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With the proper organization of the growing process, homemade strawberries can produce crops all year round. Plants require certain lighting, temperature, humidity, moisture and nutrients.
Growing methods
For growing strawberries, you can choose the traditional method, when the plants are planted in containers. Modern technologies make it possible to grow in special bags or use nutrient mixtures.
Planting in pots
The simplest option, how to grow strawberries, is its landing in the container. For planting plants, you will need pots with a volume of 3 liters or more. If a long container is used, then several seedlings can be planted in a row at a distance of 20 cm. The containers must have holes for water drainage.
Containers with strawberries are placed horizontally or vertically. If you hang the containers vertically, you can save a lot of free space.
Growing in bags
For growing strawberries, you can purchase ready-made bags or make them yourself. This will require bags of sugar or flour. The containers are chosen in high and small diameters. The use of sacks ensures that strawberries can be grown all year round.
After filling with a bag of soil, slots are made in them for planting strawberries. A distance of 20 cm is left between the plants. The seedling bags are placed on racks or hung vertically.
The variant of using the bag is shown in the photo:
Using hydroponics
Growing strawberries hydroponically does not involve the use of soil. Plants receive nutrients from special solutions that are prepared for irrigation. The method does not require large expenditures and is highly efficient.
Hydroponic cultivation has the following varieties:
- Planting strawberries in a rock wool, peat or coconut substrate. The substrate is placed in a film and placed on a tray, on which excess nutrient mixture is collected.
- Using the nutrient layer. Plants are planted in glasses where holes are equipped. The feeding of the nutrient mixture is organized under the containers. When the roots of the strawberry grow to the nutrient layer, the plant will receive the necessary nutrients.
- Application of the aquatic environment. The strawberry bush is placed on the styrofoam, located above the container with the nutrient mixture. Due to the excess moisture, this method of hydroponics at home is considered not the most successful.
- Aeroponics. Strawberry roots are placed in a mist generated by a special device. As a result, plants absorb nutrients better.
Selection of varieties
For home cultivation, choose remontant or ampel varieties of strawberries, unpretentious in care. Repaired varieties, with high-quality care, are capable of bearing fruit all year round with a break of several weeks.
Since the plant is under heavy stress, it may die after harvesting. Therefore, it is better to plant several varieties so that the berries ripen all year round.
Ampel strawberries yield one harvest per season. The plant produces many dangling shoots that can flower and bear fruit without rooting.
The following varieties are most suitable:
- Everest is a French variety producing large to medium-sized berries with a sour-sweet flesh.
- Cardinal is a disease-resistant dessert strawberry. The variety is characterized by spindle-shaped fruits, dessert taste.
- Elizaveta Vtoraya is one of the most popular varieties, producing large berries with a sweet taste.
- Albion is an oblong strawberry with good taste. From one bush, you can get up to 2 kg of harvest.
- Temptation is an early ripening variety with large fruits. The plant produces a good harvest and has a dessert taste.
- Merlan is an ampelous variety that gives pink inflorescences. The berries are small, but large in quantity. The taste of the fruit is sweet and rich.
Seedlings can be purchased at specialized stores. Plants are purchased only from trusted producers. Diseases and plant pests spread with low-quality seedlings.
Seedlings can be taken from a summer cottage. Cultivation of strawberries is done with a mustache or by dividing the bush. For remontant plants, the rhizome division method is used.
Preparing for landing
For planting, you can use store-bought soil to grow vegetables or flowers. If the soil is prepared on its own, then an equal amount of earth, sand and humus will be required. Strawberries prefer light soils, chernozem, loamy or sandy loam.
If the soil contains an increased amount of sand, then you can add a little peat when planting. The use of coarse sand will help improve the properties of clay soil. All operations regarding soil preparation for indoor strawberries are carried out a week before planting.
The container is filled by a third with a drainage layer (pebbles, expanded clay, crushed brick), then covered with earth. After planting, the plants are watered.
Care rules
To grow strawberries at home, you need to follow the rules for caring for it. This includes lighting equipment, timely watering and fertilization. Additionally, you need to control the level of humidity and temperature in the room, especially in winter.
Organization of lighting
To grow strawberries indoors, you need to provide the plants with the necessary lighting. The taste of the berries and the time of their ripening depend on this. For the organization of lighting, fluorescent lamps will be required to provide a level of illumination close to natural.
At home, LED lamps with a power of up to 50 watts are used. Strawberry plantings should be lit for 14-16 hours. Lamps are placed in luminaires and covered with foil. This ensures an even distribution of light for the plants.
It is allowed to use other types of lamps:
- fluorescent (2 warm light lamps need one cold light lamp);
- sodium;
- metal halide.
To increase the level of illumination, in the room where the plants are located, the walls are whitewashed, mirrors or aluminum foil are hung.
If the planting of strawberries is on the balcony, then the plants require additional lighting. At the end of daylight hours, the lamps are switched on for a certain time so that the total duration of illumination is 14 hours.
If the daylight hours for strawberries is 16 hours, then it will take a week and a half for flowering. The first crop from plants is obtained in a month.
Humidity and temperature
The room must maintain a certain level of humidity - about 75%. If strawberries are grown in a residential area, then the humidity level can be increased by installing containers with water or periodic spraying. It is possible to reduce this indicator by airing the room with plants.
Strawberries begin to develop only after a stable temperature has been established in the range of 18-24 degrees. If the room does not warm up well, especially in winter, then you need to equip additional heating.
Watering procedure
Strawberries prefer moderate watering. With a lack of moisture, the plants dry out, develop slowly, and form small fruits. Excess moisture negatively affects the taste of the berries, which become more watery.
The organization of watering depends on the method of planting. If growing strawberries at home is done vertically, then drip irrigation is required. Containers with water are placed above the level a pot of strawberries, after which thin tubes are installed from them. Holes are made along the length of the tubes, due to which watering is carried out.
The advantage of drip irrigation is the even distribution of moisture. This method is economical and allows you to control the flow of water.
Small plantings can be watered manually. Be sure to use warm water, which plants are watered at the root. The procedure is performed in the morning or evening.
Fertilization and pollination
Strawberries get less nutrients at home than when grown outdoors. Therefore, fertilization is a mandatory step in planting care.
Feeding strawberries is done once every two weeks. The need of plants for nutrients is especially high during flowering and the end of fruiting. Organic fertilizers (bird droppings, mullein, humates) or special mineral complexes are selected for feeding.
Growing strawberries at home all year round involves plant pollination. If the variety is not self-pollinating, then the procedure is carried out manually. To do this, use an ordinary brush or direct the flow of air from the fan to the planting.
Conclusion
There are many ways to grow strawberries at home. Be sure to choose unpretentious varieties that are capable of producing crops in any conditions. Watering, lighting and fertilization are organized for plants to harvest.
How to grow strawberries at home is described in the video:
