Kamchatka berryis a rather unpopular berry shrub in Poland. Meanwhile, the fruits of the Kamchatka berry are tasty and extremely rich in vitamins, and the plant to be grown in our kimata is predisposed to high frost resistance and relatively low requirements. Get to know the besthaskap berry varietiesfor growing on the plot and see how the planting, cultivation and reproduction of haskap berries looks like in amateur conditions.
Kamchatka berry - fruit
Fig. depositphotos.com
Kamchatka berrybelongs to the Drill family - Capriloliaceae.The correct name of this shrub is Honeysuckle - Lonicera caerulea. In nature, the shrub grows up to 1.5 m in height with a similar width, has raised and stiff shoots. Its natural range covers Northeast Asia.Kamchatka berryis completely frost-resistant, withstands temperatures down to - 45 ° C!
The flowers of the Kamchatka berry are white and yellow in color, the fruit is almost black with a blue coating, elongated, with a taste they resemble forest berries.Haskap berriesripen at the end of May or June. You can make many preserves from the fruits of the Kamchatka berry. It is said that Kamchatka berry wine is extremely tasty. You can also make jam or juice. The infusion of dried haskap berry flowers is extremely effective in the fight against colds. The fruit itself can also be eaten raw with, for example, whipped cream.Kamchatka berryis a long-lived shrub that can bear fruit for over 35 years!
Haskap berry varieties
In cultivation you can only findhaskap berry varieties . The pure species is not grown for its fruit.
Kamchatka Berry Czelabinka- very resistant to frost and drought, a shrub of medium growth strength and a semicircular habit. Pomegranate, elongated, slightly pear-shaped fruits, tasty, ripen at the end of May.
Kamchatka Berry Wojtek- a medium early variety of Kamchatka berry, with tasty, slightly sour fruits, gives a rich harvest, the fruits store well.
Kamchatka Berry Rebekah- it bears fruit late, only in the second half of June. The taste of the fruit resembles black currant. Harvesting difficult because the fruits hold tight to the shoots.
Kamchatka Berry Iga- medium late variety, it bears profusely, the fruit is sweet and easy to pick.
Siniglaska Kamchatka Berry- resistant to frost and drought, moderate growth rate.It bears fruit at the end of May. The fruits of this variety are light navy blue, covered with bloom, quite large and cylindrical in shape. They are tasty, suitable for direct consumption, preserves and freezing.
Kamchatka berry Tundra- medium early variety of the Kamchatka berry, it bears profusely, the harvest is easy, the fruits are sour and sweet.
Wołosznicka Kamchatka berry- long-lived and frost-resistant variety. It produces large, dark blue, almost oval-shaped berries with an uneven skin surface. The bush is very fertile and the fruit is tasty. It bears fruit at the turn of May and June.
Kamchatka berry - flowers
Fig. WildBoar, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons
Haskap planting and growing
Growing Kamchatka berryis not particularly difficult. The position should be sunny for the fruit to color well. The more sun they get, the sweeter they will be.The soil for the cultivation of haskap berries should be fertile and well-drained.Growing Kamchatka berryfails on too heavy, flooded or too poor and sandy soil.
Beforeplanting haskap berriesthe soil should be enriched with manure or compost. The reaction of the substrate should be slightly acidic. When planting haskap berries, remember to plant several bushes next to each other due to cross pollination. It is best to plant bushes of different varieties, at a distance of 1 meter. A single bush will also bear fruit, but much less.
Planting haskap berryis not complicated. You should dig a sufficiently large hole so that the roots do not curl up and gently place the seedling in it. If we have not fertilized the soil in the entire plot, you can pour out the manure or compost to the bottom of the hole. After covering with soil, the seedling should be watered abundantly.
The furthercultivation of haskap berrydoes not require any special treatments. Bushes do not need to be covered for the winter. Watering can only be done during periods of drought.
Every 2-3 years in the fall, you can fertilize the ground under the berry using manure or compost. For this purpose, gently dig the root ball to a depth of approx. 40 cm and mix the dug soil with manure or compost. Then cover the dug hole with the mixture. At the end, beat everything well.
Kamchatka berry - cut
Cutting fruit bushes is usually the most troublesome activity in the care of these plants. The he alth and fertility of fruit plants largely depends on the correct pruning. It is therefore not surprising that so many people ask ushow to prune the Kamchatka berry
Fortunately,hacking berryis not as important as it might seem. This shrub grows quite well and gives yields when left without any pruning.
The first cut of the haskap berrycan be done right after planting the shrub to make it sprout better.Then all shoots are trimmed quite low. However, this treatment is not necessary as the Kamchatka berry grows quite nicely and sprouts new shoots also without pruning.
Then it is worth leaving the Kamchatka berry without cutting for several years. Too intensepruning haskap berrymay lead to excessive thickening of the bush, which will cause the fruit to become too small, and too little sun will reach the center of the bush's crown. That is why we limit ourselves to cutting only sick, broken or otherwise damaged shoots, which will no longer be useful anyway.
Only after about 5 years of cultivation it is worth makingcutting shining Kamchatka berry It consists in cutting 1-2 oldest shoots, shoots thickening the shrub and shaded shoots lying low above the ground, with few flower buds and the berries slowly ripening. We can make this shining cut every 1-2 years.
If we come across an older shrub that we have not de alt with before, it is worth knowing thatthe optimal number of shoots on the Kamchatka berryis about 20.Therefore, if the bush has many more of them, it is worth removing 2 excess shoots every year to get to this optimal number.
Recommendeddate for haskap berryis early spring. It is best to cut in March, choosing a warm, clear day, without rainfall.
Haskap berry reproduction
Haskap berry propagationshould be carried out in autumn, because in spring the shrub starts growing very quickly. It is best to propagate the Kamchatka berry through woody cuttings. The seedling should be cut off from the young, woody shoot so that its length is approx. 15 cm with a few buds. During the winter, we keep the cuttings in the sand in a cool and bright place. In the spring, we plant them in containers with a light, peaty substrate. Remember to water regularly to prevent the substrate from drying out.
After a few weeks, whenhash seedlingssprout new leaves (this means that they have rooted), you can plant them on permanent place.As you can seepropagating haskap berryis not complicated and if we stick to the rules, we can easily increase the ownership of these shrubs.
Katarzyna Matuszak
