Blueberry is a fruit shrub from the genus Vaccinium, family Heather. Among the people, the plant is also known by the names of gonobob, dropsy, cabbage roll, juniper, blue grape, and blueberry. It grows in the Northern Hemisphere, from the temperate zone to the Tundra. Blueberries prefer wet, swampy places, forest, peat bogs and riverbanks. The plant has long been famous for its delicious and healthy berries. But blueberries can also become a decoration of the garden. Dense bushes with small leaves, reddening in the fall, and blue berries look very impressive. Many varieties of garden blueberries have already been created, which take root well in the garden, so you do not have to look for delicious berries in the forest or in the swamp.
Plant description
Blueberry is a branched perennial shrub 30-50 cm high (sometimes up to 1 m). The life span of the plant is 90-100 years. Lignified shoots grow vertically or slightly wilt. They are covered in light brown or bluish bark. The rhizome of the plant is fibrous, superficial. Due to the absence of root hairs, normal development requires symbiosis with fungi (mycorrhiza).
Leaflets on short petioles grow opposite. They have a solid structure and an oval shape with a rounded edge. Rigid dark green foliage is no more than 3 cm in length and up to 2.5 cm wide. The surface is covered with a thin waxy coating that gives it a bluish-green tint. On the lighter flip side, a prominent central vein is clearly visible. In autumn, the foliage begins to turn red and then falls.
From the age of 11-17, blueberries bloom. Flowers appear in May. They are quite small, have a bell-shaped shape and form loose inflorescences up to 20 pieces. Each corolla grows on a flexible, drooping peduncle. Petals are white or light pink in color.
After pollination, round or oblong juicy berries ripen by mid-summer. From the moment of acquiring a characteristic color, it will take several more days for the fruits to become soft and sweet. The skin usually has a blue or blue tint with a waxy coating. The length of the berry reaches 12 mm. The yield of blueberries is quite high, from one bush you can collect up to 10 kg of fruit. The weight of each reaches 10-25 g.
Blueberries or blueberries
Due to the outward similarity of bushes and berries, blueberries are often confused with blueberries. This is not surprising, because both plants are closely related and belong to the same genus. There are several characteristic differences:
- blueberries are much lower and its branches almost always spread along the ground;
- blueberries are more sweet and light taste;
- the juice of blueberry fruits is transparent, it does not stain hands and clothes;
- the shape of blueberries is always round, while blueberries can be oblong.
Popular varieties of blueberries
There are several subspecies of blueberries: marsh (northern, stunted), garden (high, American), narrow-leaved (medium-tall, with small leaves and berries). For decorative purposes and to obtain a plentiful harvest, garden varieties are more often used:
- Blucrop. Shrub with vertical shoots up to 2 m high in spring is covered with beautiful reddish leaves that gradually turn green. In May, large white flowers appear, and in summer, large clusters of blue-black rounded berries ripen up to 2 cm in diameter.
- Patriot. A weakly branched shrub 1.5-2 m high forms a dense green crown. In late July, dense clusters of flattened fruits ripen with dense blue dusting.
- Bluegold. A highly branched bush up to 1.2 m high produces a crop of light blue dense berries that ripen by early August.
- Duke. A slowly growing shrub 120-180 cm tall already in mid-July yields a crop of large light blue berries. Heat-loving variety in favorable conditions gives up to 8 kg of fruit from the bush.
- River. Weakly branched shoots grow vertically. Their height is 170-200 cm. In mid-June, large bright blue berries begin to ripen. They taste good and tolerate transportation well.
- Bonus Almost a spherical bush bears fruit in early August. Its distinguishing feature is the size of the berries (up to 3 cm in diameter). They are covered with light blue skin and have a rounded shape.
- Chandler. A fast-growing branched shrub 1.5 m high also gives large (up to 2.5 cm in diameter) bright blue berries.
- Northland A short (100-120 cm) bush with a dense, sprawling crown and small oval leaves is covered by sweet dense blue berries by the end of July.
- Denis Blue. A higher (150-180 cm) shrub is famous not only for harvest, but also for high decorativeness. Between small emerald leaves light pink inflorescences bloom. After pollination, large tasty blue berries ripen.
- North Country. A short plant does not exceed 60 cm in height. It gives a more modest crop, but the berries have an intense and very pleasant taste and aroma. This variety is very undemanding to soil and resistant to frost.
- Wondrous. Spreading shoots up to 1.8 m high have many lateral processes. In mid-summer, dense brushes of bluish-blue flattened berries with thin, cracking skin appear on them.
Breeding methods
Several methods are suitable for growing blueberries.
Growing from seeds. Seeds should be collected from well-ripened berries from healthy bushes. They are freed from the pulp, washed and dried. In the spring, after stratification, crops are sown in containers with sand and peat soil to a depth of 5 mm. Containers contain at a temperature of + 20 ... + 25 ° C. The soil is regularly moistened. For 2 years, seedlings are grown in one place. It will be necessary to periodically water and loosen the soil near the roots. From the third year, blueberry bushes can be transplanted into the garden.
