Content
- 1 Differences between remontant strawberries and ordinary ones
- 2 Varieties of remontant strawberries
- 3 Transplanting
- 4 How to prepare remontant strawberries for wintering
- 5 Care for overwintered bushes
- 6 Reproduction of remontant varieties
- 7 Seed propagation
- 8 Sowing and growing seedlings
- 9 How to choose the right variety
It's hard to meet someone who doesn't like strawberries. It is good both in natural form and with cream; it is used as a filling in dumplings, aromatic preserves and delicious jams are prepared. Strawberries bear fruit for a short time, to enjoy a freshly grown tender berry, you have to wait for the next season.
Have you heard the term "renovation"? The origin of this name has French roots, it translates as "repeated flowering", and means that the plant is capable of repeated fruiting during the season. Repaired some citrus and raspberry varieties show signs. And strawberries have many remontant varieties, among them there are even mustacheless varieties. If you can get a repeated harvest of berries per season, then questions arise: remontant strawberries, what does this mean, what are the secrets of caring for these varieties, when and how to plant them, how to propagate, whether the plant needs increased watering and feeding. In this article, you will learn how to properly care for your repair bushes to get the most out of them.
Differences between remontant strawberries and ordinary ones
Repaired varieties have common properties with ordinary strawberries: the bushes also hibernate under the snow, without shedding their leaves, and its peduncles suffer from the lightest and shortest frosts. Repaired species require close attention: more frequent watering and feeding due to the increased load on plants, and constant fruiting accelerates the aging of the bushes. All gardeners know the amazing vitality of ordinary garden strawberries, remontant varieties have their own characteristics: they require more care and frequent replacement of bushes, but they delight with berries until autumn.
Varieties of remontant strawberries
This culture is classified according to several characteristics. One of them is the formation of the kidneys. Some remontant cultivars are capable of budding with LND-neutral daylight, while others produce buds only with long daylight hours (LRD). Ordinary garden strawberry buds with a short daylight hours (KSD), this is why it differs from remontant varieties. Packets with remontant seeds are labeled as NSD and DSD. When choosing, keep in mind that the yield is higher in remontant species with LMD.
Repaired varieties are also classified by the presence or absence of a mustache. Each type has advantages and disadvantages.
Mustache strawberry
Beardless variety (alpine remontant strawberry) better withstand diseases, less capricious to the place cultivation, less often requires a transplant, bears fruit throughout the season without interruption. The absence of a mustache allows you to get a stable harvest, reduces labor costs for caring for the garden and saves space. Alpine remontant strawberries tolerate a lack of moisture and heat worse than usual, so on hot days they should be shaded. You can propagate beardless strawberries either by sowing seeds, or by dividing the mother bush, when the rhizome dies off in an old, three to four-year-old plant, and it breaks up into several parts.
Whiskered strawberry
The mustachioed remontant varieties give less whiskers than ordinary garden strawberries, and are good because they begin to bear fruit already in the year of planting, giving two harvests, and the second of them is much more abundant. The berries are larger than those of the brushless remontant varieties, but a bush depleted with a bountiful harvest may die at the end of the season.
Transplanting
Remaining strawberries feel best on light (loamy or sandy loam) soils of a neutral or slightly acidic reaction. The plot for cultivation of remontant species should be located on a small hill in order to exclude stagnant moisture. Planting can be carried out both in autumn and in spring, having prepared the soil ahead of time: for spring planting in autumn, and for autumn spring.
Early soil preparation
The rules for preparing the soil for planting remontant varieties are simple, but they are important for the subsequent harvest. Dig up the ground with a pitchfork, select the rhizomes weed herbs. Add humus, compost or mullein at the rate of 1 m organic bucket2 soil and fill with wood ash, five kg per square meter. About a month before planting bushes, for each m2 add a tablespoon of Kaliyphos or 40 g of superphosphate mixed with 10 g of potassium sulfate.
