THE AMERICAN CRANBERRY 

 IN NEW HAMPSHIRE 



William Lord 



^^^9 \ accinium macrocarpum is the name science 



fc X f gave to one of the more colorful ber- 

 fl / ries indigenous to New Hampshire, the 



^^^ American cranberry. As kids, we would 

 tag along with my father as he visited small wild 

 plantings tucked in small pockets among the many gravel 

 deposits along the Cocheco River in Farmington These 

 early fall trips generally yielded jars and jars of cran- 

 berry sauce tucked away in the cellar for winter use 



Commercial attempts to cultivate the wild cranberry 

 got started on Cape Cod in Massachusetts in the early 

 1800s Cape Cod offered an ideal setting for the cran- 

 berry — a layer of glacial deposit sand over clay provid- 

 ing the high water table and coarse-textured sand soils 

 in which cranberries thrive. The industry today is alive 

 and growing with major production in Massachusetts, 

 New jersey, Wisconsin, and Washington and, yes, one 

 small commercial bog in New Hampshire. 



David Eldredge grew up in cranberries on the Cape 

 and has been unable to get them out of his blood. To 

 satisfy that interest, David developed a couple-acre 

 cranberry bog in North Hampton, just outside of Exeter. 

 Bog development is not an easy chore. Soils that con- 

 sist of an underlying layer of clay or hardpan impervi- 

 ous to water covered by a surface layer of acid peat or 

 sandy loam are generally found in wetland sites, and, 

 while upland sites with these conditions can be cre- 

 ated, the cost is high. The first step after finding a suit- 

 able wetland site is a tedious 'permitting' process 

 which can take many months. 



Water is the crucial ingredient in a successful cran- 

 berry operation and its level in the bog is carefully 

 controlled by the use of dikes, ditches, and tile drain- 

 age. Cranberry roots, like those of the blueberry are 

 fine and fibrous, shallow (generally occupying only the 

 top two or three inches of soil) and have no root hairs. 

 Mycorrhizal fungi live in close association with the 

 roots, suggesting an interdependent relationship. Meet- 

 ing the water needs of the plant requires that the root 

 zone be moist, yet not saturated. 



Water is used for much more than supplying the 

 moisture needs of the plant. Frost damage to blossoms 

 in the spring, heat stress management during hot peri- 

 ods, water harvest of fruits, even winter protection — 

 abundant clean water is essential While meeting the 

 water needs of the plants and protecting them from 

 frost and heat is generally accomplished using over- 

 head irrigation, flooding of bogs is used for wet harvest 



and winter protection. In wet harvest, bogs are flooded 

 and fruits are removed from plants by gently beating 

 them with reel agitators. Ripe fruit are buoyant and can 

 be easily herded to the edge of the bog where they 

 are sucked up for transport to the processor. Of course, 

 dry harvest is also done using a machine that separates 

 fruit from the plant by 'combing', but dry harvest can 

 be tough on young plantings. 



The cranberry plant is evergreen Winter dessication 

 due to transpiration from leaf surfaces during cold, dry 

 periods, especially if there is scant snow cover, can be 

 lethal. To protect plants, David applies a winter flood. 

 A two- or three-inch layer of water is put on the bog 

 and allowed to freeze solid. Successive layers of ice are 

 added until the plants are completely covered. Any 

 free water that develops as ice melts must be drained 

 away to prevent oxygen starvation of the cranberry 

 plants. Flooding the bog requires a lot of water, a good 

 dike and ditch system to regulate water levels, and a 

 bog that is perfectly level. 



Another key resource needed in the cranberry busi- 

 ness is clean, coarse sand. Cranberry plants produce 

 lateral stems called runners that are non-productive. 

 Some of the axillary buds on these runners produce up- 

 right shoots. Floral initiation and subsequent fruiting 

 occurs in the apical region of these upright shoots. Over 

 time, these uprights will grow, but only the terminal six 

 inches or so will remain upright as the base sags. Prun- 

 ing to eliminate these long lateral shoots is not practi- 

 cal, so sand is used to do the job. A layer of sand up 

 to an inch thick is applied every three or four years to 

 the bog. This sand covers the laterals and runners and 

 the bases of upright shoots which then root. This re- 

 news the planting by creating roots closer to the fruit- 

 ing zone of the plant and encouraging production of 

 more uprights. 



The application of sand offers some other interesting 

 side benefits. It gradually builds up a firm surface that 

 supports equipment, helps improve soil drainage, and 

 gives the grower a chance to re-level bogs that aren't 

 quite right. 



^ y\//ost cranberry cultivars grown commercially 



\^ _^ Y JL are selections from the wild, chosen for 

 high yields, good fruit size and color, and harvest sea- 

 son. The names often reflect the origin of the cultivar. A 

 good example is the Hoives cultivar. It was selected from 

 the wilds in East Dennis, Massachusetts, in the mid- 



OCTOBER 8. NOVEMBER 1997 



