Description of the variety
Hercules bears fruit twice a season. The first time is usually at the end of June, and the second time is from August to October. The variety is suitable for cultivation throughout almost the entire territory of the CIS and in most countries of Eastern Europe. But in the northern regions, although it can be grown, you should not count on high yields.
The bush is spreading, 1.5-2 meters high. Powerful shoots produce abundant lateral branching.
The spines are hard, curved down, medium in size, located over the entire surface of the stem.
Young shoots are greenish in color, annual shoots are richly purple at the end of the summer season and are covered with a waxy coating. Strong branches do not bend under the abundance of harvest.
The fruiting area occupies half the height of the bush.
Raspberry Hercules is a winter-hardy, drought-resistant variety. In snowless winters, it requires shelter. It's important not to overdo it. If the roots of the bush are over-covered, they overcook, which leads to the death of the bush.
The inflorescences are small in size; the stamen passes at the level of the pistil.
The ruby-colored fruits have a pronounced cone shape. The average weight of berries is 6 grams. The fruits are located under the leaves, which hides them from birds.
The fruits have a pleasant sweet and sour taste with a characteristic aroma. The tasting score is 4 points out of 5 possible. Taste qualities are affected by the composition of the soil and climatic conditions of growth.
The bright green leaves are medium in size and have curved edges and wrinkles.
Harvest and storage
Fruiting of Hercules begins in early July, again - from the beginning of August and lasts until the first frost. The berries should be picked in dry weather - this way they will last longer and will not become soggy.
Raspberry Hercules has a high yield
After harvesting, the fruits should be stored in the refrigerator - there they do not spoil for 3-4 days. You should not select a large container, as the delicate fruits will be crushed. For the winter, the berries can be frozen, dried, and cooked into compotes, preserves, jams, and jellies.
Raspberries have long been used in folk medicine. Tea with raspberry jam saves you from colds and flu. Berries help lower blood pressure, relieve nervous tension, improve mood, and are useful for anemia and atherosclerosis. Raspberry pulp is used by cosmetologists to prepare anti-aging creams and masks.
Landing rules
Hercules raspberries are planted in spring and autumn. The best time for rooting seedlings is autumn (late September-early October), when it is still warm enough and the raspberries will have time to take root in 20–30 days before the onset of cold weather, and will develop intensively in the spring.
With early spring planting, the root system quickly forms, the above-ground part grows rapidly, and within 3 months the harvest ripens. It is planted when the air temperature does not drop to sub-zero levels during the week.
However, during spring planting, all the plant’s forces will be directed to survival and development of the root system, so the harvest will be smaller.
Selection of site for Hercules raspberries
The wrong choice of location for a raspberry plant often leads to the death of plants. It is necessary to allocate elevated sunny areas for raspberries, preferably in the southern part of the garden. When grown in the shade, the yield decreases.
Lowlands are contraindicated - in the spring the soil thaws there for a long time, during prolonged summer rains water accumulates, the roots rot, and the plants are exposed to fungal infections.
Important! The raspberry plant should be located in a place protected from the wind. You should not plant berry bushes where the following grew last year:
- pepper,
- tomatoes,
- eggplants,
- potato,
- strawberries
Best predecessors:
- legumes,
- cucumbers,
- zucchini,
- squash,
- pumpkin.
The area for the raspberry garden should be well heated by the sun and protected from the wind by a fence, other plantings, and outbuildings.
More on the topic: Zyugan's remontant raspberry
Remontant raspberry Hercules grows on any soil, but prefers slightly acidic, loose and fertile soils. It does not tolerate an acidic environment, so dolomite and lime are added to the soil. Raspberries are replanted every 8-10 years. It can be returned to its original place in 5–7 years.
It is not advisable to plant grapes, sea buckthorn, or parsley next to a raspberry tree - growing these crops together has a bad effect on their growth and productivity. A good neighborhood - cucumbers, onions, carrots, red currants, apple trees, cherries.
Site preparation
The site is prepared in advance, 2-3 weeks before planting. Per 1 m² add 2 buckets of humus, 50 g of superphosphate, 30 g of potassium nitrate. After applying the fertilizer, the soil is dug up and loosened. Holes 60 cm wide and 45 cm deep are dug at intervals of 1 m.
