My Experience In Growing Small-fruited And Large-fruited Strawberries

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Everyone loves strawberries

Many gardeners are familiar with remontant strawberries. They grow it in the beds, harvesting delicious berries from June until frost, and since the weather has become unpredictable lately, I began to grow strawberries in large pots in a greenhouse.

I grow small-fruited and large-fruited remontant strawberries of the following varieties: Alexandria, Ali Baba, Ruyana, Queen Elizabeth II.

Strawberry soil

I prepare a loose soil, consisting of 50% leafy earth, 25% humus and 25% river sand. I mix all this well, adding to it the purchased soil "Magic Garden". I begin to prepare the soil in advance, in the fall. This soil is intended not only for strawberries, but also for seedlings and indoor flowers. In a free place where there were beds, I dig a trench and put leaves, grass and tops from vegetables there. I sprinkle it all with the soil I took out and water it with Biocompost, and then cover it with a black film, the edges of which I sprinkle with earth.

In the spring I shoot the film - the earth is like fluff. I put it in a specially designated place in the garden until next season, cover it with a black film on top so that weeds do not grow. It is impossible to remove such soil in bags or containers, otherwise the microflora will die, and plants in such soil will not grow.

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Sowing strawberry seeds

The best time to sow strawberry seeds is mid-February. Then I will get a harvest of berries in the year of sowing. These plants bear fruit in early August. Fill half the pot with coarse sand. I pour the soil prepared in the last season on top. I level it and spread the seeds over the surface, lightly press down and cover with snow. I close the pot with glass. You cannot sprinkle the seeds with earth. Plants should germinate in the light, so I put the pots in a bright, but not sunny and warm place. I often check the crops to prevent the soil from drying out.

Crop care

When the cotyledon leaves appear, I put the pot in a lighter place, but I do not remove the glass from the pot. The root of such plants is still small and has not penetrated deeply into the ground, therefore, if you remove the glass, the top layer of the earth dries up quickly and the seedlings may die.

Picking

With the appearance of the first true leaf, and this will happen approximately two weeks after germination, I dive the plants into pots with a diameter of 12 cm, 25 plants in each pot. I make depressions in the ground and plant young plants there, pinching the tip of the root. I take out the plants with a wooden stick. Sushi sticks work well for this: one side is sharp and the other is flat. I water the cut plants with some kind of growth stimulant.

In April, when there are 4-5 true leaves on the strawberry seedlings, I transplant the strawberries into pots of 1-3 plants each. I keep these seedlings already on the veranda, which I often ventilate, thereby gradually tempering my strawberries. At the beginning of June, I plant one plant at a time in a pot with a diameter of at least 15 cm. I try not to damage the earthy clod around the roots. I add heavier soil to the pot - garden soil, so that it does not dry out longer. I put the pots on the racks in the greenhouse.

Preparing a greenhouse for growing strawberries

In early April, I cover the greenhouse with plastic wrap. When it gets warm there, I lift the grapes on the supports - it grows in the northern part of the greenhouse, and put pots with annual seedlings and plants overwintering in the basement on the racks (wooden shelves under the greenhouse ceiling). The racks are on the opposite (south) side of the grapes. I sow greenery under the stands in the beds - twice a season: in spring and at the end of August.

I must ventilate the greenhouse from both sides, so that there is no stagnation of air, and moisture condensation does not accumulate on the ceiling, from which diseases can appear on the plants. In addition, droplets of water on the leaves can burn them. And it is also convenient to care for the plants on such racks: water, feed, cut off obsolete leaves, remove the fruiting peduncles, and you do not need to bend over at all.

On the same stands I place not only small-fruited strawberries, but also large-fruited remontant strawberries of the Queen Elizabeth II variety. I have been growing it like this for five years. I tried to put the pots on the path curbs in the greenhouse, but they interfered with walking and caring for the plants in the beds.

Mature plants of large-fruited strawberries, well-developed, grow whiskers, which can also give a good harvest of berries in the same season. Each mustache on the plant also produces a mustache of the next order. On each of them, I leave only the two strongest rosettes, I remove the rest as they grow. Peduncles appear on each mustache outlet. I leave only 3-4 of the largest flowers on each peduncle.

Next year, these plants will already be stronger, which means that the first and subsequent harvests on the outlet itself and on their mustaches will be abundant.

Watering and feeding strawberries

I water the strawberry seedlings through the pallet as the earth dries up. The pots must be with pallets, otherwise the soil in the pots dries out quickly, and this must not be allowed! It is also impossible to fill in the plants, otherwise the roots will rot, and green algae may appear on the surface of the soil. This means that air will cease to flow to the roots, which will negatively affect the growth of plants.