Seedling planting rules
A day before planting seedlings, loosen the soil to a depth of about 15 cm, prepare the holes. Their depth should be slightly greater than the height of the roots. At the bottom of the planting hole, make a small mound to evenly spread the strawberry roots over it, pour. In cloudy weather, or in the evening, carefully transfer the seedlings from the cups to the hole. You can revise the roots: cut off damaged and too long (over 10 cm). Dip the root system of the seedling in a mash of thick sour cream, made from soil and humus, with the addition of root stimulants such as Epin, Kornevin or similar preparations.
These rules are common for spring and autumn planting of seedlings.
Placing seedlings on the ridge
Depending on the size of the bed set aside for planting remontant strawberries, there are two methods of placing bushes: ordinary and carpet. In the first case, the distance between seedlings is 20-25 cm, each row is 70 cm from the previous one. The second method involves placing the bushes according to the 20x20 cm scheme. After planting, the remontant species do not need feeding.
Disembarkation dates
One of the features of remontant strawberries is fruiting in the first year, therefore, in warm regions, you can plant seedlings in the spring, mulching the plantings with straw, peat, or agrofibre. Mulching will reduce the amount of watering and loosening the soil, and will also slow down the growth of weeds. In the middle lane, the spring soil is not warmed up enough, so the autumn planting of remontant varieties is becoming more and more popular. In autumn, the landing dates are a month and a half, from late July to early September, depending on the region. If the berry has already been grown on the site, then there is also planting material. Planted in the fall, remontant strawberries will get stronger by the next season, and will give the first spring harvest.
How to prepare remontant strawberries for wintering
Young plants planted in autumn, before the onset of frost, have time to take root and grow a deciduous rosette. To help the bushes grow stronger, the first week after planting they need to be watered two days later in the morning with warm water under the root, without flooding the leaves. From the second week, watering is reduced, but the soil should not dry out, make sure that it is loose and moist.
Pest control
The remontant strawberry growing in the open field is affected by pests. To destroy insects preparing for wintering in the upper layers of the soil, carefully, without damaging the roots, loosen the soil 6-8 cm deep and process the ground with a solution of Karbofos, at the rate of 3 tbsp. spoons in 10 liters of warm water, and cover with plastic wrap for three hours.
Disease prevention
To combat pathogens, treat the soil with a 2% solution of Bordeaux liquid. You can use copper oxychloride by dissolving one tablespoon of the substance in ten liters of water.
If you are a supporter of ecological farming, then such a composition prepared for 10 liters of water will help protect the remontant strawberry bushes from fungal diseases and specific pests:
- Wood ash - 2 tbsp. spoons;
- Heavily overcooked vegetable oil - 3 tbsp. spoons;
- Vinegar 9% - 2 tbsp spoons;
- Liquid soap - 2 glasses.
Mix all the ingredients well, and process the ridge, wetting both the soil and the bushes themselves.
Pruning bushes
If the remontant strawberry bushes planted in the fall have managed to grow a good deciduous rosette, then you do not need to cut it until the bushes endure a couple of light frosts. And when the antennae begin to grow, they should be removed so that the plant does not waste energy on growing a mustache, but strengthens the roots. Check the condition of the soil under the bushes: the roots should be covered with soil. If strawberry roots are bare, sprinkle soil on top of them.
Soil mulching
If you spread mulch around the bushes when planting them, then by winter you will need an additional layer of shelter to protect against freezing of the soil. For winter mulch, take straw, dry foliage, peat, spruce branches or sawdust and spread a mulch layer about 5 cm thick. Cover the remontant strawberries when the frost is stable, otherwise early covered bushes may rot.
Preparing for the wintering of adult bushes
The key to a good harvest next year will be the correct preparation of adult bushes of remontant varieties for winter. The plant worked all summer long, producing berries, and was greatly weakened. After harvesting, cut off all late flowers, they obviously will not have time to ripen, and the plant will take away the strength. In the fall, the remontant strawberry bushes should be fed so that the budding of the next season is successful. Fertilized bushes winter better and recover faster in spring. Autumn feeding includes a potassium-phosphorus complex in liquid or dry form, but it is not necessary to use nitrogen fertilizers in autumn so that the remontant strawberry bush does not build up excess green mass. For supporters of organic farming, composting can be recommended.
