Articles
EARLY AND LATE PRODUCTION OF RASPBERRIES, BLACKBERRIES AND RED CURRANTS
Article number
838_3
Pages
33 – 38
Language
English
Abstract
Production techniques such as early and late production of raspberries, blackberries, and red currants were developed the last two decades and are practiced on relatively large scale.
These modern cultivation systems allow to produce top quality fruit and to realise high yields.
To achieve this, plants are grown in containers and under protection.
Growing plants in pots maximises yield, allows two cultures a year in the same greenhouse or tunnel, has possibilities for cold storing and manipulating plants, and to separate physical plant growth and fruit production.
Early production is practiced in heated greenhouses and closed plastic tunnels.
Late production of raspberries is done by using cold stored plants under rain shelters and in closed plastic tunnels or green houses.
For the cultivation of berry crops in containers, peat is mostly used as substrate.
We need a renewable substrate that is stable in time, can be recycled, and has comparable physical characteristics to peat.
When plants in pots are fertigated, drain is needed as a good cultural practice – sometimes up to 20% of the given amount of water.
This water, rich in nutrients, should be collected and used again.
Also necessary is a better understanding of the amount and time of irrigation as it is determinant for plant quality and plant condition but also for yield and fruit quality.
Raspberries variety trials and breeding programs will be even more important.
We need low chill cultivars with short laterals that grow well in most environmental conditions.
There is a renewed interest in primocane fruiting raspberries because of new high fruit quality varieties, which permit to program the picking season by cultural practices without cold storing plants.
We need a better understanding of how irrigation, nutritional solution, growing season, and other factors influence cane length, flowering, and number and size of fruiting laterals.
In blackberries, Loch Ness proved to be a very suitable cultivar for early and late production.
There is also a possibility to double crop the canes in greenhouses by cutting back the fruiting laterals at the end of June after the spring production.
This gives a second crop in autumn and allows a late production without cold storing plants.
Red currants have a much higher chilling requirement compared to raspberries and blackberries and cant successfully be cultivated in southern European countries like Spain and Portugal.
In Belgium and the Netherlands, there is a small early production in heated greenhouses. Junifer has the lowest chilling requirement and is the only cultivar suited for this type of production.
After soft winters, bud break is uneven or poor, flower period is lengthened and the flower and fruit development uneven.
Overall, this leads to fruit and flower fall and thus low yields and poor fruit quality.
There is a need to control the break of dormancy and the balance in flowers and flowering time.
In conclusion, the changing climate and the need for more sustainable cultural management will change the present production system and clearly demand different approaches in research and development for the future.
These modern cultivation systems allow to produce top quality fruit and to realise high yields.
To achieve this, plants are grown in containers and under protection.
Growing plants in pots maximises yield, allows two cultures a year in the same greenhouse or tunnel, has possibilities for cold storing and manipulating plants, and to separate physical plant growth and fruit production.
Early production is practiced in heated greenhouses and closed plastic tunnels.
Late production of raspberries is done by using cold stored plants under rain shelters and in closed plastic tunnels or green houses.
For the cultivation of berry crops in containers, peat is mostly used as substrate.
We need a renewable substrate that is stable in time, can be recycled, and has comparable physical characteristics to peat.
When plants in pots are fertigated, drain is needed as a good cultural practice – sometimes up to 20% of the given amount of water.
This water, rich in nutrients, should be collected and used again.
Also necessary is a better understanding of the amount and time of irrigation as it is determinant for plant quality and plant condition but also for yield and fruit quality.
Raspberries variety trials and breeding programs will be even more important.
We need low chill cultivars with short laterals that grow well in most environmental conditions.
There is a renewed interest in primocane fruiting raspberries because of new high fruit quality varieties, which permit to program the picking season by cultural practices without cold storing plants.
We need a better understanding of how irrigation, nutritional solution, growing season, and other factors influence cane length, flowering, and number and size of fruiting laterals.
In blackberries, Loch Ness proved to be a very suitable cultivar for early and late production.
There is also a possibility to double crop the canes in greenhouses by cutting back the fruiting laterals at the end of June after the spring production.
This gives a second crop in autumn and allows a late production without cold storing plants.
Red currants have a much higher chilling requirement compared to raspberries and blackberries and cant successfully be cultivated in southern European countries like Spain and Portugal.
In Belgium and the Netherlands, there is a small early production in heated greenhouses. Junifer has the lowest chilling requirement and is the only cultivar suited for this type of production.
After soft winters, bud break is uneven or poor, flower period is lengthened and the flower and fruit development uneven.
Overall, this leads to fruit and flower fall and thus low yields and poor fruit quality.
There is a need to control the break of dormancy and the balance in flowers and flowering time.
In conclusion, the changing climate and the need for more sustainable cultural management will change the present production system and clearly demand different approaches in research and development for the future.
Authors
F. Pitsioudis, W. Odeurs, P. Meesters
Keywords
out of season production, soilless production, substrates, double cropping
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