Rooting cuttings - the most popular method among gardeners. Green cuttings are cut in spring and summer, and lignified are harvested from autumn. The shoots should have a length of about 15 cm. The lower cut is made diagonally immediately below the knot. After treatment with a growth stimulant, cuttings are rooted in pots with soil containing up to 70% sand. They are kept under the hood for about 2 months. When the rhizome develops and new shoots appear, the shelter can be removed.
Division of the bush. Low bushes can be divided into several parts. In spring, the plant is completely dug up and sections of roots with several buds or young shoots are separated. Immediately after the manipulation, the sites of the slices are treated with crushed charcoal and delenki are planted.
Rooting layers. The bark on the lower branch is slightly damaged, and then they press it to the ground and fix it. Layering should be watered more often. It will take root this year, but separation and transplantation are performed only after 2 years.
Landing and care
For blueberries, it's best to pick up a sheltered, calm corner of the garden. The place is suitable on the south side of the fence, wall or next to other trees and shrubs. The plant prefers well-lit places, but normally develops in partial shade.
Landing is best done in mid-autumn or early spring. As a fruit plant, blueberries are planted in rows with a distance of about 1 m between the bushes and 2-3 m in the aisle. Then there will be enough light for the landings and it will be convenient to look after them. Bushes will grow well only on acidic soil. If necessary, a sufficient amount of sand and peat are brought into the ground. The roots in the planting pit evenly distribute and cover the free space with loose soil without organic additives. The root neck is deepened by about 3-5 cm.
At the end of planting, the bushes are abundantly watered and mulch the soil surface with crushed bark, straw, and needles. This will help to avoid the formation of a dense crust on the surface. Nevertheless, several times during the season the earth is loosened. The roots are only 10-15 cm from the surface, so work is carried out with caution. Weeds should also be removed.
Blueberries need regular watering. The earth at the roots should always be slightly moist, but stagnation of the liquid for more than two days leads to decay. In the absence of precipitation, 1-1.5 buckets of water are poured under the bush twice a week. Irrigation is best done in the early morning or closer to sunset. Even at the end of summer, when the crop is harvested, it is important to continue to water the blueberries, because right now new flower buds are forming. It is also important to spray the whole bush on hot days, but not at noon.
To make the crop more plentiful, blueberries need to be fertilized regularly. In no case should you use organics. To maintain the high acidity of the soil, a solution of colloidal sulfur, citric acid or 0.1% electrolyte for the battery is introduced into it. The first top dressing is introduced before buds open, the second during flowering, and the last when berries are ripened.
Caring for blueberries includes mandatory pruning, which allows you to maintain compactness, decorativeness and high productivity. The best time for pruning is early spring, before buds open. Skeletal branches are formed on young bushes that can withstand the main load. Green shoots can be cut to half. Dry and damaged shoots are removed throughout the year to the base. Sprouts older than 5 years old are cut to the ground to stimulate the growth of young shoots. It is also important to thin out a crown that is too thick, because with strong thickening, flowering becomes less plentiful, and the berries ripen poorly.
Blueberries are characterized by good resistance to frost, but in harsh winters (below -25 ° C) in the absence of snow cover the bushes freeze. To avoid this, after harvesting, the branches are tilted to the ground and fixed with twine or wire. Dry foliage and spruce branches are thrown on top, and in winter snowdrift is poured. In early spring, it is necessary to remove all the shelter so that the plant does not ripen.
With the right choice of place and care, blueberries do not get sick and are rarely affected by insects. If water often stagnates in the ground, gray rot, branch drying, white spotting or double spotting may develop. To prevent this from happening, you should take care of the quality of the soil and the removal of excess water. Already infected branches are cut and destroyed, and healthy ones are treated with fungicide ("Topaz", Bordeaux liquid, "Topsin").
May bugs bother the plant the most, but aphids, scale insects, and pine silkworms can also settle. Parasites are collected manually and treated with an insecticide. To prevent chemicals from settling on the berries, preventive treatment is planned for early spring, before the appearance of flowers.
Berry benefits
Blueberries are a source of nutrients. They are able to protect, strengthen and improve the human body. The juice contains vitamins (A, B1, B2, K, C), amino acids, micro and macro elements. These substances remove radioactive metals, strengthen blood vessels, stimulate the digestive tract, help with colds and sore throats, and lower blood pressure.
Decoctions, tinctures, preserves, compotes with the addition of not only berries, but also leaves relieve attacks of rheumatism and fever, improve vision, relieve muscle cramps. They are used for diabetes and a tendency to form tumors.
Blueberries have no contraindications. Of course, you must use it sparingly, like any other product. An excess of berries in the body leads to allergies, causes nausea, intestinal upsets and a decrease in muscle tone.
