It is generally accepted that it is extremely difficult to grow a berry like strawberry on your own: this requires suitable conditions, good care, fertilizers, frequent watering and much more. But most importantly, most of the Russian gardeners consider the climate of their region unsuitable for growing sweet berries. To date, breeders have bred dozens of varieties that are unpretentious to weather conditions, soil composition and do not require much attention from the gardener. One of these species is the Elephant calf variety. This strawberry is a great option for novice summer residents, as well as for those who live in cold regions.
A detailed description of the elephant strawberry variety, photos and reviews about it can be found in this article. Here we will talk about the advantages of persistent strawberries, some of its disadvantages and how to properly grow the Elephant variety in a temperate climate.
Classics - early varieties of garden strawberries, or strawberries (June 1-15)
Garden strawberry variety Vima Zanta
Vima Zanta is an unpretentious variety, one of the most frost-resistant. Begins to bear fruit very early, already at the beginning of June. Practically not susceptible to verticillium and powdery mildew. The berries are large, up to 40 g, beautifully shaped, sweet, juicy and strong - suitable for homemade preparations.
Garden strawberry variety Vima Zanta
Garden strawberry variety Deroyal
The berries are sweet, shiny, weighing up to 50 g. They are not suitable for long-distance transportation, but they have excellent taste and a strong pleasant aroma, moreover, they are evened out: even in the last harvest there are very few small berries. The Deroyal variety is not very susceptible to diseases.
Garden strawberry variety Deroyal
Garden strawberry variety Kamarosa
Berries of excellent quality: beautiful, dense, transportable, but at the same time very sweet. Resistant to gray mold. The Camarosa variety is quite unpretentious, and with good care it is very productive. It forms a small amount of mustache, so it is convenient to take care of it.
Garden strawberry variety Kamarosa
Garden strawberry grade Kent
The Kent variety is winter-hardy, resistant to powdery mildew and gray rot. Compared to other varieties, flowers tolerate frost well. The berries are beautiful, firm and sweet even when ripe in cloudy weather. They are well stored, do not wrinkle during transportation.
Garden strawberry grade Kent
Garden strawberry cultivar Kimberly
The berries are large, up to 50 g, heart-shaped, dense and weighty, without voids in the middle. The taste is very sweet, "caramel" is one of the most sugary varieties. It is distinguished by high winter hardiness and resistance to powdery mildew, however, the Kimberly variety forms a lot of mustaches.
Garden strawberry cultivar Kimberly
Garden strawberry grade Lambada
The fruits are tender, with a strong aroma, uniform in size. The bush is vigorous, with strong peduncles, open - the berries are easy to pick. The Lambada variety is resistant to verticillary wilt and gray rot, tolerates compacted planting well.
Garden strawberry grade Lambada
Landing
Half of the success is quality strawberry seedlings purchased from a trustworthy nursery. Strawberries are planted in spring, when the soil warms up to + 10 ℃, in September or summer (late July-early August).In the South and North Caucasian Federal Districts, planting is possible even in October.
When choosing a place, exclude waterlogged lowlands and steep slopes. The optimal area is a flat, well-lit by the sun, it is possible with a little shading. With a high standing groundwater, the ridges are raised.
A few weeks before planting, it is advisable to dig the garden bed onto a shovel bayonet with simultaneous fertilization (per square meter):
- a bucket of humus (compost, manure);
- 50 g nitroammophoska.
With high acidity, wood ash, dolomite flour or lime are added to the soil.
A good result is obtained by soaking the roots of seedlings two hours before planting in a three-day infusion of nettle. You can also treat a young bush with garlic infusion. The pests will not touch him.
Landing scheme:
- bush method 30x30 cm;
- ribbon: between seedlings 25 cm, between rows 45 cm.
The pits are shed with water and only then the seedlings are planted. The growth point is left flush with the ground or slightly raised. The soil is compacted, watered, the beds are mulched.
Classics - mid-season varieties of garden strawberries, or strawberries (June 20 - July 10)
Garden strawberry grade Crown
With good care, it is one of the most productive varieties. Berries from medium to large, 30 g, are distinguished by a rich red color and a regular conical shape, sweet, rather aromatic, resistant to gray rot, but with a delicate skin. The Korona variety gives a lot of mustache.
Garden strawberry grade Crown
Garden strawberry variety Polka
The first berries are large: up to 60 g, from late harvests - smaller. The fruits are dark red, very tasty and aromatic. The leaves are large, resistant to powdery mildew, the bush forms many mustaches. The winter hardiness of the Polka variety is average - during snowless frosts it can freeze out.
Garden strawberry variety Polka
Garden strawberry variety Suzy
The winter hardiness of the variety is high. Fruits are medium in size, leveled, firm, sweet with pleasant sourness and light aroma, scarlet, good fresh and good for processing. Stored well. The winter hardiness of the Suzy variety is quite high.
Garden strawberry variety Suzy
Garden strawberry grade Tago
The Tago variety has an excellent fruit taste and a consistently high yield. The berries are very large (up to 70 g), red, the flesh is well colored, dark, sweet - very beautiful jams and compotes are obtained from the fruits. Ripen in early July. Winter hardiness is high.
