Strawberries are one of the most labor-intensive berry crops. But also one of the favorite berries of our children. Therefore, it is imperative to plant it on your site. The health of the bush, as well as future crops, depends on the proper planting.
Where to plant strawberries
Strawberries should grow in loose and breathable soil with little acidity (pH is about 5.5). Various soils are suitable for culture, in this sense it is not very demanding: it feels good on black soil, and loam, and sandy loam. But any land must be well seasoned with organic and mineral fertilizers. The plantation needs protection from cold winds. Neither dry nor marshy areas are suitable for planting strawberries. Groundwater should not be closer than 1 m to the soil surface.
On light soils with a lack of watering, strawberries suffer from drought, and on heavy clay soils it grows poorly and gives low yields.
The relief site should be more or less even. Possible landing on small slopes (angle not more than 2about), it is better to the south-western direction, but it should be remembered that in low places strawberries suffer greatly from frost. It should be immediately noted that strawberries will grow for a maximum of 5 years at the selected location. Usually, after the third year, productivity decreases sharply, and by the age of 5 its further cultivation becomes inexpedient. Therefore, it can also be planted in the aisles of freshly planted fruit trees: by the time they grow, strawberries are removed.
Optimum precursors for strawberries are cabbage, radishes, various salads, legumes, onions, garlic, carrots, clover. Unsuitable in this quality are raspberries and nightshade (tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes).
Clover - the best predecessor for strawberries
What can not be planted next to strawberries
Near strawberries, you can plant almost everything except plants that produce a lot of overgrowth: raspberries, blackberries, plums, cherries. And do not forget about the "egoists" - apricot and walnut. These monsters pull all the juices from the ground many meters away from themselves. Among vegetable plants, horseradish, which usually grows over the entire available area, should be included in this list.
Of the vegetable crops, the best neighbors are basil, salads, beans, onions and garlic. Good results are obtained by the neighborhood of strawberries with cucumbers, parsley and cruciferous crops: radish, radish, various types of cabbage.
Garlic and onions secrete volatile, and parsley does not like slugs. True, there is an opinion that due to the sharp smell of bulbs on the plantation there will be fewer bees pollinating strawberry flowers, but the protective effect of onions and garlic is much more important, and the pollination of strawberry flowers, as a rule, is very easy, there are almost no empty flowers on this crop .
Garlic coexists well with strawberries, scaring away insect pests
Recommended pick-up dates
Strawberry planting times vary by region:
- in the southern regions it is better and more convenient to plant it in the spring, from late March to early May. The October landing also succeeds well in the south;
- in the middle lane, they are engaged in planting at the end of summer (until mid-September);
- in the northern regions - from late July to mid-August (and often in spring).
Planting strawberries is possible throughout the summer; only flowering bushes do not take root well. The sooner a strawberry is planted in the summer-autumn period, the better it will take root, winter and a larger crop will yield next year. However, the timing of planting depends on the availability of planting material - a mustache, and they, without special measures in sufficient quantities and of good quality, grow only by the end of summer.
In the spring
Almost always, strawberries are propagated by seedlings, i.e. rooted rosettes formed on the mustache. The best seedlings have 3-5 well-developed leaves and roots no shorter than 6-8 cm. The largest number of mustaches give 1-2-year-old plants. Older shrubs have a low quality mustache, and you should not take them.
Landing Stages:
- The bed is prepared in advance, preferably in the fall. For digging, humus and compost are necessarily added, adding to them mineral fertilizers - phosphorus and potash, as well as wood ash.
Of potash fertilizers, it is better to choose those that do not contain chlorine (potassium sulfate, potassium magnesia, potash).
- For disinfection the day before planting, the prepared beds can be poured with a solution of copper sulfate (2 tbsp. Per bucket of water), consumption - about 1 liter per 1 m2. Before planting bushes, the beds are well watered.
- Plant strawberries in cloudy weather. If it is still hot, the lower leaves of the seedlings must be cut off, and the first week to shade the plants with grass or newspapers, often watered.
- Before planting, strawberry seedlings are disinfected: for 10-15 minutes they are placed in water at a temperature of about 45aboutC. Practice chemical disinfection: 10-minute bathing in a solution prepared from 3 tbsp. l table salt and 1 tsp. vitriol on a bucket of water.
