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Surely there is no berry more desirable than a sweet strawberry. Its taste and aroma are familiar to many from childhood. Strawberries are grown on their land plots by gardeners in various parts of the world. In Russia, the culture is also widespread: it is grown in the southern, central and northern part of the country, including the Urals. The climatic features of the region require the gardener to comply with certain rules for growing this berry. Farmers, in turn, offer special cold-resistant strawberry varieties... Detailed information on how to get a good harvest of delicious berries in the Urals can be found below in the article.
A little about strawberries
What we all used to call strawberries is actually a herb of the strawberry genus. In botany, they call it that: musky or nutmeg strawberries, garden. Plants perfectly tolerate winter frosts in the presence of snow cover. At the same time, drought can be disastrous for them. You can grow berries in sunny or slightly shaded areas of the land.
Varieties for the Urals
There are many different varieties of strawberries, however, not all of them are suitable for the climate of the Urals. Choosing a variety for growing strawberries in the Urals in the open field, it is necessary to pay attention to the following criteria:
- increased winter hardiness;
- the presence of immunity to the effects of pests and diseases;
- the ability to grow in high humidity conditions, resistance to rot;
- early maturity;
- high yield, size of berries and good taste of fruits.
Focusing on these simple criteria, you can independently choose from the entire set of existing varieties suitable for the Urals. Breeders also offer a number of zoned remontant and non-refurbished strawberry varieties.
Non-repair varieties
Regular, non-refurbished strawberries bear fruit once a season. Its main advantage is its large and very tasty berry. Garden varieties are more resistant to weather anomalies, moisture deficit. And even if, due to some circumstances, the strawberry leaves have partially fallen off, the bushes will quickly grow new foliage. The disadvantages of ordinary strawberries include low yield.
For the conditions of the Urals, among the non-repairable varieties, the best are "Amulet", "Zarya", "Asia", "Khonei" and some others. Due to their high resistance to cold weather, they can be safely grown in open areas of land.
Repairing strawberry varieties
Among professional farmers there are many admirers of remontant berries. The thing is that it has a high yield and a long fruiting period. For the season repair strawberry yields fruit in two stages. The first stage of fruit ripening occurs in early spring. At this time, you can collect up to 30% of the total seasonal harvest. The second stage of fruiting of remontant strawberries begins at the end of summer. During this period, 70% of the crop ripens.
For the Urals, we can recommend such remontant varieties as "Lyubava", "Geneva", "Brighton".The continuous fruiting variety "Queen Elizabeth II" is also suitable for the harsh climatic conditions of the Urals.
Features of growing berries in the Urals
You can plant strawberries in the ground in the Urals in early spring or early autumn. Planting plants in the spring can deprive the owner of the harvest in the current year, so this is more often done in late August - early September. Such a planting schedule allows young plants to adapt to new conditions, take root and gain enough strength for successful wintering.
Under favorable conditions, strawberry seedlings may begin to grow mustache before winter. Unfortunately, they must be removed, since young plants unreasonably spend too much energy on their maintenance.
Grow strawberries in the Urals it is possible in the open field using traditional technology or using progressive techniques. Each method has its own characteristics, however, the basic rules of cultivation are unchanged.
Planting strawberries in the ground
Strawberries can be grown in garden beds or as a solid plantation. The beds should be high embankments with gentle edges. It is recommended to plant strawberries in two rows. A small groove can be made between them, into which the drip hose will subsequently be placed.
The density of planting is of particular importance. The thing is that thickened plantings contribute to the development of all kinds of diseases, the leaves and berries of plants receive little light, and are poorly ventilated. Strawberry seedlings should be staggered. Distances between rows can be from 30 cm. Strawberry bushes in one row should be planted no closer than 20 cm to each other.
Before planting strawberry seedlings, you should take care of the nutritional value. soil... This is especially important for the conditions of the Urals. So, the manure embedded in the soil will additionally warm the plants in this cold climate. Manure can be laid in the soil during the autumn digging of the earth or in the spring, just before planting the plants. As for other crops, rotted manure should be used for strawberries, while horse excrement will give off the maximum amount of heat.
In addition to manure, some minerals must be added to the soil before planting strawberry seedlings, namely potassium and phosphorus. These microelements will speed up the process of plant rehabilitation in new conditions and improve the taste of berries. So, before planting seedlings, potassium sulfate and superphosphate should be added to the soil, in the amount of 15 and 40 g of each substance, respectively. You can replace these fertilizers with natural wood ash. Dry it is sprinkled on the soil surface during digging. Nutrients can also be added directly to the wells prior to planting.
Plant care
Having planted plants in the fall, they must be watered before the onset of cold weather as the soil dries out. For irrigation, you need to use warm water (+200FROM). Watering strawberries can be done by sprinkling.
In some cases, strawberry bushes planted in the fall begin to release flower stalks, but they must be removed so that the plants gain enough strength for winter. With the arrival of cold weather, strawberry plantings must be covered with a layer of geotextile and spruce branches. This will prevent the plants from freezing in the winter.
Spring chores
With the arrival of heat, in April, it is necessary to raise the covering material from the ridges and feed the plants with complex fertilizer. Dry leaves and litter should be removed from the garden, cut off the bushes.
An example of how to do it right trim strawberries in spring, shown in the video:
When the first flowers appear, it is recommended to feed the strawberries a second time. For this, you can use complex fertilizers "Iskra", "Alatar" or others.At the same time, it will be useful to fertilize strawberries with wood ash. The whiskers that appear on the plants still need to be removed. They can be planted on the mother bed for rooting and growing green mass, and then transferred to a place of constant growth.