Garden strawberry grade Tago
Garden strawberry Figaro variety
The berries are large, very dense, with an orange skin and the most delicate pink flesh. Thanks to their long stalks, they are very convenient to collect. The yield of the Figaro variety is one of the highest, resistant to diseases of the root system and gray rot.
Garden strawberry Figaro variety
Reproduction
High-quality planting material for breeding is a mustache of the first and second order, which appear in the summer. You can immediately leave space for future outlets in the second row. Then you will not need to transplant young plants. If this is not possible, the sockets are lifted onto a plastic cup with soil. Further, it remains only to water the sockets on time for their speedy rooting. By August, young seedlings with a closed root system will be ready for planting in a permanent place.
Classics - late varieties of garden strawberries, or strawberries (15-30 July)
Garden strawberry variety Bohemia
Drought-resistant and winter-hardy Bohemian variety, does not suffer from spring frosts, is not picky about the soil and succeeds in different climatic conditions. Berries are large, dark, with a shiny dense skin, excellent storage. The pulp is dense, excellent taste with aroma.
Garden strawberry variety Bohemia
Garden strawberry Vima Tarda grade
Fruits are large, up to 45 g, cone-shaped, shiny and dense, for dessert purposes.The variety ripens among the latter, the berries are hidden under the leaves and are hardly noticeable to birds. Vima Tarda variety is winter-hardy, resistant to gray rot, powdery mildew, strawberry mite.
Garden strawberry Vima Tarda grade
Garden strawberry variety Symphony
Variety Symphony is a winter-hardy variety, resistant to gray rot and verticillary wilt, slightly affected by spotting. The berries are large, bright red, with colored pulp, sweet and aromatic. They are well separated from the stalk.
Garden strawberry variety Symphony
a brief description of
Advantages of the variety
The variety is of little use for commercial cultivation. But on personal backyard plots, the Elephant Calf shows good productivity and is valued for the following advantages:
- drought resistance and heat resistance;
- resistance to sudden changes in temperature;
- one of the record holders for frost resistance;
- not afraid of spring frosts;
- intense strawberry aroma;
- good yield with intensive farming.
Disadvantages of the variety
- susceptibility to rot when waterlogged;
- sour berries in the rainy season;
- dependence of the quality and quantity of fruits on fertilizers and irrigation;
- dense pulp.
However, these disadvantages do not frighten gardeners, who fell in love with the Elephant Baby for its unsurpassed aroma. Even farmers in colder regions often opt for this variety.
Unusual varieties of garden strawberries, or strawberries
Garden strawberry variety Maxim (Gigantella Maxim)
Mid-season variety Maxim (Gigantella Maxim). A powerful plant with strong peduncles, requires intensive care and frequent watering - with a lack of moisture, the size of the berries decreases. The first berries are very large (up to 110–125 g), sweet, with friable pulp and light aroma. The berries from the last harvest are smaller.
Garden strawberry variety Maxim (Gigantella Maxim)
Garden strawberry grade Mize Schindler
Old grade. Despite the smallish fruit by modern standards, it is still popular due to its amazing taste - one of the best among dessert varieties. In appearance it resembles a raspberry berry. The Mize Schindler variety is quite resistant to verticillium, powdery mildew, and mites. Ripening period is late.
Garden strawberry grade Mize Schindler
Garden strawberry grade Mara des Bois (Mara de bois)
Unusual, recognizable taste and aroma of berries - with a hint of wild strawberries. Repaired variety Mara des Bois (Mara de bois), bears fruit continuously. The largest berries are produced from the first and last harvests, in the middle of summer they usually become smaller. Can bear fruit on current year outlets (suitable for growing on trellises).
Garden strawberry variety Mara de bois, Mara des Bois
Pineberry and Anablanca garden strawberries
Pineberry and Anablanca varieties with medium-sized but numerous white berries. The flesh color is from white to orange. Ripe berries are almost completely white (pinkish in lit areas), but with red seeds and a strong pineapple aroma.
Strawberry Bohemia: preparing for winter
Although the Bohemian strawberry variety has been zoned for cultivation in most Russian regions, it is necessary to carry out some measures before the onset of cold weather.
Preparing strawberries for winter - video
First of all, at the beginning of autumn, you need to remove all dry foliage and other plant residues, carry out moisture-charging irrigation, and apply a complex mineral fertilizer containing potassium and phosphorus.
In regions with harsh snowless winters, it is necessary to sprinkle Bohemia strawberry bushes with earth or compost. And in winter, it is advisable to rake a large amount of snow to the strawberry bushes.
Varieties of garden strawberries (strawberries) neutral day
Such varieties bear fruit from June to autumn almost continuously, and not in waves, like ordinary remontant varieties.
Garden strawberry variety Florin
With good care, it gives up to 1000 g of berries from a bush. Resistant to weather fluctuations, including drought. Florin berries are light red, pink flesh.Peduncles rise above the leaves.
Garden strawberry variety Florin
Garden strawberry grade Evi 2
The Evi 2 variety bears fruit all season without changing the size of the berry. The fruit is arguably the tastiest of the neutral day varieties. Looks good and grows well in containers.
