Article: Cranberry plants do not compete well against weeds, so it's very important to weed the bed regularly, particularly during the first year. Luckily, the peat moss used in the cranberry plot will inhibit the growth of many common garden weeds. During the first year (and beyond) cranberry plants will need constant watering to keep the soil. If the roots dry out, the plants will die. It is a common misconception that cranberry plants need to be saturated or submerged in water during growing. Although the soil should always be wet (or at least damp) to the touch, it shouldn't be saturated with water. Too much water can slow down root growth and prevent the roots from reaching the necessary depth. Soon, your cranberry plants will start to put out out runners that grow along the ground. The runners should grow until they fill and cover the bed. If they do not, you can fertilize your cranberry bed with a high-nitrogen fertilizer. Only use fertilizer if runners are struggling to grow; too much high-nitrogen fertilizer may cause overwhelming growth. If fertilizing in the first year, fertilize the soil three times -- once at the beginning of growth, once when the flowers bud and once when the berries start forming. In order to contain the spread of runners within the cranberry plot, you may want to line the perimeter of the bed with some wooden or plastic edging. After the first year, you'll need to cut off the nitrogen supply to the runners -- this will encourage them to stop spreading so they will take root and form uprights instead. Use a non-nitrogen fertilizer from the second year onwards. At the start of the second year (and every couple of years after that) you will need to cover the soil with a thin (1/2 inch) layer of sand. This helps to root the runners and prevent weeds. Cranberry plants are susceptible to certain pests and diseases, but these are relatively easy to deal with, provided you know what to look for. Cranberry fruit-worm is a common problem, where grey moths lay their eggs inside the berries themselves. If you spot grey moths around your cranberry plants, you will need to spray the plot with insecticides to kill the eggs. If you do not catch fruitworm on time, the eggs will hatch and the worms will eat the cranberries from the inside out. When this happens, the infested berries will turn red before they ripen. You can deal with this by picking off the prematurely red berries (in addition to the surrounding fruit) and disposing of them. Two other common diseases are red spot (where bright red spots develop on the leaves of the plant) and berry fruit rot. The treatment for both of these diseases is the same -- spray the cranberry plants with an organic, copper-based fungicide between late June and early August, according to the instructions on the label. From the third year of growth onwards, you will need to prune the cranberry plants each spring to control the runners and encourage uprights. You can do this by combing the cranberry plot with a landscape rake, until all of the runners are going in the same direction. This makes it easier to identify the longest runners and cut them back. Do not prune the existing uprights. As time goes on, your cranberry plants may begin to spread beyond the bounds of the original plot. If this happens, you can prune each of the plants back in the springtime, until there is only two inches of growth above the soil line. The cranberry plants will not produce fruit that year, but normal production will resume the following year.

What is a summary?
Be vigilant about weeds. Keep the cranberry plants well-watered. Fertilize the soil. Control pests and disease. Prune the runners from the third year of growth.