Cranberries have slowly pushed onto the food and drink stage beyond the Thanksgiving dinner table. The little edible berries probably will not replace other berry cousins like blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, huckleberries or even currants anytime soon as mouthwatering magic anytime soon. That said, the cranberry industry has helped pushed the tart treats beyond the side helpings next to the late November turkey dinners, where the little berries gain much of their fame from.

WHAT IS A CRANBERRY?

Cranberries grow on small trailing vines up to seven feet (two meters) in length, rising only a couple inches above the ground. Evergreen leaves, slender stems and dark pink flowers make up the plants which demand sandy or peaty well-drained soils. The plants are perennial wetland plants which can produce berries for up to 100 years and more. They belong to the Oxycoccus subgenus of the Vaccinium genus – a genus comprised of many other fruits grown and eaten, including blueberries, bilberries, lingonberries and huckleberries. Going up another rung on the taxonomic scale, Vaccinium oxycoccus belongs to the Ericaceae family or the heath family. Like other heath members, cranberries grow in acidic, nutrient-poor soils.

Going in the opposite direction on the taxonomical ladder, Vaccinium macrocarpon is the commercial species of Vaccinium oxycoccus, also known as the American cranberry. The name cranberry derives from the flower stamen shape which resembles a crane’s beak. Finally, within the cranberry family, we find over 200 varieties of which only 10 become used for production on a commercial scale The berries are native in Canada from Ontario to Newfoundland and in the northeast and north central US.

Regions of Commercial Growth with emphasis on the US Northwest

Cranberries found their way into the diets of European colonists in the 1600s introduced through interactions with Native Americans in New England. They, in turn, collected the berries in the wild. Henry Hall became the first to cultivate the cranberry for agricultural purpose in the Cape Cod town of Dennis in 1816. There are still a couple of cranberry bogs around Dennis though the major area of production in Massachusetts has moved slightly further to the west north of Wareham at the base of Cape Cod.

Eventually, production of cranberries, while still important in Massachusetts and the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, moved west. Central Wisconsin, in the region north of Wisconsin Dells, produces almost 60% of the cranberries harvested in the US. But the little berry made its way across the continent in the later part of the 19^th century. Since 1883, today about 8,000 acres of cranberries grow near the coast in Oregon and Washington and also in southern British Columbia – another 42,000 additional cranberry acres grow mainly in Wisconsin, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Quebec.

CRANBERRY COMES TO THE NORTHWEST

Oregon production dates to Charles Dexter McFarlin.  McFarlin originated from Carver, Massachusetts, the heart of cranberry production in the Bay State. He moved west working either in lumber or as a gold miner – or both. Making his way to Coos Bay by the early 1880s, he had his brother send him some vines out from Massachusetts to create the first commercial bog in Oregon – either in Hauser, just north of Coos Bay or in Empire, today part of the City of Coos Bay.

About the same time, north across the Columbia River, Anthony Chabot had plantings of cranberries – also brought in from the eastern US – made on property he owned near Ilwaco on the south end of the Long Beach Peninsula. Chabot was a French-Canadian civil engineer who made a fortune in California during the Gold Rush. Living in Oakland, he sent his nephew, Robert Chabot, north to oversee operations helped by Bion Landers – another Bay Stater. The bog did well enough until Robert moved further north to own his own bog in Copalis north of Hoquiam. The original bog has returned to the wild though the land is part of the Peninsula’s largest cranberry farm, the Cranguyma Farm – in the middle of the peninsula just northeast of the town of Long Beach.

A second concentration of cranberry bogs can be found just to the north of Willapa Bay in the Grayland area. Here is a drone shot of the Grayland area. Note in the second half of the video all of the red fields = cranberry bogs.

CRANBERRY PRODUCTION BEYOND THE WASHINGTON COAST

British Columbia cranberry production waited until after the end of World War II when a former aviator, Jack Bell, planted three acres in the delta area of the Fraser River around Richmond. BC cranberry production – 12% of cranberries produced in North America – is greater than that of her neighboring states to the south with 6,500 acres today in production on seventy-five family farms.

In contrast, Oregon features over 173 growers and in Washington around another 200. Almost 20% of the US crop comes from the two Northwestern states. And in Oregon, most of the concentration of cranberry bogs are located to the far southern coastal counties of Coos and Curry with Bandon being the most important cranberry center.