Strongly acidic soil is limed (600 g of lime per 1 m2). In garden plots, the available lime material is stove ash (400 g per 1 m2).
It is better to plant raspberries in trenches at a distance of 1.5 m between rows and 70 cm between bushes. The rows are arranged from north to south for better illumination and warming by the sun. Trenches are dug 50 cm wide and 45 cm deep.
When planting, rotted manure is added to the bottom in a layer of 5 cm, 200 g of superphosphate, 70 g of potassium salt, 300 g of ash per 1 m2 and mixed with the fertile layer of soil.
Selection of raspberry seedlings Hercules
You should not buy seedlings at the markets - you may buy the wrong variety or diseased bushes. They should be purchased only in specialized stores or garden centers, where the plants are controlled and have certificates containing information about the variety.
Seedlings must have a developed fibrous root system, with many thin roots - flexible, without spots and growths. Various formations or blackening indicate diseases. Shoots should be free of dark spots and mold.
Step by step planting process
Before planting, plant roots can be kept in Kornevin solution for several hours for better rooting and disease prevention.
The seedling is lowered to the level of the root neck - to a depth of 6–7 cm, and the roots are straightened.
They fill it with earth, leaving no voids, and compact it.
Water - at least 5 liters per bush.
Shorten shoots to 25–30 cm.
Mulch the tree trunk circle with dry hay, humus, sawdust, and onion peels in a layer of 10 cm.
When and where to plant raspberries
Raspberry Hercules (a description of the variety and photos of representatives can be viewed in the article) requires the creation of certain conditions.
For better yield of Hercules raspberries, loam and sandy loam soil are recommended
Before planting, you need to choose the right place to create a raspberry tree:
- the territory should be spacious, accessible to direct sunlight throughout the day;
- the site should be located on a hill so that the soil does not retain large amounts of liquid;
- Solanaceae and strawberries should not be planted on the territory (during the last 2-3 years);
- You can place zucchini, cucumbers, pumpkin, and legumes nearby;
- the ability to create conditions that protect from the wind;
- Any soil is suitable (except depleted soil). For best yield, loam and sandy loam soil are suitable. The acidity of the soil has almost no effect on the plant, but soil with a low pH will require the addition of lime during the loosening process.
For planting, you can choose both spring and autumn. In the fall, the time for planting raspberries is September (in the southern regions - November), and in the spring - April and May.
Caring for Hercules raspberries
Remontant raspberry Hercules is unpretentious. But the taste and sugar content are affected by weather conditions, soil composition and the amount of watering and fertilizing.
Garter to the trellis
The dense, straight bushes of Hercules do not bend under the weight of berries and do not require garter. But if the raspberries are supported by trellises, then they are evenly illuminated by the sun, well ventilated, and the lower branches do not touch the ground.
And harvesting is much easier this way. Near the bushes they install two-meter poles three meters from each other, bury them, pull the wire in three rows at the level:
- 70 cm from the ground,
- 1 meter,
- 1 m 60 cm.
Bushes are tied to the resulting trellises.
Proper watering
Raspberry Hercules equally suffers from excess and deficiency of moisture. It is advisable to water it once a week (a bucket under the plant), young bushes - more often.
With excess moisture, especially in rainy summers, the root system may suffer from a lack of oxygen, and the tops of plants turn yellow. In this case, it is necessary to reduce moisture.
There are several types of watering raspberries:
Drip irrigation
This is done using special tubes. Moisture is evenly delivered directly to the root. This method allows you to constantly maintain the required level of humidity in the raspberry garden.
More on the topic: Remontant yellow raspberry Golden Zyugana
Sprinkling
It is carried out using a hose in the morning or evening hours. Imitating rain when watering will help plants absorb moisture better and retain it longer.
Watering through the furrows
On both sides of the row, at a distance of 40 cm from the plant, grooves 15 cm deep are laid, water is poured into them (5 liters per bush) and covered with earth. The soil is loosened.