Sometimes the roots are planted before planting in a mash of clay and mullein, as in the case of planting fruit trees.
- In each dug hole, you can add a handful of humus. Then the roots of seedlings are placed there, they are freely distributed and covered with soil, compacting it with fingers. It is necessary to ensure that the apical kidney (heart) is at ground level.
- Again, carefully water each bush (approximately 1 liter of water per plant).
- At first they often water it, not allowing the soil to dry out.
When planting strawberries, the heart does not need to be covered with soil
Fall
In most areas of the middle lane they prefer summer-fall planting. It is necessary to finish it before mid-September, otherwise the bushes will not have time to take root before the frost and will not survive the winter. It is best to plant them gradually, as soon as the planting material is ready on last year's bed, unless, of course, you have got yourself a separate mother liquor. The best mustaches are those that grew first from strong bushes. If they are not pulled out easily, most likely, you can cut, dig and transplant.
Read more about the autumn planting in our article: Secrets of planting strawberries in the fall.
The planting technique does not differ from the spring, but the time for preparing a new garden is somewhat longer.
Tip. It is convenient to have 4-5 beds for strawberries. Garlic is planted on one of them at the end of September. The next year in July they clean it and prepare a bed for strawberries. As the mustache appears, they are planted in this place. After a few years, the strawberries grow old, the bushes can be destroyed, and garlic can be planted in the garden.
The landed mustache will yield a small crop for next year. In the second season, he will be much more. But it should be remembered that fruit buds are born in the year preceding fruiting, therefore, quality planting care is necessary constantly.
Video: the secrets of autumn strawberry planting
Lunar calendar for planting strawberries
Some summer residents are firmly convinced that it is necessary in planting plants and caring for them to follow the rhythm of life of heavenly bodies. Astrologers consider the following dates of 2018 favorable for strawberry planting:
- April 30;
- May 10;
- July 30-31;
- August 7-10.
How to plant strawberries
Before planting strawberries, liming the soil in advance is carried out if it is too acidic. But this should be done a year before the event. It is necessary to dig the bed in at least 2-3 weeks, so that biological equilibrium can be established in the soil. When digging, it is best to add well-rotted manure or compost to the soil.
Good results are obtained by preliminary sowing on future strawberry beds of siderates (peas, oats). At a young age they are dug up with the earth with the simultaneous application of mineral fertilizers.
Strawberry Planting Pattern
Strawberries can be planted according to various patterns (carpet, ribbon, square-nest, etc.). Their choice depends on many factors, but first of all - on the region, the relief of the site and the preferences of the gardener. When planting strawberries in the usual terms in summer cottages, they most often use a single-row method: bushes are planted with a distance between rows of 50-70 cm, between plants in a row - from 10 to 30 cm (depending on variety).
Some gardeners try to isolate each bush by removing all the mustache that appears, others grow strawberries in a narrow-band system: the mustache is rooted, not separated from the uterine bush, located along a row. This creates a strip of plants about 30-40 cm.
The layout of strawberries depends on the topography, climate, gardener preferences
Some lovers plant 3 rows on ridges about 1 m wide. The next year after receiving the first crop, the middle row is destroyed, and in its place annual ripe vegetables (salads, radishes) are sown as a sealant or onions, garlic or bulb flowers (daffodils, tulips) are planted in one row. With any planting scheme, the ridges are better oriented from north to south.
In addition to the usual methods of planting and keeping strawberries, there are many “exotic” ones that help save space, decorate the site, and smooth out adverse climate conditions.
Carpeted
Some say that the carpet method of keeping strawberries is suitable for lazy people: it takes less effort and time. True, the berries are smaller, although no less tasty. Therefore, the method can be recommended to gardeners who do not have enough time to care for strawberry beds and to obezhivat each bush.
With the carpet method, mustaches are planted without observing any scheme, only previously introduced into the soil an increased amount of fertilizer. Strawberries, growing, cover the entire plantation with a continuous carpet. The mustache does not touch, and new plants randomly grow out of them. Under them creates its own microclimate. A solid strawberry carpet inhibits weed growth, less moisture evaporates. It happens that a strawberry carpet successfully bears fruit up to 10 years.