But cranberry bogs appear in the Clatsop Plains between Gearhart and Cullaby Lake south of Astoria. Conditions here mirror those found to the north on the Long Beach Peninsula.  In both areas, lots of peat keep the soils acidic enough to let the plants grow happily. Also, a high-water table and lots of nearby boggy lakes supply water for irrigation, frost protection by way of sprinkler systems and wet harvest methods are possible. Cranberry bogs found to the north of Willapa Bay – in the Grayland area – do not have as much water availability. As such, the harvests here of the dry fashion.

Cranberry Bogs

Cranberries are perennial.  That means, once a bog is up and running, the amount of work lessens. Many bogs are maintained by just one or a few people.  Harvest time brings in more workers, but nothing like the many pickers needed before wet harvest techniques arose.

The biggest investment of time and especially money is up front when developing a bog.  The bog site needs excavation. In Washington – like British Columbia, most cranberries grow on muck or peat soils.  In Oregon, most farms lie on mineral soils which means layering sand – 4-12 inches – over an organic soil layer. It is important to keep soil pH below 5.5 as cranberries suffer with higher pHs. A low pH also acts against many weeds which have troubles with lower pH values.

WATER AND BOGS

Drainage is very important, as well. Cranberries do not grow in ponds – that is a harvest time feature only. Standing water is not good for vine growth and increases chances for disease. While drainage is important, water is as well. Water quantity and chemical composition (lower pH than 6.5, for example) are paramount too. 

For wet harvest bogs estimates run to between 3 and 6 acre-feet (an acre-foot equals the water needed to cover an acre to a 1-foot depth or roughly 330,000 gallons). For the wet harvest, you need a water supply in late September-early October capable of giving 1-2 acre-feet along with a soil substratum that can hold the water in place for several days after flooding the bog. Here, drainage and water retention run afoul of each other.

Reservoirs are needed to ensure the availability of the water. One method many growers use is to recycle the water from one bog to another. Building the bogs in a stepped manner – one slightly higher than another – remains a popular technique used to achieve the water needs for a wet harvest. And along with water needs come regulations both on access and discharges. The US Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for cranberry expansions into US wetlands.

Bog Design

Bog – or “bed” – design is a complicated and expensive up-front cost. Water storage areas along with ditches and dike systems need establishment. At the same time irrigation systems develop complete usually with a sprinkler system.  Irrigation systems provide water for the plants; frost protection for buds and berries when temperatures drop to near freezing; some chemicals and fertilizers can be applied through the irrigation systems; cooling during high temperatures is also available through irrigation to avoid heat stress.

Bed size varies depending upon topography, water availability and harvest method. With smaller beds – 200 feet wide or less – some crowning can allow for better drainage into perimeter ditches. For wider beds, fields are leveled with laser levelers at the time a drain system is put into place. Drains should be at least 18 inches deep. Method of fertilization also plays a role in the layout of a bed – aerial versus ground application.

Construction of the beds is where capital is really expended: clearing fields (leveling if needed), saving top soil and sub-soil (sub-soils can be used to build dikes around each bed); sanding 2 to 6-inches above 3 inches or more top soil over the bed base.

Planting the Bog

Cranberry beds are planted from unrooted cuttings from established plantings. You need to know the history of the vines from where the cuttings come from – disease, weeds, insects, crop yield. Vines need planting soon after pruning. This usually entails keeping loose piles of pruned cuttings in the shade under sprinklers until planted in the new beds. Planting takes place by scattering the cuttings over the ground – 1.5 to 2 tons of vines per acre. Discs with dull blades, in sand or peat beds, can push the cutting down 2-3 inches into the beds.

Spring is the normal time for planting, though rooted plants can also be planted – one plant per square foot – in which case, winter planting is popular since the plants have been growing in trays all summer long.

Fertilizers are added at the time of planting. It usually takes about three years to get to the point where berry production can begin though full production takes place normally in year 5.

