Blueberry variety Toro: planting and care
Toro blueberry has been particularly popular among gardeners among shrub plants in recent years; the description of this variety allows you to avoid simple mistakes when growing the plant. Blueberries are a versatile berry that can be eaten fresh or used for freezing or canning. When choosing garden blueberries, you should take into account not only external features, but also know a detailed description of the varieties for resistance to frost, preferences for watering, soil and fertilizers, and whether it can grow in the garden.
Description and fit
There are 3 types of blueberry varieties:
Toro blueberry is a high-growing variety. The height of the bush reaches about 2 meters. The berries are large and dense, have a pleasant aroma and taste. The berries have a smooth blue color. The fruits ripen at the end of summer. This variety tolerates cold well and is not susceptible to viral diseases and fungi.
Seedlings for planting should not be less than 50 cm long. The optimal time for planting is early autumn or early spring. When planting two-year-old plants, choose any convenient time, since the root system of blueberries has already become stronger and will quickly survive minor damage.
The key to a rich harvest is to plant the plant in acidic soil. The soil acidity level should be at least 3.5-5 HP. Otherwise, choose a combined soil of peat, sand and pine needles. The soil should be loose and freely allow moisture and air to pass through. For planting, choose an open, windless and well-lit area.
There are 2 ways to plant a plant: in a hole and on a ridge. In the first case, seedlings should be planted in alkaline or neutral soil. It is necessary to prepare special 50x50 holes, the depth of which is about 40-50 cm. The side walls of the hole must be covered with a transparent film, and a substrate of pine sawdust, sand and peat must be poured onto the bottom. You should also fertilize the soil with pine humus.
If the soil does not allow water and air to pass through well, then garden blueberries should be planted using the second method. To plant a plant on a ridge, you first need to remove the top layer of soil. This soil needs to be scattered around the planting site. This creates a small hole into which peat, sawdust and sand are poured. We plant a plant in the resulting hill.
There should be a distance of at least 1.5 m between blueberry bushes. Try not to plant seedlings next to other fruit and berry plants.
Care and harvesting
Caring for blueberry plantings involves timely watering.
It is especially important to water on time during the period of bud formation and fruiting, i.e. from July to September
The top layers of soil up to 20 cm deep should always be moist. Although, in fact, blueberries do not need more water than other vegetable crops, such as beets or carrots.
To avoid weeding blueberries and loosening the soil, you can mulch them with hay, pine bark, pine sawdust or needles. This will retain moisture in the soil, reduce the temperature on hot days, improve the soil structure and allow plants to take root better and faster. The mulch layer should be from 5 to 15 cm.
Important! Do not forget that the water for watering garden blueberries must be acidic. You can use any organic acid for this.
Oxalic or citric acid must be diluted in a proportion of 1 tsp. per 3 liters of water, vinegar in the proportion of 200 ml per 10 liters of water. Sometimes they write that you can use battery electrolyte, which consists of sulfuric acid, dissolving it in a proportion of 50 ml per 10 liters of water. Whether or not to use such a strong acid is at your discretion.
Due to the fact that it is impossible to feed blueberries with manure and compost, you will have to use either mineral fertilizers or organic matter with an acidic reaction, such as pine needles, sphagnum moss, etc., as fertilizers.
Blueberries ripen within 2–3 months and can remain on the bush for up to 10 days. They need to be collected as they ripen, this will be approximately 3 – 6 berry pickings per season.
Disease Control
Blueberries can be affected by fungal, bacterial and viral diseases, such as monilial blight, gray mold, Phomopsis wilt, stem cancer, late blight and others.
To combat or prevent these diseases, plants should be sprayed with fungicides: “Mikosan-V”, “PhytoDoctor”, “Gaupsin”, “Trichodermin” and others. It is advisable to start spraying immediately after spring pruning so as not to give the disease a single chance.
It makes no sense to treat blueberries for pests, since there are not so many people who want to eat them; they can be collected by hand without using chemical control agents.
How to prepare plantings for winter
Blueberries can withstand frosts down to -23 – -25 °C, and some varieties even down to -30 °C.
But due to the fact that blueberries are tall plants, in harsh snowless winters there is a possibility of plantings freezing.
To protect against frost, blueberry plantings can be covered with spruce branches or spunbond, burlap or other material, but not with plastic film. Before stretching the protective material, it is necessary to make a frame of stakes or arcs around the beds.
Pruning in spring
The first pruning of blueberry bushes is done at 2–4 years of age to form a strong skeleton of the bush. To do this, all branches with fruit buds are removed.
Further pruning is carried out only starting from the 3rd year after transplanting the plant, i.e. when he is 5 - 6 years old. Diseased old branches lying on the ground and bushy growths at the base of the bush are removed.
It is best to carry out pruning work in early spring, before the buds open. But autumn pruning is also not prohibited. This can be done after the leaves have fallen. But the degree of pruning depends on the characteristics of the variety. If it bushes quickly and abundantly, more severe pruning is needed.
How to care for a plant
After planting, blueberries need care. For a good harvest, garden blueberry flowers must first be removed. Proper care of the plant involves mulching the soil. In this case, you can use pine sawdust and pine bark. This will maintain soil moisture and prevent weeds from appearing. In order for a blueberry bush to take root and bear fruit well, the mulch layer must be at least 10 cm thick.
Don't forget about watering. It must be sufficient and regular.
Blueberries are one of the few plants that do not require organic fertilizers. Moreover, manure and compost can provoke plant diseases. When planting blueberries, mineral fertilizers are added to the soil. Subsequent feeding should be carried out no more than once a year. The fertilizer should contain superphosphate, potassium and ammonium sulfate. Nitroammophos can be used as a fertilizer.
After flowering, clusters of berries appear on the plant, which ripen within 4-5 weeks.
During this period, birds pose a particular threat to the bush. To prevent crop loss, the plant should be covered with a special net. After harvesting, the net must be removed.
Blueberry bushes must be covered for the winter. A particular danger to shrubs is the lack of snow cover. In such a winter, the plant can withstand -25 degrees. If the bushes are covered with snow, then the plant is not afraid of severe frost and can withstand -40 degrees.
Subtleties of care and ripening time
Caring for Toro blueberries consists of the same actions as similar measures when cultivating other varieties of plants: regular watering, fertilizing, pruning, loosening and mulching the soil. Each of them has its own rules.
Important! In the first year of fruiting of the bush, it is advisable to stop its flowering by removing all the flowers from the plant: young blueberries should not waste energy on the formation of fruits to the detriment of strengthening the root system and the development of shoots. As a last resort, you can leave one signal branch, which will not lead to a decrease in yield.
Watering
Toro blueberries are plants that do not have any specific watering schedules, and soil moisture under the plantings is more dependent on weather conditions. The main requirement is to always keep the substrate slightly moist, trying to avoid waterlogging of the soil. Once every 2 weeks (from April to September) it is useful to water the crop with slightly acidified water: for 1 liter of clean liquid you should take about 1.2–1.5 g of acidifier.
A layer of mulch in their tree trunk area will help maintain moisture in the ground and prevent the appearance of weeds. Pine bark or sawdust, laid on the surface of the soil in a ten-centimeter layer, is ideal for this role.
Top dressing
Toro blueberries are fertilized three times a season using both organic and mineral compounds. For the first time, the bushes are fertilized in early spring, adding 15 g of ammonium sulfate or urea to the substrate (the norm for one adult bush), and then this procedure is repeated a week before the blueberries bloom. For plants older than four years of age, the dosage of these compounds should be doubled.
Nitrogen-containing mixtures should be used only in diluted form, dissolving no more than 2 g per 1 liter of liquid. During the fruiting period, you can feed the bushes with potassium mixtures, such as potassium sulfate (30–60 g per 1 adult plant, 2–4 years old).
Read more about how and what to properly feed blueberries.
At the end of summer or at the very beginning of autumn, it is no longer worth using nitrogenous substances, replacing them with a mineral complex of magnesium sulfate and other microelements. Potassium sulfate and monocalcium phosphate can also be used.
Fresh bird droppings or manure should not be used at all, as they can burn the roots of the crop, but in a rotted state, the latter can be an excellent option for spring fertilizer, just scatter it under the blueberry bushes. The simplest solution for feeding the Toro variety is to use ready-made fertilizers for rhododendrons or conifers.
Pollination
The described blueberry variety is a self-fertile crop, therefore, in order to get a rich harvest of fruits, the presence of other varieties of such berry bushes on the site is completely unnecessary. However, there is no consensus among gardeners on this issue: some say that pollination only increases yield, while others insist that cross-effects can negatively affect the taste of the crop.
You might be interested in reading what you need to do if blueberries don’t bear fruit.
Therefore, if you do not plan to grow the crop on an industrial scale and the collected volume of fruit is quite enough for you even without the presence of pollinators, then there is no need to thicken the plantings with other varietal varieties of blueberries. Otherwise, you can plant several Bluecrop bushes nearby, and for better pollen transfer to the site, it is worth attracting bumblebees.
Preparing for winter
Despite the relatively high frost resistance of Toro bushes (they can withstand temperatures down to -35...-40°C), shelter will not be superfluous, especially when growing young one- or two-year-old specimens. Winters with little precipitation are especially dangerous, when at low air temperatures there is no proper snow cover (in such growth conditions, temperature drops to -25°C are destructive even for adult bushes, not to mention blueberry seedlings).
Did you know? Most blueberries grow in Maine, USA.
For this reason, shoots of shrubs tied and removed from supports are bent to the ground and covered with spruce branches or artificial agrofibre such as spunbond. If there is snow, you can shovel it from above. Otherwise, preparatory measures for winter cold are based on standard principles of moisture-recharging irrigation (at least 40 liters of water are consumed per bush) and sanitary pruning of shoots.
Blueberry diseases and treatment
If the plant turns yellow during the growing season, this indicates a nutrient deficiency. In some cases, yellowing leaves are the result of blueberry disease.
Perhaps the most common cause of yellowing leaves is chlorosis, that is, low levels of chlorophyll in the plant. Chlorosis can be caused by a damaged root system, poor drainage, or high soil acidity. Thus, the plant is not able to obtain the necessary nutrients. In this case, it is necessary to find the cause and eliminate it.
All the pros and cons of culture
The advantages of Toro blueberries include the following:
- it has tasty, healthy fruits;
- tolerates frosty winters well;
- the berries are large, so they are easy to pick;
- the plant produces a bountiful harvest every year;
- the crop can be stored for a long time;
- the berries have a high marketability.
Disadvantages include the rapid completion of fruiting, as well as high demands on acidic soil. In addition, blueberry bushes, like other plantings, require constant care.
Description and characteristics of Toro blueberries
The mid-season blueberry variety is used not only as a fruit-bearing shrub, but also as an ornamental planting.
Bush and root system
The Toro variety is a tall blueberry variety. The bush can grow up to 2 meters in height. The erect plant grows in strength every year. Its leaves are large and heart-shaped. Blueberries have a superficial root system, so it is important to keep the soil moist.
Flowering, fruiting and productivity
Toro blueberry blooms in May. Abundant fruiting begins in the 4th year after planting. Tender, sweet and sour blueberries ripen in early August. The berries are large, bluish-blue in color, their diameter reaches 2 centimeters. They are collected in large clusters and retain their quality throughout the entire harvest period. With good care, 7-10 kilograms of berries are harvested from one bush.
Additional Information. Blueberry juice is difficult to wash off hands, so vinegar is used to clean them. .
Insect and disease resistance
If agrotechnical work is not followed, the variety is susceptible to diseases. Most often, due to excessive soil moisture, bushes are affected by various rots. Toro blueberries have low disease resistance, so you need to properly care for them.
