Raspberry Heracles: grooming and growing characteristics

Raspberry, the queen of the garden, the first assistant for colds, is a worthy decoration of the vast majority of household plots. Not only the aromatic berries of the plant, but also its leaves and rhizomes possess curative properties.

Raspberry Heracles: description

Of the many varieties of this useful shrub it is worth to choose the raspberry Hercules, whose name speaks for itself. Its first and important advantage is the significant size of berries, reaching a weight of 9 to 15 grams. Large fruits of rich ruby-red color have the form of a truncated cone and high density, which is very convenient for transportation. The taste of berries is pleasant, sour-sweet (according to experts, 4 points on a 5-point system).

Hercules

Raspberry Heracles belongs to the repair varieties. This means that, unlike the raspberry common, the development of which occurs over a two-year cycle (the first year is the growth of shoots, and the second is the fruiting of stems that have already become biennial), the raspberry plant for one season has time to grow and reward with an excellent harvest. After harvesting of ripe berries, the stems taken in the last month of autumn or early spring must be cut to the level of the soil, taken out and destroyed. Also, along with the stems, most diseases and pests are removed from the site, which in the usual raspberry varieties carry the wintering just on the above-ground part of the bushes. Also the virtue of raspberry Hercules as representative of the repair grade is its low susceptibility to diseases and pests. Virtually no berries, damaged by the larva of the raspberry beetle, weevil and gall midges.

Exterior signs of a garden beauty

Raspberry remontant Heracles has an average height of the bush (from 1.5 to 2 meters), low spreading, does not bend under the weight of the crop; Strong upright bushes do not require a garter on the trellis. The leaves are saturated green, wrinkled, slightly twisted, have an average size. Shoots of the current year in the summer are characterized by a greenish tint, which by the fall is replaced by cherry and takes on a wax coating. Two-year-old shoots are characterized by a brown color. The stems are covered with numerous sharp spines covering the entire shoot and pointing downwards.

The ripening of berries occurs at the end of August, the fruiting period continues until the frosts. Provided timely fertilizing and the required agrotechnical measures, one bush is able to give up to 3 kilograms of fruits of excellent quality for a season, the third part of which ripens in the autumn period, which excludes the possibility of destruction by pests.

Weak and strong sides of the bush

Stability of the bush to numerous pests due to late fruiting is an undoubted advantage of this variety, as well as increased resistance to gray rot, fungal diseases and frost. Nevertheless, the raspberry Hercules needs pre-winter pruning and sheltering bushes.

The sour taste of berries, numerous thorns on the shoots, poor shoot formation and extended fruiting time (in some regions the harvest does not have time to fully ripen) refers to the disadvantages of the variety. Malina Hercules, whose reviews mostly have a positive bias, bear fruit in the upper part of the shoots, less often - practically on all their surface. A weak shoot formation is to some extent an advantage, because it does not require additional thinning of bushes due to their excessive thickening.

Raspberries Hercules is recommended for cultivation in farming and horticulture and perfectly suits the Central and Central Black Earth regions, it feels comfortable in the middle of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, but does not fully reveal its possibilities in the conditions of the forest-steppe and northern regions.

Features of care

Bushes are required to be planted in well-lit places, because raspberries like sunlight. For uniform illumination and ventilation during planting between bushes it is required to withstand about 80 cm, between rows - not less than 1.5 meters. The basal area is periodically required to mulch and feed several times per season. It is not necessary to process hives by chemical means of protection. An important factor is the observance of regular watering. After harvesting the last fruits, the above-ground part of the stems should be cut off completely in order to obtain a good and qualitative future crop.

Variety of raspberries Hercules can be grown for two-time harvesting (early and autumn), which is very beneficial if raspberries are grown for sale. Also the beauty of a two-time harvest is that you can pamper yourself with a delicious berry outside the season. It should be remembered that the volume of berry-yielded berries will still be the same, only with a breakdown for a while.

Also, raspberry Hercules can be grown as an autumn variety, which is achieved by pre-winter cutting to the ground level. In this case, the harvest will be late, but abundant. If a small part of the shoot is left, the fructification will move to a later date, which is a feature of all the repairing varieties.

How to get a high crop?

To obtain early raspberries, it is practiced autumn full pruning or pruning on 2 buds, while cutting out all young thin shoots to reduce the load on the bush and expand the area of nutrition. This measure is quite suitable for early harvesting, however, the yield from the lower bush will be less than expected. With full autumn pruning, the bush will turn out to be less high, but with a more abundant harvest. Raspberry Heracles is a relatively winter-hardy variety, but in snowless winters, as well as the threat of icing and recurrent frost, shelter is required.

Malina Hercules: Feedback

According to reviews, berries are not affected by pests; They can be consumed in fresh and frozen form, and also used for making useful jam, sweet jams and fragrant compotes. Raspberry remontant Heracles, according to gardeners, for a season yields from one bush yields from 1.5 to 3 kg of high-quality berries. Everything depends on the size of the bush and the agrotechnical conditions of cultivation.