BEES AND POLLINATION

Cranberries only need one cultivar for fruit production since they are both self-fertile and self-fruitful. But pollen transfer comes by way of pollinators – honeybees, normally. Bumblebees also do work as pollinators. They work better in cold and wet weather, but the commercial bumblebee colonies are expensive, short-lived and unable to cover the same ground as honeybees. Bumblebees need undisturbed nearby land in which to nest with a host of other blooming plants on which to forage.

Bumblebees are superior in their ability to pollinate, but there are simply not enough normally to do the job.Bee gardens of heather and other blue or purple flowering plants often grow next to cranberry bogs.

HONEYBEES

Honeybees remain the main method to pollinate the cranberries. Higher yields equal more hive colonies needed. Historically, one hive per acre though it seems today upgraded to three or four colonies per acre when higher yield conditions exist. Surrounding flora and the strength of a hive directly determine effectiveness of pollination. Cranberries are not the favorite of honeybees. You need more hives if acres of blackberries lie adjacent to the cranberry beds. Blackberry competition tends to be more of a problem in Washington and British Columbia than in southern Oregon.

Along with the bees used, timing of hive placement is crucial. Here, considerations of the area growers in general and the beekeeper’s schedule must be taken into account. Best timing is usually when the cranberries are at about 10% bloom. The hives become rented in late May to mid-July – in Washington, normally two to four hives per acre are rented for a six-week period.

The use of insecticides must be thought out carefully. Honeybees are susceptible to most insecticides. Insecticide usage of neighboring fields needs accounting for as well. Pesticides are best used at night even after the honeybee hives have been removed to allow native pollinators – is bumblebees – to forage on early or late-blooming flowers.

Pruning and Bed Renovation

Wet-harvested beds are pruned after harvest while dry-harvested beds are pruned by the picking machine at the time of harvest.  Pruning removes excess vegetative growth increasing light exposure to increase fruit color and flower initiation for the following year. Machine pruners are used in both cases though sometimes growers will follow machine pruning with hand pruning.  In either case, severe pruning needs avoidance.

If a cranberry be is overly weedy or there is no much vegetative growth, heavy pruning needs to reduce canopy density in order to bring the bed back into production. With good cultivars, the cuttings – for bed renovations the plantings are mowed to just above the duff layer – can be used for new beds or possibly used to sell. Renovating a bed puts the bed out of full production for three years.

Sanding

Henry Hall observed his wild cranberry vines improved growth with sand blown into his Cape Cod vines back in 1816. With those observations, commonly today, cranberry beds have sand – 0.5 to 1 inch – added to the fields every 3-5 years (not in the same year as pruning). Depending upon the geographical location of the cranberry beds, there are different methods of applying the sand.

HARVESTING

Wet Harvest

If the cranberry bogs lie in an area with lots of water, the wet-harvest method is normally used. Here, the fields are flooded. Machines agitate the fruit off the vines – the fruit floats due to four air chambers within the cranberry. The berries are then gathered up and removed from the water. The fruit is then washed and loaded for transport to a warehouse.

The floodwaters normally are reused from one bed to another, either by gravity – in beds that are stepped, by pumps or a combination of both.

Agitation of the vines occurs from machines known as water reels. Some of the water reels have been modified to lightly prune the vines at the same time. Water reels are ready-made – new ones running to $20,000 – though most are custom-made for the specific needs of individual operations. Only food-grade grease and oils can be used in wet-harvest equipment.

Normally, there are several water reels operating at the same time moving around the bed. Fruit is corralled with floatable booms into a corner of the bed – usually corresponding to the general wind direction. The fruit is then put into containers usually with stepped conveyor belts. The fruit is washed on the way up to the container. Berry pumps are also used with low pressure pumps sucking the fruit up by a hose into a pan where the fruit is washed. The pumps are less labor intensive and easier to move, but not as fast.

Dry Harvest

Originally, in the 19^th century, cranberries were picked by hand.  Rows were roped off, and pickers slowly worked their way over the vines. Dry harvest method is used in the bogs around Grayland on the north coast above Willapa Bay.  Here, the high-water table found in the Long Beach Peninsula – and the Clatsop Plains to the south – is not available. Furford harvesters looking like small combines are used. New machines go for up to $10,000.  Dry harvesting remains a slower process.  Typically, dry harvesting takes two days to harvest one acre.

Fruit is separated from vegetation and small fruit by way of sorters in which a conveyor belt elevator system employs screens, shakers and blowers. You need good dry weather to dry harvest – unlike wet harvesting where rain is unimportant. The Furford harvester prunes while harvesting which also removes the following year’s fruit buds which can lead to vine overgrowth.

Dry-harvest beds are ideally long and narrow to minimize the direction pattern of the harvester. Vines are trained to grow in one direction over time. Fruit is gathered into 40–80-pound bags and removed from the fields on narrow-gauge rail tracks laid out in the middle of the beds.

Dry harvesting cranberries are used for fresh fruit purposes. Wet harvest cranberries – the vast majority outside of Grayland – are used in processed products like juice, sauce and sweetened-dried cranberries (craisins).

PESTS AND WEEDS

Weed management

Crop loss due to weeds lies at about 15%, among the highest of any agricultural crop.  Controlling weeds in cranberry bogs remains an essential program for any grower. The loss of yield due to weeds is greater than all other pests combined. Here, the initial laying out of a bed is crucial. Perennial weeds need eradication before beds are constructed. If sand is used, the sand must be free of weed seed and be deep enough – at least 4 inches – to prevent seed germination in the soil beneath. Poorly drained beds lead directly to weed problems. Low spots can accumulate water but also herbicides which in turn cause problems for the cranberry plants. New beds need time for settling of the soil before planting so growers can adjust uneven areas.

Weeds come in from a variety of methods. Beyond poor drainage, the dike banks around beds are usually seeded with low-growing grass. These grasses then need to be mowed to prevent them from becoming weeds themselves. Wind and soil pH need to enter the equation of weed control. Both pre-emergent and post-emergent herbicide measures play a role in weed-control in cranberry beds though knowledge of the weeds in question and how to best use the herbicides is essential in minimizing damage to the cranberry vines.

Pest and Disease

Most cranberry diseases are caused by fungi, though only a few can cause significant loss if left untreated. Fungicides, removing old plant debris and different irrigation practices are some methods used to minimize fungal problems.

There are also several insects which can cause problems: blackheaded fireworms, cranberry girdlers, root weevils are most common but there are a host of other potentials pests as well. The trick to control relies on knowledge of the pest and use of proper insecticides, pheromone traps, early detection all play roles in control.

Weather

Heat can damage cranberry vines especially with winds and temperatures above 86° F. Sunscalding can also burn fruit in temperatures above 90° F or lower if humidity is low and bright sunshine.

Cranberries go dormant in the winter and are good down to 0° F. But once they begin to come out of dormancy, they lose some of their cold hardiness. Sprinkler systems are used to protect the vines during periods of frost potential.

Winter injury is not common in the Pacific Northwest unless the soil freezes to 4 inches, temperatures remain under 25° F for several days and drying winds occur. In this case, terminal buds and uprights can die off. Temporary flooding can help protect beds in areas subject to cold, dry winds.

COSTS

To start a new cranberry farm, it takes about 3-7 years to bring a new bed into full production. Costs range from $30,000 to $80,000 per acre including capital outlay, operating capital, land and permit costs. Much of the cost lies in the initial land preparation. Dry harvest beds take longer to develop thus involve longer break-even times.

The Corps of Engineers mandates that each acre of wetland taken up by new cranberry bogs, a grower must restore, preserve, enhance or create new wetlands. So, 10 acres of cranberries might incur additional costs for up to 60 acres of wetlands.

Production costs vary depending on region and harvest method. Variation also occurs with size of the operation. Renovating old beds bumps up costs considerably.

And then there are purchase prices. Plans need to be developed to cover mortgages, annual production costs and provide some living expenses. Costs go together with cranberry prices. Cranberry farms in Washington – mostly on the Long Beach Peninsula – in the second decade of the 20^th century increases from five to 306, mainly due to successful real-estate developers like the Ilwaco Cranberry Company. That could lead to oversupply.

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY ON THE PENINSULA

Local growers initially raised cranberries the same way growers did on the East Coast.  Local problems and pests were little understood. Meet D. J. Crowley, an early graduate of the Plant Pathology program at the State College of Washington – today’s Washington State University – came out to Long Beach in response to grower’s complaints for guidance regarding problems – up to 40% crop losses – with growing cranberries.

