TRIALS WITH THE COWBERRY IN FINLAND

The most important factors controlling the fruiting of the cowberry are the weather at the time of flowering, pollination, and illumination.
The setting of good-sized fruit depends not only on suitable conditions for growth, but also on the availability of abundant, good-quality pollen and on cross-pollination, the latter usually increasing both the size and number of the berries.

The fruit yield in the wild can be greatly improved with fertilizers and various mulching materials.
However, if satisfactory, economically rewarding results are to be obtained, the cowberry plants must belong to a vigorously good fruiting race.

The most interesting results have been obtained in the experimental field with fertilizers, substrates, and mulches.
Field plantings on milled peat generally gave a crop of 15–40 kg/100 m². Mulching increased the crop and the size of the berries to a remarkable extent.

The cowberry can be propagated by plants taken from the wild as well as from cuttings, pieces of rhizomes, and course seed.
The most promising results have been obtained with cuttings and seed.

In the research on the improvement of the cowberry, 120 natural strains were thoroughly examined in an experimental field.

Symposium on Vaccinium Culture in Europe

A. Lehmushovi

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1977.61.36