Raspberry variety Raspberry ridge

The Raspberry Ridge is a very interesting and expected novelty on the Russian market. Both modest summer residents and "cool" farmers dream of testing it on their plots. And some of the “lucky ones” already have results for the first season. Our heroine has been on the mass market since the spring of 2019. And, of course, with her appearance, she immediately caused a lot of controversy and disagreement. Moreover, the originators position it as a "breakthrough among remontant varieties." It is frankly pleasing that the raspberries are of our domestic selection. But what exactly attracted the attention of gardeners and is there a "fly in the ointment" - more on this in our article below.

History of creation

Our heroine was created by the breeder and head of the Shkolny Sad kennel, Vladimir Sheblev, co-authored by his son and commercial director of the kennel, Ilya Sheblev. This berry farm with a 30-year history is located in the village of Smirnovo, Nizhny Novgorod region.

Vladimir Sheblev is the author of many varieties that have already become popular, in particular Nizhegorodets. Together with our heroine, two more berry novelties are brought to the market - Samokhval and Pohvalinka. The described raspberry variety is registered in the State Register of Protected Breeding Achievements. Copyright certificate No. 6689 issued in August 2018, patent number 9808, valid until December 2048. The variety is still undergoing government tests.

Description

Raspberry Ridge - remontant raspberry with dessert flavor and universal purpose berries. Ripens after the earliest domestic remontant - the Humpbacked Horse species. In the southern regions it is sung from late July / early August, in other areas - from mid / late August. Most of the berries ripen during September.

The bush has an average vigor, the shoots are very spreading, reaching a height of 1.0 - 1.5 meters. Young shoots are juicy green in color, medium and thin in thickness, by autumn they acquire a light brown color, often with an anthocyanin tint. Stems with medium waxy bloom, without pubescence. Shoots are weakly prickly. The spines themselves are medium in size, firm, curved downward, with a brown base. Laterals are short, strong, slightly pubescent. They are green in color, but can take on an anthocyanin hue. The fruits ripen in open clusters. On 1 fruit branch, up to 20 berries can ripen at the same time. Leaves are medium and large, green, corrugated. They are oval, straight and slightly curled, slightly pubescent. The denticles at the edges of the leaf are moderately pointed. The flowering variety is abundant, the flowers are white, medium in size. The root system of the Raspberry Ridge is powerful, well-branched.

Raspberries are large and very large. They are elastic, dense in structure, but with a juicy pulp. The weight of fruits in the season is 5-8 grams, but they can be poured up to just a huge figure of 12-14 grams. The average size of the berries is 2.5-3.5 cm in length, and sometimes they grow up to 5 cm. The skin is thin, but strong and elastic, resistant to mechanical damage. The berries are beautiful, mostly aligned and uniform. They are elongated-conical, sometimes covered with a whitish coating, slightly pubescent. Drupes are small and medium, homogeneous, tightly interconnected, with small seeds inside. Tearing off the fruits during collection is dry, easy, effortless. Berries are deep red, ruby ​​color, with an attractive glossy shine. The fruits have a high taste, they are very sweet, with a thick, bright raspberry aroma. The experts' tasting score was 4.5 points out of 5.0 possible. The sugar level in fruits is 7.5%, acid - 1.0%, vitamin C - 52.0 mg%.

The fruits of the Raspberry Ridge have high indicators of keeping quality and transportability. In the test tests, a compressive force of 900 grams per square meter was maintained. see Berries can easily transfer transportation over long distances.Dealers transport raspberries directly from the Shkolny Sad nursery to Moscow, which is 600 km away. An excellent option would be gradual cooling and subsequent storage of berries at a temperature of + 2 ° C, or their transportation chilled in a shallow container at the same temperature.

The variety is recommended for both amateur cultivation on a personal plot and industrial cultivation on large areas. Its great advantage is that the ripening of the crop is very amicable. This gives an excellent opportunity to use not only manual harvesting, but also mechanized harvesting with the use of raspberry harvesters.

Raspberries are resistant to unfavorable external factors, high frost resistance, up to -30 ° С. And with the root system covered for the winter, the likelihood of losing bushes from frost practically disappears. The berries themselves can withstand frosts down to -4 ° C, retaining all their qualities. The raspberry ridge is resistant to the main diseases and pests of the crop, it is heat- and drought-resistant.

The originators declare the yield at the level of 15.0-16.0 t / ha, but it can reach 20.0 t / ha with good agricultural technology. This is practically at the level of the recognized reference grade. Shelf... And such productivity is a good indicator for both remontant and summer raspberries. According to the originator, the bush is capable of producing up to 25 replacement shoots per season and a lot of root growth. Along with a clear plus, this also gives a significant minus. Pre-planting mulching of beds with dense black or black-and-white agrofibre, film, agro-fabric will significantly save the gardener's efforts when normalizing the row. In addition, mulch will protect against weed growth and rapid drying of the soil in the summer. It is possible to use organic matter, but you need to ensure that the constant layer thickness is at least 10 cm, and preferably in the range from 10 to 20 cm. Otherwise, the weeds will break through such protection. Another significant plus of organic mulch is that by rotting, it enriches the soil with useful elements, improves its structure.

