Growing strawberries in a summer cottage: a variety of ways and tips for care

Strawberries (aka strawberry) grows in almost all garden areas of our country: from the Caucasus to Karelia, as well as in the countries of the former Soviet Union. She needs sun, moisture, good soil, moderate heat and a lot of attention: this is one of the most labor-intensive berry crops.

Features of growing strawberries in open ground

Only in regions with harsh climates have to grow strawberries in greenhouses. But in the vast majority of cases, this culture grows in open ground.

Ampelic varieties of strawberries are grown even in a city apartment.

Ampel strawberries can be successfully grown in the apartment

Various soils are suitable for strawberries: it grows on black soil, and loam, and on sandy soils. But the beds must be well seasoned with organic and mineral fertilizers. Reliable protection of the strawberry plantation from cold winds is also necessary.

The best predecessors for strawberries are cabbage, salads, legumes, onions, garlic, clover. Unsuitable raspberries, tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes. Near strawberries, you can plant almost everything except plants that produce a lot of overgrowth: raspberries, plums, cherries, horseradish. The optimal neighbors are various salads, beans, onions and garlic.

The relief of the site should be relatively flat. It can be planted on small slopes, better than the south-west direction, you need to remember that in low places strawberries suffer greatly from frost. It should be borne in mind that at the chosen place the culture will grow for a maximum of 5 years. Therefore, it can be planted in the aisles of young fruit trees.

Strawberries are grown in greenhouses and apartments, but mainly in open ground.

Strawberry Growing Methods

Depending on the climate, soil, area, topography and wishes of the owner, the format of arranging a strawberry plantation may be different.

On high beds

Quite high beds (above the furrow by 20-30 cm) have to be equipped in regions with high humidity, in marshy places. The ridge for strength can be fenced with a "fence" of boards, without which it will crumble. Buildings are arranged long before planting, because at first the soil will strongly settle due to watering and decay of organic fertilizers.

In areas with little snow, when growing strawberries in high ridges, the possibility of winter freezing should be taken into account, so late autumn should provide additional cover for plants with reeds, pine or spruce spruce branches, non-woven material.

High beds are best fenced: the soil will not crumble

In the crests

Combs are made immediately before planting, each height is 25-30 cm. Before planting, they are well watered. With this method of cultivation, it is convenient to care for strawberries: moisture in optimal quantities goes to the roots of each bush, the plantation is well ventilated, which reduces the risk of disease.

There is a lot of space between the ridges, which is convenient for mechanized care of the plantation

Carpeted

With the carpet method, strawberry mustaches are planted without following any pattern. But when preparing the beds, an increased amount of fertilizer is applied to the soil. Over time, strawberries grow and cover with a continuous carpet the entire area allotted to it. Mustaches are not removed, new bushes grow randomly from them. Under plants creates its own microclimate. A solid strawberry carpet prevents the abundant growth of weeds, less moisture evaporates, so the method is also suitable for arid regions.

A "carpet" of strawberries can bear fruit well up to 8-10 years. Berries grow smaller, although often sweeter.

When carpet growing strawberries under bushes, its own microclimate is created, weeds do not grow, moisture is better retained

Under the agrofiber

The chemical industry makes non-woven synthetic materials from polymers, usually polypropylene. A mulch effect is created on a bed covered with such material, weeds hardly appear, and the soil holds water well. The traditional non-woven material is spunbond, the density of which for growing strawberries should be at least 45 g / m². Lighter torn quickly.

Spanbond will lie on the bed for several years, so the dose of fertilizers must be increased significantly when planting: for every 1 m2, add up to 3 buckets of well-rotted manure, not counting the usual amounts of mineral fertilizers.

To equip the beds:

1. The agrofibre is spread on it, the edges are sprinkled with earth.
2. Small holes are cut in the place of future bushes.
3. They make a hole under the film with their hands and carefully plant a strawberry bush in it.
4. Abundantly watered.

Agrofibre not only warms the soil, prevents weeds from growing, but also keeps the berries clean

Video: growing strawberries on a nonwoven fabric

Vertical cultivation

Vertical strawberry cultivation is used when the area of ​​the plot is very modest. The beds are arranged from a variety of improvised materials - wide pipes, bags, car tires.

