Many breeders of raspberries have been bred by domestic breeders. They are perfectly suited for growing not only in our summer cottages, but also on an industrial scale. Among them, raspberries of the “caramel” variety stand out in the photo, according to the description and reviews, due to their unique taste. And its industrial breeding is highly profitable from the first year of cultivation.
Raspberry "caramel": variety description
This hybrid repairing high-yielding variety was bred several years ago by breeders of the Nizhny Novgorod region. Outwardly, the raspberry remontant varieties of “caramel”, according to the description, look like a medium-sized, not sprawling bush with powerful shoots growing a little over a meter and a half in height. Shoots do not need to be mounted on supports. There are few spikes on them, they are not too sharp and do not cause inconvenience during work. Leaves of medium size are slightly pubescent, painted in dark green, have the trefoil shape typical of raspberries and are pointed at the ends. The flowers are large, white, collected in racemose inflorescences.
Description of berries
According to the description, the raspberry variety “caramel”, in the photo, during the period of full maturity, is distinguished by large juicy berries up to three and a half centimeters of dark red in size. The average weight of the berry is six - eight grams, the largest specimens weighed up to fourteen grams.
It is difficult to talk about the taste of fruits by looking at the photo. According to the description and reviews, the raspberries of the caramel variety are very sweet. The high sugar content and very low acid content make the taste of these berries really look like caramel. Typically, repairing varieties are slightly acidic. But raspberries "caramel" according to the tasting commission, became the sweetest sort of repair raspberries, among all bred in Russia. The high content of vitamin C in berries makes them not only very tasty, but also healthy.
In addition, the fruits are characterized by a pronounced aroma of wild forest raspberries. Tasters rated the “caramel” berries the highest rating among the varieties of Russian selection.
Product characteristics of berries
In the description of the varieties of remont raspberries “caramel”, in the photo and in the reviews of gardeners, it is noted that the fruits are dry, dense, elastic, easily detach from the stem, do not crumble, do not soften and do not flow during harvesting.
Such qualities make it possible to mechanize the harvest, and, therefore, grow this variety in an industrial way. Berries perfectly tolerate transportation, stored collected for several days without losing their presentation. Such reviews and a description of raspberries of the caramel variety in the photo make its cultivation commercially viable.
Productivity
The yield in the description of the caramel raspberry variety is indicated at the level of five to seven kilograms per bush. The average industrial productivity is 112 centners per hectare. Such an indicator is stated in the official description of the variety, according to reviews raspberry "caramel" in the first year during industrial cultivation gives up to one ton per hectare, in the second - eight tons. The maximum yield of ten to twenty tons of raspberries of this variety is gaining by the third year. These yield indicators contribute to a good payback when grown on an industrial scale.
Agrotechnical characteristics of a grade
Presented in the photo is a raspberry repairing variety "caramel", according to the description of the copyright holder, is a universal variety of dessert type. Fruits on the shoots of the current year. Fruiting medium-early. Berry picking begins in late July - early August and continues until frost. Shoots that did not bear fruit in the first year give two crops in the second year: the first from mid-July, the second from late August to early September. Berry picking in this case continues until the onset of cold weather.
Seedlings bought and planted in spring give a good harvest already in the current season. Up to eight substitution shoots can be obtained from a two to three year old bush. If Caramel is cultivated as an annual crop, that is, all its stems are cut in autumn, the shoots of the next year grow very quickly and gain good green mass, necessary for the formation of a new crop.
The variety is characterized by good winter hardiness and not too strong drought tolerance.
Choosing a place for raspberry
Like any raspberry, “caramel” prefers areas with maximum lighting, covered from the north by a fence, buildings or tall trees. It does not tolerate heavy acidified soil and closely adjacent groundwater. Therefore, for planting, you need to choose a site with light fertile soil, located on a hill. Earlier, nightshade crops and raspberries of other varieties should not have grown on it. The old raspberry picks up all the nutrients necessary for this culture from the soil, and the nightshade leaves those pests that threaten the crop.
The site is prepared for landing, at least a month in advance:
- if the soil is infertile, manure, humus, peat, chicken droppings or compost, as well as potassium-phosphorus fertilizers and wood ash are introduced into it;
- coarse sand is added to clay soil;
- lime or old cement must be added to acidic soil.
