Many began to create a new bed of strawberries in July, and in August the planting of strawberries must be completed - otherwise the strawberry mustache will not have time to prepare for winter. How to plant strawberries so that they give a good harvest next year? There are several ways to plant strawberries. First, we will discuss the planting of purchased strawberry seedlings, and then - the scheme for planting a strawberry mustache of our own collection.
How to choose the right strawberries for planting?
Not all varieties are suitable for planting in August. The most resistant to adverse conditions are hybrids:
- Temptation. Early maturing and large-fruited hybrid variety, bred by English breeders. From one bush, you can collect 3 kg of berries with a delicate musky aftertaste.
- Albion. American hybrid of garden strawberries. Productivity of 1 bush - 2 kg of berries.
- Queen Elizabeth II. Bred by Russian breeders. This variety gives 2 harvests per year. The berries are well stored and can be easily transported.
- Mara de Bois. French hybrid, which is distinguished by its special frost resistance and sweet rounded fruits.
For the August planting, it is necessary to purchase good quality seedlings. It is recommended to buy annual shrubs with three well-developed leaves. It is better if their root system is closed. Therefore, preference should be given to seedlings grown in transparent cups. The roots of young strawberries should be fibrous and well grown.
Signs of a healthy seedling:
- The leaves are leathery and shiny, have pubescence and are painted in a rich green color.
- The horn is at least 0.7 cm thick.
- The length of the roots in open seedlings is more than 7 cm, in closed seedlings - more than 5 cm.
- Saplings without damage to leaves and root system.
- The core of the bush is resilient and strong.
- The root system of seedlings grown in cups takes up the entire volume of the container.
- The roots are visible from the peat pot.
If you buy seedlings on the market from private gardeners, then you need to take into account the risk of infection of the bushes with insect larvae, fungal spores and pathogenic microorganisms. In large nurseries, “healed” plants are sold, but this does not guarantee a complete absence of contamination. Strawberry bushes for planting are sold from late July to early August.
You should not buy seedlings if they have pale and wrinkled leaves. Dots, bumps, dashes and spots on seedlings are signs of infection with pathogenic microorganisms or pests.
Before planting, the purchased seedlings must be completely immersed (together with the cups) in hot water (+ 50 ° C) for 20 minutes. This treatment will help get rid of root aphids, nematodes and spider mites. It is recommended to spray seedlings and planting holes with a fungicide solution.
Basic principles of mustache transplant
A strawberry mustache transplant is carried out in spring and autumn. In some cases, you can plant a berry in the summer. To grow a mustache, it is recommended to select several mother bushes at once. Such bushes will bear less fruit, but in the fall they will grow a lot of mustache with children.
You can plant a mustache without roots when they just started to appear. True, such seedlings will grow longer. Only healthy bushes are suitable for planting.The leaves should not have white or red spots, holes and insect marks. Only female bushes are used to grow mustaches. The female socket can be distinguished by the presence of a peduncle and berries. In addition, female bushes give a mustache several days later than male ones.
Selection and formation of a strawberry bed
You need to start creating a new bed already in July in order to complete the planting in August, otherwise the strawberry mustache will not have time to prepare for winter. Raised beds are suitable for areas with high groundwater levels, and trenches are suitable for arid regions with little snowy winters.
Bulk beds
Bulk warm beds are made in a special wooden box made of boards 25 cm wide. It will hold the ground, and if the bottom is lined with cardboard, it will protect strawberries from weeds and pests. Bulk beds are warmer due to the fact that wood and sand retain heat inside the box. The width of the bulk bed is 1 m. Good drainage will protect the strawberry root system from decay.
The order of the bulk layers:
- Cardboard.
- Sand.
- Compost.
- 10 cm of soil.
Vertical beds
The beds shown in the photo save space on the site and are easy to clean. They are made using various materials:
- Plastic pipes filled with potting soil are installed vertically. Holes are cut in them every 40 cm. Garden strawberry seedlings are rooted in the slots.
- Dense bags made of polyethylene or burlap are filled with a nutrient substrate for fruit and berry crops. They are hung on the wall or stacked one on top of the other. In the material of the bag, slots are made for planting sprouts.
- The chain-link mesh is used for a vertical cylindrical bed. To do this, a pipe of the required diameter is rolled out of it, which is filled with a substrate for growing strawberries. It is convenient to plant young bushes in the mesh cells.
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Trenches
In order to form a nutritious soil for strawberry beds, trenches 30 cm deep and up to 1 m wide are dug in the selected area. Inside, wooden boards, slate sheets or lining sections are laid along the perimeter. At the bottom of the trench, you can lay out cardboard to protect against weeds or a netting net, if there is a possibility of damage to plants by moles.
The order of the layers filling the trench:
- Fresh plant residues (legumes or corn).
