Advice on Cranberries

Does anyone out there have advice to offer on varities of cranberry to grow? Particularly for the South? The only cranberries we are familiar with are the storebought kind that are available around Thanksgiving -- we've been buying those bags in the grocery store, picking and cleaning them and then freezing them for use in cooking. We have grown very fond of cranberries (particularly in combination with blueberries) for cooking and we would like to try and grow our own. I found a source for v. macrocarpon (if I've spelled that correctly) and v. macrocarpon "Stevens"...these seem to be taller bushes. .Has anyone tried these?

Our preference would be for TALLER rather than tiny bushes...the other types of cranberries I see for sale appear to mainly be short bushes when full grown. ..however, we could settle for shorter bushes.

We'd appreciate any suggestions on types or any information about success with cranberry growing, particularly in the South.

We live in zone 7, but right near zone 8 in Georgia.

Many thanks,
zebbie

New Jersey (zone 7) grows cranberries, but the heat does cause problems some years. While acreage in Maine and the Upper Mid-West is steady or increasing, NJ is steadily leaving the growing of cranberries to somebody else. The climate is marginal, urbanization is taking land and blueberries are easier to grow.

Warm nights seem to be bad for the plant, and hot dry days kills the buds so that growth is inhibited. Fewer leaves translates into smaller fruit.

Cranberries do not grow on any kind of bush, short or tall. V. macrocarpon is a crawling vine-ish thing. Tall bushes that grow "cranberries" might be Viburnum triloba. We used the fruit for "cranberry jelly" growing up, but they are nowhere related to Vacciniums. Blueberries and cranberries are related though.

I worked at a plant that processed cranberries before. To harvest the fruit, the bogs are flooded and the fruit float. There is a paddle-wheel looking thing that beats the water, removing most of the fruit, (and some vine) that is gathered and loaded into trucks. At the plant, the whole mess is run over inspection lines where the thin vine is separated and the rest of the stuff picked out. I've seen aluminum cans, branches of nearby trees and even small fish caught up in the harvest. Then the semi-cleaned berries are frozen for use.

A few miles from here the cranberries grow wild as well as large cultivated 'bogs'. (Ocean Spray Country.) They are very short plants, less than 8 inches tall.
They like very sandy conditions, I think.
Andy P

Thanks Penn Pete and Sarahskeeper for cranberry info....so, the v.macrocarpon (and I suppose the v. macrocarpon "stevens") are the "REAL" cranberries?...the kind one can buy at Thanksgiving???

Anyone know if the v. macrocarpon types are the "American cranberries" that I see people on the Dave's garden site referring to? (this sometime ago).

Especially thanks for clearing my misconceptions about the height...they sound like mighty short plants or vines...but would, I think be worth it to grow. Thank goodness our blueberry plants are taller.

Zebbie

Zebbie, I will get a pic tomorrow of what we call cranberry bush growing up in Maine. The plant is fairly common in the trade and native to 1/2 the East Coast. Even at this time of year there are still berries hanging in clumps. The botanical name is Viburnum trilobum. When mixed with lots of sugar and pectin, it makes an ersatz cranberry jelly. They are sold as a native wildlife food, but from what I see here most years, one bush is all you need for any wildlife we have.

Penn Pete,

Thanks for further information...I sure do appreciate it. My husband and I are transplants from Arizona (where we mainly grew citrus) and love living in Georgia -- especially living in a rural area and having the climate to grow things that we never dreamed of...though I have to say, it is sometimes downright confusing as we lack a real basic undertanding of much of what we're trying to find to grow, despite trying to find information in books.

Deciding on which blueberries to put in was a breeze, though, as we have an organic blueberry farmer in our tiny town..I haven't heard of anyone growing cranberries in our area, so my husband John and I are grateful for your and Sarahskeepers help on the cranberries.

Zeb.

This is what one of the V. trilobum looks like today. The only one that gets eaten a lot is the one near the birdfeeder. While some of them wait their turn, they chew on these a while.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v280/AlbusAlbuseser/Plants/5cb40b7a.jpg

Pete..thank you so much for taking the time to get/take the photo of the v.trilobum for us. It is very kind of you. I think I understand now: v.macrocarpon ("real" cranberries, tiny plants) and v. trilobum (fruit like cranberries, taller). Part of my confusion is that some vendors sell by common name and some by botanical name and I haven't been able to link up the two..but now "armed" with the background information and botanical names from from you and Sarahskeeper, we're ready to find 'em. We'll check the zone information and see if we can grow both in the South. (We see that a lot of things grow here but at different times than the "norm") We're trying to make our tiny bit of land as productive as possible with things that we like.

Please do let us know if John and I can help you in any of your quests...

Cordially,
Zeb