Scientists have conducted studies that have shown that regular use of blueberries in food slows the aging of the brain, protects it from the effects of radioactive influences, and also improves memory and attention. How to grow such a storehouse of real health, like blueberries? Planting and caring for the plant has several nuances. Let's figure it out together!
What is a blueberry plant?
This is a low deciduous shrub which has straight branches of brownish or dark gray color. Blueberry shoots are green, leaves are smooth, not more than three centimeters long. On the tops of the branches are the drooping flowers, reaching a length of 6 cm. A cup of blueberries is created with 4 or 5 sepals. Corolla has the shape of a whitish-colored jug. Fruit of a bush - berries no more than 1.2 cm in length with a blue bloom. Blueberries bloom in May, and begins to bear fruit in August. The plant is extremely common in swampy sphagnum soils in Siberia, Europe, the Caucasus and the Far East. However, blueberry garden in the suburbs is also often found.
Correct landing
Blueberries for planting can often be found in containers with peat. One should be careful not to take seedlings, which have roots open - they probably will not get accustomed. Gardeners can offer blueberries from the greenhouse, but with the slightest frost, such plants will freeze. In the spring, new branches will appear on the site of the dead branches, but it is better to keep the sissy at home, on a well-illuminated window sill, and at the end of May, plant specimens in the ground. Blueberries, planting and caring for which is especially beautiful, if you plant bushes in wooden boxes, it will be healthy if you mix small stones or expanded clay in the soil, as well as peat.
Reproduction of blueberries
You can propagate a plant in a vegetative or seed way. Select a full berries, of which seeds are selected and dried. They are planted in peat beds with fertilizers in the very last autumn days. If the gardener is going to plant seeds in the spring, then first of all he needs to do their stratification for three months. In grooves of depth 1 cm spread them, sprinkled with sand and peat (1: 3). It is important to monitor the temperature of the soil - at least 23-25 degrees. Seedlings should be watered regularly, the soil should be loosened and weeds weed. After one year in the spring, you should start making nitrogen fertilizers and continue doing this for two years. Then young bushes need to be transplanted to a new place, where in 5-6 years they will begin to bear fruit. In addition, the plant can be propagated by cuttings. Blueberries, planting and care for which were correct, will necessarily become a beautiful shrub that will richly bear fruit.
Care for blueberries
The soil where the blueberry bush grows must be properly treated so as not to damage the root system, which extends only 15 cm from the surface. Every year, the land should be mulched with peat, regularly make fertilizers, water it well. Shrub responds well to the spring formation (pruning of weak shoots, high-quality sanitation). Blueberries, planting and care of which are carried out by an experienced gardener, who knows that manure can not be used as fertilizer, will necessarily grow up as a first-class "home doctor". To increase the yield, several varieties can be planted, such as blueberries "bilkrop", "breams", "dyuk", "patriot".