The cultivation of large cranberry fruit

Cranberries in Poland occur in marsh forests and on the high peat bogs. It is a marsh cranberry. In North America there is its cousin – large cranberry fruit which is the parent of cultivated varieties.

Cranberries belong to the family of heathers, and are crawling bushes. They produce two types of shoots: long shoots and short shoots, coming from long ones. Long shoots reach a length up to 2 meters (6 ½ feet) – they allow the plant to increase acreage. When the area is tightly covered by them, it prevents weed growth. Short shoots are fruiting shoots – they flower and then fruitgrows on them. The leaves are evergreen and last 2-3 years. The roots are very insignificant and do not have root hair, therefore mycorrhiza is very important, which means the necessary co-roots with fungi.

The flowers are easily pollinated by pollen of the same variety. However, cross-pollination by the pollen of other varieties by bees or bumblebees favorably affects the size and quality of yield.

The fruit is a fleshy berry. Inside there are air chambers, which allow fruit float - it is used on large plantations for the harvest. Cranberryplants have a long life.. Plantations can be used for many years.

The successful cultivation of cranberries depends primarily on the proper selection and preparation of the area. The best location for these plants is moist, acid, marsh soil. Theycan also be grown on sandy soils if they have an appropriate pH factor (pH in H2O 4-5). Cranberries are not tolerant to drought and heat.

Proper soil is rare, so it must be adapted to the cultivation of cranberries:

• On the chosen row, of a width of approximately 1m (3 ft), we remove 20-30cm (7-10inches) of soil with a spade.
• The bottom and the sides of the hole need to be covered with foil.
• We make 4-5 holes in the foil for each square meter (10-11 sq. yards)
• We fill the flowerbed with a mixture of acid peat and sand in a proportion of 1:1.
• We moisturize and flatten the surface.

We plant the prepared cranberry seedlings - 5 units per square meter (10-11 sq. feet)

We put some sand on the cranberriy flowerbed. It means you have to pour clear sand through sieves or boxes with holes in the bottom. A layer of sand should have a thickness of 3-4cm (1-1/2inches). The sand protects the soil from overheating and over drying.

Cranberries have low nutritional requirements, but do not tolerate too much fertilization. One table spoon of fertilizer per 1m2 ( 10-11 sq ft)(e.g. fertilizer for blueberries), given 2-3 times per season should be enough.

Cranberries hibernate best under snow. A problem may occur when winters are severe and snowless. You should place several branches of pine or spruce on the cranberry flowerbed.

Remove weeds several times a year, to avoid strong soil over- weeding.

Every 2-3 years, it is a very good idea to repeat the sanding activity. Thanks to that, rejuvenation of bushes and better outgrowth of roots in the ground will be achieved.

Of course, from time to time we have to water a flowerbed, but contrary to general opinion we should not make a flowerbed look like a swamp. Moderate humidity is enough. Roots and mycorrhiza funghi also need oxygen.

When the flowerbed is watered, weeded, sanded, treated with fertilizers ... there comes the harvesting. On average, from 1m2 (1-11 q ft), we can collect up to 2-3kg (1-7llbs) of fruit, which can be used for making juice, alcohol and jam - I have checked myself the last two, cranberry is great for making them!

Krzysztof Botul