Garden strawberry grade Evi 2
Garden strawberry grade Evis Delight
A very productive variety (up to 3 kg of berries per bush for the summer). Large (up to 20 g) berries of uniform size, sweet, aromatic and with a dense skin (well stored).
Garden strawberry grade Evis Delight
Garden strawberry variety Sweet Evi
In comparison with other remontant varieties, the Sweet Evi variety is unpretentious to soil conditions. The berries are large, sweet, high in vitamin C.
Garden strawberry variety Sweet Evi
Feedback
Valentina Ivanovna
Most of all, in the strawberry variety Elephant, I was struck by its vitality. Last summer we turned out to be very rainy and unusually cool. But even in such extreme conditions, strawberries set fruit - we collected a kilogram of berries from each bush. Of course, the berries were not very large, and there was much less sweetness in them than usual, but the other varieties from my garden did not produce a crop at all. An even greater advantage of the Elephant is its early maturity. I planted seedlings in the fall, and the next spring they enjoyed fresh large berries - about half a kilogram of strawberries were removed from each bush during the season.
Tips for choosing a garden strawberry or strawberry variety
Consider the potential of your hard work
A couple of dressings a year and watering in dry weather - with this care, it is better to limit yourself to ordinary varieties that bear fruit once, but almost certainly. Repairing varieties of large-fruited strawberries bear fruit from June to autumn frosts, but they need to be fed every 2-3 weeks with liquid organic fertilizer. Such varieties are even more demanding for watering, with a "lazy" care there will be no sense from them.
Choose varieties with different ripening times.
If you mainly grow varieties with a single fruiting, it is better that among them there are both early and medium ripening periods, and late ones. This will extend the harvest by more than a month.
The collection should be based on resistant varieties
Dark green shiny leaves are usually a sign of resistance to a number of diseases. Such foliage is less affected by mites, spotting and powdery mildew. On strong peduncles located at the level of the foliage or higher, the berries are less affected by gray rot. Pay attention to these signs by reading descriptions or choosing strawberry seedlings at your garden center.
Possible hazards and care features
The Madame Muto cultivar is characterized by high disease resistance, but its weak point is the attack by the strawberry mite, which feeds on the sap of the plant. This pest causes great damage to shoots, leaves and bushes, which affects a small harvest or death of the plant. Methods for dealing with this type of pest: chemicals, folk remedies, or grow plants that fight these types of insects. For example: common tansy, lavender, catnip.
Madame Muto's strawberries are unpretentious in their care, it is enough to monitor the pests, process them in time to protect them, clear the land of weeds and water moderately.
Fundamentals of agricultural technology
The unpretentiousness of the "bohemia" does not relieve the gardener from working in the strawberry beds. After all, time and effort will pay off with a richer harvest.
Reproduction and planting
A few mustaches provide enough strong rosettes for planting the variety. If you are planning to buy "bohemia" for the first time, they are looking for seedlings in nurseries or seeds in gardening shops. The second option - seedling - painstaking, long. Therefore, it is easier to find rooted sockets.
Since the Bohemian variety is medium late, having planted young bushes in early spring, summer residents claim the first berries in the same year.But agricultural technicians recommend cutting off all flowers or leaving a minimum number of ovaries so that the plant grows stronger before the first wintering.
Better to plant outlets at the end of summer. In mid-August, Siberians are engaged in strawberry breeding. September is the planting season in the Middle Lane. The southerners have more time: summer residents of the coastal regions and the Caucasus have at their disposal the whole of October and even the beginning of November. A correctly planted rosette will immediately begin to grow with new leaves in the spring.
Care
Undemanding to watering is in the hands of summer residents who come to the site on weekends. Even in the heat, you can organize a strawberry garden so that there is enough moisture once a week. There are several ways or a combination of ways to help a drought-tolerant crop cope with water scarcity:
- Drip irrigation.
- A thick layer of natural mulch - straw, rotted sawdust, cut weeds or green manure.
- Film or agrotextile. If the summer is sultry in the region, then the lower black layer (does not let in weeds) is covered with the upper white layer (reflects the light and does not allow the roots to "boil" under black).
Launching tape drip irrigation in combination with a film, the system is mounted under a shelter. On the top - if there is a point water supply to the bush, as in the photo:
Mulching will eliminate loosening and weeding.
Top dressing - according to the usual schedule for strawberries.
Preparing for winter
This item is relevant for gardeners cultivating "bohemia" in the Urals, in Siberia - outside the zone recommended by the originators of the variety. Frosts here often reach -35-40 ° С - there is no reason to risk your favorite berry. Easier to protect.
The simplest ways to hide:
- cover with peat, humus or compost;
- cover with fallen leaves;
- cover with spruce branches;
- stretch 2-3 layers of covering material on low arcs.
And throw snow on the beds all winter. And if you first fall asleep, then cover it, and then stretch it, then the "bohemia" will survive even abnormal frosts. But in the spring, it is important for the gardener not to miss the warming in order to gradually "undress" the strawberry beds. Tighten and overheat. The bushes will shake out, and all pre-winter care will lose its meaning.