The soil is prepared in a large tank in advance and should contain an increased amount of fertilizer. It is placed in the manufactured structures and planted strawberry seedlings in the usual way. Caring for vertical beds is simple, but you need to carefully monitor the moisture of the soil: usually watering is required much more often.

One of the options for vertical cultivation is the strawberry pyramid:

1. Pyramids are made of suitable-sized boxes of different sizes without a bottom (20-25 cm high).
2. You will need a piece of any pipe with a diameter of 2.5 cm and a length of 2.5 m.
3. Holes with a diameter of 1 to 3 mm are made in the pipe over almost the entire length.
4. A pipe is dug vertically into the ground at a depth of 60-70 cm.
5. The largest box is placed on top of the pipe so that it passes through the center, digging it lightly into the ground.
6. Pour fertilized soil into the box and slightly compact.
7. Then also set the following boxes as their size decreases.
8. A piece of pipe should remain above the last drawer. They put on an irrigation hose.
9. Plant strawberries around the perimeter of each box, take care of seedlings as usual.
   

   Vertical strawberry cultivation saves space on the plot

Planting strawberries

Strawberry planting times vary by region:

• in the southern regions it is more convenient to plant it in the spring, from late March to early May. Practice and October landing;
• in the middle lane, the berries are planted in late summer (until mid-September);
• in the north - from late July to mid-August (but more often - in spring).

Almost always, strawberries are propagated by rooted rosettes formed on the mustache. The best seedlings have several well-developed leaves, the roots should be no shorter than 6 cm.

A good seedling should have several leaves and a developed root system

Fertilizers during planting

For digging, organic fertilizers are required: 1 m² beds - 8-10 kg of compost or well-rotted manure. To them are added phosphoric and potassium mineral fertilizers (from 5 to 10 g per 1 m²).

For strawberries, all types of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers are quite suitable. From potash - it is better not containing chlorine (potassium sulfate, calimagnesia). Ash from burning wood residues is the best option for the garden.

How to plant strawberries

Landing Algorithm:

1. Before planting, strawberry seedlings should be decontaminated: put in water for 10-15 minutes (temperature about 45 ° C). Apply and disinfection in a solution prepared from 3 tbsp. l salt and 1 tsp. vitriol on a bucket of water.
2. An extra handful of humus can be added to each well.
3. The roots are placed in a hole, freely distribute them and fall asleep with the earth, slightly compacting. The apical kidney should be at the level of the soil surface.
4. Carefully water each bush (1 liter of water).
5. The first week is watered often, not allowing the soil to dry out.
6. If the weather is hot, it is advisable to cover the plantings with grass, newspapers or light non-woven material.

Sometimes 2-3 plants are planted in one hole if a good mustache is not enough. Growing up, they give one big bush.

When planting strawberries, you can’t deepen the "heart"

Strawberry Care

Immediately after the snow melts, the beds are cleaned of dry and diseased leaves, they are immediately burned. The soil around each bush is carefully loosened. Mulch the plants with humus. If severe frosts are expected during the preparation of strawberries for flowering or flowering itself, cover the beds with non-woven material (spunbond, lutrasil). Often used for mulching the beds of needles of conifers. Before flowering, they are abundantly poured between the bushes, creating a pillow of 4-6 cm. In August, needles are collected and burned.

When using needles as mulch, the need for strawberry watering and loosening is reduced

On plantations 3-4 years old after harvest, all leaves are often mowed: not less than 1-2 cm from the beginning of the growth of horns, fertilized with urea and watered abundantly. It needs to be done no later than the beginning of August: a month is required for the abundant growth of new foliage. The procedure destroys the majority of pests, helps to control weeds, increases the yield. All mustaches, if they are not needed for new landings, are cut off immediately after the appearance.

Removing strawberry leaves after harvesting helps get rid of many pests

At the end of summer, weeding is carried out on strawberry beds, while loosening the soil. In early August in the middle lane they prepare beds for new plantings.