The variety can also be affected by harmful insects. Large pests can be collected by hand, small ones can be sprayed with insecticides. If the plant shows signs of disease, it will also need spraying, but with fungicides. When using drugs, they are guided by the age of the plants, and also follow the instructions for using the products.
Resistance to low temperatures and drought
Toro blueberries can withstand frosts down to -30°C. It can be grown in regions with both warm and cool climates. Both waterlogging and lack of water are detrimental to the variety. Mulching with peat and coniferous tree bark will help retain moisture in the soil.
Subtleties of care
High-quality care is the key to a large harvest and plant resistance to adverse environmental factors. The overall viability of the plant depends on the quality of watering, fertilizing and preparing the plant for winter.
Watering
Watering the plant should be moderate but regular. The shrub does not like dampness, but even more so it does not tolerate excess moisture. In nature, blueberries grow successfully in swamps or near rivers, but few people know that fruiting activity is directly related to the presence of mycorrhiza, a single ecosystem with fungal spores.
That is why peat soils and watering with water that has stood for at least a day are preferable. In dry summers, the shrub is watered once every 7 days, water is poured strictly along the trunk. It is allowed to spray the leaves with water from a spray bottle after sunset (on very hot days).
How to feed correctly
As a top dressing, experienced gardeners recommend using natural fertilizers in the fall and nitrogenous fertilizers in the spring. Natural fertilizers (for example, manure or humus) are applied to the soil after the leaves fall; in this case, the mass of earth is dug up, and then covered with pine needles or a layer of peat until spring.
Spring feeding for blueberries can be like this:
- ready-made fertilizers diluted with water according to instructions or poured into the soil at the rate of 1 m² (“Master”, “Vira Vila”, “Florovit”);
- ammonium sulfate (applied to the soil in dry form, dug up and watered), it is applied in three stages. At the beginning of March, 50 grams of the substance are introduced into the space around the blueberry bushes, scattering the granules evenly, at the beginning of May another 20 grams of the compound are added in the same way, and at the beginning of June - another 20 grams;
- magnesium sulfate in dry form - applied to the soil once, at the end of March, in the amount of 20 grams (scatter the granules, dig up, water the soil).
Preparing for winter
Darrow blueberries tolerate winter and frost well. A plant without shelter can survive frosts down to -24°C, however, in the northern regions, the basal shoots often freeze out in winter, which, however, is not bad for the bush. In the wild, the density of blueberry bushes is regulated by the natural death of excess shoots. If the bushes are young (from 4 years and older), they are covered with agrofibre on the site for the winter, additionally installing protective fences from the wind.
Planting and care
Young blueberry bushes at the age of 1-2 years, with a height of 50 centimeters, are planted in open ground. In order for plants to bear fruit abundantly, they require constant care.
Timing and technology of planting
Young Toro blueberry bushes are planted in the spring, before buds open, or in the fall, at the end of the growing season. Plants grown in pots can be planted throughout the season. Planting is done as follows:
- holes measuring 60x60 centimeters are dug;
- drainage is laid out at the bottom;
- garden soil is mixed with peat and poured into the hole;
- the roots are carefully straightened and covered with substrate so that the root collar is buried no more than 5 centimeters;
- the bushes are watered and mulched.
If there is no peat, then instead you can use a soil mixture consisting of garden soil; land taken from under coniferous trees; as well as rotted pine or spruce needles. In addition, colloidal sulfur is used to deoxidize the soil in the garden, which is added in the fall to a depth of 10-15 centimeters at the rate of 1 kg/m².
Subtleties of care and ripening time
The Chandler variety is quite demanding in terms of care. Immediately after planting, young plants are shortened by 1/3 or half, creating a balance between the above-ground part and the roots - the crown will not take most of the nutrients, allowing the root system to develop. For the first 2-3 years, pruning is not necessary. Only in the spring do they remove all frozen, dry branches and part of the growth inside the bush - this will ensure good air circulation in the crown.
A properly formed adult bush has 10–15 skeletal branches.
