Growing garden strawberries in the open field at the cottage

05-03-2018

To get a rich harvest of fragrant strawberries in the beds of your plot, you need to properly care for her. Growing strawberries in the open field has its own characteristics.

It takes into account many factors, including the choice of the site, its slope, soil preparation, planting scheme, the subsequent care of young plants and more mature bushes. If you do not follow a certain technology of growing strawberries, small and sour fruits can be obtained instead of large sweet berries, and the plants themselves will be weak and unproductive.

Choosing a plot for strawberries

Under the cultivation of strawberries in the open field means its cultivation on the garden, not protected even by film shelter. This means that planting berries must be ready for spring return frosts, for dry summer, and for successful wintering. All this is possible if the bushes are healthy and strong.

One of the main tasks facing summer residents, who first decided to grow garden strawberries, is the choice of a bed for the beds and the purchase of healthy planting material. Let's stop on a site choice. It must be protected from the wind and well lit place. In winter, it should be covered with snow at least 20-30 cm so that the garden strawberries do not freeze out.

The site is preferably flat or with a slight (2-3 °) slope to the south-west. But on the southern slopes of the cultivation of strawberries in the open field will be reduced to zero: the snow melts too soon, and the bushes will die from the spring frosts.

Lowlands - also an unsuitable place for berry plantings. They accumulate cold air, which slows the ripening of the crop and leads to the spread of plant diseases.

Garden strawberries are not too demanding on the soil, but it is noted that it grows better and bears fruit on black soil fertilized with ashes. Peat components of soil and acidic soils are not recommended for growing strawberries (pH > 5.5).

Preparatory work before landing

Growing strawberries in the country begins with the preparation of the soil, especially if the plot has not previously been cultivated, and the acquisition of healthy planting material.

Wireworms and larvae of the May beetle can be a threat to young landings. One such larva can destroy up to 1 square. m landing. How to grow strawberries on these soils? First, the land must be treated from pests with ammonia or other insecticides. You can pre-landed on the bed of alkaloid lupine. Eating his beans, the larvae die.

Many gardeners are interested in how to grow strawberries in the area with close groundwater storage. Where the water comes close, the height of the formed beds should be about 40 cm. In other areas, drier - up to 10 cm, or in general it is possible to do without the formation of beds. Standard width of beds - 1 m.

The marked plot is dug up with the introduction of humus or fresh compost into the soil. Then the surface is leveled and slightly rammed.

For high yields when grown in open ground, special attention is paid to planting material. To grow a lot of strawberries will allow seedlings of elite varieties or the first reproduction, sorted and pre-healthy.

How to choose a good seedlings? Signs of quality seedlings:

brilliant leaves saturated green color;
fibrous root system with processes reaching 7-8 cm;
root neck diameter - not less than 6 mm.

If the cultivation of strawberries in the open ground is assumed in the spring from its own seedlings, then in the late fall, seedlings are dug and placed in the cellar. Approximately 5 days before disembarking, the box with the seedlings gets and is put in the shade.

Proper landing rules

In the question of how to grow a lot of berries, planting dates play a significant role. If they are not observed, most of the plants may die.

Young garden strawberries are planted in early spring or at the end of summer (early autumn) in holes with moist soil. If spring is chosen for planting, then the work must be done as early as the weather permits. For good survival of plants, the bed can be covered with a film, and with the establishment of a favorable temperature regime, temporary shelter can be removed.

Beginner gardeners are interested in the question of how to properly plant sockets, and whether there is a standard planting scheme. The planting scheme directly depends on the selected variety. Thicker than recommended, planting will result in shallow berries.

Among the schemes emit:

1-line,
2 lines
3-lower case.

Single-line is preferable where growing trees do not allow to allocate a large place for planting. Growing occurs in 1 row, the distance between the bushes in a row is 20 cm, and the row spacing should be 70-90 cm.

Two-line (or tape): between plants - 20 cm, between lines - 30 cm, between ribbons - up to 70 cm. And the three-line - when on a bed, which is more than 1 m wide, 2 rows of plants are planted with an interval of 30 cm.

Planted plants need so that the roots were lowered vertically down, and the neck of the bush was at ground level.

Too long roots are shortened to 10 cm. Then the ground around the saplings is compacted and watered abundantly. This relieves the plants from the voids around the roots and will contribute to a good survival rate of the seedlings. On top of the soil sprinkled with humus or dry soil to retain moisture in it for a longer time.

How to plant sockets, you already know. Now a few words about the mode of watering. At first, the seedlings are watered quite often (the ground should be constantly wet), and then quite regularly, approximately every 2 days, not allowing the soil to overdry. Watering directly affects crop yield. Many gardeners install a sprinkler or drip irrigation system at their summer cottage.

In order for a strawberry bed to winter well, after the leaves have dried, it is covered with fallen leaves or straw. In the spring, the shelter is removed, and the soil between the plants is loosened.

Growing strawberries and proper care (video)

Strawberry care

Caring for plants is reduced to watering, fertilizing, removing weeds and mustache, controlling pests and diseases. However, it must be borne in mind that too much watering often leads to the spread of gray rot and powdery mildew on strawberries.
One of the methods for growing marketable strawberries is to mulch the soil. When the first ovary appears, it is recommended to soil the soil with dry straw or sawdust. Then the moisture will last longer, and weeds uncomfortable to grow, but most importantly - the berry grows clean and not rotted.
There is a way to grow strawberries without weeds. Geotextiles will help in this, which passes moisture very well and does not let light through. The lack of light inhibits weeds, and strawberry bushes located on the surface of geotextiles receive light and moisture. The technology of growing with the help of agrofibre consists in making holes in it at a distance of 30 cm from each other and in planting strawberries in the made recesses.
At the beginning of growth, the berry crop needs additional fertilization with nitrogenous fertilizers and special complex fertilizers. After harvesting the plants should be fed with any complete fertilizer with trace elements.

In the case of a disease, the plants are treated with a compound with copper oxychloride (at the rate of 1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water). It is desirable to carry out the treatment in the early stages. It eliminates rot, powdery mildew and spotting. And from pests effective malathion: 3 tbsp. l the drug is dissolved in 10 liters of water and sprayed planting.
Every 4 years (some experts call another number - 2 years), garden strawberries need to be transplanted to a new place. This is due to the accumulation in the soil of various fungi and viruses. For those who do not know how to grow strawberry seedlings on their own, we will briefly describe this process: choose the most productive and healthy bushes and see which of the issued mustaches is the strongest. Then press the first sockets on these shoots a little into the ground, and cut off the further part of the whiskers. These sockets will become further new planting material.

Growing strawberries in the country is not difficult, but, like any other culture, it requires attention and certain labor costs. And then the harvest will delight the abundance and excellent taste of berries.