Aronia facts for kids

Aronia berries.

Black chokeberry plants.

Aronia is a group of deciduous shrubs, also known as chokeberries. These plants are native to eastern North America. They often grow in wet woods and swamps. There are three main types of Aronia plants.

The most common type is Aronia melanocarpa, or black chokeberry. It started in Eastern North America. The red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) and a mix of the two, called purple chokeberry (Aronia prunifolia), are also found there. In the 1700s, black chokeberry plants were brought to Europe. They were first grown in places like Scandinavia and Russia.

Chokeberries are grown for two main reasons. They are pretty ornamental plants for gardens. They also produce berries that can be eaten. These berries are quite sour if eaten fresh. People often use them to make things like wine, jam, juice, and even ice cream. The name "chokeberry" comes from how the fruit makes your mouth pucker. It's a bit like eating something very tart.

Sometimes, people confuse chokeberries with chokecherries. Chokecherries are a different plant, Prunus virginiana. Both have special compounds called polyphenolics, but they are not closely related. Black chokeberry is a popular shrub in Central Europe. It is mostly grown there for its fruit.

What Chokeberries Look Like

Chokeberry leaves grow in an alternating pattern. They are simple and shaped like a spoon, with jagged edges. In autumn, these leaves turn a bright red color. Small, dark hairs can be found on the top middle part of the leaf.

The flowers are small and have five petals. They grow in clusters of 10 to 25 flowers together. The fruit is a small, apple-like berry called a pome. It has a very tart taste.

There are two main types of chokeberries named after their fruit color: red chokeberry and black chokeberry. There is also a purple chokeberry, which is a natural mix of the two.

Flowers Fruit	Scientific name Common name	Description	Where it grows
	Aronia arbutifolia Red chokeberry	This plant grows to be 2–4 meters (6.5–13 feet) tall. Its leaves are 5–8 cm wide and fuzzy underneath. The flowers are white or light pink. The fruit is red and stays on the plant into winter.	Eastern Canada and the eastern and central United States.
	Aronia melanocarpa Black chokeberry	This plant is usually smaller, about 1–2 meters (3–6 feet) tall. It spreads easily by its roots. The leaves are smaller, up to 6 cm wide, and smooth underneath. The flowers are white. The fruit is black and does not stay on the plant into winter.	Eastern North America, from Canada to the central United States.
	Aronia × prunifolia Purple chokeberry	This type seems to be a mix of the black and red chokeberries. Its leaves are somewhat fuzzy underneath. The fruit is dark purple to black and does not stay on the plant into winter. It can grow in places where the red chokeberry does not.	Eastern Canada and the eastern and central United States.

Nutrition

Chokeberries are known for being healthy. They contain many good things for your body. The table below shows some of the nutrients found in chokeberries.

How Chokeberries Are Grown

Soil and Climate

Chokeberries grow best in places with cool or mild temperatures. They are very tough in winter. They can survive very cold temperatures, even down to –30 °C, if they are resting for winter. However, once their flowers appear in late April or early May, they can be hurt by frost. It's best to plant chokeberries in early spring after the ground thaws. You can also plant them in autumn if you cover them with mulch or snow to protect them from frost.

Chokeberries have shallow roots. They like soil that is rich in humus (decayed plant matter) and nutrients. The soil should not be flooded and should have a low groundwater level. These plants like moisture, but they can also handle dry periods. However, very dry times can reduce how many berries they produce. Chokeberries need more than 500 mm of precipitation (rain or snow). They grow best in full sunlight rather than in shade.

Planting and Care

Chokeberries grow well in medium-heavy soil that is neutral to slightly acidic. Before planting, it's good to make the soil better. You can add organic fertilizers and dig the soil deeply. It's not a good idea to plant chokeberries in a grassy area. Weeds can grow too much and compete with the young plants.

Usually, two or three-year-old plants are put into the ground between October and November. Machines can plant about 3000 seedlings per hectare. Each plant is placed 20–25 cm deep. Plants are spaced 60 cm apart, and rows are spaced for harvesting machines.

For the first two years, it's important to keep the area around the plants clear of weeds. You can do this with machines or by covering the ground with mulch. Young plants need enough water, especially when it's dry. At first, the plant needs to focus on growing leaves and stems. So, it helps to remove flower buds in the beginning.

To get good fruit every year, the shrubs need to be trimmed regularly. This helps them grow into a thick hedge. Farmers might cut the whole plant back every six years in winter. Or, they might cut off the oldest and weakest shoots each winter. This helps the plant stay strong and produce a steady amount of fruit.

Feeding the Plants

To make sure the plants get enough food, farmers often test the soil before planting. This helps them plan how much fertilizer to use. In the first two years, young plants need plenty of phosphate (P), potassium (K), and magnesium (Mg). These nutrients help the plants grow well.

If the soil has low potassium, farmers might add cattle manure. If potassium is high, they might use compost instead. Too much potassium can stop the plant from taking in other important nutrients. However, a lot of potassium is needed in the first few years. Nitrogen fertilizer is also important. It's often given in two parts: once at the start of the growing season and again when the flowers bloom. As the plants grow older, they need more nutrients. Farmers can adjust the amount of fertilizer based on how well the plants are growing and how much fruit they produce.