You can also trim the branches of the lower tier if they are heavy and lie on the ground. Formative pruning of adult bushes is carried out in the spring before the buds swell, removing all horizontally growing shoots up to the first strong vertical shoot, second-order branches growing deeper or downward, damaged, dry shoots. Old woody branches are also removed, leaving a few new ones that have grown from the roots.
Blueberries are cut at the root:
- if it is necessary to save a drying plant;
- if she has gone wild and has not been restored to health for a long time (about 5-6 years);
- if after abundant fruiting small fruits are set and there are very few of them.
Chandler is a late-ripening variety. The berries are harvested from early August to mid-September.
Watering
The variety does not tolerate both waterlogging and drought. It is necessary to maintain soil moisture within 60–70%. On average, one young plant needs about 10–12 liters of water per week, and an adult - 22 liters. Usually watering is carried out 2 times a week in the evening.
Important! If you allow the soil to dry out, you can’t hope for a good harvest next year. And stagnation of water for more than two days in a row can lead to the death of the bush. Drip irrigation is especially suitable for Chandler, when moisture enters the soil gradually
Sprinkling can be used to reduce temperatures and humidify the air.
For Chandler, drip irrigation is especially suitable, when moisture enters the soil gradually. Sprinkling can be used to reduce temperatures and humidify the air.
Top dressing
Chandler requires plenty of feeding. Mineral fertilizers (ammonium sulfate, superphosphate, etc.) are applied in the spring and after fruiting. Good results are obtained by using the Dutch fertilizer “Mivena”. It is applied once, 50 g per bush. "Mivena" not only regulates the acidity of the soil and gradually supplies blueberries with nutrients, but also protects them from fungal diseases.
From organic fertilizers, herbal infusion is used. The barrel is filled 2/3 with weeds, filled with water, half a bucket of peat and compost is added, closed with a lid and left in the light for one and a half to two weeks. The resulting fertilizer is used to water the blueberries after the main watering.
Preparing for winter
In the fall, before the first cold weather, be sure to prune, removing young shoots, and pinch out the apical buds of actively growing shoots. If the soil has not been mulched, mulch with a layer of 10–15 cm. This will protect the roots from freezing.
Did you know? Blueberries make excellent wine with an unforgettable taste. If stored properly, it can be consumed for four years.
The variety is considered quite frost-resistant. In regions with harsh winters, it is still better to cover the bushes. Autumn planted and weakened plants are always protected from frost and winds. For these purposes, spruce branches of coniferous trees - pine or spruce - are used. Pine is preferable as it crumbles less.
In regions with mild climates, it is enough to throw more snow around the plant.
Some gardeners bend the branches to the ground, tie the bush with twine, install arcs around the bush and throw burlap, spunbond or agrofibre over them. The harsher the climate, the more layers of covering material will be needed. In the northern regions, 2-3 layers of agrofibre or burlap are enough; in the Moscow region you can get by with 1-2 layers.
Another option is arched shelters, when slats are installed around the plant like a hut, on which covering material is pulled. It is not recommended to use film for insulating blueberries. It does not allow air to pass through - this threatens to overheat the branches during spring thaws.
Reviews about the variety
According to reviews from gardeners, Toro blueberries have tasty, aromatic berries that have a good presentation. They can be consumed both fresh and canned. The variety requires constant care, including watering, fertilizing, and pruning. If you grow Toro blueberries in insufficiently acidified soil, they will not produce a high-quality harvest. With good care, the variety will delight you with tasty and healthy fruits for many years.
Last year, 2 varieties were harvested: Reka and Toro. The river was showered with fruits, but they had an inexpressible taste and were fresh. Toro only had 6 berries ripened, but they were very sweet and had a pleasant aroma.
Andrey Kiev region
I planted several Thoreau blueberry bushes on my property. On the advice of neighbors, I acidified the soil with spruce litter, but there was no result: the bushes sat in place and did not develop. When I started watering with acidified water, Toro finally bloomed and produced the first delicious berries!
