Varieties and the best varieties of cranberries
Cranberries are one of the most valuable berries that grow in the middle lane. Due to the large number of vitamins, minerals, tannins and organic acids, it is deservedly called the “health berries”. Often used in preventive and therapeutic nutrition, improves immunity and is very useful in the winter, when many are deficient in vitamins. The article discusses the varieties of cranberries, their differences, features, the most popular varieties.
Description and Cranberry Varieties
Cranberries are an evergreen shrub belonging to the heather family. The plant is widespread in Europe, Asia and North America. It is a leader among wild berries on the list of substances useful to the body. It is especially appreciated due to its rich chemical composition, anti-inflammatory, bactericidal, antiviral properties.
Did you know? The degree of ripeness of cranberries can be checked by throwing the berries on a hard surface. A ripe instance should bounce several times.
Garden
Garden varieties are distinguished by large fruits up to 25 mm in diameter. The shoots of cultivars can be either creeping (0.5–1.2 m long) or erect (3–15 cm). Cranberry stems are filiform, branched and root in places. The nature of the root system is superficial with thin subordinate roots. It has a well-developed mycorrhiza, due to this it maximizes the use of soil nutrients.
Find out when the cranberries ripen.
The first harvest of garden cranberries can be expected in 3-4 years. But plantations of this berry can bear fruit up to 60 years. So that the berry does not grow smaller and the plants bear fruit well, cranberry must be rejuvenated every 3-5 years of fruiting. Propagate the culture by seeds or cuttings. Most often, garden cranberries are propagated by seed using spring crop material. After natural stratification, plants sprout easily.
Forest
It grows in marshy areas in northern Europe, in the north of the Russian Federation, in Belarus and Ukraine. It has thin long creeping shoots reaching a length of 80 cm. The leaves of the plant are ovoid in shape 0.5–1.6 cm long and 0.2–0.6 mm wide. The upper surface of the leaf is green, the lower is covered with a waxy coating. Cranberry flowers on long pedicels, slightly pubescent, can be pink or dark pink. Corolla dimensions: length - 0.5-0.7 cm, width - 0.15-0.2 cm.
Differences between garden and forest cranberries
In central Russia, both large-fruited varietal and forest varieties are well established and feel fine. When choosing a variety, you need to understand the differences between the two species.
| Forest | Garden | |
| Horizontal shoot length | up to 0.4 m | 0.5–2 m |
| Flowering period | The end of May | Mid June to July |
| Fruiting period | Mid september | Mid-september to october |
| Average berry weight | 1.5 g | 2.5 g |
| The average diameter of the berry | 5–8 mm | 15–25 mm |
| Winter hardiness | Above | Below |
Both varieties are unpretentious, do not require special care, feel great in acidic soil, but do not tolerate overdrying of the soil.
Read the same about the benefits and harms of cranberries and honey.
Garden cranberries are several subspecies, each of which has disadvantages and advantages, which should be considered when choosing a variety for planting.
Subspecies
Lovers of berries know a huge number of cultivars of cranberries, which can be divided into large-fruited, small and yellow. Let us consider in more detail each of the groups.
Large-fruited
Today, more than 200 varieties of large-fruited cranberries are cultivated. The most popular are: Hovez, Black Eyle, Ben Lear, Franklin, Pilgrim. Hooves, for example, refers to high-yielding varieties with medium-late ripening. It has large juicy berries, with a pleasant sweet and sour taste. Skoroplodnaya: unlike many other varieties, the first crop gives in the second year after planting. It has long branches that spread along the ground.
Did you know? American Indians mixed it with cranberry paste to extend the shelf life of dried meat.
The height of the bush does not exceed 25 cm, and the diameter can reach 1 m. Howes does not require special care and tolerates frosts well. Leaves for the winter does not drop. The berries are easily separated from the branches, burgundy red, round, with a dense skin. Productivity is 1.7–2 kg per adult bush.
- When choosing a cranberry variety for planting, many gardeners prefer Hooves, because it differs:
- high productivity;
- size of berries (very large compared to other varieties);
- pleasant taste;
- unpretentiousness in leaving;
- frost resistance;
- early maturity and rapid growth.
