Raspberry variety Brigantine
A traditional mid-late raspberry variety called Brigantine can often be found in the homesteads of amateur gardeners in our country and neighboring countries. It is also common in production plantings of farms. The reason for this popularity is the time-tested numerous positive qualities of the variety, including good productivity, amicable ripening of fruits, versatility of their use, increased drought resistance and general unpretentiousness of plants to cultivation conditions, as well as plasticity and good ability to acclimatize.
Such an interesting form appeared back in the late 70s of the last century at the Kokinsky stronghold of the All-Russian Selection and Technological Institute of Horticulture and Nursery (VSTISP), located in the Bryansk region. The author of the novelty is an outstanding domestic researcher, one of the most famous specialists in this culture, a world-renowned scientist - Ivan Kazakov. During his long career, Ivan Vasilyevich bred dozens of different varieties of raspberries, but he called Brigantine one of his best works from among the late-ripening ones. It was obtained as a result of crossing Ottawa and Sayan. In 1981 it was transferred for state variety testing, and in 1997 it was officially included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements of the Russian Federation and allowed for industrial cultivation in the Central Black Earth and East Siberian regions.
After three decades, our heroine remains in demand by production workers, but competition from new, more productive forms is constantly growing. This raspberry is also widely used in breeding work. During its existence, it gave birth to many hybrid descendants, often surpassing it in terms of the totality of agrotechnical and gastronomic characteristics.
Agrobiological characteristics
The bushes are relatively compact due to their moderate height - about 1.5-1.8 meters and low spreading. This fact allows the plants to be placed more densely, and due to this, to achieve an increase in productivity per unit area. Replacement shoots are formed with an average intensity - up to 10-12 pieces. Young stems are straight, purple in color and covered with a weak layer of waxy bloom. The thorns on them are not too large, dark purple, evenly spaced along the entire length of the shoot. This fact requires some caution when working on raspberries and harvesting. In the second year of life, the color of the stems of the Brigantine changes to brown. All of them, regardless of age, require a trellis tie to prevent leaning to the ground under the weight of the crop and damage from strong winds. The leaves of the variety are complex, formed from three or five simple leaves of medium size, oval-pointed in shape, located on a not too long petiole, on which you can also see small greenish thorns. The surface of the raspberry leaf blades is curved with the edges down, strongly corrugated, dark green, on the underside, pubescence is noticeably moderate in intensity. Green laterals, sometimes with reddish anthocyanin pigmentation, are formed in the upper half of the shoots and at the top. They are quite strong, compact in size, but well branching, due to which, as a rule, they do not require an additional garter, although they can form numerous, almost simultaneously ripening fruits. In particular, the most developed fruit twigs carry up to 16 ovaries. The number of laterals per bush reaches twelve. Root shoots are formed in small quantities, but they are quite enough for a fairly rapid reproduction. At the same time, there are no special problems with maintaining the purity of the raspberry tree.
Our heroine bears fruit like an ordinary classic raspberry on two-year-old shoots.Flowering occurs very picturesquely thanks to large white flowers that massively attract the attention of bees and other insects. The stamens in them are usually below the petals in height. The peduncle is small in length. The fruit is medium in size with a large calyx and inconspicuous fragments of pistils. Ripening of berries occurs at the end of July - beginning of August, which is why the variety is referred to as quite late. The return of the Brigantine crop occurs in a short time, without requiring the gardener to carry out multiple harvests that take a lot of time and effort. The fruits are well separated from their bed, but at the same time they do not fall off on their own, which, in combination with the ripeness of ripening, allows our heroine to be suitable for mechanized harvesting with specialized machines. With proper care, the gross yield per bush exceeds 2 kg of raspberries. About 55 centners of berries were obtained from a hectare of plantations in the process of state variety testing, however, the use of modern technologies and plant protection products can bring this figure to 80-90 centners / ha.
Fruits grow above average in size. They are typically 16-17 mm high and 19-20 mm in diameter. The shape is blunt-conical, the color is dark crimson, the weight ranges from 2.5-3.5 grams. On the surface there is sometimes a very faint whitish bloom and slight pubescence, but usually the appearance of the harvested raspberry is bright and shiny. The drupes are small and aligned, well bonded to each other, and therefore the berries do not break apart without significant mechanical impact. The pulp of the variety is very dense in structure, sweet and sour in taste, but practically without a characteristic raspberry aroma. The sugar acid index is not too high - about 4.5-5 units. The total dry matter content in the berry is slightly more than 10%, sugar content is about 8%, titratable acidity is 1.7-1.8%. In addition, 100 grams of fruit contains 140-150 mg of anthocyanins, 25-30 mg of vitamin C and 65-70 mg of vitamin P. In general, Brigantina's gastronomic indicators are average. Her tasting marks usually do not exceed 4 points. An excessive density of drupes, a faceless aroma, as well as a pronounced predominance of acidity in taste, have a negative effect on them.
At the same time, the raspberry harvest may well be used for direct consumption in food, although its taste cannot be called dessert. Gardeners who cultivate crops for sale note a fairly high demand for this variety from buyers, including due to the excellent preservation of their shape by dense berries. Their presentation does not deteriorate even when transported over long distances, characterizing the variety as very transportable. The variety is also great for processing. Delicious, intensely colored compotes, preserves, jams and confitures are made from it, which contain many useful trace elements and biologically active substances. During the period of winter-spring deficiency of vitamins in the human body, these preparations will come in handy. In addition, berries can be stored for a long period of time by deep-freezing. When thawing, our heroine loses no more than 4% of her juice, and her appearance does not suffer too much from such manipulations. Vitamin C in such raspberries is almost completely preserved.
Brigantine shows itself excellently from an economic point of view. It can grow in a wide variety of soil and climatic conditions, from favorable areas of the Black Earth belt to very harsh regions of Eastern Siberia. Plants take root remarkably even in the south, coping well with the lack of moisture due to their drought resistance. Resistance to various diseases and pests is not the same.The resistance to most fungal pathogens is medium, to anthracnose it is increased. Of the pests, it is weakly affected by the spider mite. Susceptibility is observed to purple spotting and mycoplasma overgrowth.
Agrotechnical measures
To grow this variety, the gardener does not need special knowledge or overly careful care. Cultivation takes place according to the usual scheme for non-repaired varieties, in which fruiting occurs on the shoots of the second year of life.
First of all, you need to try to avoid mistakes when choosing a place for landing the Brigantine, because they will have to "disentangle" all subsequent years. So, for raspberries, flat areas or gentle slopes with an exposure that provides maximum sunlight in the northern regions, and the best moisture supply in the southern regions, are best suited. At the same time, excessively damp and wetlands, as well as places with a high level of groundwater, are unacceptable. Acidic soils require preliminary chemical reclamation. The terrain must provide good wind protection, because otherwise, snow will blow off the raspberry tree in winter and the plants will be at risk of frost damage.
The varieties are planted either in the fall, after leaf fall, or in the spring, before the start of the growing season. The soil is preliminarily well cultivated, destroying perennial malicious rhizome weeds, and loosened to a considerable depth. Planting pits are dug in advance, and well filled with organic and mineral fertilizers before placing plants in them. Having covered the roots with earth, they produce abundant watering.
On growing raspberry plantations, the usual procedures are carried out to maintain the cleanliness of the row spacings, tie the shoots, water and feed, as well as protect the plants from pests and diseases to which the Brigantine is susceptible.
