsens the berry taste.
Fertilizer selection and top dressing
To get a decent harvest, cranberries need to be fed with nutrients. 3 weeks after planting in open ground, the plant should be fed with complex mineral fertilizers such as "Kemira" or "Universal". Soil is enriched at the rate of 20 g of fertilizer per 1 sq. Km. m. Similar feeding continues every 15 days until the end of July. At the very beginning of September and in the second half of October, cranberry bushes are fed with the Osnezhnoye complex mineral fertilizer, which is used at the rate of 10 g per 1 sq. Km. m
Important! Do not fertilize the soil under cranberry plants with chicken droppings, compost or mullein, as they are not suitable. Of great importance for the comfortable growth of cranberries is the optimum acidity of the soil. To do this, 2 years after the planting of seedlings or cuttings in the soil, they should be poured with acidified water, for which it is necessary to dilute 1 tsp. citric acid in 3 l of water. Acidic water is also obtained by diluting 100 ml of table vinegar in a bucket of water. To acidify the soil every year, a mixture of peat and sawdust from conifers is also added to the bushes.
Collection and storage of berries
With proper agricultural practices, garden cranberry varieties can produce up to 3 kg of berries per square meter. m. Depending on the variety and region, the ripening period of cranberry berries varies. For example, in the middle lane in the Moscow Region, cranberries ripen in September. Ripe berries are easily identified by the brown seeds inside, but cranberry fruits with yellow seeds are also suitable for harvesting. Find out if cranberry growing can be a profitable business. The same berries that did not have time to ripen due to the cold summer can remain on the bushes under the snow all winter. In spring, this cranberry freckle is successfully harvested and used as a fight against spring vitamin deficiency. Although there are fewer vitamins in spring-picked berries than in autumn, they still serve as an indispensable storehouse of these nutrients in early spring.
Cranberries, harvested in a slightly unripe state, reach storage conditions during storage. Berries, carefully selected and freed from garbage and rotten fruit, can be stored in a dry and cool place for up to 3 months. And if the fruits are frozen, then in this state they can be stored for up to 1 year. For as long as they can be stored in barrels of cold water.
Did you know? Cranberry bushes, rarely exceeding a height of 0.3 m, but differ in longevity, often reaching centuries of age.
Pest and disease protection
Cranberry plants are fairly resistant to pest attacks. However, if you do not properly care for the bushes, neglecting the agrotechnical rules, then a weakened plant can become an object of attack from over 40 different types of pests. And the most common among them:
- apple comma scale;
- cabbage scoop;
- black-headed lingonberry leaflet;
- unpaired silkworm;
- heather moth.
And although pests, as a rule, do not cause significant harm to cranberry bushes, nevertheless, when they accumulate, it is recommended to treat plants with insecticides in the form of:
- "Metaphos";
- "Actellica";
- "Actars";
- "Karbofosa."
It should not be forgotten that the processing of plants with these drugs must be stopped no later than a month before harvest. Much more than from pests, weakened cranberry bushes can suffer from diseases that are most often represented:
- Red spotting, provoking deformation and dying of shoots. They fight this fungal disease with the help of Topsin and Fundazol preparations.
- Phomopsis, causing drying of the tips of the leaves. Eliminate the disease through the use of fungicides.
- Cytosporosis (black rot) affecting cranberries. A radical way to get rid of this disease is copper oxychloride.
- Snow mold, which is one of the most dangerous diseases that can destroy the whole plant. To prevent this disease, cranberry bushes must be treated with Fundazol.
- Monilial burn, which is a fungal disease that affects the tops of shoots. To combat it, they use Ronilan or Topsin M.
- A pestation that infects fruits, foliage, and stems, forming brown spots on them. They fight this disease with the help of copper-containing drugs.
- Botritis (gray rot), which forms a fluffy coating on the stems. Eliminate the disease with a Bordeaux mixture.
Cranberries from a marsh plant are increasingly turning into a popular garden crop. Some efforts, coupled with intensive and, most importantly, regular watering of cranberry bushes, fully pay for themselves with worthy harvests of tasty and healthy berries.