No one will argue that strawberries are full of aroma and freshness.
It is also one of the simplest and most useful plants for growing in the garden or in containers.
Growing strawberries at home: basic principles
In supermarkets, berries tend to have a tart grainy texture. This is because natural sugar turns into starch as soon as strawberries are torn from the garden. If you have such an opportunity, then try how exciting and useful it is to grow strawberries at home. And its rich and aromatic taste will convince you of the correctness of this decision.
First you need to understand the life cycle of strawberries. Like most frost-resistant perennials, it dies in the winter and begins to grow rapidly when the soil warms up in the spring. After the plant bears fruit, many types of strawberries produce numerous shoots with children of new plants at the ends. These antennae runners often take root themselves nearby and remain attached to the mother plant. These types of strawberries will produce more berries if you cut most of the runners, allowing each plant to produce no more than 3 subsidiary plants each summer. In warm, sunny weather, the berries ripen for about 30 days after the flowers are fertilized.
For a successful result and the answer to the question of how to grow strawberries at home, you must follow a number of rules and conditions, such as:
Sunny place. Strawberries love areas that receive a lot of direct sunlight without shade. They also appreciate the minimal wind, so that it does not take the necessary moisture from the plant and does not interfere with pollination.
Moderate humidity. Perform timely watering. Excess can lead to rotting of berries, and a deficiency can lead to the death of a plant.
Landing and weeding. It is best to plant strawberries in the spring. The soil should be well fertilized. Keep a sufficient distance between the plants to provide them with the necessary amount of light and heat. Remove weeds frequently and carefully. They take power from a healthy plant and produce a small, small crop.
Neighbors. It is not recommended to plant in the area where there was recently strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, potatoes. Ideal neighbors are corn and sunflowers.
Take timely preventive measures to protect against diseases and pests, which will help to avoid plant death.
How to grow strawberries at home: choosing a variety and planting material
To get started, determine which type of strawberry is best for you based on their needs. The following strawberry plant specieswhich can be divided into:
- early (June 1-15) - Wima Zant, Deroyal, Kamarosa, Kent, Kimberly, Lambada, Donna, Diana;
- medium (June 20 - July 10) - Ducat, Crown, Regiment, Suzy, Tago, Figaro, Monterey, San Andreas, Portola, Albion;
-late (July 15-30) - Zanga Zengana, Mise Schindler, Bohemia, Symphony, Wima Tarda, Florence.
Also, when choosing a strawberry variety, you must take into account your own requests:
- taste: sweet (Kimberly, Maryshka), sweet and sour (Dawn), sour (Mount Everest);
- yield: high (Festival) or low;
- by the size of berries: small (Moscow delicacy), medium (Lyubava) or large (Gigantella Maxim, Brighton)
- Purpose of use: boil jam from them (Valerie), or eat fresh from the garden (Mashenka).
Types of Strawberries
Original strawberry varieties include:
- remontantnaya (Queen Elizabeth II, Albion, Temptation)
- ampelous (Merlan)
- curly (Garland)
When choosing planting material, remember that it must be taken from bushes that are at least 3 years old. If you purchase seedlings in the market or in the store, it is advisable that it be in closed pots. The length of the roots is at least 5 cm. They should not be with signs of rot. On the bush should be two to three healthy leaves. Try not to buy a flowering plant, as it will take root worse.
Do not be afraid to try and experiment with growing different varieties of strawberry seedlings. This is the case when the result is a win-win!
Strawberry from seeds: growing technology
There are several ways to grow strawberries at home:
- rooting of antennae. Strawberry seedlings are a mustache on which there is a small young bush. After rooting, the bush becomes an independent plant and can be transplanted to another place;
Mustache Strawberry Propagation
- division of bushes. For some strawberry varieties (mostly remontant), only this method is used. It is a division of the bush into two parts and their planting as two young plants;
- sowing seeds.
Just want to warn you that it is difficult to grow strawberries from seeds. And it is necessary to begin to do this long before the plant will bear fruit. Sow at the right time. It depends on the strawberry variety you have chosen, so read the label or contact the seller. Varieties with high yields are best sown in the summer, not later than the first half of August. Alpine strawberries - in July-August. But, in most cases, it is recommended to sow strawberries in the winter, as this will give more time for the plant to create a healthy root system.
The best varieties are: Gourmet, Bagota, Sakhalin, Brighton, Geneva.
You can prepare them yourself. To do this, you need to cut, dry and grind the top layer of your favorite berry, carefully releasing seeds from strawberries.
Before sowing, the seeds obtained must be checked for germination. To do this, they must be placed in a humid environment. And after they sprout begin to grow strawberry seedlings from seeds.
To get started, prepare a container with drainage holes. Fill it with soil that needs to be moistened. Using your finger, make indentations in the soil about 6 mm at intervals of 15 cm from each other. Place 3 seeds in each well and simply press with your finger. Do not press down hard with the ground, otherwise the seeds will have to fight in order to sprout. Cover with plastic wrap, which will help to find seeds in moist soil.