Improving Chokeberries

Scientists and farmers work to make chokeberries even better. This is called breeding. For red chokeberries, they try to make the plants smaller and the fruit bigger. They also want the leaves to stay colorful longer in the fall.

For black chokeberries, especially those grown for food, breeders want to increase the healthy compounds called polyphenols. They also want to keep the fruit size large and improve the taste.

Harvesting the Fruit

Farmers watch the fruit closely to know when it's time to harvest. They check the sugar content of the berries. The best time to pick is when the sugar content is between 15 and 20° Brix. This means the berries are sweet enough to balance their tart taste.

Chokeberries are usually harvested in late August or early September. At this time, some berries on the plant might be riper than others. The best time to pick is when the top berries start to look a little shriveled but haven't lost weight yet. This way, most of the berries are perfectly ripe.

Some berries are picked by hand, especially if they are sold fresh or dried. This takes more time, about 7 kg per hour. Hand-picked berries should be processed the same day to keep them fresh. Most chokeberries are picked by machines. These machines pull the bushes sideways and shake the berries off. Machine harvesting is much faster, with three people and a machine able to harvest one hectare in a day. Machine-harvested berries might be slightly damaged, so they also need to be processed quickly.

How Much Fruit They Produce

If you grow chokeberries from seeds, it takes 3 to 5 years before they start producing fruit. However, you can get up to 20 new plants from one parent plant. These new plants can start producing fruit in just 2 to 3 years. Once the plants are fully grown, a good chokeberry farm can produce between 3 and 12 tonnes of fruit per hectare.

Pests and Diseases

Chokeberries are quite strong plants. They don't get many diseases and usually don't have big problems with pests. This makes them a good choice for organic farming. The high amount of healthy compounds in the fruit, like flavonoids, and their sour taste probably help protect them from bugs and germs.

Here are some common pests and diseases that might affect chokeberries:

Pests

• Aphids (small insects that suck plant sap)
• Mites (tiny spider-like creatures)
• Drosophila suzukii (a type of fruit fly that likes damaged fruit)
• Weevils (small beetles)
• Wasps
• Cockchafer grub (insect larvae that live in the soil)
• Codling moth (a moth whose larvae eat fruit)
• Birds, mice, and deer might also eat parts of the plant.

Fungal diseases

• Dead arm disease (a fungus that harms the plant's branches)
• Rusts (fungi that cause rusty spots on leaves)
• Powdery mildew (a fungus that makes white powdery spots on leaves)

Bacterial diseases

• Pseudomonas syringae (a type of bacteria)
• While chokeberries are in the same plant family as plants that get fire blight, this disease has not been seen on chokeberries so far.

Farmers use different ways to deal with pests and diseases. They might make sure plants get enough sunlight and air. They can also put up nets to protect the fruit from birds.

Products and Uses

Chokeberries are popular ornamental plants for gardens because they are attractive. They naturally grow under trees or at the edge of woodlands. Chokeberries are tough plants. They can handle dry weather, insects, pollution, and diseases. Some types, like 'Brilliant' red chokeberry and 'Autumn Magic' black chokeberry, are chosen for their amazing fall leaf colors.

People make wine from aronia berries in places like Lithuania and Minnesota. In Poland, aronia berries are added to jams and juices. They are also dried to make herbal tea, sometimes mixed with other things like blackcurrant. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the berries are sold fresh, frozen, or made into juices, jams, and teas. Aronia is also used to add flavoring or color to drinks or yogurts. The juice from ripe berries is tart, a little sweet, and sour. It doesn't have much vitamin C. The berries can also be baked into breads. In the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, concentrated aronia juice is used in mixed fruit juices.

Polyphenols

Black chokeberry (A. melanocarpa) is interesting to scientists because of its very dark purple, almost black, color. This color comes from a lot of special compounds called polyphenols, especially anthocyanins. These are the same compounds that give blueberries and grapes their color.

Black chokeberry has a very high amount of polyphenols. These values are among the highest found in plants. Black aronia has more anthocyanins than purple or red aronia. However, red and purple aronia have more other types of polyphenols.

The plant makes these colorful compounds mainly in its leaves and the skin of its berries. This helps protect the fruit and seeds from strong ultraviolet radiation (UV rays) from the sun. These pigments act like a natural sunscreen. They also help protect the plant from damage by acting as antioxidants. The bright colors also help attract birds and other animals to eat the fruit. When animals eat the fruit, they spread the seeds in their droppings, helping the plant grow in new places.

Scientists have found many specific polyphenols in chokeberries. Some of these include cyanidin, quercetin, and epicatechin. These are all part of a larger group of healthy plant compounds called flavonoids.

Images for kids

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  Aronia flowers and leaves (Aronia melanocarpa)

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  Purple chokeberry (Aronia prunifolia)

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  Red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia)

See also

In Spanish: Aronia para niños