Harvesting Cranberries: How And When To Pick Cranberries

By Amy Grant Due to their high concentration of vitamin C and antioxidant properties, cranberries have become an almost daily staple for some, not just relegated to their annual use on Thanksgiving. This popularity may have you wondering about picking your own cranberries. So how are cranberries harvested anyway? How to Harvest Cranberries Commercially grown cranberries are known as the American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) or sometimes referred to as lowbush. They are actually woody, perennial vines that can stretch out runners to 6 feet. When spring arrives, the vines send out upright sprouts from the runners, which then produce flowers followed by cranberries in the fall. These commercially grown lowbush varieties of cranberry are grown in bogs, a wetland ecosystem consisting of sphagnum moss, acidic water, peat deposits, and a mat-like substance on the water’s surface. The bog is layered with alternating strata of sand, peat, grave and clay and

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