Growing Cranberries

Growing cranberries is a lot harder than you might think. There are steps for every season.

Winter

Nothing much happens, but everything is flooded and frozen, which protects the vines.

Cranberry flowers

Spring

Everything melts, and the water is drained out so the flowers grow.

Cranberry flowers

from Bernd Haynold (BerndH) on commons.wikimedia.org - CC BY 2.5

Summer

Cranberry flowers

The petals fall off the flowers and the cranberries start to grow.

Fall

The fields are flooded and machines loosen the berries so they float to the surface.

Picture of cranberry harvest

from Keith Weller, USDA-ARS on commons.wikimedia.org - Public Domain