Daniel James Murray Crowley

D. J. Crowley was born in Ireland coming to the US at 17 years of age in 1906. He served with the 90^th US Infantry Division in France during World War 1 as a naturalized citizen. Discharged as a Sergeant First Class in 1919, he enrolled at the State College in plant pathology. He found a career in Pullman as well as his wife, Ruth.

Entering into his senior year, Crowley was chosen to go to the Long Beach Peninsula for three months in the summer of 1922. Returning to Pullman, he felt the problems faced on the peninsula remedial. Graduating early, he returned to pursue his investigations helped by local Ilwaco banker Percy Sinclair who was also a State Senator. With funds available for research, the college set up a Cranberry Investigations Laboratory at Long Beach with Crowley in charge of Cranberry Investigations. A year later, he was Director of the station.

director of the research laboratory

With Ruth and an infant son, Crowley began a life on the Peninsula which ended only with his death in 1978. He and Ruth eventually raised eight children, living in the town of Long Beach. At the time, there were no roads connecting Long Beach to the rest of Washington. To get there, one took a steamer from Portland to Astoria; a ferry across to Megler and then a train to the north side of Ilwaco at Black Lake.

With no car in the early years on the peninsula, Crowley made inspection tours to the various bogs on foot. He also improvised equipment which he built many times himself. A proper research station would wait many years in which time he used a shed on his own property for tests in the meantime. 

research and practice changes

Pacific County gave 11 acres of marshland to the college in 1924-1925 to build an actual station. The land, chosen by Crowley, gave him a chance to develop test bogs in the peated soil. He established a spraying program complete with timetables of when to actually spray for growers. Before, growers indiscriminately applied sprays without much success. In 1929, he produced evidence that Peninsula bog crop loss came about mainly from frost. Smudge pots, used in orchard applications, gave no relief since hot air rises – good for apple blossoms but to no effect for low-growing cranberry vines.

Crowley recommended a sprinkler system to protect the vines and berry buds. Growers were a little slow in incorporating his ideas, but the successes he showed from his own bogs eventually won them over. Today, those systems are standard practice.

Eventually, Crowley retired from directing the station. After his retirement, he purchased bogs entering into the cranberry business himself – a business handed down to his family.

The station was closed by Washington State University in 1992, but local growers formed a foundation to purchase the station and the 40 acres which the station had grown to. Washington State continues to run programs at the station while the foundation has created both a Cranberry Museum and a walking tour through the test bogs.

CRANBERRY MUSEUM

There are actually two cranberry museums along the Washington Coast, here on Pioneer Road in between the main highway and Sandridge Road, plus another museum in Grayland. They go a long way in explaining the plant and how the industry came to be here on the Pacific Northwest Coast. The farm Crowley retired to lies across Pioneer Road to the south, still in the Crowley family today. Explanations of history and techniques are all described here with a nice little gift shop from which samplings of the end products can be found.

There is a self-guided walking tour available to wander out to the cranberry beds to observe bog construction. The beds provide real-life research grounds as well as produce product to help keep the research station afloat.

CRANBERRIES

The cranberry is marketed as “America’s original superfruit.” As close cousins of blueberries, cranberries are low in sugar and high in acidity. They’re also rich in antioxidants and vitamin C as well as good sources of A, K, E, and B-complex vitamins. Research has linked their nutrients to prevention of certain cancers as well as decreased blood pressure, improved immune function, enhanced oral health, and reduced urinary tract infection. Plus, they store well, lasting about a month in the fridge and year in the freezer.

Cranberries still see their main use for Thanksgiving dinners, but the cranberry grower association – of which over 90% of growers in the Northwest belong to – Ocean Spray, has been quite successful increasing the market use for the berries beyond a turkey condiment.  Much of the berry production goes into juices. Cranberry juice is usually sweetened or blended with other fruit juices to reduce its natural tartness. The added sugar complicates the health benefits of the berries.

Of course, cranberries are involved in several alcoholic cocktails, too, like the Cape Cod and its derivatives (Madras, Bay Breeze, Sea Breeze) – two ounces vodka + 3 ounces cranberry juice – or the Cosmopolitan – lemon-flavored vodka (citron) + Cointreau + fresh lime juice + cranberry juice.