Elena Krasnodar region
Distinctive qualities of culture
The Toro variety shrub can be easily distinguished from other blueberry varieties by its combination of compact, raised habit, powerful skeletal branches and large, oval-shaped leaves pointed at the end. Its shoots reach 200 cm in length. The plant gains strength by the 4th year of life, after which it begins to actively increase its yield. The shrub is decorative and serves as a wonderful decoration for the garden plot. Young blossoming leaves are characterized by the presence of a reddish tint. In summer they are lush green. In autumn, all the foliage is painted in the tones of the setting sun.
Young seedlings of the Toro blueberry in autumn. The flowers of the plant are small white bells, collected in clusters of 8–10 pieces. As they bloom, they acquire a pink tint, which then disappears. Productivity parameters of blueberry "Toro" Productivity: Harvest volume reaches 6–8 kg per bush. Harvest ripening period: Average, berries reach ripeness in the first ten days of August (in the middle zone) or in July (in the south). Characteristics of the fruit: The berries are distinguished by a bright, rich blue color, fleshy consistency, and are covered with a waxy coating of medium severity. The rounded fruits are collected in dense, long and weighty clusters. Size and weight of berries: The diameter of the fruit is 17–20 mm, their weight is 2–4 g. Taste: Sweet, dessert, with subtle sourness. Aroma: Pronounced, pleasant, insignificant, characteristic of the species. Transportability of fruits: The dense, smooth skin protects the integrity of the berries well during transportation. Dry peeling allows you to extend the shelf life of the product. Attention! The variety is adapted to mechanized harvesting, but the first approach is recommended to be done manually. Toro blueberries are used mainly fresh and also for freezing. Excess harvest is suitable for making universal-purpose preparations (jams, preserves, compotes).
Blueberry jam
Blueberry Toro
Recently, blueberries have become one of the popular berries in garden plots. The fruits are not only tasty, but also healthy. Beginners can grow berry crops. Caring for her will not cause any difficulties. The Toro blueberry variety has received good reviews from summer residents. This berry crop resembles grapes. Its large fruits hang in clusters from the branches. Harvesting is easy. The berries are tender, sweet and sour. The quality of the fruit is excellent.
Toro blueberries
Important! The owners of the plots where the berry grows have every chance of remaining healthy into old age. Blueberries help fight sore throat, rheumatism, scurvy, and hypertension. The berry rejuvenates and increases the body's resistance.
Characteristics of the variety
Toro blueberries have certain characteristics not only in the characteristics of the berries, but also in agricultural technology and care. You should familiarize yourself with them before planting a plant on your own site.
Berries
Toro's berries are large, reaching 2 cm in diameter. Their taste is sweet and sour, balanced. When ripe they acquire a blue color.
Areas of application of berries
Toro blueberries have versatile uses. They are suitable for both fresh consumption and freezing, making jam and other culinary masterpieces.
Resistance to diseases and pests
Blueberries of the Toro variety have low disease resistance, so you need to carefully follow the conditions of agricultural technology. Otherwise, the plant will suffer from harmful insects and infectious agents.
Taste and medicinal properties
Tasters highly appreciated the pleasant sweet and sour taste of Toro fruits. They contain a large amount of anthocyanins, which suppress the development of cancer cells. Regular consumption of berries increases the production of natural collagen in the body.
The carotene contained in them is absorbed almost completely and has a positive effect on the formation of a beautiful tan on the skin. Blueberries are used in dietary nutrition, as well as in the fight against vitamin deficiency.
Description of the variety
Tall berry bush. It reaches 2 meters. The plant is erect, powerful, and accumulates strength over the years. The leaves are round. Emerald color.
The berries are large, round, slightly flattened. Color – blue. There is a pale coating. The diameter of the cross section is 1.5-2 cm. The fruits resemble varieties Chandler and Darow. The taste characteristics of the fruit are high. The pulp is dense. The berry is moderately sweet, not cloying, and has a classic sourish flavor.
