Cranberry is a resident of the central and northern regions of Russia. In the humid places of the forests of the Northwest, Siberia, the Far East, Kamchatka and Sakhalin, you can find thickets of creeping evergreen shrubs that give rise to a healing berry. In culture, it is represented by several dozen varieties, but all of them are low (from 15 to 60 cm/5.9-23.6 in) shrubs with thin stems and a fibrous root system. Cranberries are hardy, light-loving, unpretentious, but they live only in well-moistened places. It is able to produce food for itself, because soil fungi form on its roots over time, which deliver vitamins and minerals by roots. This phenomenon is scientifically called mycorrhiza.
I have always considered cranberries to be exclusively forest dwellers. But it turns out that it perfectly acclimatizes in suburban areas and can live in one place for up to 30 years (in nature up to 60). Propagates vegetatively: thin shoots, in contact with moist soil, easily form adventitious roots that branch horizontally, going 10-12 cm (3.9-4.7 in) deep into the soil.
Cranberry shrub blooms in late May – early June, covered with drooping pink or purple flowers on long petioles. The berries ripen in late August – early September and are able to persist on bushes even under a layer of snow. Many gardeners prefer to have medicinal cranberries at their side and plant them in their suburban areas. Let’s do this useful thing, too. But first let’s look at how it can reproduce.
Cranberry breeding
Cranberries are propagated by seeds, cuttings and seedlings.
- Cut the cuttings from adult plants by 7-15 cm (2.7-5.9 in), plant according to the 3×6 cm (1.2×2.4 in) scheme and bury them by 3-4 cm (1.2-1.6 in). For planting, use high-altitude peat, where the cuttings will easily take root in a month. After rooting in peat, they will be ready to be transferred to the main plantation, and after 2 months they will grow to 25-30 cm (9.8-11.8 in).
- Cranberry seeds require stratification (cold exposure) at a temperature of +5°C(41°F) for 4-5 months. Stratified seeds, when planted in open ground, always germinate together.
- Seedlings are the most convenient way to breed cranberries: take low bushes (up to 15 cm/5.9 in) of young bushes with roots from the forest or purchase varietal seedlings in a nursery. And how to plant them, read on.
Planting cranberries
In nature, cranberries grow only in moist places: on sphagnum swamps, on swampy shores of forest reservoirs, in coniferous forests, and so on.
Cranberry Place
The place for planting cranberries should be open, well-lit, with a water table 20-25 cm (7.9-9.8 in) below the soil level. It is ideal to plant it on the bank of a country stream or pond. In addition, it does not hurt partial shading at all – for example, from the crowns next to growing trees.
Soil for planting cranberries
Cranberry shrub loves acidic soil, which is used in natural conditions. The optimal soil acidity for cranberries is pH 2.5-6.5, for large-fruited: pH 3.5-2.5. She likes peat soils or forest substrate with sphagnum moss. And if you do not have such soil, then at the place where you will start to organize a plantation, you need to remove the top layer of soil to a depth of 20-25 cm (7.9-9.8 in) and fill it with the following soil mixture: peat, forest humus, forest earth and sand in the ratio: 2:1:1:1. In addition, cranberries will be grateful to you if you add at least a little decayed pine needles from the forest to the ground.
Planting cranberries seedlings
Cranberries are planted in early spring, as soon as the ground thaws by 8-10 cm (3.1-3.9 in). Before planting seedlings in the open ground, pour the prepared area well with warm water. Then dig the planting holes at a distance of 20 cm (7.9 in) from each other, deepening them by 10 cm (3.9 in). Place two cranberry seedlings in the hole, do not tamper the soil. It is better to take seedlings 15-20 cm (5.9-7.9 in) high, they take root easier. But it is worth noting – cranberries will give the first harvest only for the 3rd year after planting. And only in the 4th year you will be able to harvest a full harvest: about a pound of medicinal berries from each square per meter of soil. In addition, the cranberry shrub forms very decorative beautiful flowering thickets, so it is often used as a landscape decoration.
Cranberry care
Cranberries need timely weeding, especially if you have taken seedlings from the forest. Requires constant soil moisture. The first 3 years after planting, seedlings must be fed with mineral fertilizers for berry bushes to stimulate the growth of shoots. Top dressing is carried out twice a season: in early spring and at the end of summer. Every year, fertilizer doses should be reduced by 1/3, and in the 4th year, fertilizing should be stopped altogether.
If you use cranberries not only for pragmatic purposes, but also decorate your garden with them, then for the first 2-3 years after planting you will be able to form its bushes beautifully. If you cut 1/3 of the cranberry shoots in the spring, it will grow like a fluffy creeping shrub. And if you prune the horizontal branches, you will get beautiful sprawling bushes, from which it will be easier to pick berries. But keep in mind that it is better to cut young cranberries. Shrubs older than 4 years do not tolerate pruning.
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