Content
One of the most famous late-ripening varieties of large-fruited raspberries in Russia is the Stolichnaya raspberry. Despite its rather advanced age, this variety has not yet lost its popularity and is grown with pleasure by both farmers and ordinary summer residents.
Although late-ripening raspberry varieties are in third place in popularity after early-ripening and remontant varieties, they also have their advantages. Late-ripening raspberry flowers are no longer afraid of even the latest spring frosts, and the harvests are abundant and ripen smoothly. Late-ripening raspberry varieties are especially interesting for those gardeners who grow berries for sale, because during this season raspberries become very popular.
Description of the variety
The Stolichnaya raspberry variety is one of the creations of the famous professor V.V. Kichina, from whose hands many amazing varieties of raspberries came out. It was obtained at the All-Russian Selection and Technology Institute of Horticulture and Nursery Growing back in 1981. Over the course of several years, it successfully passed tests.
Stolichnaya raspberry bushes are distinguished by a fairly powerful growth force, reaching a height of 1.5-2 meters, depending on the region and growing conditions. The shoots are erect and grow very compactly, primarily due to the fact that they form a very small number of replacement shoots, literally 3-4 per bush. Very little root growth is also formed. In a sense, this can be called an advantage of the Stolichnaya raspberry, since the raspberries do not scatter throughout the area and caring for them is simplified.
But most gardeners view this quality of raspberries as a drawback. After all, judging by the description of the variety and excellent reviews from gardeners, many would like to have Stolichnaya raspberries on their plots. But the low reproduction rate results in too high prices for raspberry seedlings of this variety.
Annual shoots of medium thickness have a slight waxy coating and are characterized by the absence of thorns, which is one of the advantages of the Stolichnaya raspberry, since it greatly facilitates the picking of berries and caring for the bush.
The leaves are small to medium in size, not too often located, and their color can vary from light green to green.
The peculiarity of the Stolichnaya raspberry, like many large-fruited varieties, is that the fruit branches are capable of branching greatly and thus forming not 8-15 berries, like ordinary traditional raspberry varieties, but 20-40.
As already mentioned, the Stolichnaya raspberry variety is a mid-late variety - this means that the berries begin to ripen on the bushes around mid-July, and throughout the second half of July you will be provided with large and tasty berries.
This ripening period makes it possible to fill the gap between the usual mid-season raspberry varieties, which ripen in the first half of July, and the remontant varieties, the berries of which begin to ripen by the end of July - beginning of August. Thus, by planting Stolichnaya raspberries along with other varieties of different ripening periods, you can provide yourself and your family with an uninterrupted supply of raspberries throughout the warm season.
In more northern regions, it is still recommended to bend the branches to the ground and cover them in order to guarantee an annual harvest.
One of the advantages for which the Stolichnaya raspberry is famous is its relatively high resistance to diseases. This raspberry variety shows high resistance to anthracnose and bud and spider mites. Susceptibility to Verticillium wilt and purple spot is more noticeable, but still does not extend beyond traditional varieties.
Characteristics of berries
What cannot be ignored when talking about the characteristics of Stolichnaya raspberries is their size. The variety is a typical representative of large-fruited raspberries, and the average weight of one berry is 6-8 grams. Moreover, individual specimens can reach 20 grams.
The berries have an easy-to-pick and attractive elongated cone-shaped shape. When fully ripe, they turn a traditional crimson-red color. The drupes are large in size and well interconnected.
The pulp is dense, aromatic, and has a pleasant sweet and sour dessert taste. In general, among large-fruited raspberry varieties, Capital raspberry berries are characterized by the richest and sweetest taste. However, as in many other things, the taste of berries is largely determined by growing conditions, soil composition and agricultural technology used.
When harvesting, the berries are easily removed from the stalk, do not wrinkle or flow during storage, and therefore are well transported if the usual caution for raspberries is observed.
The use of Stolichnaya raspberries is universal - they are suitable both for eating fresh and for all kinds of preparations for the winter, for drying and freezing.
Advantages and disadvantages
It seems that the Stolichnaya raspberry variety consists mainly of only advantages:
- Large berries;
- Decent taste;
- Excellent productivity;
- Compact growth, low shoot-forming ability and absence of thorns greatly facilitate care;
- Disease resistance and relatively high winter hardiness.
Yes, all this is true, but, like any large-fruited raspberry variety, Stolichnaya requires special attention. And all these advantages will be fully revealed only with careful and thoughtful care.
In addition, as mentioned above, for many gardeners, especially those involved in growing raspberries for sale, the small number of replacement shoots and root shoots produced is rather a disadvantage, since it does not make it possible to fully propagate this raspberry variety.
Planting and care
When planting Stolichnaya raspberries, you should follow standard rules that are suitable for almost any variety of raspberry.
- You should choose the brightest place, illuminated by the sun for most of the day.
- The soil for planting should be loose, fertile, retain moisture well and be neutral in acidity.
- Raspberries especially loves organic fertilizers, so when planting it is good to add 1-2 buckets of humus or decomposed manure per square meter of planting to the planting soil.
- If the soil is highly acidic, you can add wood ash or lime or dolomite flour.
- Raspberry bushes are planted either in shallow planting holes or in small trenches to a depth of 30-40 cm. The seedlings should not be buried.
- To compact the soil, it is necessary to pour the soil well immediately after planting, using at least 30-40 liters per linear or square meter of planting.
- Although Stolichnaya raspberry shoots are durable, compact and straight growing, installing a trellis for growing raspberries is highly recommended by experts. Because tying raspberry shoots to the supports not only makes harvesting easier, but also ensures the bushes are ventilated and evenly illuminated throughout the day.
In the future, the main procedures in caring for raspberries become regular, abundant watering and pruning of bushes to increase productivity.
Fruit-bearing shoots of the second year of life can be cut out completely either immediately after the end of fruiting, or in late autumn when preparing raspberries for winter.
But it is advisable to shorten new annual growth by 10-15 cm around the end of May - beginning of June in order to stimulate the formation of additional fruit branches.
Reviews from gardeners
Raspberry Stolichnaya deservedly enjoys the sincere love of gardeners and the reviews about it are mostly enthusiastic. Some people are not satisfied with the taste of the berries, but the taste characteristics not only depend on care, but are also a very subjective parameter.
Conclusion
Raspberry Stolichnaya appears before us as a variety with virtually no flaws. Indeed, any raspberry connoisseur will want to have a large, tasty berry with decent yield and good disease resistance in his garden. It’s just unlikely that it will be possible to propagate it quickly, but to maintain diversity in the world, there are still so many interesting varieties that it is not necessary to focus on just one raspberry, even if it is worthy in many respects.
