Most of the useful forest plants - herbs and berries - are now successfully grown by gardeners at home, in the garden or in the garden. Scientists, as a result of a series of breeding studies, managed to ennoble some of the varieties of fruiting shrubs, developing new, even more productive varieties adapted to extreme growing conditions. This list opens with raspberries and strawberries, complements its cranberries and cranberries, and in recent years also Duke blueberries, which is popular with amateur gardeners.
Blueberry berry has healthy properties: it regulates metabolism, acts as a natural antioxidant, and helps to normalize vision.
Botanical certificate of the plant
Compared with its forest relatives, this blueberry is distinguished by the large size of the berries and the bush itself. Blueberry Duke with shoots stretching towards the sun can reach up to 160-200 cm in height. Due to sparse branching, all shoots are well warmed up by the sun, which contributes to intensive growth, the formation of large berries and their qualitative uniform ripening. So the need for thinning is completely eliminated.
Flowers
The flowers look like small bells of a soft pink color. They are moderately arranged on the leaves, creating an interesting decorative effect.
Leaves
The shape and color of the leaves are distinguished by a beautiful decorative appearance, which in the fall, dressing in a crimson color, cannot but surprise. Having planted such a plant on the site, you get not only a useful fruit-bearing berry, but also an attractive external plant.
Berries
Blueberry (variety Duke) is a mid-ripe berry, the ripening of which occurs closer to the end of July.
Berries are large in size, with a diameter of up to 2 cm. In shape they are regular, round. Outwardly they resemble blueberries, but with a more delicate light color. Inside, juicy and fleshy.
It is always pleasant to collect such berries: they are large and easily come off the leaf. Due to the density of the outer shell of the berries, they are stored for a long time and can be easily transported over a long distance.
Interesting! Stored for some time in the cold, blueberries acquire new taste.
The berry lends itself well to freezing.
Blueberry flowering period
The beginning of flowering occurs in May. Outwardly, the bush resembles an ornamental plant, according to which at first glance you can’t determine that it is actually a blueberry, preparing to bring a crop.
With a sudden onset of May frost or a sharp drop in temperature, other berries do not bloom at all. Sometimes this process is accompanied by dropping flowers, which leads to a complete loss of bush productivity this year. Blueberry Duke is a hardy plant. She is not afraid of a sharp change in temperature and pleases the owners with an annual sweet harvest.
Productivity
Yields are high. From one bush it is easy to get 4-6 kg of selected berries, and when creating comfortable conditions for growing and careful care - all 8 kg of berries that Duke blueberries repay for the efforts of the gardener. Reviews gardeners note a tendency to constancy in fruiting. Yield indicators can be maintained at the same level annually, if the plant is provided with proper care.
Useful properties of blueberries
Berries are noted not only for their high taste, but also for their usefulness. Blueberries contain a rich vitamin complex: C, B 1 , B 2 , A, K. Eating berries helps to prevent many diseases. That is why in folk medicine it is actively used from rhizomes and ending with Duke blueberries. The description of the plant shows its healing qualities.
Planting and caring for a berry
The cultivation of blueberries, as well as other berries in the garden, has its own characteristics, ignoring which can lead to low yield of the bush or its complete death due to improper care.
What can ruin your plant
Rumors have been circulated about growing berries in wetlands, but this is highly discouraged. Growing in wetlands in nature does not mean at all that the planting of Duke blueberries is necessarily carried out under the same conditions. This can lead to the death of the plant. This is one of the most common mistakes when growing blueberries at home. Shaded areas are also not suitable for planting. It is better to give preference to open terrain on the site. Gardeners make mistakes both in watering, and in the choice of soil, and in the specifics of fertilizing during the cultivation of blueberries.
So that you do not have to throw away seedlings that you purchased cheaply, familiarize yourself with the specifics of the agricultural technology of such a berry as Duke blueberries. The description of the variety will help you highlight the golden rules for caring for a cultivated plant and get a high-quality crop in the end.
Features of planting a plant
Landing is carried out in a well-lit area, preferably protected from sudden gusts of wind. Despite the warmth and photophilia, the Duke blueberry variety tolerates frosts up to -34 ° C.
The berry is characterized by exactingness to the soil. The plant grows more actively on light soils with high acidity (3.5-5), sandstones, peatlands.
If the soil does not reach the recommended acidity indicator, fertilizers can be applied. Any acid is used for this in a proportion of 25-30 grams per 12 liters of water. You can not water the entire garden, but only the hole around the plant.
It is recommended to mulch the soil around the shrub with a layer of pine sawdust up to 10 centimeters thick. Having planted a plant once, you can not worry about frequent transplants. The next stage of moving the plant to a more enriched soil you have to spend no earlier than 20 years.
Bushes are cut, starting at the age of six, leaving four old and young branches each.
Watering and fertilizing technology for blueberries
Blueberries are water-loving plants. In this case, it will be necessary to organize a plentiful and systematic watering to the berry. It is important not to overdo it during irrigation and to prevent stagnation of water, as this can lead to decay of the root system and rapid death of blueberries.
Drying of the soil has a bad effect on the development of a young bush. Watering rates for Duke blueberries are similar to the scheme for moistening beds with carrots or potatoes.
Top dressing is made annually. The root system of the berry needs a sufficient amount of nitrogen, because fertilizers are applied in a large dose, supplementing them with phosphorus or potassium fertilizing.
Important! You can not use compost or any type of dung fertilizer to fertilize blueberries!
To saturate the soil around the bush with nitrogen, you can use ammonium sulfate (30-35 grams per bush will be enough) or ammonium nitrate (up to 30 grams per bush).
Nitrogen fertilizer application rates
Fertilizing is recommended in 3 stages:
- 50% of the dosage - during the period of budding;
- 30% of the dosage before flowering;
- 20% of the dosage - with the beginning of ripening berries (in June).
Top dressing with phosphate or potassium fertilizers is applied twice: in main portions - in early spring and in June, when the berry fruit.
Superphosphate or potassium sulfate is best suited for fertilizer.
Protection against diseases and pests
In order to prevent diseases and infections affecting blueberries, as well as repel pests, the bushes are treated with fungicides. It is acceptable to carry out several stages of processing:
- in spring, as soon as the leaves of the berry blossom: up to 3 times with an interval of 7-10 days;
- after picking berries;
- in the fall, when the leaves are already falling.
A frost-resistant variety of Duke blueberries is best suited for cultivation in a temperate region. Reviews of gardeners emphasize its frost resistance qualities, but they highlight one feature. With a snowy frosty winter, the berry requires additional protection, since the root system is poorly protected and can be weathered. Therefore, there is a need to envelop the bush well.
Blueberry Duke is a shrub plant, giving up to 6 kilograms of berries in one season, for which gardeners are increasingly choosing this plant for growing variety.