Productivity is high. It produces a decent harvest four years after planting. Since that time, the number of collected fruits has increased annually. On average, one bush produces from 7 to 10 kg of berries.
The first harvest ripens in early August. The berries ripen together and do not fall off. The fruits are collected from the bush in two steps. The first time they need to be removed manually, the second time mechanical cleaning is allowed. Manual harvesting does not cause any difficulties - the berries are easily separated from the stalks.
The fruits are stored for a long time and do not crack. Toro blueberries, the variety description of which contains information about the rapid ripening of fruits, quickly finish fruiting. Just like Darrow blueberries, Elliot blueberries. This berry crop is grown on an industrial scale.
Additional Information. Toro makes delicious desserts, jams, smoothies, and pies. A delicious, rich blueberry juice is prepared from this variety.
Collection and storage of blueberries
Blueberry ripening begins in August (in different regions on different dates of the month), and continues until mid-September. In suitable growing conditions, from one bush you can collect from 6 to 10 kg of fruits, united in large and bunched bunches (in this way blueberries resemble grapes).
Because of this appearance, it is not very convenient to use a machine for harvesting work, so all the berries are removed from the bushes by hand, carefully placing the harvested crop in clean and dry boxes.
Toro blueberries are stored in the same way as the fruits of other berry crops - in a cool and always dry place.
Landing
Toro blueberries are planted in the spring or fall months. When purchasing seedlings, preference is given to container options. The age of the crop should be from one to three years, and its length should be more than half a meter. Toro can be grown in both warm and cool climate regions, just like the Blugold blueberry variety.
The roots are straightened before planting. Do not allow them to become tangled or form a lump. The plant is planted in holes 30-50 cm deep. It grows best in soils with an acidity of 3.7 to 4.7 pH, where there is a lot of sun and no wind. The landing site is prepared in advance. The blueberry bed must be well dug up, fertilized with sawdust, the soil must be loosened so that the roots of the plant receive oxygen and water. The distance between bushes is 0.5-1 m.
The bottom is covered with gravel, peat, sand, and sawdust. The planting is similar to that of other varieties, including the Darrow blueberry, which has a description similar to the Thoreau blueberry.
Growing rules
Caring for berry crops is not too complicated, but it must be timely. The planting is mulched with pine bark. This way, moisture will be retained in the soil. From time to time the soil is loosened and weeds are removed. The very first flowers are cut off. This is done so that the plant does not waste energy on flowers, but uses them to grow the bush. Next year, thanks to this process, gardeners will receive their first blueberry harvest.
Fertilizing with mineral fertilizers, including nitroammophos, is allowed. You can use ready-made nutritional mixtures. A tall bush needs to be tied to a support. Toro needs constant watering. The best pollinator of the crop is the bumblebee.
Important! The bushes should be covered with netting while the berries are ripening. This will protect the fruit from birds.
In winter, the bush is covered with film so that it does not freeze if there is little snow. Toro is quite winter-hardy. Under snow cover, the variety tolerates harsh winters, when the thermometer shows more than -35 degrees. In spring, sanitary pruning is performed. Dry twigs and new shoots that are too branchy are removed.
Tips and tricks for growing
Blueberry seedlings are sold at two years of age, with a shoot length of 35–50 cm and a closed root system. This form of pre-sale preparation allows for optimal survival.
The plant prefers well-lit, draft-free places.
In the shade of fruit trees, the berry will not be able to gain enough sugar, so their proximity is undesirable. The acidity of the soil should be at the level of 3.5–4 pH, it can be increased by adding acids: acetic, citric or oxalic.
Landing
Early spring is considered the ideal time, so the young bush will have time to get as strong as possible before the winter cold. Although planting is possible in summer and at the very beginning of autumn.
Holes for planting are dug at a distance of 150–160 cm. The seedlings are buried flush with the earthen ball, straightening the roots. To gently straighten the roots, you can briefly place them in water before planting.
