Content
Strawberries or garden strawberries - a berry loved by many is not only tasty, but also healthy. It is grown in almost any garden plot, but the yield from different gardeners can be very different. It can be very annoying when the effort spent does not give the expected result.
Strawberries can grow in one place for a long time, but over time, the bushes age, the harvest falls, the berries become smaller. This usually happens after 3-4 years. Therefore, the time has come to renew the old plantation. Seed propagation is only suitable for small-fruited strawberries. Large-fruited varieties do not inherit parental traits when sowing seeds. Therefore, large-fruited berries are propagated only by daughter rosettes or mustaches. The future harvest directly depends on their quality. Therefore, the sockets not only need to be chosen correctly, but also the strawberry plants must be prepared in advance so that they are of high quality.
How to select a mustache for planting
The preparation of the selection of the mustache should be started a year before the renewal of the strawberry plantation. The strongest and most productive mustache gives the bushes of the second year of life. They must have many horns. During fruiting, select the strawberries with the largest and most numerous berries from the bushes of the first year of life. Mark these bushes with pegs, for example. Next year, you can take daughter outlets from them to plant strawberries in the fall with a mustache.
Since the powers of strawberry plants are not unlimited, it will be difficult for them to give both good daughter outlets and a full harvest at the same time. Therefore, all peduncles in the year of selection of the mustache must be removed from them. Now the plant will throw its forces on the formation of daughter outlets so that it can be planted strawberries in autumn mustache.
After their formation, pinch the mustache.
The number of whiskers that one bush can form depends on its development. In the strongest bushes, it can reach thirty with 3-5 daughter rosettes.
In practice, it is not recommended to leave more than five whiskers in one plant.
The strongest mustache is the July one. By the time of planting, they have time not only to root well, but also to grow a rosette with a considerable number of leaves. Such plants take root well and do not lunge.
Criteria for choosing child outlets for planting
They must:
- have a well-developed root system with a root length of at least 7 cm and a large number of white suction roots;
- the diameter of the root collar should not be less than 6 mm;
- have at least four developed leaves.
Dates for planting daughter outlets
You can plant strawberries on several dates. Spring planting is most often practiced. You can plant it in the second half of July. But if it was not possible to break up a new strawberry plantation within these terms, it is quite possible to do this in the fall.
In order for the plants to be comfortable in the garden and they can throw all their strength into the formation of the crop, and not on survival, it is necessary not only to plant the plants correctly, but also to skillfully prepare the soil, to choose a site suitable for their requirements.
Site selection
The best precursors for this delicious berry can be carrots, celery, spinach, dill, garlic, radishes and radishes. You cannot plant this berry after plants of the nightshade family, and even more so after strawberries or strawberries. Solanaceae and strawberries have common diseases. Bad predecessors and legumes. They are intermediate hosts of a pest dangerous for strawberries - nematodes.
The site should be chosen sunny, with sandy loam or loamy slightly acidic soil. If the soil is not suitable, you need to improve it. To do this, sand is added to the clay soil, and clay is added to the sandy soil. Acidity is also very important. soil... Strawberries grow best and yield high yields in slightly acidic soil. If the acidity of the soil does not meet these requirements, it must be corrected. Too acidic soil is limed, and slightly alkaline soil is acidified.
Soil preparation
To plant strawberries in the fall, the soil must be prepared in the spring. The future bed needs to be dug up, the roots of perennial weeds choose very carefully. Strawberries will grow in the garden for more than one year, so you need to take care of the fertility of the soil in advance. When digging, you should add a bucket of rotted manure or humus, 30 g of double superphosphate and 50 g of complete mineral fertilizer with trace elements, half a glass of ash.
So that the land is not overgrown with weeds until autumn, you need to sow siderates, for example, mustard and annual lupine. They will not only enrich the soil with nutrients, but also disinfect it. They are mown at the beginning of flowering and slightly embedded in the soil.
With the onset of cool and rainy September days, we plant a mustache on a prepared bed. How to plant strawberries with a mustache so that the plants do not experience stress and quickly take root in a new place?
Planting outlets
First you need to decide on the landing method. It can be single-row and double-row. In the latter case, the distance between the rows should be about 60 cm. The distance between the bushes depends on the variety. For powerful and productive plants, it can reach 60 cm, but for most varieties it can be 30 cm.
How to plant strawberries? The planting technology is quite simple. Dig holes at a selected distance. Their depth should correspond to the length of the roots. Each hole should be well spilled with cool water. It will require at least 1 liter. Cut off the mustache connecting the daughter outlet to the mother plant. Before planting, strawberry bushes should be watered so that the earthen lump is better preserved. This is especially important if the weather is dry. Using the scoop, carefully remove the socket from the ground, trying not to shake it off the roots. We lower the plants into the hole and spread the roots well.
It is very important that the root collar of the planted plant is not buried in the ground, and the roots are not exposed. The root collar should be strictly at the level of the soil.
After planting, it is good to mulch the soil around the bushes. Rotten sawdust, hay, or pine or spruce needles are suitable as mulch.
Black non-woven material can also be used as mulch.Then the technology of planting the sockets will be slightly different. A non-woven material is spread on the prepared bed, securing it along the edges. At the site of the future holes, cross-shaped cuts are made and the edges of the fabric are folded back. Dig holes in which you need to plant daughter sockets. Planting this way has many advantages:
- do not have to fight weeds;
- the ground will be loose;
- moisture remains longer, which means that you will have to water less often;
- the thermal regime in the root zone will be more comfortable for plants;
- the berries will not get dirty, and the strawberries themselves will hurt less.
It is best to cover the beds with a white non-woven fabric. So, the seedlings will take root better.
Further care for the planted bushes consists in watering and protection from possible frost.
Don't let the strawberry plantation age. Update it with daughter outlets in time so that the harvest is always happy.