When carpet planting strawberries, it is difficult for weeds to break through the cover
On agrofibre
For several decades, the industry has been manufacturing lightweight non-woven synthetic materials from harmless polymers, most often polypropylene. Weeds hardly grow on the bed with covering material, and the soil retains moisture longer. The most common non-woven material is spunbond, available in several versions that differ in surface density. When planting strawberries apply spunbond denser than 45-60 g / m2. Lighter options withstand less than 2 seasons of use. Spanbond can significantly reduce the number of irrigation: even in hot weather, moisture lingers in the ground for a week.
The film will lie on the bed for several years, access to land at this time is difficult. Therefore, you must immediately make an increased amount of fertilizer: for every 1 m2 up to 3 buckets of well-rotted manure.
The order of the beds:
- Agrofibre is laid out on a bed.
- The edges of the film around the perimeter of the beds are sprinkled with earth or fixed with any convenient objects.
- Make cross-shaped incisions at the site of future bushes. They should be very small and only needed to stick the roots into them.
- Under the film, manually make a hole and carefully place the roots of the bush into it.
- Water well.
Non-woven material protects berries from contamination, retains moisture, prevents weeds from growing
Vertical landing
Vertical cultivation of strawberries has a lot of options and is used in cases where the area of the plot is very modest (in particular, they are used in greenhouses or in a city apartment). The beds are arranged from a variety of materials, sometimes completely unpredictable: for example, planting is practiced in plastic pipes, in plastic bags, in car tires installed by the pyramid.
Variants of vertical planting of strawberries are numerous
The soil for this method of planting is prepared in any large capacity in advance and must contain an increased amount of nutrients. It is advisable to calcine or disinfect the soil taken in the garden. The soil is placed in the constructions made and strawberry mustaches are planted. Caring for vertical beds is usual, but you need to carefully monitor the moisture of the soil: it may be necessary to water more often.
Pyramid landing
Pyramidal landing is one of the options for vertical cultivation. Pyramids are arranged, for example, from suitable-sized boards. In the construction, strawberries are planted in several tiers. The method is most suitable for repair strawberries.
- To organize a pyramidal garden, 4-5 wooden boxes of various sizes without a bottom are knocked together from the boards. Each height is 20-25 cm.
- To organize watering, you need a piece of pipe with a diameter of 2 cm and a length of up to 2.5 m. In it, holes are made for almost the entire length of it for water to flow.
- The pipe is driven vertically into the ground.
- The largest box is installed on top of the pipe so that it is exactly in the center, and put it on the ground, slightly tucked.
- Pour the prepared soil into it and compact it a little.
- Then similarly install the following boxes as their size decreases.
- A piece of irrigation pipe should remain above the last tier: put a hose on it when watering.
- A mustache is planted around the entire perimeter of each box, they are caring for seedlings as usual.
The pyramid of wooden boxes takes up little space and allows you to care for strawberries, almost without bending
How to plant strawberries in tires
As an option of a vertical bed, its manufacture from automobile tires is used. The structure can have any convenient height, the stability of the tires is sufficient. The essence of the reception is similar to the same as when using wooden boxes: they use several tires. But they can be of the same or different size: depending on this, a cylinder or cone is obtained.
Tires are stacked on top of each other, falling asleep inside the soil. If they vary greatly in diameter, a pyramid is obtained, and the mustache is planted around the perimeter, as in boxes of different sizes. In the case of identical tires, small holes are previously cut into them, into which seedlings are planted.
For strawberries, you can arrange a "car" bed
Amp Strawberry Planting
Ampel strawberries are one of the varieties of ordinary garden strawberries. She has decorative flowers of pink color. But the main difference is that ampel strawberries bear fruit simultaneously both on the main bush and on numerous mustaches. In addition, she is able to give berries year-round. Therefore, in our conditions, it is usually planted in greenhouses or in an apartment.
Sometimes this strawberry is called "curly", although this is not so: it cannot behave like a vine, but it is usually grown in vertical plantings, that is, the mustache is tied to some support. In this case, the side rosettes grow down from the main bush.