More detailed information about the autumn feeding of remontant varieties is set out in the table:
| Mullein and bird droppings | We take only the fermented one. Dilute 1 liter of organic matter in 10 liters of water and insist. Add 125 g of wood ash per bucket before use |
|---|---|
| Slurry | Dissolve 1 liter in 8 liters of water and infuse until thick sour cream |
| Green fertilizers | Mown grass or green manure legumes are placed in the aisle |
| Wood ash | Pour into ridges and aisles, for 1 m² - 150 g; |
| Potassium and phosphorus | Dry potassium salt (20 g) and superphosphates (10 g). Scatter between plants, or use as a solution, water between beds. |
| Complex | Mix 250 g of ash, 2 tablespoons of "Nitrofoski" and 20 g of potassium fertilizer, dilute in 10 liters of water. Stir, pour a liter on the bush. After two days, mulch with sawdust or peat chips. |
Care for overwintered bushes
In March, nitrogen fertilizers can be sprinkled in the garden right on top of the snow cover. In April, the time for feeding strawberries with mineral and organic fertilizers comes, they are applied by mulching the soil.During the period of active growth, flowering and fruiting, observe the condition of the plants, water, loosen and feed in a timely manner. Repaired strawberries are affected by the same diseasesthat both common varieties and pests are the same, so to identify the problem and eliminate it, use the same methods as for the usual garden strawberries.
Reproduction of remontant varieties
The maximum productive life of remontant strawberries is three years. This is due to the high load on the bush, which is depleted by continuous fruiting. If you plan to update the bushes, then you can safely use your planting material by rooting the antennae of the first order. Choose the most promising remontant strawberry bushes, and do not let them bear fruit a second time, that is, cut off the flower stalks. Dig in plastic cups near the bushes, direct the antennae towards them and pin. After the formation of a young bush and its rooting, you can separate the young plant from the mother bush, and plant it in the ground, as described above. Beardless remontant strawberry varieties propagated by dividing the bush or sowing seeds.
Seed propagation
If you are not afraid of troubles, then you can grow remontant strawberries from seeds, a wide selection of which can be found in any garden supermarket. If remontant varieties grow on your site that suit you by all signs, then use your own seed material. To collect seeds from your bushes, you need to choose the largest and ripe berries. Place the berries in a bowl and place them outside a sunlit window. After 4 days, soften the strawberries with your hands and soak in water, changing it several times. Remove the pulp, and the seeds that have settled to the bottom can be used for further sowing.
Sowing and growing seedlings
Sowing seeds for seedlings is carried out in February and early March. The sowing soil must be loose, decontaminated, and have a moisture content of at least 70%. Spread the seeds over the surface, you can sprinkle a thin layer of sand on top and moisten it from a spray bottle, preventing the soil from drying out. To reduce evaporation, cover the seed box with glass. Germinate in a cool, shaded place. As soon as the seeds of the remontant strawberry hatch, the glass can be removed, and the seedlings can be transferred to a lighted place. Before planting seedlings, they should be hardened in the usual way. The process of planting remontant bushes in spring is similar to planting in autumn.
How to choose the right variety
We carefully examined the processes of reproduction of remontant strawberries, planting them, and winter care and made sure that the agricultural techniques of ordinary garden strawberries and remontant strawberries are similar. The differences lie in a shorter fruiting period and more frequent watering, dressing and loosening of remontant varieties.
By planting remontant strawberries, you will provide yourself with a tasty berry at the end of summer, and in spring there will be not so many fruits. To get plenty of strawberries in early summer, plant the usual varieties. By combining remontant and ordinary varieties with different fruiting periods in one area, you will get enough berries for fresh consumption and for preservation for the winter.
Domestic and foreign breeders have created a huge number of short, neutral and long-day strawberry varieties. Short-day strawberries are a common garden strawberry, and the other two varieties belong to remontant species. It is necessary to recommend a specific variety in each specific situation, there are no general rules. Each gardener has its own conditions: the climatic zone of residence, the location of the site, and everyone's own taste preferences are different.Among the variety of remontant varieties, each person will be able to choose the most suitable option for him.