- Humus.
- Chernozem.
Before planting garden strawberries, the trench bed is covered with agrofibre with perforated holes into which the sprouts are planted. Then tighten the top with protective material. Such beds are also called “smart” because they have everything necessary for the independent growth of plants.
Low German strawberry bed
To create a low bed using German technology, furrows are not laid between the rows, but partitions made of slate, boards, lining or bricks are placed. The height of the beds is 20-40 cm, and the width is 40-80 cm. Strawberry bushes can be planted in 2 rows, while the distance between the seedlings should be at least 40 cm.
Decorative vertical beds
These beds can be a decoration of the site and help to optimize the space on it:
- Pocket;
- pyramid structures;
- from plastic pipes.
To sew a pocket bed, you need to fold the foil insulation in half, sew it along the edges, forming a bag. On 1 m², no more than three pockets are outlined and sewn along the markings. On each pocket, stepping back 3 cm from the seam, make a semicircular cut. The pockets are filled with the nutrient mixture, watered abundantly and the shoots are rooted in them. This bed can be attached to a fence or to a wall.
Pyramidal structures are made from wooden slats or reinforcement. A pyramid tripod is made of three slats of the same length.Between them are fixed shelves for pots or strips for hanging containers with strawberry substrate.
Plastic pipes filled with nutrient medium can be positioned vertically and slotted into them for the rooting of sprouts. Another way is to cut some of the plastic along the empty pipe. Place the resulting long container horizontally, with the cut part upwards, with a slight tilt of the cut point. Cut the next pipe in the same way and put it on top of the first one, tilting the slot. Build the structure like a log wall. Fill the pipes with a substrate and plant strawberry sprouts in them.
Tall beds of barrels or tires
In order to make a high pyramidal bed, car tires or plastic barrels of different diameters are used. A vertical plastic pipe with small holes for internal watering of cascades can be installed in the center of the structure. You can put a netting under the garden bed, which will prevent moles from damaging the strawberries.
You need to cut the rubber from the tires so that you get rubber cylinders. The bottom and the top are cut from the barrel so that the remaining plastic rim is 40 cm high.
The first tier of the cascade is made of a tire or a plastic rim of the largest diameter. It is installed on a mesh netting and filled with a nutritious soil mixture. For the second tier, the tire or rim is chosen so that when they are installed in the center of the first tier, the width of the bed remains 20-40 cm. The assembly of the cascade structure can be continued as long as the diameter of the previous level allows.
What fertilizer to use or what to feed in the fall
Plants planted in August must be fertilized. This is done with different substances. It is useful to treat strawberries with a solution of 30 g of urea and 10 liters of water. Foliar feeding is carried out with boron, manganese, molybdenum, zinc. Treated bushes will bring more harvest in summer, and the quality of the berries will be higher than on plants not fertilized with these substances. To make a feeding mixture, prepare the following ingredients:
- molybdenum - 2 g;
- manganese - 50 g;
- boric acid - 15 g;
- water - 15 liters.
Strawberry care in the fall includes preparing the plant for winter. The bushes of this culture are covered with straw, peat, compost, fallen leaves or corn stalks. These natural substances not only keep plants from cold in winter, but also fertilize the soil. As a mulch for bushes, special materials are also used - spunbond, lutrasil. The covered strawberries will be protected from frost and will yield a good harvest next year. Further agricultural work with strawberries begins in April.
Preparing a bed for strawberries
Before planting, it is necessary to fertilize and disinfect the soil.
Which crops are best to plant?
Strawberries grow well after legumes (beans, peas) and cereals (oats, corn) plants. Root crops will be good predecessors: carrots, radishes and radishes. Before strawberries, you can grow herbs in the selected area: parsley, dill, lettuce, garlic or onions. You can alternate the following crop rotation: garden strawberries and bulbous flowers (crocuses, tulips, snowdrops).
How to fertilize the soil before planting?
When digging a site and forming a bed for 1 m² of soil, you need to add:
- 100 g superphosphate feeding;
- 50 g of nitrogenous fertilizers;
- 7 kg of humus earth;
- 50 g of potassium salts.
Soil disinfection
Before planting young bushes, you need to destroy the weed seeds. Garden strawberries reproduce with whiskers, which, when growing, should not meet root obstacles. To prevent strawberry diseases, it is necessary to neutralize fungal spores and larvae of insect pests in the soil in time. You can cope with these tasks using an ammonia solution or Roundup.
Precursor cultures
To harvest a good crop, you must properly observe the crop rotation.
It is recommended to cultivate garden strawberries only in areas where legumes, onions and carrots, rare plants, dill and fennel, as well as spinach and garlic were previously grown. A good result is obtained by planting after natural green manure (cereals and rapeseed), which contribute to the active restoration of depleted soil.
