Raspberry Varieties For Every Taste - 1

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Favorite berry of gardeners for the Northwest region

Raspberry is one of the oldest berry crops, the most popular and beloved by both adults and children. In Russia, it grows almost everywhere where a person is engaged in agriculture. It has become widespread in summer cottages and household plots, where it now occupies an area of over 20 thousand hectares.

The popularity of this culture is explained by its ability to grow in various natural and climatic conditions, and often in those where many other berry plants freeze out, dry out, are damaged by late spring and early autumn frosts, and suffer from a lack of moisture on hot summer days. The unpretentiousness of the plants allows you to plant raspberries already in the very initial period of the development of the garden plot.

The wide distribution of this culture is also explained by the valuable nutritional and medicinal properties of its berries, early maturity, annual fruiting, late flowering, as a result of which plants and flowers are rarely damaged by recurrent spring frosts. In addition, it is appreciated for a long fruiting period, which is determined by a set of varieties with a large amplitude of ripening times - from super early to late and remontant.

In the historically developed regions of commercial cultivation of raspberries on personal plots, the yield of the plant can reach 5 kg of berries per bush. Usually, amateur gardeners get 1-1.5 kg per bush. The use of modern best varieties makes it possible to bring the average yield of raspberries cultivated in amateur plots to 2.5-3 kg per bush.

On the territory of Russia, with its various soil and climatic conditions, one cannot do without a large set of raspberry varieties, however, in each specific region, its own zoned assortment is formed, including 6-8 best "cosmopolitan" varieties with a wide adaptive potential and a high level of economically valuable traits.

At present, 40 varieties of raspberries are registered in the State Register of Breeding Achievements Permitted for Use (2002), about the same number are undergoing state testing.

For the North-West region, the State Register recommended for use (zoned) 10 varieties of raspberries: Meteor, Novost Kuzmina, Barnaulskaya, Balsam, Kaliningradskaya, Kirzhach, Skromnitsa, Sputnitsa, Korallovaya, Nagrada.

In recent years, breeders of Russia have bred many new promising varieties that are of great interest and demand among amateur gardeners. Especially great achievements in the development of new varieties of raspberries were obtained in Bryansk at the Kokinsky support point of the VSTISiP (All-Russian Selection and Technological Institute of Horticulture and Nursery) I. V. Kazakov - Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Professor, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, who created more than 20 popular varieties growing from northern to southern regions.

The most famous and common of them are the varieties Meteor, Beglyanka, Bryanskaya, Zhuravlik, Kaskad Bryanskiy, Solnyshko, Balsam, Volnitsa, Gusar, Dachnaya, Kokinskaya, Modestnitsa, Sputnitsa, Brigantina, Peresvet and a number of remontant varieties - Apricot summer, Augustina, Baba Indian Summer-2, Hercules, Beglyanka, Peresvet, Bryansk Divo, Golden Domes, Monomakh's Hat, Brilliant, etc. (we talked about remontant varieties in the last issue of the magazine).

In VSTISiP (Moscow) Doctor of Science, Professor, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation V. V. Kichina also created a group of highly productive and large-fruited varieties, which, despite their insufficient winter hardiness, are of great interest to amateur gardeners, because with good care and mandatory shelter of the stems for the winter, they are capable of producing up to 4 kg of berries from a bush. The most valuable of them are Aboriginal, Maroseyka, Stolichnaya, Taganka, Mirage, Patricia and Tarusa.

Here, the candidate of agricultural sciences E. I. Yaroslavtsev obtained varieties Rosyanitsa (Yaroslavna), Spolokh, etc.

A number of new interesting varieties of raspberries were obtained at the Research Institute of Horticulture in Siberia, at the Leningrad Fruit and Vegetable Experimental Station and at other research institutes.

The specificity of the selection of varieties of raspberries for household and summer cottages, which are the main producers of the berries of this crop, is very peculiar.

Selecting varieties from among zoned and promising varieties, it is necessary to determine in advance what to do with the harvest, how many berries the gardener can remove and sell (use fresh, process, sell). Everyone probably wants to feast on fresh berries all summer, so varieties of different ripening periods are chosen for planting: early, middle, late and remontant.

The set of varieties on the site may be different. Preference is given to those varieties in which berries do not crumble or darken when overripe, or large-fruited varieties with high taste and marketability of berries. However, due to the insufficient winter hardiness of such varieties, it is necessary to bend down for the winter and cover the plants with snow - in this case, the shoots should be flexible, pubescent or covered with a waxy coating and thornless (convenient for bending).

Or, on the contrary, be with strong, stable even under heavy load, low - up to 1.5 m shoots, with short internodes, powerful leaves and a deep root system. Such plants do not require bending for the winter and tying them to the trellis.

For transportation and sale of fresh crops and for freezing them, preference is given to varieties with strong berries, highly resistant to fruit rot. To make juices, it is not necessary to have varieties with strong berries, it is more important that they are brightly colored. But for compotes, both high strength of berries and their intense color are required.

Yellow-fruited varieties of raspberries, which are sweet-fruited and loved by children, are also of significant interest for household plots. In a word, choosing varieties for your site is not an easy task, and everyone decides this issue for himself.

More often, of course, tested and well-proven varieties zoned in each region are planted, however, giving preference to novelties, gardeners are of great benefit, as they accelerate the verification and reproduction of promising varieties.

Below is a brief description of the main zoned and promising raspberry varieties for the North-West region.

Regionalized varieties

Meteor -

a variety of super early ripening. Berries of medium size (2.7-3 g), ruby color, round-conical, good taste with universal aroma. They are distinguished by amicable ripening, opening the season for the consumption of raspberries. The yield is high (1.9-2.5 kg per bush). The bush is 1.8-2 m high, slightly spreading, it forms an average number of shoots, slightly thorny. Annual shoots are straight, green, biennial - light brown. The variety is winter hardy. It is highly sensitive to spider mites.

Kuzmin's news -

an early old Russian variety, widespread almost everywhere. Berries of medium size (weight 1.9-2.7 g), truncated-conical, dark red, with firmly adhered drupes of medium size, pleasant taste with a strong aroma. Fruiting is annual, stable with relatively amicable ripening. Average yield - up to 1.2 kg per bush. High winter hardiness, average shoot formation. Shoots 1.8-2 m high with a strongly drooping tip, prone to branching, medium thorny, light green with a weak waxy bloom. It is damaged by fungal diseases, shoot gall midge and raspberry gnat.

Barnaul -

a variety of early ripening. Berries of medium size (weight 2-2.7 g), round-conical, red, shiny, good taste with an average aroma. They crumble heavily, not transportable. Average yield - up to 1.2 kg per bush. The bush is 1.5-2 m in height, forms a lot of shoots, they are powerful, bright red in autumn, very high, so many fall off at the base, the top droops strongly. Medium number of thorns, strong wax coating. Winter hardiness is good, but when damaged by a spider mite, purple spot, shoot gall midge and with prolonged growth, the plants freeze strongly.

Balm -

a variety of medium ripening. The berries are large (weight 2.7-3.5 g), conical, dark raspberry, good sweet and sour taste with a weak aroma. The yield is high - up to 2.5 kg per bush. The bush is medium-sized - 1.6-1.8 m, slightly spreading, forms an average number of shoots, they are green, by autumn they become purple, two-year-olds are light brown, prickly. The variety stands out for its high winter hardiness, is relatively weakly affected by fungal diseases and spider mites. It is one of the most promising new varieties.