Remontant raspberries especially need moisture during the fruiting period: sprinkling is not used, the soil is moistened through furrows or using drip irrigation.
Moisture-charging irrigation
In the fall, after leaf fall, a week before frost, moisture-charging watering is carried out - 2-3 buckets per bush. The air temperature should not exceed 3°C.
Top dressing
Before planting, the soil is well fertilized, then the raspberries are fed three times a season.
- In the spring, to stimulate the growth of shoots and the formation of ovaries, nitrogen fertilizers are applied: urea, ammonium nitrate and potassium fertilizers: potassium sulfate, ash.
- In July, the plants are fertilized with nitrophoska (70 g per 10 liters of water) to make the berries larger.
- In autumn, plants also need minerals, especially potassium. Granules of superphosphate and potassium salt are added to the soil, and ash is scattered around the bushes.
Fertilizers are applied only to moist soil so as not to burn the roots. After fertilizing, raspberries must be mulched.
Organic fertilizers also improve the composition of the soil - mullein, bird droppings, diluted with water 1:10 and 1:20, respectively (5 liters per plant). They are applied before flowering and after harvesting the fruits.
In the fall, the soil around the bushes is mulched with manure and compost - in the winter they will warm the raspberry roots, and in the spring they will provide it with nutrition.
It is useful to feed the raspberries with herbal infusion after harvesting. Nettle, dandelion, burdock are placed in a barrel, a little earth, ash (1 tbsp per 50 l), a pack of yeast, 1 kg of dry chicken manure are added, poured with warm water, covered loosely and left for 7 days. After fermentation is complete, the resulting infusion is diluted with water (1:10) and watered on the soil.
Care
Hercules does not require special care. It is enough to regularly destroy weeds, loosen the soil, water and feed the plants. But if you pay more attention to raspberries, their yield will increase significantly.
It is recommended to regularly thin out the raspberry tree by cutting out the shoots. Otherwise, the yield will decrease and the fruits will be crushed.
Hercules is drought tolerant and can survive without watering. But to significantly increase the yield, raspberries are watered at the end of May, twice in June and July, at the beginning of August and in October. It is best to make furrows between the rows for watering. But you can also use sprinkling.
Loosening the soil is required to ensure the supply of oxygen to it. The first time weeding is done before the buds begin to bloom. Then the procedure is repeated when weeds appear or a crust forms.
To reduce the number of weedings, it is recommended to mulch the soil with humus, peat compost or sawdust.
For winter, the shoots are bent to the ground and covered with leaves or sawdust.
Loosening and mulching the soil
To ensure air access to plant roots, the soil must be loosened. Raspberry roots are located in the surface layer, so loosening is carried out between rows to a depth of 10–15 cm, the first time immediately after the snow melts. During the season, the soil is loosened after weeding and watering. Then the ground is mulched with straw - this will prevent the growth of weeds and retain moisture for a long time.
After loosening and watering, the ground under the raspberry bushes is covered with mulch.
Methods for propagating raspberries Hercules
Raspberries can be propagated using root shoots. In the summer, shoots with white roots that have grown 15 cm are dug up and planted in fertile soil. Raspberry Hercules is distinguished by its vitality, the shoots will soon begin to grow.
When propagating by cuttings in the fall, after the end of the season, the roots are cut into 10-centimeter cuttings and planted in furrows at intervals of 30 cm. The bushes are moistened, mulched and covered with pine needles. In early spring, the shelter is removed, the ridge is covered with film, which is removed after 2 weeks, when sprouts appear.
Trimming
Bush thickening is a common problem. Gardeners recommend cutting out shoots that are thinner than a pencil. Otherwise, the fruits become crushed and the yield decreases.
Four ways to prune Hercules raspberries:
Standard
Produced in the fall. As a result, shoots of 30 centimeters each remain on the surface. In spring they send out one-year-old side shoots. At the beginning of summer, a person receives 30% of the harvest, at the end of 70%.
Under the root
Bushes are cut flush to the ground 2 weeks before the first frost. Fruiting will occur later than with standard pruning, but will be more abundant.