Shallow
The small-fruited subspecies is a creeping evergreen, slowly growing shrub. It has small leaves and thin stems. Natural berries can be found in marshy places in the forest-tundra and tundra, in marshes in the northern part of Europe. A necessary condition for the growth of this subspecies is symbiosis with mushrooms, which is possible only in acidic soil and high humidity.
Also read about how to make cranberry jam and jam.
It’s easy to take care of cranberries, it’s enough to provide the plant with:
- timely watering;
- disease prevention;
- top dressing with complex fertilizers.
Yellow
Yellow cranberry, or physalis, is a shrub no more than 1 m high, growing in Russia, Ukraine, and Central Asia. It is also grown as a decorative plant, thanks to the beautiful flowers of different shades of yellow. The physalis fruit is a large yellow-orange round, with a sweet and sour taste with a small bitterness.
Important! When consuming physalis in food, it must be remembered that the box in which the berry is located contains a large amount of toxic substances. To avoid poisoning, it must be removed.
The fruit is rich in vitamins, minerals, organic acids, and is often used in folk medicine for the prevention and treatment of many diseases.
Varieties of physalis:
- vegetable ;
- strawberry ;
- decorative .
Vegetable and strawberry are suitable for eating, the last type, strawberry, is especially tasty. Decorative is not recommended to try, because it is very toxic.
Top 3 varieties of large-fruited cranberries for the Moscow region
Despite the not very pleasant taste, the berry is popular because it allows you to make up for the lack of vitamins in the body in the cold season, due to the excellent keeping quality of the berry. Cultivation of the crop will not cause much trouble if you choose the right variety. In the conditions of the Moscow region climate, early and mid-early cranberry varieties that tolerate frosts are suitable. Among cranberry lovers, large-fruited varieties that have different ripening periods are especially appreciated.
We advise you to learn how to cook cranberry tincture with vodka.
Favorites for taste, berry size and yield:
- Franklin Mid-early variety ripening in the first half of September. It tolerates severe frosts and drought. The berries are round, dark red, large in size, weighing about 1 g. They are stored well without additional processing for up to two months.
- Stevens . Early grade. It is a record holder for productivity - up to 3 kg from 1 m². Fruiting occurs in the period from late September to early October. It is distinguished by large oblong berries of dark red color, weighing up to 3 g. The pulp is juicy, sweet and sour, the skin is dense, covered with a touch of light. It is characterized by high frost resistance, practically not exposed to diseases. Fruits can be stored without freezing throughout the year.
- Ben Lear . It is an early variety ripening by the end of August. It has large pear-shaped acidic berries weighing up to 1.5 g. But they can be stored no longer than 14 days. Included in the group of early ripe varieties. Collected from the last decade of August to the beginning of September. Productivity of a grade is up to 2 kg of berries from 1 m².
Buying cranberries from China
The main producers and exporters of cranberries are the USA, Canada, Chile. Recently, China began to actively engage in the cultivation of garden cranberries, which are used for processing and marketing. The Chinese berry is not inferior to the American or Canadian, but at a price much cheaper. When choosing a seller, it is recommended to choose stores with a good rating, carefully study the reviews about the product itself and the quality of service.
What to watch out for?
When buying, there is a danger of acquiring cranberries infected with radionuclides. Such berries pose a threat to health, since radioactive elements can accumulate in the body and cause a number of serious diseases. To prevent this from happening, you need to buy berries only at authorized trade points, where food products undergo a sanitary check.
Important! Since radioactive cranberries do not look different from safe cranberries, ask the seller for a certificate of product quality.
How to choose: frozen, seedlings
Cranberries in frozen form retains useful properties, therefore, if it is not possible to purchase fresh, you can safely replace it with a frozen product. As a rule, in stores berries are sold in opaque colored packaging, which does not allow to visually determine their quality. In this case, the only way not to miscalculate with the purchase is to feel the packaging.
It is realized at the age of:
- 7–9 months in cassettes;
- 1–1.5 years in pots;
- 2-3 years with an open root system.
When buying seedlings, pay attention to:
- maintenance of material with quality certificates;
- the presence of live kidneys on sprouts;
- the state of the root system (when buying seedlings with an open root system);
- lack of mold or other extraneous odors.
With the right choice of seedling and proper care, the next year you can collect the first crop of healthy berries. Incredibly healthy cranberries can be bought today at any of the supermarkets. Both fresh and frozen, the berry of a domestic, American, Chinese producer is sold.
