Luzhesnyanskaya Fruit and Berry Crop Variety Testing Station: When Experiments Yield a Harvest

It is time to harvest berries, which many are doing on their personal plots or in the forest. This year, nature has been generous to them. Employees of the Luzhesnyanskaya Variety Testing Station for Fruit and Berry Crops in the Vitebsk region are also busy harvesting. This process, along with plant care, holds a special place. And it is carried out not only as part of scientific experiments: in the current season, the enterprise earned over a billion rubles (before denomination) from the sale of its own products, which is twice as much as last year.

– We grow not only traditional apples, plums, and pears, but also sea buckthorn, garden strawberries, viburnum, gooseberries, chokeberries, cranberries, and blueberries, – notes acting chief agronomist Alexandra Grechanikova (pictured). – This year, all our plots are strewn with generous gifts, but the sweet cherry was especially surprising: it has never borne fruit so abundantly. Sour cherries and raspberries also pleased us – some varieties have already finished, remontant varieties are on their way, and blackberries are ripening simultaneously. They literally bend to the ground under the weight of the berries.

The specialist notes that harvesting has its peculiarities. Such delicate crops as strawberries or raspberries require good weather conditions and manual labor. Since it is not easy to work in the heat, people go to the plots early in the morning. However, currants can be harvested by machine – this year, over 2 tons were sold to the district agricultural department and the public. The mechanized method is ideal for chokeberries, which, by the way, were also excellent this year, and it is also suitable for gooseberries. But apples and pears cannot tolerate bruising, so they are harvested by hand. Late varieties overwinter perfectly in the enterprise's own storage, and the fruits do not lose their consumer qualities until late spring. Judging by the current yield, this season will be a busy one for the enterprise's employees. This means that the trade network of the Vitebsk region will be supplied with vitamin products.

For the convenience of citizens, the management of the variety testing station has decided to open two retail outlets in Vitebsk. One of them will be located

in Tiraspol near the TD "Oma", the second is near the restaurant "Zelena Gura" on Frunze Avenue. So, literally from next week, buyers will be able to purchase freshly harvested products from the variety testing station without leaving the regional center. Eco-friendliness and naturalness are guaranteed: during the formation and development of fruits, no protective agents are applied. By the way, if someone likes the taste of apples or pears of a certain variety, in the autumn it will be possible to contact the enterprise for planting material. Competent specialists will provide detailed instructions on plant care. They note that proper agricultural technology is the key to a future harvest.

Tatyana Serebryakova. Photos by Dmitry Osipov. "Vitebskiye vesti".