In order to avoid cheating when buying seedlings, planting material should be purchased in nurseries or specialized stores. Cuttings or hemp with open roots should be without leaves. The root system of raspberries "caramel" consists of many thin filamentous roots. They should be flexible, white on the cut and treated with clay mash. Cuttings in pots or bags with a lump of earth may have leaves.
Landing
Potted or packaged raspberry seedlings can be planted throughout the summer season, from spring to autumn. Cuttings with open roots are planted in March or at the end of September. Plants planted in spring will yield crops in late summer - early autumn. Seedlings planted in the fall, next year will give two crops per season.
Cuttings are planted in pre-prepared holes up to half a meter deep or grooves at a distance of slightly less than a meter between the bushes. The distance between the rows should be at least two meters. The soil removed from the holes is mixed with compost, old manure, bird droppings and wood ash. This mixture is filled with holes in the third and planted cuttings in them, carefully straightening their roots. Then they fall asleep with ordinary soil and watered each seedling with one bucket of water. The soil around the cuttings is compacted and covered with sawdust, straw or dry grass.
In order to achieve such a high yield, as in the description and reviews of raspberries of the “caramel” variety in the photo, the plant must be provided with proper care.
Watering
Raspberry "caramel" does not tolerate drought, so watering is mandatory for it. The soil under it should be moist to a depth of forty centimeters. It is recommended to dig shallow grooves along the rows for irrigation or to equip drip irrigation. If the bushes are few, you can make a hole around the trunk. With this method of watering, usually it is enough two buckets per bush.
Especially plentiful raspberries need to be watered before the beginning of spring and summer flowering and during the period when the berries are tied and grown. If the autumn is warm and dry, then for the second autumn harvest you will need two or three buckets per bush.
Raspberry bushes are watered every two weeks. In the rainy season, it is not required, since stagnation of water can cause root diseases and, as a result, a decrease in productivity.
Top dressing
If fertilizers were applied to the soil before laying the raspberry, in the next couple of years, fertilizing is not needed. Then the bushes will need annual feeding three times per season:
- Immediately after the snow melts and the end of spring frost, organic fertilizers are applied - slurry, bird droppings or infusion of weeds at the rate of four to five liters of solution per square meter. Instead of organics, you can use urea or ammonium nitrate at the rate of fifteen grams per square meter.
- With the beginning of the first flowering, a second top dressing is carried out. For it, use potassium, superphosphate, as well as compost, herbal infusion or wood ash diluted with water.
- The third feeding is carried out at the end of summer during the second flowering. If raspberries are grown in an annual culture, fertilizers are applied after harvest. For this, at least one bucket of compost or manure diluted in water is brought under each bush. If the autumn is dry, at least three buckets should be applied to the bush.
Before applying fertilizer, the soil under the plants must be watered so as not to burn the roots.
Pruning
If it is planned to get one crop a year, all branches under the root are cut off from the raspberry bushes “caramel” in the fall. In spring, the roots will give new shoots that will bear fruit this season. Such pruning allows you to increase future crops, removes all diseases and pests with pruned branches, and eliminates the need to cover bushes for the winter.
If you plan to get two crops per season, in the autumn only the shoots are removed, and the young branches pinch the tops at a height of no more than one and a half meters.
If autumn pruning was not carried out, in the spring, usually in April, branches that are dried or frozen during the winter are selectively removed. In May, some gardeners pinch shoots of remont raspberries for later and abundant fruiting.
Summer pruning is carried out when the bush grows strongly, and there is a need to remove weak, thin or damaged shoots. Five to six of the strongest branches are left on the bush in order to save the strength of the plant for fruiting and to avoid excessive shade of the bush.
Shelter for the winter
Raspberries of the “caramel” variety have good frost resistance, but, despite this, they need winter shelter. The preparation of the shrub for winter is as follows: the shoots remaining on the bush are bent to the ground, fixed in this position and covered with any geotextile. In areas with snowy winters, raspberries are covered with snow.
Garter
Despite the fact that the raspberry stalks of the “caramel” variety are distinguished by high elasticity and strength, during the ripening of the crop under the weight of a large number of berries they can bend to the ground. Therefore, the garter to the support, at least in the form of an ordinary single-lane trellis, is still needed for this sort of raspberry. It helps not only maintain the stems, but also contributes to an even distribution of shoots. And this, in turn, leads to good lighting and airing of the entire bush, which helps in the prevention of various fungal diseases.
"Caramel" is one of the best modern varieties of remont raspberries, so it deserves close attention as amateur gardeners and farmers-entrepreneurs.