Did you know? Blueberries are sometimes confused with blueberries. But if the juice of blueberries is light, then it is not easy to wash your hands of blueberry juice. The blueberry bush is taller, and the shoots are lighter and firmer.
When growing blueberries on alkaline (clay, calcareous) soils, the following planting method is used:
- dig a deeper and wider hole, 60–65 cm in depth and width, the bottom is drained with a layer of gravel and sand;
- the planting hole is filled with a mixture of peat, sand, pine needles and sawdust;
- An earthen ball of seedlings is placed in this mixture and covered with mulch on top.
After planting, the bush is watered with water with the addition of citric acid - 40 g per 10 liters.
Care
When the Northland blueberry has successfully completed the planting procedure, it’s time to provide it with good care, which consists of loosening, watering, fertilizing and pruning.
Loosening the soil is carried out regularly, but not deeper than 10 cm, since the roots can be damaged.
Water at least twice a month. During the period of flowering and ripening of berries, watering is increased. During heat and drought, it is recommended to irrigate the leaves of the bush with warm water in the evening.
Important! Excessive moisture can cause root rot and plant death. Although the berry grows well in poor soils, fertilizing is necessary to increase productivity.
Mineral fertilizers are applied twice in the spring: the first time before the buds swell, the second time after 1.5 months. The composition of fertilizers is selected based on the appearance of the foliage:
Although the berry grows well in poor soils, fertilizing is necessary to increase productivity. Mineral fertilizers are applied twice in the spring: the first time before the buds swell, the second time after 1.5 months. The composition of fertilizers is selected based on the appearance of the foliage:
- when it turns yellow and growth slows, nitrogen is added;
- redness of the leaves indicates a lack of phosphorus;
- death of young shoots - potassium.
Important! Blueberries are fertilized only with mineral fertilizers, since adding organic matter reduces the acidity of the soil. Pruning is done in early spring
For sanitary purposes, dead, diseased and lying branches are removed. The peculiarity of the Northland variety is that the bush maintains its optimal shape naturally, without forming too many shoots. Fruit buds on mature bushes older than two years are practically not removed.
To increase yield, shoots older than seven years are pruned. Pruning five-year-old branches allows you to enlarge the berries.
Protection from diseases and pests
Microorganisms—symbionts—live on the roots and in the soil around the bush, giving the plant additional protection. For them to work effectively, the soil must be regularly loosened and weeds removed.
Fungal diseases affect various parts of the bush: branches, berries, leaves. In this case, all damaged branches are cut off and burned. Plants are treated with fungicides. The most effective are Euparen and Topsin. In spring and autumn, Bordeaux mixture is sprayed for prevention.
Among the harmful insects for blueberries, pine silkworms, earwigs, scale insects, and aphids are dangerous. Pests are removed manually, with the help of a ladybug (this is a natural enemy of silkworms and aphids) or with the help of insecticides.
To prevent birds from eating the berries, strips of shiny and rustling polymer film are tied to the bushes.
Important! When plants are damaged by viruses and fungi, diseased specimens are cut out and necessarily burned
Diseases and pests
The characteristics of the culture indicate that the variety is immune to some diseases. According to reviews from gardeners, Toro, like the Eliot variety, can be subject to chlorosis, mummification of fruits, septoria, and gray rot. Signs of disease are yellowing or any other change in the color of the leaves, damage to the roots, the entire bush or berries begin to dry out. A signal that the plant is unhealthy is the abundant dropping of fruits.
Damage to blueberry leaves
Various chemicals that are sold in stores are suitable for treatment. You can’t delay this. Damaged leaves and shoots are removed. Experienced gardeners prefer to practice disease prevention.
Prevention methods include the following:
- You should buy only healthy, strong seedlings;
- During planting, the soil is fertilized and its acidity is monitored;
- During the summer, shrubs are sprayed with fungicides, for example, Bordeaux mixture.
Among the pests that attack the plant: caterpillars, aphids, flower beetles. Exactly the same insects haunt the Elliott blueberry. Pests need to be controlled with insecticides.
