Black raspberry Cumberland is an exotic beauty that stands out favorably with large dark purple berries against the background of habitually red raspberry varieties. This perennial shrub is able to grow in one place for about 20 years. Its seedlings are quite difficult to find on sale. For the unusually black color of the Cumberland raspberry, reviews of which are almost always enthusiastic due to its unusualness, are often confused with blackberries. The only difference is the size of the berries (for raspberries they are smaller) and eat them (for blackberries with a stalk).
Black Raspberry Cumberland: description
Raspberries have an amazing aroma and sweet pleasant taste. The vitamins and nutrients in its composition are invaluable he alth benefits. On the bushes, the fruits are kept for a long time and are well stored both fresh and frozen. Black raspberry Cumberland is an excellent basis for compotes and jams. In order to enhance the taste and appearance of finished dishes, it is often mixed withred berries.
The bushes are semi-spreading in shape, with arched shoots hanging down; height is about 3 meters. Annual shoots - green with a bluish bloom; Biennial plants are characterized by a brown color with a lilac bloom. Raspberry fruits are medium, rounded. At the initial stage of ripening they are red, which gradually darkens and becomes black when fully ripe.
Cumberland Raspberry Benefits
Cumberland raspberry, which is similar in description to other raspberry varieties, is high-yielding and bears fruit for 12–14 years. Further, there is a decrease in yield, so old bushes have to be replaced with young seedlings. Characteristic features of this variety are late long flowering, good transportability, high yield. On each shoot of a bush, with proper care, about 10 brushes with 10–15 berries can be observed. If the number of shoots is left more than ten, then the berry will be small. This variety of raspberries is not of interest to pests, perhaps due to the black color of the berries.
The disadvantages of the variety include a strong thickening of the bushes, an abundance of seeds in the fruits and a large number of thorns on the shoots.
Black raspberry does not give root offspring, which is its important advantage, because it does not force gardeners to suffer with getting rid of young shoots.
Planting chokeberry
Planting raspberry Cumberland is recommended on gray forest soils orlight loamy chernozems. The most optimal planting time is early spring, immediately after the snow has melted. A place for a shrub is better to choose sunny and well protected from the winds. It is not recommended to plant raspberry seedlings near blackberries, after uprooting red-fruited raspberries, and also after harvesting potatoes and tomatoes.
The distance when planting between the bushes should be from 1.5 to 2 meters, the row spacing should be 2 meters (to avoid shading the berries). Long raspberry shoots should preferably be fixed on a trellis consisting of three rows of wire (at a height of 0, 7, 1, 3 and 1.8 meters from the ground).
The depth of the landing pit is approximately 30–40 cm with a diameter of half a meter. To enrich the planting soil with useful substances, it is necessary to add 6–7 kg of peat-manure compost (or humus), 150–200 grams of superphosphate, 70–80 grams of potassium sulfate to the pit. As an analogue of phosphorus-potassium fertilizers, you can use sifted ash, which will require about 500 grams per pit. After planting, the plant should be watered abundantly (about 4 liters for each bush) and mulched with a 6–8 cm layer of rotted compost.
Since Cumberland raspberries are quite flexible and tall, it is recommended to tie the stems to pre-installed trellises the next year after planting. It is preferable to choose a fan-shaped garter for easy harvesting.
Raspberry Cumberland: care
Chokeberry raspberries bloom quite late, after the end of spring frosts; this feature of the plantcauses the salvation of fruits from freezing. There are many flowers on the bush, they hang in tassels on almost all shoots. Cumberland raspberry is an excellent honey plant, so it is readily pollinated by bees.
Garter shoots can be omitted if they are shortened by 10 cm upon reaching a height of half a meter. This operation will cause the formation of side shoots, which will make the plant compact.
Despite the unpretentiousness, Cumberland raspberries still need care throughout the season, for which they will fully repay a good tasty harvest.
Important care factors
Important factors in caring for chokeberry are:
- Spring garter of plant shoots to the trellis.