Before the first berries appear, strawberry bushes must be regularly watered and fertilized. At this time, drip or sprinkler irrigation can be used. Potash and phosphate fertilizers can be added to the water for irrigation. Also, as necessary, weeds should be removed from the beds, and loosening should be carried out.
How to increase and protect the harvest in summer
After the formation of the berries and as they ripen, it is recommended to use only drip irrigation, since the ingress of moisture on the surface of the berries can cause them to rot. When observing symptoms of infection with viral or fungal diseases, strawberries must be treated with special antiseptic agents. In this case, Bordeaux liquid at a concentration of 1% will remove harmful microflora on plants and in the soil, as well as feed strawberries and improve the process of fruit formation. You can use such a tool for therapeutic and prophylactic purposes.
Fertilize strawberries during the ripening of berries, mineral complexes are not worth it, since the fruits can accumulate nitrates in themselves. If necessary, yeast fertilizers or organic matter can be used for feeding.
You can feed the strawberries with a solution of fresh yeast prepared in a 1:10 ratio. Fertilization with bread infusion is also an effective remedy. To do this, the crusts of yeast bread are soaked in water and, after insisting, spread the resulting mass on a bed with strawberries, embedding it in the ground by loosening. A large amount of harmless nitrogen is found in coffee grounds, which can also be applied to the soil. Traditional feeding with mullein and herbal infusion also allows plants to gain enough strength to form a large number of tasty and healthy berries.
I don’t forget the garden after harvesting
After picking the berries of the first wave of the harvest, the plants should be fed with a mineral complex fertilizer. If we are talking about ordinary strawberries, then before the onset of cold weather, it is necessary to additionally process plants from insects and fungus. To do this, you can use wood ash or Bordeaux liquid, iodine (8 drops per bucket of water). It is worth noting that dusting strawberries with wood ash repels some insects, prevents the development of fungal diseases and feeds the plants with phosphorus, potassium, calcium and other minerals. After fruiting, the soil on the ridges should also not be allowed to dry out by periodically watering the plants moderately.
If we are talking about a remontant plant, then a few weeks after picking the berries of the first wave, it will be possible to see a new stage of flowering. At this time, strawberries must be watered abundantly, fertilized and treated with pest drugs. In the absence of such care, the berries of the second wave will be small and “ugly”. After picking the berries, it is necessary to fertilize the plants with mineral fertilizers again.
With the onset of cold weather, regardless of the frost resistance of the variety, it is recommended to cover strawberries in the open ground of the Urals to prevent freezing. As a covering material, you can use geotextiles, burlap, polyethylene, spruce branches.
Thus, the cultivation of strawberries in the open ground of the Urals consists of a number of successive stages, during the implementation of which it is necessary to take into account the stage of plant vegetation. Timely correct watering and a sufficient amount of fertilizing allow you to get a good harvest of berries many times, without depleting plants of remontant varieties.
Methods of growing strawberries in the open field of the Urals
The above technology for growing plants fully complies with the rules for growing strawberries in the open field. However, the creation of open beds is a traditional, but less progressive method of growing crops in the Urals in comparison with sheltering and high ridges.
Strawberries on polyethylene
This strawberry cultivation technology is the most advanced. It avoids many of the disadvantages of growing berries outdoors:
- the roots of the plant are covered, which prevents them from freezing;
- when watering, moisture gets directly under the root of the plant;
- the coating does not allow moisture to evaporate from the soil;
- lack of weeds in the garden, facilitated plant care;
- berries are located above the surface of the film, not in contact with damp soil, which significantly reduces the likelihood of rotting.
The disadvantage of this technology is that the purchase of the material requires some financial investment.
Growing strawberries in polyethylene-lined beds is easy enough. To do this, it is necessary to prepare the ground and form trapezoidal ridges, by analogy with the above technology. Before planting, the ridge must be covered with material (polyethylene, geotextile). On the surface of the material, it is necessary to make a marking - to apply points where the holes with strawberries will be located. Scissors need to make holes with a diameter of 5-8 cm. Plant strawberry seedlings in the holes.
You can clearly see the application of this technology in the video:
Warm strawberry beds
Warm beds are a fairly new but effective tool for growing strawberries in the Urals.
Warm strawberry bed in the Urals, it can be done in a box or in a trench. A box can be created from boards, slate, bricks, tires, or other available material. A trench can be obtained by digging out the ground. The depth of the structure should be at least 50 cm. Drainage must be placed at the bottom of a warm bed, since strawberries love damp but well-drained soil. Broken bricks or, for example, large tree branches can be used as drainage. On top of them, you need to put a layer of coarse organic matter - tops of plants, foliage. The next layer is manure, compost. When overheated, it will not only nourish the strawberries with nutrients, but also generate heat that warms the roots of the plant. All of these layers should have a thickness of 10-15 cm. The top layer of the bed is a fertile soil. Its thickness must be at least 20 cm.
You can see an example of creating a universal warm bed in a box in the video:
Growing strawberries in warm beds or on top of a covering material is important for farmers in the Urals, since the main principle of these technologies is aimed at heating the roots, which allows you to safely preserve plants in winter and create optimal conditions for them in summer.
Conclusion
Thus, it is possible to get a good harvest of berries in the Urals in the open field, but for this it is necessary to choose the most suitable crop variety and strictly follow all the basic rules for its cultivation. Timely feeding with nutrients, watering, pruning and loosening will allow you to get the maximum amount of berries even in the harsh climate of the Urals. Unique methods of creating ridges using shelters or continuous organic matter can reduce the risk of freezing of plants, make it easier to care for strawberries and increase crop yields.