In ampel strawberries, mustaches with berries fall down
The device of a vertical bed for ampelous strawberries can be anything, but the dimensions of the landing capacity should be at least 30 cm in all measurements. Drainage is necessarily put at the bottom: broken brick, small pebbles. Only then they lay nutritious soil: peat and sod land (2: 1) and some river sand. Planting is usual, but more water is needed for irrigation.
Emerging flowers are pruned to grow bushes more powerful. Mustaches on the plant leave up to 5 pieces. Top dressing is carried out mainly with mineral fertilizers. Ampel strawberries react poorly to sunlight, therefore, requires additional shading.
In peat tablets
Seed propagation to obtain strawberry planting material is not used, since seedlings are split into numerous varieties. Sowing seeds is carried out only for breeding new varieties. One of the methods for growing strawberries from seeds is the use of peat tablets.
The tablets are manufactured by pressing extruded dried peat with the addition of complex mineral fertilizers and growth stimulants. For sowing strawberry seeds, tablets with a diameter of 2 to 4 cm are used.
Peat tablets are made with the addition of complex mineral fertilizers
Acquired seeds are soaked, quenched in the refrigerator and sown in peat tablets in early spring. Caring for emerging sprouts soon is similar to caring for any vegetable seedlings. In summer, grown bushes are planted in open ground with a tablet. This gives a guarantee of 100% survival, since the growth is practically uninterrupted, and strawberries, if they are gradually hardened before planting, do not experience problems.
On toilet paper
There are various ways of growing planting material without using soil - on the "hydroponics". Moreover, various inert materials serve only as a “holder” of seeds and future seedlings, and nutrients are introduced in the form of specially made solutions. One of these materials can be ordinary toilet paper. A “snail” is made of it, and seeds are placed there. However, such a technique is so complicated for a regular summer resident that it hardly makes sense to recommend it for widespread use. But toilet paper is very convenient to use for peeling and initial germination of seeds.
- Three layers of toilet paper are placed in any convenient container.
- Shed with a purple solution of potassium permanganate. Excess solution is poured.
- Seeds are laid out on paper.
- The container is placed in a large plastic bag and taken out in the cold for hardening for 3-4 days.
- After that, they are placed directly in the package in a warm place.
- For about a week, you need to monitor the humidity of the paper and, if necessary, lightly spray it.
- Seeds peck, and after 3 days, a sprout sprouts through the paper. Now the paper is not needed: it has done its job.
- Seeds should be planted in pots or boxes with ordinary nutritious soil. When planting, it is convenient to use tweezers or a toothpick. Gingerly take the seed by the cotyledon, make a small hole with a toothpick and lower the root there.
- It is watered with extreme caution: after falling asleep the holes are enough just to spray from the spray gun.
Strawberries from seeds are grown to produce new varieties
"Smart bed"
In gardening, the term “smart garden bed” is understood to mean a site enclosed by a certain framework inside which a garden bed for planting is “properly equipped”. They are often called tall or "warm."
The scheme of the device "smart beds":
- The frame can be made of boards, flat slate or sheet metal.
- Arrange them in a sunny place. They put the frame on a shallow pit (up to 20 cm) dug across the entire garden.
- A layer of cardboard or dense tissue is placed at the bottom so that the seeds of weeds are difficult to germinate.
- Then lay a layer of small branches along with various organic waste.
- All this is strewn with fertile soil and compost.
- Above is a layer of pure compost or old humus.
The result is a self-living container, inside of which optimal temperature conditions are maintained. The height of the beds depends on how the frame will be made: the most convenient - from 25 to 40 cm.
In areas with excessive rainfall at the bottom of the frame, holes should be made to drain excess water.
Often combine the described technique with the use of agrofibre. The constructed bed is covered with a dense spanbond and planted strawberries in the small holes made in it.
For greater effect, the "smart garden" is covered with agrofibre
Planting strawberries in the regions
The technology for planting strawberries is almost the same in all regions, but the climate makes significant changes, mainly - in terms of planting mustaches in a permanent place. In addition, in different areas, the humidity regime varies greatly, as well as the methods of preparing planted seedlings for winter.
In outskirts of Moscow
Many summer residents of Moscow Region do not plant strawberries right now because of a poor harvest, and also because it requires a lot of effort and time. Strawberry care in this region is practically no different from that in most parts of our country: the climate in the entire middle lane for strawberries is quite favorable.
