Blueberry Bluecrop: description and characteristics of the variety, planting and care with photo

For a long time among amateur gardeners Bluecrop blueberry remains one of the favorite and sought after varieties. Along with many new bred varieties, the old American blueberry variety is not inferior in popularity to the new ones. In order to grow a beautiful ornamental shrub in the garden, get a high yield every year and find out the secret of its popularity, you need to study agricultural technology and the intricacies of growing.

Description and characteristics of blueberries

Tall Bluecrop is a beautiful shrub from the Heather family with a spreading crown, two meters high, bush habit - 1.7 meters.

Roots develop when buds appear, stop growing in May. During ripening, the fruits begin their development again. At 5°C, root growth stops until spring arrives.

Blooms in May. Pollinators are other varieties that bloom at the same time.

Begins fruiting in the 3-4th year of cultivation. Large berries of dark blue color are slightly flattened, with a pronounced bloom of a bluish tint. The berries hang from long bunches. The fruits are dense, do not crack when ripe. The taste of berries is sour and tart. They ripen by the end of summer, ripening dates may vary. They ripen unevenly, the picking of berries stretches for 2 months.

This variety of blueberry has a decorative appearance due to the oblong leaves of rich green color, especially in autumn - the leaves become orange-purple or red-raspberry.

The description of the decorativeness of the variety indicates that the shrub is used in landscape design. The decorativeness of the bush allows it to be used when creating garden decorations.

The history of the origin of the Bluecrop variety

American breeder Frederick Vernon Coville has been researching wild blueberries since 1908. I wanted to take samples for plant breeding. Elizabeth White supported the scientist in 1910 and provided the territory of her farm where cranberries were grown. Working together on blueberry breeding, they developed and tested 15 species of the plant. In the mid-20s of the last century, along with other species, the Bluecrop blueberry variety was created.

In the Soviet Union, it appeared in the middle of the last century. Became popular in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

Bluecrop Blueberry bears well and produces large fruits compared to other species.

Bluecrop is simply called American blueberry or American blueberry for the similarity of fruits.

Pros and cons

The positive properties of the variety are as follows:

• Profuse abundantly. The bush gives 6-9 kg of berries.
• Not afraid of frost. Withstands cold down to -34°C.
• Not much susceptible to disease.
• Contains many vitamins A, C, P, PP and trace elements in the form of phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, silicon, sodium, iron.
• Reduces inflammation.
• Tones up.
• Involved in metabolism.
• Helps with beriberi.

Defaults are:

• plant heavily loaded with berries;
• maturing is extended;

• the need for watering during the ripening of the crop so that the berries do not wrinkle;
• the taste of the berry is not sweet, a little tart.

Growing details

The successful cultivation of Bluecrop blueberries is affected by the quality of planting material, the determination of the planting site, and the correct preparation of the pit.

Selection of seedlings

When buying planting material, they prefer strong two-year or three-year-old seedlings with a growth of 30-35 cm. The roots of the seedling are well developed, with no visible signs of disease.

Choosing a seat

The right place for planting is the key to abundant fruiting.

Blueberry Bluecrop is photophilous. It can tolerate partial shade, but you won’t see a good harvest. The area near the planted blueberry bush must be freed from tall plants so as not to obscure it. Planted within 2.5 m by 1.5 m, so that when growing, the seedlings do not interfere with each other.

The acidity of the soil is needed in the range of 3.5-5.0 (pH). If the acidity is low, oxidize the soil with an acid-containing agent.

Bluecrop blueberries prefer places with shallow groundwater - about 60 cm.

Blueberries are not planted on limed soil. It is not grown after strawberries, after vegetables - carrots, garlic and other crops under which lime was applied.

Soil preparation

It is important to choose the right soil for growing Bluecrop garden blueberries. The composition of the soil should be like forest land. By mixing sand with peat, they get the desired composition of the soil.

Terms and rules of boarding

Landing is carried out in the spring at an air temperature of +17 ° С. Planted in September in autumn. Blueberries should take root before the cold weather sets in.

Planting blueberries involves the following algorithm of actions:

1. Prepare a 50 x 50 cm planting hole.
2. Fill the bottom with crushed stone or crushed brick - create drainage.
3. Prepare the soil substrate by mixing sour peat and black soil, add sand. To oxidize the earth, sulfur is mixed with coniferous litter.
4. Pour some of the prepared earth on top of the drainage.
5. Get the planting material out of the container, straighten the roots and lower into the hole.
6. Pour out the remaining earth, deepening the stem by 3 cm.
7. Mulch with coniferous litter.
8. Pour acidified water. Pour 100 g of table vinegar into a ten-liter bucket of water.