- Pruning and removing diseased, dry and thin shoots.
- Moderation in watering and avoiding stagnant water during the formation of ovaries and fruit ripening.
- Feeding with infusion of mullein mixed with superphosphate and ash (with an abundance of ovary).
- Feeding the plant after shedding flowers, during the period of pouring berries and after harvesting the first harvest.
- Preparing for winter, which consists in removing the shoots from the trellis and bending them to the ground. Bushes can not be covered, because raspberries are frost-resistant crops. It is enough to use special metal brackets that securely hold the shoots at the same distance.
Due to the difficulty of finding seedlings of such an unusual plant, they can be grown independently: by seeds, green cuttings, by rooting the topsshoots or horizontal layering.
Propagation of chokeberry
Easy and labor-intensive way - rooting tops, which usually hang down to the ground due to long (up to 3 meters) shoots. The tops just need to be covered with earth (preferably in August) and compacted; then by September you can already enjoy adventitious roots and small shoots. They should be spudded for the winter, they can be covered with humus or peat; from the mother plant, the newly formed bush can be separated already in the spring, planting it separately for growing or already in a permanent place.
More seedlings can be obtained using horizontal lead. To do this, all the shoots of the bush in early spring must be cut to 15 cm, they will grow over the summer, and in August, well-developed stems should be fixed in the grooves. At the first appearance of adventitious roots, the fixed shoots should be sprinkled with earth, leaving leaves and apical buds. The following autumn, young shrubs will grow from rooted cuttings, which can be separated from the mother plant and transplanted. It is advisable not to abuse this method of obtaining seedlings, because excessive exploitation of the mother bush will lead to its death.
Cumberland raspberries are rarely propagated by cuttings or seeds. Gardeners do not really welcome this method due to its laboriousness.
Formation of a chokeberry bush
To get a good harvest and ease of harvesting, the Cumberland raspberry variety needs the correct formation of a bush,which is desirable to start when the shoots reach a height of 50–70 cm. They should be shortened by 7–10 cm. This will stop the growth of the shrub and cause the growth and development of lateral shoots, which in early spring, before the start of the growing season, should be shortened by 3–6 buds (depending on from the strength of the offspring). Along with this, it is required to completely remove weak shoots at the base.
Cumberland raspberry, like any plant, needs moisture, so it needs to be watered abundantly before the berries ripen (in June - the month).
Cutting
The first pruning of the plant is done when the shoots of the current year reach a height of more than 2 meters. They should be shortened to a height not exceeding 180 cm (approximately in late June - early July). After pruning, branching of the shoots along the entire length and the massive appearance of lateral processes will begin. And you can’t be late with trimming the tops. Early deadlines for its execution will leave side shoots more time to grow and develop.
The second pruning should be done in early November (once the plant has a dormant period). Lateral shoots should be greatly shortened - up to 20–50 cm. It is they who will give an excellent high-quality harvest next summer. In parallel with pruning, it is required to cut (as close to the base as possible) the two-year-old shoots that have already fruited, leaving 8–10 of the thickest and most powerful branches on the bush.
Feeding
Cumberland raspberry, like any other plant, needs high-quality nutrition.
The first time you should feed the plant aftershedding of flowers. A bucket of mullein should be diluted with 8-10 buckets of water; bird droppings are diluted with more water (a bucket of fertilizer for 18–20 buckets of water). Ash (a liter jar) and superphosphate (100 grams) should also be added here. For each bush, the consumption is 3 buckets of the resulting composition.
The second feeding in the same way is carried out when pouring berries, and the third - after the first harvest.
To avoid the berries shrinking, do not allow the soil to dry out. The berries are picked approximately every 1-2 days (as they ripen), and their number increases each time.
Raspberry Cumberland, reviews of consumers and gardeners about which are only positive, with proper quality care, will fully delight gardeners with a generous and tasty harvest for at least 14 years.