More on the topic: Delicious Brusvyana raspberries with large fruits
Double trimming
The first time the gardener prunes the bushes along with the ovaries before flowering. The procedure takes place in mid-May. The second harvest will exceed the expected volumes several times.
Top cutting
In the autumn season, shoots are shortened by 40 centimeters. In this case, the first harvest will be 60% of the total.
Raspberry pruning is done with sharp garden pruners. Removed branches are collected and burned.
When pruning in spring, dry areas are removed. It is carried out before the buds begin to bloom. Reproduction of remontant raspberries occurs with the help of young root suckers.
Reviews from gardeners
There are quite a lot of reviews from gardeners on the Internet about this raspberry variety. It's worth considering them.
Anna: “Delicious and very large raspberries. She is unpretentious and tolerates winters well in the Urals. The raspberry tree does not grow too quickly, so you don’t have to dig up the raspberries like a weed.”
Irina: “I’ve had Hercules raspberries on my plot for two years now. It gives a good harvest. So, last year I collected almost 4 kg from one bush. The fruits themselves are tasty and juicy.”
Valentina: “I really like these raspberries because they are large and sweet. And you practically don’t need to take care of it.”
This variety is quite popular. It can be purchased at many nurseries and specialty stores.
Pests and diseases
Hercules has strong disease resistance, the variety is less susceptible to gray rot and other fungal diseases, and is resistant to raspberry mite.
Aphid
Shoot aphids often settle in entire colonies at the ends of shoots, penetrating into raspberry inflorescences.
Leaf aphids, which eat the underside of leaves, cause great harm to the plant, as they literally suck all the vital juice out of the plant. With significant damage to the raspberry bush by aphids, slow death of the plant and a decrease in yield are observed.
In order to destroy it, the affected bushes are sprayed with carbosphorus or actellik during the raspberry bud bursting period. This should be done immediately, as aphids spread very quickly.
Raspberry beetle
Another frequent visitor to raspberry plants. The insect is large in size (up to 4 mm); it can be identified by its yellow-gray hairs.
Overwintering in the soil under a raspberry bush, in mid-spring the beetle moves into raspberry buds and actively destroys them.
During the period of bud formation, experienced gardeners recommend shaking off pests from the bushes and then burning them. During the period of pupation of larvae, it is advisable to dig up the soil.
Also, for control purposes, it is advisable to spray the raspberries with confidor or its equivalent. It is necessary to periodically check the bushes and manually remove beetles from them.
Bud moth
The adult looks like a butterfly with dark brown wings and golden spots. In the caterpillar state, the moth has a reddish color. This is what is dangerous for raspberries.
Spending the winter in the cracks of the stem, in the spring the caterpillars move to the shoots and begin to gnaw out the buds, then penetrate into the pulp of the shoot. They lay eggs in raspberry flowers, from which caterpillars hatch and eat the berries.
As a control, complete pruning of shoots at the root while preparing the shrub for winter is suitable.
During the period of swelling of the buds, for prevention, it is advisable to treat the bushes with any of the following:
- Confidor,
- Ditsis,
- Iskora,
- Emulsion of karbofos.
Treatment is carried out twice a year, along with trimming unnecessary stems.
Flaws
Among the disadvantages of Hercules raspberries are:
- Extended fruiting period. In some regions, the grown crop does not have time to ripen before the onset of frost.
- Prickly shoots. When picking fruits, there is a high probability of injuring your hands.
- Poor shoot formation. During the season it will be possible to obtain three replacement shoots.
The fruits are characterized by pronounced sourness. It makes excellent preparations in which the sour taste is compensated by sugar.
Not everyone will like the berries in their raw form. They are often frozen while maintaining all their taste.
Tips and tricks for growing
Recommendations for growing:
- the crop is not recommended for cultivation in cool regions with short summers;
- when planting bushes in depleted soil, a large amount of organic fertilizer is required;
- branches need to be pruned regularly to increase yield.
It is also necessary to follow the rules of plant care. Raspberry Hercules is considered the “dad” of the Daughter of Hercules variety. The plants are similar in taste, thorniness and characteristics, but the Hercules variety (description and photo are offered in the article) has a higher yield, allowing you to get up to 7 kg per season.