In the suburbs it is better to plant strawberries in the second half of summer. Before the onset of frost, seedlings will take root well and even lay flower buds. The landing deadline is early September. Often planted strawberries on high beds, and if there is no time - they grow carpet.
Optimal early varieties of strawberries:
- Dawn;
- Moscow delicacy;
medium:
- Beauty of Zagorje;
- Hope;
- Festival;
later:
- Alpha;
- Zenga Zengana;
- Cinderella.
Zenga Zengana Strawberry - One of the Most Popular Varieties
In the suburbs, good timely snow cover is not guaranteed, therefore, plantings must be sprinkled with mulching materials. In winter, you sometimes have to add snow from empty seats to strawberries.
In Siberia
The harsh weather conditions in Siberia require taking strawberry care seriously. Increased attention should be paid to the choice of varieties, and places for planting.
It is preferable to plant strawberry seedlings of local varieties:
- Fairy;
- Mascot;
- Festival;
- Omsk early.
Southern varieties will have to be grown only in greenhouses, and this requires additional funds and physical effort. Repairing varieties are often planted, harvesting from them 2-3 crops per summer.
Choose the warmest place for the beds: a flat area or a small southern slope. Usually a narrow-band single-line landing method is used. All whiskers growing no further than 10 cm from the row root in place, forming strips up to 25 cm wide.
In Siberia, they try to plant strawberries in the spring so that the bushes grow well by winter. With the threat of early frosts, young plantations are covered with a film, spanbond or fir spruce branches.
In the Krasnodar Territory
The climate in all regions of the Kuban is relatively homogeneous, although it differs slightly from the proximity of the sea. But in general, everything is favorable for the cultivation of strawberries. The natural conditions of the Black Sea zone of the Krasnodar Territory are somewhat different from the entire region, but they are even better for planting crops. This is the warmest and wettest place in the region. Under these conditions, strawberries grow almost all year round. In the Kuban, it is usually planted in March or from mid-August to the end of September.
Strawberries grow here on any soil, but best of all - on the lungs, especially on the southern slopes. A sufficient amount of rain allows you to successfully grow strawberries in the aisles of young trees. Planting and grooming is the most common.
In the conditions of a humid and warm subtropical zone, the period of autumn planting is very long: sometimes right up to the arrival of winter. The best time is mid-October. Often used and spring planting. Winters here are very mild, and no preparatory work is required to protect against frost on strawberry plantations: only weeding and cultivation are needed.
Reviews
I leave my mustache on the mother liquor, add fertile soil and begin to grow rosettes. The best outlets are those that are closer to the mother bush. Therefore, no more than three outlets are left on each shoot.
Nevada//www.forumdacha.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?t=291
Strawberry is moisture-loving, but does not tolerate waterlogging. The place where strawberries grow should be protected from the winds, since part of the root system freezes at a temperature of -10-12 ° C, so it is better to winter under a cover of snow with a layer of at least 20-25 cm. Strawberries can not be grown for more than 4 years on one location (2-3 years is good), as various infections and fungal diseases accumulate, such as: wilt, gray and white rot and other diseases.
alina11//www.forumhouse.ru/threads/60424/
I have the first year of strawberries planted on a black non-woven fabric. The bushes grew very lush, the berries are clean and there are almost no problems with weeds. Not very violently, but a repeater grows under the non-woven fabric, sometimes you have to pick up the boards (they lie in the aisles and hold lutrasil) and pick the weed under a rag. It was watered in the heat and then there was a lot of rain, the earth was compacted under wild strawberries, in the spring it would be necessary to loosen it, in some rows it would be inconvenient to do this. I don’t know whether it will be possible to remove and put on a non-woven fabric again, they really have gone too far.
Deva//forum.prihoz.ru/viewtopic.php?t=6570
I myself did not build these towers, but I saw how other summer residents build towers and pyramids, after some time they cool down and throw away. I have never seen commercial landings on towers, only on flat fields. And the strawberry itself does not try to climb higher anywhere, it always flattens ...
Observer//dacha.wcb.ru/index.php?showtopic=16997&st=20
Growing strawberries is not easy. And especially if she was planted in a hurry and without observing elementary rules. But with the correct and timely passage of all stages, the crop will be guaranteed and high.
