2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Redberry (Latin Vaccinium praestans) - shrub or shrub of the genus Vaccinium of the Heather family. Other names are vaccinium excellent, bedbug or bedbug. It is found naturally in Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Kuriles, Hokkaido and Honshu. Typical habitats are moss bogs, spruce and fir-deciduous forests and slopes with a developed moss cover. The plant is considered food, medicinal and decorative at the same time.
Characteristics of culture
Krasnika is a small semi-shrub with a horizontally lying trunk covered with moss and uplifting strongly leafy branches with a yellowish-gray bark. Leaves are thin, harsh, round or obovate, narrowed to the base, finely serrate along the edge, 2-6 cm long, 3-3.5 cm wide. The flowers are pink, bell-shaped, collected in small brushes. The calyx consists of 4-5 wide ciliate teeth of a triangular shape. Corolla is pale yellow, up to 0.6 cm long.
Fruits are spherical, large, bright red, very juicy, have a sweet-sour taste and a specific smell. The size of the berries depends to a large extent on the growing conditions. Larger berries are found mainly in swampy areas, and small ones - in open, sunny places with dry soils. Redberry blooms in June-July, fruits ripen in August-September. Varietal redwood does not yet exist, but the available forms differ from each other.
Growing conditions
Krasnika is a shade-loving culture, but when grown in personal plots, it needs sunlight. Again, this rule applies only with regular and abundant hydration. If the gardener does not have the opportunity to constantly water the plants, it is better to plant them in shaded areas. Soils are preferable acidic, loose, air-permeable and moisture-consuming. Other soil substrates oppress plants, reduce their winter hardiness and yield. On some soils, plants rot and die. The best option that can be recreated in any garden area is a substrate consisting of fertile soil, peat and sand in a ratio of 1: 3: 1.
Reproduction
Propagated by the red seed and by dividing the rhizome. A healthy bush is dug out with a shovel, divided into several parts and immediately planted in the holes. The soil is tamped, watered abundantly and sprinkled with peat. The seed method is also effective, but rather laborious than the vegetative one. Seeds are sown in the fall, in which case they undergo natural stratification. If planting is planned in early spring, then the seeds are kept in the snow for three months. In this case, the percentage of redberry germination rises to 70%.
Remember that freshly harvested seeds should not be used. It is best to use seeds that have been stored for at least a year. The plot for growing redberries is prepared in advance: the soil is dug up, rhizome weeds are removed and double superphosphate (40 g) and potassium sulfate (20 g) are added. A trench 50-80 cm wide is formed on the ridges, and pieces of linoleum, plastic and polyethylene are laid around. This approach will avoid weeds. Peat and sand are poured into the trenches. And only after that young bushes are planted.
Care
Krasnika needs regular and abundant watering, although water stagnation should not be allowed. During a drought, the volume of water and the amount of irrigation are increased. Weeding and peat feeding are also important. Peat is introduced in autumn together with double superphosphate (about 15-20 g per 1 sq. M.).
Positively redberry refers to fertilizing with nitrogen and potash fertilizers. Such feeding is carried out twice: the first - in early spring after the snow melts, the second - during flowering. For the winter, plants are mulched with healthy fallen leaves, peat or sawdust.
