Volume 30 Number 2 Article 2 Pages: 55-59
Year 1976 Month 4
Title: A Comparison of the Growth Habit of 'Bergman' and 'McFarlin' Cranberry Cultivars on Commercial Bogs in British Columbia
Authors: K.S. Tallman and G.W. Eaton
Citation
Abstract:
Obeservations were made in the growth habit of 'Bergman' and 'McFarlin' cranberry cultivars, in commercial bogs, during the spring and summer of 1974. The cultivars differed in growth habit in that 'Bergman' produced more uprights in recent runner while 'McFarlin' produced more new uprights on the Growth or on older uprights continued. 'McFarlin' also produced more flowers per upright than 'Bergman.
The cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.) is grown commercially in over 1000 acres (400 ha) of the Fraser Valley of British Columbia.
In this area 90% of the acreage is in the cultivars 'McFarlin' and 'Bergman' Eaton 1970); 675 acres (273 ha) in 'McFarlin' and 275 (111 ha) in 'Bergman' (Thorpe 1972). Although the acreage is not marge compared to those in the New England states the yields per acre in British Columbia are often higher.
Bergman (1950) described the cranberry vine as consisting of long creeping stems forming an intertwining mat over the bog.
From the stems, uprights arise which bear the flowers and fruits.
In a later report, Bergman (1961) distinguished between old uprights (those at least one year old) and new uprights (those in their first year of growth). Old uprights may
continue their growth for several
years.
He stated that the total number
of uprights and also the proportion
of new to old uprights was
greatly affected by environmental and
cultural conditions, the latter being
more important.
Hall (1970) found
that, when the vine grew in a vertical
position, there was continued growth
of the existing runner fro~ its apical
bud.
When the shoot grew horizontally,
lateral buds began to develop
which eventually became either uprights
or runners.
Hicks et al. (6)
found that shoots from weedy areas
were longer than those from pure
stands and that the angle of leaf insertion
on the stem was greater on
the former than on the latter.
Pure
stands produced six times as many
shoots as weedy ones and had more
blooming shoots with more flowers
per shoot.
Roberts and Struckmeyer
(1942) found a consistent relationship
between the length of growth
made by the uprights'and the amount
of fruit produced.
They found optimum
growth and maximum production occurred when there were 21.5 to
32.3 uprights per dm2. With greater
density, the uprights were longer and
had fewer berries.
Between 6.4 and
9 cm of uprigpt growth per year was
optimum.
Garlick (1966) in a study of growth,
flowering and fruiting characteristics
of the cranberry plant compared the
average length of uprights of 'Bergman'
and 'McFarlin' cultivars.
He
classified uprights into eight classes
according to their flower numbers
from zero to seven.
In each group,
'McFarlin' uprights were longer than
those of 'Bergman'. He found no significant
differences between cultivars
with respect to either number of uprights
or number of flowering uprights.
The purpose of this study was to
observe the growth habit of 'Bergman'
and 'McFarlin' cultivars and to compare
them with respect to the position
and number of their fruiting structures.
Differences in growth habit
may have important effects on productivity.
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