In autumn, the soil around the bushes is loosened deeply; if possible, dig up to 20-40 cm. The beds are filled with humus or a half-ripened manure layer of about 5 cm. The bushes that have risen from the ground are slightly spudding, covering the bare roots. The extra mustache is cut off again.

Weeds growing in row-spacings in autumn can be left in place until spring: they will help accumulate snow.

Strawberries - the least winter-hardy berry from those that are grown in garden plots. At -15 ° C, leaves not covered by snow are severely damaged. Bushes reliably save from freezing snow. In late autumn, to improve snow retention on the beds, you need to sketch brushwood, branches from pruning garden trees. If there is no snow during severe frosts, strawberries are covered with spruce or pine spruce branches. Nonwoven materials will also help.

Top dressing

Fertilizers introduced during planting are enough for 1-2 years, after which strawberries need to be fed. In early spring, when loosening under the bushes, 10-20 g of urea per 1 m is added². You can make complex mineral fertilizers (for example, azofoska) according to the instructions on the package.

Urea - one of the safest nitrogen fertilizers

Azophos dressing is repeated after harvesting. If the leaves were mowed, for the growth of new ones, increased doses of nitrogen fertilizers are needed: urea or ammonium nitrate (10-20 g per 1 m²).

With poor development of plants, they can be fed in August. This can be done with mullein or bird droppings. Strawberries and foliar top dressings are useful, for example, with a 0.3% solution of urea or a solution of a mixture of trace elements (0.2% potassium permanganate, boric acid and ammonium molybdate each).

It is necessary to be careful when using organic dressings, especially chicken droppings: use only very dilute solutions, otherwise you can burn the plants. For 3-4 linear meters of the bed, they take 1 bucket of solution, in which no more than a handful of litter is bred.

The ash from burning wood residues gives excellent results: up to a liter can of 1 m² beds. It can be used both in dry form and previously diluted with water. Any top dressing is best done after good watering or rain.

Pest and disease protection

At the summer cottage, it is better to fight pests and diseases of strawberries without chemicals, but in difficult situations you can not do without it:

• with an abundance of ticks in the beginning of spring, a 3% Bordeaux mixture is sprayed. It helps against spotting. However, the accumulation of copper salts in the soil is undesirable; Bordeaux liquid should not be abused;
• when inflorescences appear, some gardeners spray plantations against a complex of pests and diseases using a mixture of chlorophos and colloidal sulfur;
• in the case of an abundance of gray rot, strawberries can be sprayed with copper chloride;
• if spotting and powdery mildew are overcome, one month after harvesting, another spray is carried out with colloidal sulfur. In addition, at this time they use Fufanon or copper sulfate;
• slugs have to be collected manually: most chemicals give only a temporary effect;
• Wood ash used as a fertilizer is also known for its antiseptic properties. It is simply poured under each bush, and then the soil is loosened.

In the first ten days of April, strawberry plantations are watered with hot water (temperature 60-65 ° C). Such treatment destroys the larvae of ticks, weevils, nematodes.

Bordeaux fluid is widely used in gardens

Features of growing strawberries in the regions

The technology for growing strawberries is almost the same in all regions, but the climate makes significant adjustments to the timing of mustache planting, irrigation regimes, and preparations for winter.

In outskirts of Moscow

The weather in the Moscow region is unpredictable: in winter, frosts alternate with thaws. Because of this, many plants suffer from root rooting. To some extent, this applies to strawberries. But in general, the climate is quite suitable for growing berries.

In the suburbs, strawberries are usually planted in August; the deadline is early September. Often use high beds to protect the roots from excessive moisture. If there is no time for careful leaving - grow up with a carpet.

Optimal varieties of strawberries:

• Dawn
• Moscow delicacy,
• Beauty of Zagorje,
• Hope,
• Cinderella,
• Zenga Zengana.

Strawberry Beauty Zagorye - one of the favorite varieties for the middle lane

The main activities are obligatory cropping of mustaches, timely weeding, watering and top dressing. During fruiting, strawberries are watered 2-3 times, another 1-2 times after picking berries, and in dry years - even before flowering. In winter, since there is little hope of timely snow, mulch materials are abundantly poured onto the beds.

In Belarus

The climatic conditions of Belarus are in many respects similar to those in central Russia. But, unlike the Moscow Region, the weather here is more predictable: thaws in winter, of course, do happen, but overall the weather is slightly milder. It is very suitable for strawberry cultivation.

They plant strawberries with a mustache at the end of summer, but more often - in the spring, in May. If flower stalks appeared on young bushes in the first summer after spring planting, you need to cut them off in order to get a plentiful harvest next year. Traditional varieties:

• Knight
• Wondrous
• Carmen
• Beauty,
• Rusich,
• Slavutich,
• Sudarushka.

Varieties of strawberries on the plantation try not to mix.

Before frost, the beds are covered with peat, needles or sawdust (5 cm layer), in the absence of these materials - leaves fallen from trees (up to 15 cm). It is necessary to cover when establishing small negative temperatures. In the early spring, shelter must be removed, otherwise the bushes may die and die.

In the Kuban

The climate of the Kuban is relatively homogeneous, although it slightly depends on the proximity of the sea. Here are good conditions for growing strawberries.

The natural conditions of the Black Sea zone of the Krasnodar Territory are somewhat different, but they are even more favorable for culture. Here, strawberries grow almost all year round.So, if after a full harvest to ensure good care, at the end of summer there will be a second crop.

The berries are planted in March or from mid-August to early October. A sufficient amount of rainfall allows you to grow strawberries in the aisles of young gardens. We have to select varieties adapted to hot weather conditions:

• 50 years of October
• Exhibition,
• Hera
• Beauty of Zagorje,
• Fireworks,
• Southerner.

Winters are very mild, and there is no need to carry out special work to protect against frost: only ordinary weeding, top dressing and loosening.

In Siberia and the Far East

Severe weather conditions in Siberia require taking strawberry protection from frost seriously. Choose seedlings of local varieties:

• Fairy,
• Festival
• Omsk early.

Southern varieties are grown only in greenhouses.

For the plantation, the warmest place is chosen: a flat area or a small southern slope. A narrow-line single-line growing scheme is convenient in Siberia: a mustache growing near a row is rooted in place, forming strips 25-30 cm wide. They plant strawberries most often in spring. When frost threatens, young plantations are covered with a film, spanbond or fir spruce branches.

In areas with little snow at the end of October, the beds are covered with straw, reeds, and a layer of plant tops (at least 10 cm). Then lay the branches left over from pruning garden trees. They trap snow, prevent wind blowing off the lower layers of insulation materials. In the spring after snow melts, the shelter is removed and sent to a fire or compost pit.

Strawberries growing using Finnish technology helps combat the vagaries of the weather. Its essence is that the soil on the bed is covered with a black film, in which holes 4-6 cm in size are cut. Strawberry mustaches are planted in them. Harvesting is possible already 2 months after transplanting seedlings. The reason is the rapid and uniform heating of the soil. But for the Finnish method of growing strawberries, a drip irrigation system is required.

Finnish technology involves the use of a black film, under which it is warm and humid

In the Urals

Features of the Ural climate require the gardener to pay close attention to strawberry cultivation. It is necessary to choose frost-resistant varieties, gardeners give preference:

• Amulet
• Dawn
• Of Asia.

Optimal repair varieties:

• Lyubava
• Geneva,
• Brighton.

You can plant strawberries in the Urals both in early spring and late summer. The second option is preferable. Mustaches are planted on high beds, usually in two rows. Between them they dig a shallow trench, in which they then mount the drip irrigation system. The bushes are staggered, maintaining a distance of 30 cm between rows and about 20 cm in a row. When preparing beds, they put a lot of manure: in addition to the nutritional function, it will also warm the roots of the plants. Of course, you need to take only rotted manure, best of all - horse manure.

If the strawberries planted in the fall bloom, the buds must be removed so that the bushes are well prepared for the winter. With the onset of mild frosts, strawberry beds are covered with a layer of agrofibre or spruce branches. In the spring, shelter must be removed.

Getting high strawberry crops in a summer cottage requires a lot of effort. In addition to knowledge, efforts and time are required here. You can grow strawberries in different regions. In the north, greenhouses are used for its cultivation. The most daring gardeners get a crop, even in a city apartment.