Horticulture
Roger Ort, Horticulture Educator, [email protected]
Berries Galore
Why should you grow berries in the Finger Lakes? I believe we are in a perfect area for value-added production to benefit each and every home or commercial grower. We have wineries, granola producers, fruit leather shops, breweries, yogurt producers, jam/preserve operations u-pick operations and many other potential buyers of your products. We are on the cusp of so many new and exciting berries coming into the market and the explosion of heritage berries coming back into popularity. Now is the time to plant!
We are just gaining knowledge of the health benefits and particular anti-oxidant compounds in each of all the berry varieties. In the artile "Why You Should Be Growing Black Raspberries" In Growing Produce, adding one cup of berries to your diet daily provides 3,000 plus oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) units needed each day. Here are some of the berries that you need to grow:
Blueberry , Honeyberry, Lingonberry, Sea Berry, Gooseberry, Youngberry, Serviceberry Juneberry, Chokeberry, Currant, Raspberry, Blackberry,
Boysenberry, Loganberry, Dewberry, Salmonberry, Tayberry, Marionberry, Thimbleberry, Huckleberry, Artic Raspberry, Cranberry, Elderberry Ardenberry, Tummelberry, Newberry,
Ollalieberry, Aronia, Goji, Goumi, Highbush Cranberries, Bearberry and Wintergreen, Strawberry (Pineberry Alpine Strawberry, Musk Strawberry)
Above: Black Raspberries
For more information call Cornell Cooperative Extension of Schuyler County 607-535-7161.
Berry Spotlight
*Black Raspberry*
As an illustration, here are some interesting facts about the old Black Raspberry (BR). Black Raspberries have 40% more antioxidants than strawberries and 11% more than blueberries. Doctors now recommend BR should be one of our 5 servings of fruit and vegetables daily. In a study at Ohio State rats with colon tumors had BR added to their diets, the rats showed 80% fewer malignant tumors than the control group of rats that did not have BR in their diets.