Place the container in a lit place. If you are landing in the winter, then place it near the radiator. The soil should be moist all the time. Water with a spray, otherwise the water will wash all the seeds.
After the seeds germinate and, most importantly, give full-fledged sprouts, peel off the film and let the seeds grow further. Remember to check the soil moisture.
Plants can be transplanted into glasses after young leaves appear.
Strawberry Seedlings: Care and Planting
In order to answer the question of how to grow strawberries at home, you need to know all the rules for the necessary care.
Lighting. Warm sunny place. Strawberries require 6-10 hours of daylight and direct sunlight. It can produce a plant in partial shade if necessary, but the crop will never be as prolific.
The soil. Add a lot of compost or manure a couple of months before planting to enrich the soil and remove any weeds along with the roots. If the soil is heavy clay or bad sand is present, add well decomposed organic material. Landing should be well-drained. If necessary, change the acidity of your soil in advance.
Landing. Dig a hole in the soil. Place the strawberry plant in the hole, holding the head above the surface. Press the soil firmly and gently around the base of the seedlings. Mulch after planting to protect the surface and keep the strawberries clean.
Perform regular watering. Strawberries need a lot of water when the flowers develop and again in the fall when the plants ripen. Avoid getting water on the berries so that they do not rot. Due to the heat and drought, the berries may be small in size. Start watering and this will help increase their size.
Top dressing. Use liquid fertilizer to nourish strawberries. But minimize the use of water-soluble fertilizer with a high nitrogen content. It will promote leaf growth, rather than focusing on fruiting.
Care process. Break off the first flowers. By removing the first flowers that appear, you give strawberries a chance to grow a stronger root system.
Planting seedlings must be done around May or when it will be possible to work on the soil in spring. On prepared soil, make the planting holes wide enough to accommodate the entire root system without bending it. And at the same time, do not plant the plant too deep: the roots should be covered, but the crown should be directly on the surface of the soil.
Provide sufficient space for so-called stretching the plant. The distance should be 35-40 cm from each other and 90 cm between the rows. The roots should not be longer than 20 cm. Cut them if necessary.
Plant new plants every year to maintain high quality berries every season.
Be careful when weeding. Manually remove weeds, especially during the first months after planting.
Growing strawberries at home - conditions for maximum yield
To achieve high yields, you must follow the rules of care in the complex. Violation of one of the conditions may not lead to the desired result.
Strawberry bushes are recommended to be replanted every five years. Otherwise, they lose their productivity. Ideally, plant varieties should also be changed. And this must be done not only because of idle curiosity. So you pick the strawberries to your taste and reduce the threat of pests and the spread of diseases.
The soil on which you will grow strawberries at home also plays an important role. Black soil and gray forest soils are best suited. On heavy clay or sod-podzolic rich crops you will not get. Acidity should be weak (pH from 5.5 to 6.5). Also pay attention to the groundwater level. If during the rainy season on a selected section of the waggon, the legs fall into the ground, then this section is not suitable.
In the first year, pick flowers to prevent fruiting. Because of this, the plant will spend its energy reserves on the development of healthy roots. And the output will be much greater in the second year. The first and second generation yield higher.
Strawberry at home: why does it die?
One of the causes of death of strawberries grown at home is pests. The most common include:
1) Strawberry mite - in the spring lays eggs in leaves, thereby sucking juice from them. Because of this, the leaves become wrinkled, and the berries are very small. Remove the affected leaves, and treat the plant with infusion of onion husks.
2) Powdery mildew - the leaves susceptible to this disease curl with a boat, turn purple with a characteristic powdery coating. Spraying plantations with a copper-soap solution will help with this disease (20 grams of soap, 20 grams of copper sulfate and 10 grams of Topaz should be dissolved in 10 liters of water).
3) Spider mite - in case of severe damage, the strawberry leaves become entangled in cobwebs, due to which they turn yellow and dry out. You can deal with it by spraying the plant with a warm solution of malathion (3 tablespoons per bucket of water). In this case, it is important that the treated beds (make sure that there are no berries), cover with a film for about three hours. This method will help get rid of other pests.
4) Aphid - To combat aphids, pour a few heads of garlic 3 liters of cold water and let it brew for a week. The resulting solution, using a spray, treat the necessary areas.
5) Slug - chew holes in the strawberries. In this case, a decoction of marigolds can help. To do this, pour 1 liter of boiling water 1 tbsp. dried flowers or 2 tbsp. fresh. Let the broth infuse and spray them with the entire damaged surface, not missing the distance between the rows. You can also spray the soil with a solution of water (5 l) and 1 tbsp. ammonia.
Sick Strawberry
Fungal diseases cause the formation of dark spots on the leaves. Removing strawberry leaves can help get rid of pests and diseases.
The worst strawberry pests are still birds. To preserve the berries, you can cover them with a kind of net weaving. Also try this original method: lay red glass balls around the beds before the berries appear. This one can help scare away the birds.
Satisfying all the vagaries of our berry queen, you will get an exceptional strawberry flavor and unique aroma!