On the site of the nursery there is information that you can get 2 crops per year from the Raspberry Ridge. But the second harvest is unlikely to be significant. The fact is that the upper part of the stem bears fruit in autumn. After harvesting in late autumn, it is cut out, leaving the non-fruiting part of the shoot. Moreover, this operation can be carried out in the spring. And the second crop is obtained just on this uncircumcised part. But since the growth of the bushes of our heroine is not high, 1-1.5 meters, then only a small part of the stems will remain for the second fruiting. As a result, you will not really get berries, and autumn fruiting will shift towards winter by at least 7-10 days.

The recommended planting pattern is 0.8-1 meter between plants. It is not worth planting more densely, raspberries are very actively spreading over the site, giving a lot of root growth. Therefore, next year you will not normalize the number of shoots in the bush, but the number of shoots per running meter. This is how many remontant varieties are grown, which give good replacement shoots. For industrial cultivation, involving mechanized harvesting, the row spacing should be 3.0-3.5 meters. And with amateur cultivation, given the low growth of the bushes, you can safely leave a row spacing of 2 meters. Raspberries respond very positively to the introduction of organic matter into the soil, namely compost and rotted manure, in the amount of 10-12 kg per 1 sq. meter.

The phrase on the originators' website causes a frank misunderstanding: "It stands out for the amicable ripening of the crop, until September 15 in the Nizhny Novgorod region, 100% ripens, but fruiting continues later on later shoots." To be honest, this is frankly advertising nonsense. I mean such an inadmissible formulation. Simple headbutting for gardeners. Yes, the creators of the variety will forgive the author, but everyone has the right to express their objective opinion. What does later mean? Why are they not taken into account? Then you need to indicate something like this - raspberries give 100% of the harvest in mid-September, provided that the bush is normalized to 2-3 shoots. And so, from their words it turns out the following: for example, you have 5 shoots in a bush. The first 2 grew earlier, they are more powerful than the other 3. And on them fruiting began earlier.And they gave away the whole harvest faster than others. And the other 3 are just beginning to bear fruit. But they don't count towards the deadline. They are later. Agree, frank nonsense. The video in the Nizhny Novgorod region shows the end of September, and fruiting is in full swing, at its peak. And in the video, the originator himself says that in past years they picked berries from the bushes of the Raspberry Ridge on October 14.

But again, the repairman must be good. We'll see. The conclusion, as always, is to plant and check it personally. Only then will it be possible to objectively evaluate the novelty. At the high price of planting material, the issue is also resolved. Usually, the price of new products at the peak lasts one season, and then drops significantly, especially if the plant reproduces well. Our heroine belongs to just such. For example, the author once bought a super novelty - the first studless repairman Prime Arc Freedom in Ukraine for 500 hryvnia. This is about 1200 rubles. Now the price is already 80-100 hryvnia, which is approximately 200-250 rubles. The difference is palpable. But undoubtedly, you want to plant a novelty right away, and not wait a year or two. Here everyone decides for himself.

Strengths

• Large and sometimes very large berries with 100% "Wow" effect. Or, since the variety is purely ours, domestic, the term "Ogogo-effect" is suitable to characterize raspberries.
• Thanks to the low bushes, the crop can be harvested without stools and stairs, but you have to bend over and sit down.
• Delicious, sweet, aromatic fruits.
• The raspberry ridge is highly frost-resistant, down to -30 ° C.
• Good indicators of heat and drought resistance, as well as good transportability and keeping quality.
• High reproduction rate. Since the variety is new and expensive, a person with good agricultural technology can get enough seedlings in a year to start a small plantation. Moreover, initially planting only a few plants as a mother plant.
• Resistant to major diseases and pests of raspberries.
• The bush produces a very large number of stems and root growth per season. Therefore, you will not have any problems with replacement shoots. At the same time, this is also a minus, forcing the gardener to regularly cut out excess shoots and remove nettles.
• Due to its easy, dry separation, strong berry and amicable ripening, the variety is excellent for mechanized harvesting.
• You can do without trellis or supports.
• Beautiful appearance of fruiting bushes, good commercial characteristics of the fruit.

Weak sides

• Great growth vigor, open bush. Regular sanitary cleaning, cutting of excess shoots and root growth is required.
• Raspberries actively "capture" the territory; in small areas, measures are required to protect the growth of the root system. Namely, digging slate, sheets of metal into the ground. This will not completely solve the problem, but the rapid and uncontrolled growth of the root system will stop.
• With the onset of early cold weather in the fall, this variety will not have time to give up part of the harvest. Therefore, for the climate, for example, the Moscow region, it may not be suitable.
• There is a lot of false information in the description of the species by the originators. Namely, the average weight of berries is exaggerated at 12-14 grams. Moreover, it is significantly exaggerated. And this is noticeable in the video from the nursery. And also in the State Register, when the Raspberry Ridge was submitted for testing, completely different data were presented.
• The ripening dates are vaguely described. The originators present the variety as a very early remontant, although it is not.
• Positioning raspberries as capable of producing two crops per year. So almost any remontant can give two harvests, the question is what kind of harvest it will be. And whether he will be needed at all.
• The high cost of seedlings at retail. Although, as the originators claim, the plants reproduce very well. And in the presence of a multi-hectare mother liquor, the price for a domestic novelty will be 500 rubles.

In the fall of 2019, there will be a clearer and more objective picture of the variety. In the spring he will be planted in many areas throughout the country. But judging by the totality of signs, the Raspberry Ridge will be a pretty good repairman.

Author: Maxim Zarechny.