Cranberries are called a traditional superfood and one of three fruits native to North America.Cranberries might take the shape of juices or a sauce. These berries have been used for textile coloring and medical uses, in addition to being used in dressings, casseroles, and desserts.Wisconsin is the leading cranberry grower, contributing to over half of all berries grown in the United States, followed by Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, and Oregon. Do you know some berry vines on Cape Cod in Southeastern Massachusetts are over 150 years old? These nutritious berries are also a must-have food in the traditional menu of the Thanksgiving feast, in North America.Devouring cranberries in your diet will undoubtedly offer numerous health benefits since they are rich in various vitamins and antioxidants. Cranberries give health benefits that go far beyond the well-known cure for urinary tract infections and restrict some forms of cancer, better immunological function, and lower blood pressure.Isn’t it interesting to learn how cranberries with so many benefits grow?Read on to know more, and do take a look at other related topics like how many legs do butterflies have? And how long for duck eggs to hatch?Process Of Farming CranberriesCranberries are small, creeping bushes or vines that can grow 7 ft (2 m) long and 2-8 inches (5-20 cm) tall. Cranberries grow in a bog, traditionally in the wild. These bogs or marshes are formed by glacial deposits as old as ten thousand years ago. Typically, this bog holds clay with layers of gravel, peat, and sand. Today, professional farmers recreate the natural growing environment by using a system of ponds, marshes, floods, and ditches to provide an optimal growth environment for the fruit.Cranberries grow in wet sandy soil with organic content that is not flooded. They require full sun to partial shade with frost cover and grow best on acidic soil around 4.5 pH. Cranberries grow naturally by relocating them from an existing bed. The vines are placed on the new bed’s sand and pressed into it with a rough disk. During the first several weeks, the vines are watered until roots develop and new shoots arise. During the first year, nitrogen fertilizer is applied to the beds on a regular basis.Cranberries are collected in the fall, typically, from mid-September through mid-November when the fruit develops its unique deep red color, ideally after the first frost. Cranberries bloom on the vines during spring and summer.There are two types of harvesting in the fall: wet and dry harvesting. Around 90% of the total cranberry yield is wet harvesting. In this method, cranberries are harvested by flooding the beds with 6-8 inches (15-20 cm) of water above the vines. A harvester is used over the beds to remove the fruit from the plants. These separate the berries from the vines, and then they float to the surface of the water. Now, cranberries harvested are herded to the corner and transported. They are then cleaned, sorted, and stored until being packed or processed into delicious food like cranberry juice or cranberry sauce. The other 10% of cranberries grown each year accounts for dry harvesting. These are the fresh cranberries you may buy at your local grocery store or market center.Growing cranberries requires a lot of patience because they start fruit production after 2-3 years of growth.How are cranberries grown in water?There is a common misunderstanding that cranberries grow in water, but this is not the case; it is simply their harvesting method.Cranberries float and reach the top of the bog because they have four air pockets. Wet harvesting involves flooding the bog with a layer of water of 6-8 inches (15-20 cm) above the vines to remove the cranberries. Cranberry growers use the flooding technique to harvest and protect their plants from winter’s cold, dry winds, separate fallen leaves, and control weeds.How are cranberries grown in a bag?One of the best ways to put fresh food on the festive table or a holiday is to grow cranberries in your gardens.Cranberry plants may be grown from seed in bags. Cut open the fresh fruits carefully and drop off the tiny seeds on a wet or moist paper towel. Place the moist paper towel wrapped around the seeds in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Remember, do not lock the bag, it needs some air. Monitor it every week or two to make sure the paper towel doesn’t dry up. Cranberry seeds require cold stratify for nearly three months to sprout.When the weather turns warm in early summer, remove the seeds from the fridge and plant them in a thick, peat-based potting mixture. Cranberries need acidic soils, and peat contributes to simulating their native habitat. Allow the plants to grow in pots for the first year after they sprout. The small plants will be delicate, so it’s better to wait until they have a strong root system before transplanting them. In the fall, transplant them into a permanent bed.It takes 3-4 years for seed-grown cranberry plants to bear fruit.How to grow cranberries at home?Cranberries are perennial, so once planted, plants will continue to produce crops over and over again with little care.It is not recommended to start cranberry plants from seed in bags since it takes a long time. However, it is simple to begin growing at home with plants because saplings may be acquired from a breeder or obtained from commercial growers.Search and pick plants with rich green foliage and lots of vines emerging from the container. Choose a place that receives adequate sunlight, has enough drainage, and has highly fertile soil. Plant cranberries on a bed made of two parts peat and one part sand, with clay soil below to maintain moisture. You can plant your cranberries 2-3 ft (0.61-0.91 m) apart. They have a shallow root system that extends only around six inches below the surface. Cranberries grow slowly as a groundcover plant. Each fall, do not forget to mulch the plants with a layer of sand to protect and encourage their spread.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for how do cranberries grow? Then why not take a look at how many legs does a centipede have? Or how are almonds grown?
Cranberries are called a traditional superfood and one of three fruits native to North America.