Planted blueberries are fed twice with complex fertilizers.

Further berry care

Blueberries are easy to care for. Shrub care consists of the following activities:

• watering;
• weeding;
• loosening;
• mulching;
• cropping;
• feeding.

Irrigation and mulching

Water regularly. Water should not be allowed to stagnate at the roots and the soil to dry out.

Regularly remove weeds around seedlings. Especially young plants suffer from weeds. If you do not weed in time, you can destroy the bush.

Loosen the soil around the seedling. They do it shallowly - no more than 10 cm, the roots of the plant are located at a depth of 20 cm from the ground.

Constantly mulch the soil under the plant with needles, peat or sawdust.

Feeding

When top dressing, do not use organic matter. Fertilize so as not to disturb the acidity of the soil.

Introduce nitrogen, phosphorus and boron into the soil. To figure out how to feed the bush, the plant itself will help:

• does not grow well or leaves turn yellow - need nitrogen;
• leaves turn purple - not enough phosphorus;
• the growing point of the plant turns black or the tips of the leaves wither - it is necessary to feed with potash fertilizer.

Feed twice a season: in April and early summer. In early spring, shrubs are given compositions in the form of a complex fertilizer for heather.

Pruning blueberries

Lack of regular pruning reduces blueberry yield.

In the early years of cultivation, lower branches are pruned to promote growth. When thickening the bush, it is required to regularly free the bush from excess branches that interfere with the plant. Sanitary pruning is carried out from the 4th year of cultivation - weak branches are removed.If you do not do this, the berries lose their quality - they become smaller.

Preparing for winter

Blucrop refers to frost-resistant varieties of blueberries. Winter hardiness is good, withstands 30-degree cold under cover. But it needs to be prepared for winter.

The plants are covered in October. The bent branches of blueberries are carefully fixed to the ground, then covered with needles or spruce branches.

During the procedure, you can not use plastic wrap, the plant can be destroyed.

Removing cover when the snow melts.

Diseases and pests of the variety

If blueberries are bad, then the color, shape and size of the berries change, the foliage changes. Any manifestations indicate the presence of diseases.

The most common blueberry diseases are:

• Bacterial cancer.Shrubs at a young age suffer more often. There is a delay in the supply of water and nutrients to the stem of the plant. Cancer appears when a glut of nitrogen fertilizers. The bush stops growing, the yield drops. Symptoms of the disease appear as a growth on the plant. The infected bush is removed.
• Grey rot. It appears with dampness and high air temperature. All parts of the plant are affected, especially the fruits. Initially, yellow specks appear, they quickly increase. The berries rot, a gray coating appears. They protect against the disease with "Euparen", "Signum", "Tersel", "Switch", "Rovral", "Topsin", "Polyversum".
• Powdery mildew. Crops get sick in the heat with an increase in dampness and sudden temperature changes. The plant dries, the bush becomes weak, winter hardiness decreases. Processing is carried out with a 3-5% solution of copper sulfate.

Sucking pests in the form of bud mites and aphids attack blueberries. Kidney mites are difficult to detect immediately.This small pest sucks juices, depletes the blueberry bush. They resort to treatment with vitriol and Nitrafen. The aphid lays many eggs. The leaves turn yellow and fall off. Apply "Iskra" and "Aktara" to combat aphids.

Propagation of Blueberry Bluecrop

Use the following breeding methods:

• With the help of layering. In the spring, a bent branch is sprinkled with a peat-sand mixture or covered with plastic wrap. By autumn, the layering will take root. Next year, in the spring, the rooted material is transplanted to the place allotted for it.
• With the help of cuttings. Since autumn, lignified shoots are prepared. Cuttings of cuttings are wrapped and placed until spring in coolness. In March, the branches are cut into cuttings 20-25 cm long. They are identified in the prepared peat-sand substrate and covered with a film or lid. Monitor humidity. The rooted plant is transplanted to a permanent place in August.
• From seeds. They are sown before winter, before the onset of frost. They are sown in the spring, but the seeds must be stratified in the winter in the refrigerator. The process of growing from such material is the most labor-intensive.

Collection and storage rules

You need to pick the berries carefully, trying not to deform, into small containers. Within 4 hours after collection, it must be cooled, otherwise it begins to collapse. Chilled fruits are stored at temperatures up to +2 ° C with a relative humidity of 90-95%. The harvested crop can be stored for two weeks at a room temperature of 1.5 ° C at a humidity of 85%.

For the winter, you can prepare fruits by freezing them, or process them.

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