Low berry yields are observed in areas freed from planting solanaceous crops, including potatoes and tomatoes. In this case, the risk of infection of the plant with late blight increases manifold, as well as damage by pests such as wireworm and garden slugs.
Planting strawberries in August
When planting strawberries in open ground, you must follow the basic planting rules:
- The sprouts are planted in a hole in which a small earthen tubercle is made.
- The roots do not bend - they should freely descend along the tubercle from all sides. Long roots, which are bent in the fossa, are slightly trimmed.
- The seedlings are not deeply buried in the soil: if the core of the bush is below the ground level, the plant will die. Shallow planting leads to drying out of the bush. You need to root the sprout so that the rosette is slightly visible from the soil.
- Planting is completed with abundant watering with the introduction of a natural growth stimulant (for example, HB 101), which activates the plant's immune system.
- Preparation for winter involves mulching the beds and covering it with agrofibre or a thick film to protect it from weeds and winter cold.
Best time to plant
For planting strawberries, the weather conditions must be suitable:
- the air temperature does not exceed + 20 ... + 25 ° С;
- air humidity up to 70-80%.
In the southern regions, garden strawberries are planted in early autumn. But if August is cool and humid enough, then planting work can begin.
Can different varieties be planted side by side?
It is better to avoid joint planting of different varieties, because they can get confused with each other, releasing a mustache on the next bed. To avoid confusion, rows of garlic can be planted between different varieties.
Landing scheme
One-line planting is done on a bed 40 cm wide.Plants are planted in one row every 30 cm.
A two-line planting can be realized on a bed with a width of at least 80 cm. The seedlings are rooted in 2 lines. The distance between the rows is 40 cm. In this case, the strawberry bushes should be 30 cm apart from each other. A dense planting of garden strawberries leads to a decrease in the size of the berries.
Planting strawberries in a checkerboard pattern allows you to reduce the gaps between the bushes without harming the plants. On a bed 50 cm wide in 2 rows, seedlings are planted with an interval of 25 cm so that opposite the bush in one row there is a gap in the other. The row spacing can be reduced to 30 cm.
Landing method
For planting, you can use black film with cutouts for seedlings or perforated dark agrofibre (spunbond). This method allows the soil to be mulched and protects the plants from the germination of weeds. For the winter, the planting is sheltered from wind, hail and low temperatures with a special white agrofibre.
When to plant?
We advise you to choose the end of the month for the August planting of strawberries with a mustache. This period is suitable for all regions, since it is by the end of summer that strawberries acquire a developed, healthy and breeding mustache. Winter with its frosts is still far away: the seedlings will have time to take root.
It is important that the planting material has time to grow, while still being associated with the mother plant. Thus, its further rooting will take place without problems and quickly.
Strawberry care
Strawberry care involves regular watering, feeding and mulching.
Watering
In August and September, strawberries are watered 2 times a month, and in October they are water-charged.It is advisable to install a drip irrigation system before planting on the beds. The second method is sprinkling, that is, spraying the supplied water.
Mulching
Sawdust or hay is used to cover the soil. Planting under agrofibre does not require additional mulching.
Top dressing
Fertilizers with manganese and zinc are the key elements of berry crops nutrition. Foliar dressing with molybdenum and boron is also recommended. Such fertilizers will not only increase yields, but also protect plants from diseases and pests.
For the correct choice of mineral dressings, the composition of the soil is taken into account. Strawberries need manganese fertilizers if the bed is located on slightly alkaline calcareous or chestnut soil. Zinc deficiency may occur on sandy and sandy loam soils. It manifests itself in the fact that strawberries often start to hurt and their yield drops sharply.
Crop rotation rules for garden strawberries
When choosing a site for planting Victoria, they take into account which crops were grown earlier in this place and which are in the neighborhood. Successful predecessors for garden strawberries will be:
- greens;
- green manure crops;
- legumes;
- radish, radish;
- onion;
- carrot;
- garlic.
Strawberries will not grow well if planted after:
- nightshade;
- pumpkins;
- cabbage;
- Jerusalem artichoke;
- zucchini;
- cucumbers.
Strawberries are not particularly picky about the choice of neighbors. It grows well alongside many cultures. Particularly successful neighbors for her will be:
- onion;
- garlic;
- flower beds;
- greens;
- spices.
It is dangerous to place strawberries next to nightshades. They quickly deplete the soil and spread phytophthora. Neighborhood with raspberries or rose hips will be unsuccessful. Pests attacking these shrubs also affect garden strawberries. Cabbage takes nutrients from the soil that strawberries need. In addition, it needs to be watered frequently.
Important!
Strawberry plantings are renewed every four years. By this time, the number of berries decreases. Decreases immunity to attacks of pests and diseases.