Once a week I feed the strawberries and spray them with a weak solution of potassium permanganate and ash infusion. Thanks to this, it bears fruit until late autumn.

Plant care

I remove the emerging first peduncles (pluck out). They, as a rule, are formed a little, and they only weaken the plants. Therefore, I continue to increase the green mass of the strawberry bushes. The more it is, the more powerful the plant will be, and, therefore, the larger the harvest of large berries will be.

The next flower stalks will appear in about 2-3 weeks, but they will be strong and strong. As a rule, there will be 7-9 flowers on each peduncle. I leave 3-4 flowers on each of them, delete the rest. Thanks to this operation, each strawberry plant will have very large berries. If you leave all the flowers on the peduncle, then only the first ripe berries will be large, the rest will be small, and the plants will waste energy on the ripening of the crop. And since my strawberries are remontant, soon after the first fruiting, flower stalks will appear on the plants again. So I save the plant's strength for the next fruiting.

Strawberries like to grow in a greenhouse: it's warm there, no wind, no rain. And most importantly, I do not need to share the harvest with voracious birds, slugs, snails and frogs!

Remontant strawberries can bear fruit all year round if they are grown in a winter garden or a greenhouse, supplementing them in winter. What I dream about!

Pest control of strawberries

Before flowering, I spray strawberry plants from midges and other pests, combining this with spraying shrubs, roses and flowers in the open field.

As a remedy for pests, I use an old recipe, which I learned about 50 years ago from the newspaper "Rural Life" and have been preparing it all these years. To do this, pour boiling water over the leaves of celandine, nettle and a pod of hot pepper in the evening. In the morning I filter it, dilute it with water and spray it on the plants.

Preparing strawberries for winter

In early September, I examine the pots with small-fruited strawberries. I transplant young plants grown from seeds this year into fresh soil so as not to disturb them in spring. They will spend the winter in the basement. I will throw out old strawberry bushes at the end of the season - this is how I rejuvenate the planting material.

I divide the large-fruited strawberries and plant them in pots with a diameter of 20-25 cm. When it gets cold outside in the fall, I bring the pots of strawberries into the house on the veranda, and they bear fruit for a long time until frost. Before removing the pots with plants to the basement at the end of the season, I cut off the entire aboveground part of the plants, otherwise it will rot, and I lower the pots into the basement.

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Collection of strawberry seeds

I collect my own strawberry seeds. For the seeds, I leave one of the largest berries. After it becomes dark in color, I remove it, wipe it in a strainer under running water, and then leave it in a glass of water for 2-3 days, so that the pulp moves away from the seeds. Then I rinse and dry on a napkin. This is how I get seeds of small-fruited strawberries. And from large-fruited strawberries I remove the top layer of pulp with seeds and repeat the procedure. And I also get my seeds.

Growing large strawberries on the street

In recent years, the weather has not pampered us, so I have to grow large-fruited strawberries in areas sheltered from the winds and well-lit areas. I grow remontant strawberries of the Queen Elizabeth II variety in the open field. I have two beds of it.

In the previous season, due to the huge amount of rains, there were no berries in the first half of summer, so the bushes of this strawberry rested and bloomed in August. There were many berries, but it was clear that they would not have time to ripen. Therefore, in order to save the harvest, we had to build a mini greenhouse. To do this, I installed arcs over the beds, connected them with twine so that the film did not sag. This structure was covered with plastic wrap. At the ends of the greenhouse, I left a hole 20 cm from the ground for airing, and so that insects could pollinate the flowers. Thanks to this, I still harvested the berries last year. For the winter I remove the shelter and spray the plants with Inta-VIR from pests.

In the spring, when the snow melts, I put the strawberry bushes in order: I remove the yellowed and dried leaves, spray them with a weak solution of potassium permanganate and infusion of ash. I pour peat under each plant. In such soil, plants are warm and moisture retains well.

After such processing of bushes of large-fruited strawberries, I cover the beds with plastic wrap. In hot weather, I ventilate the strawberries, for this I slightly open the film from the ends so that the plants do not burn out from the heat. So the strawberries grow faster and bloom earlier. With the onset of warm weather, I remove the film.

I constantly remove the mustache so that it does not take away the strength from the plants. I water the strawberries as the earth dries up. I feed it once every ten days, usually a day after watering the beds. In rainy weather, during fruiting, I cover the beds with a film so that the berries do not rot.

Thanks to the use of potted culture, I start picking strawberries earlier than other gardeners every year, and end up eating delicious fruits later than everyone else.