Agricultural technology for growing garden strawberries and strawberries in open ground

Getting a good harvest of strawberries is not an easy task, but it is doable.
Anyone who has ever been a gardener will understand. Dear readers!
For you, we have created communities on social networks in which useful articles and interesting ideas are published several times a day! Subscribe and receive useful content in a convenient format! Knowing what reduces and what increases the yield protects against mistakes and increases the gardener’s competence. With good organization of care, having three small (about 2.5 m in length) beds can be collected in buckets (without exaggeration).

In this article we will tell you how to get a good strawberry harvest even from a small plot.

Technology for growing strawberries and wild strawberries from seeds: agricultural technology

Agricultural technology for strawberries from seeds suggests that the best time for sowing is February and March, and the best place is a greenhouse.

Sowing can be done indoors, but then the seedlings will be weaker than those grown in the greenhouse.

In greenhouses, sowing strawberries is also not successful. For sowing, a layer of completely softened cotton wool is placed in a wooden box with a solid bottom (not higher than 1 or 1.5 inches (1 inch is 4.445 cm), and on top of it is a layer of sifted earth 1.5 fingers thick.

The technology for growing strawberries from seeds does not recommend planting them in the ground: they are scattered on the ground and pressed slightly into it. If the soil is dry, it should be thoroughly moistened with water before sowing. The top of the box is covered with glass.

In a box with a smooth bottom and under glass, wet cotton wool maintains soil moisture for a very long time - up to 4 weeks, which is very important, since watering small seeds would be inconvenient: it not only erodes and compacts the soil, but also changes the position of the seeds.

The constant moisture of the cotton wool, in addition, eliminates the possibility of drying out the soil due to oversight or negligence; seeds that have lain dry in dry soil for several hours become unviable. Strawberry and wild strawberry seeds germinate 10-12 days after sowing at a temperature of 11-15 degrees during the day.

According to the technology of growing strawberries from seeds, on the 20th day after germination, the seedlings already have 2 true leaves and up to 5 lateral lobes.

During all this time, the seed box should be covered with glass and stand in a bright place. With the appearance of two true leaves, the seedlings are planted in another box, without cotton wool, in a layer of earth up to 1 inch thick.

The seedlings plant deeper than they sat, namely along the cotyledon. The distance between seedlings should be about 3/8 of an inch. 2 weeks after the first planting, the seedlings should be planted a second time, already 1 inch apart from each other.

The technology for growing strawberries recommends making a third planting after another two weeks: in this planting, the distance between the bushes should be up to 1.5 inches. Then, when the bushes grow even larger, they should be planted directly in the greenhouse at a distance of 3-4 inches from each other.

Finally, in July, they are already planted in the ground, then the bushes have time to completely take root before the fall and can successfully overwinter, for which the future strawberries should be covered for the winter with a thin layer of fine horse manure and on top of it with a layer of dry leaves; the mustachioed strawberry is not so sensitive to frost and is content with one layer of dry leaves.

Watch how to grow strawberries in open ground in the video, which shows the process of preparing seedlings from seeds:

Timing and features of transplantation

You can transplant garden strawberries at different times:

• in spring - before flowering begins;
• in summer - after fruiting;
• in autumn - in September (except for regions with a harsh climate).

Important! Strawberry transplantation refers to the procedure of rejuvenating bushes through propagation.

Reproduction methods

You can propagate garden strawberries in one of three ways:

1. Rosettes (rooting of mustaches) - rosettes with a mustache taken from each bush are placed in separate containers.
2. By dividing the bush - the fibrous root of the strawberry is divided into several separate parts.
3. Growing from seeds - as a rule, this technology is used to develop new varieties.

How to grow a good harvest of strawberries at your dacha in open ground (with video)

Before you grow strawberries in your dacha, you need to plant them in sufficient quantities using seedlings or seedlings. The best time to plant strawberries in the middle and northern regions is the end of summer, but not spring or autumn. Plants planted in the spring lose a lot of time to take root and in the first year give an insignificant harvest; in a dry spring, in addition, newly planted strawberry plantations require the most diligent watering, or most of the plants are lost.

During autumn planting, in the event of frost, when the ground is not yet covered with snow, the plants are in danger of freezing, since they have not yet had time to take root well. Many tutorials have been written on how to grow good strawberries in the country. However, practice is the deciding factor. Before you grow good strawberries, you need to “calculate” the appropriate planting time for your climate zone.

At the end of summer, i.e. in the first half of August, according to agricultural technology, it is most profitable to plant garden strawberries: by this time the bushes have already become sufficiently strong and do not wither so easily, they have a lot of time until the fall to fully take root, it is also important that that it is easier to find workers at this time than in the spring.

Before you grow a good harvest of strawberries, you need to know that the bushes planted at this time will give a good harvest of the largest berries the next year; subsequent harvests will, of course, be larger, but you will not get such large berries as in the first year.

Next, you can see how to grow good strawberries in a video demonstrating all the steps for planting in open ground:

When should you plant strawberries?

The first thing you need to decide is the timing of planting strawberries. They may differ depending on the region where the summer cottage is located, or the preferences of the gardener himself.

For example:

1. Central Russia and Moscow region. The preferred planting time is the last days of April or the beginning of August.
2. Southern regions. The procedure is relevant in the first ten days of September.
3. North of Russia. The optimal planting time is late May/early June.

The most suitable time comes when the air temperature warms up to +15 ... +25 degrees. If spring or summer planting is planned, the site is prepared in the fall. When planting in the fall, preparations are carried out a couple of weeks before the event.

Planting strawberries does not require special soil; universal soil will do.

Secrets of super harvest: how to properly grow strawberries in open ground

The secrets of the super-harvest of strawberries lie in the fact that on sandy soils the berries reach larger sizes, have a different taste and ripen earlier than on heavy soils; but all this is subject to strong fertilization and protection of plants from drought.

Before growing strawberries in open ground on sandy soil, the bushes are planted in the spring, and not in August-September, as is preferably done on other soils. Although the soil should already be well fertilized with manure, compost or mineral fertilizers during its preparation, nevertheless, after planting strawberry bushes, each plant is watered with diluted slurry or other liquid fertilizer, and then similar watering is repeated after the main flowering and after picking the berries.

Secret 2: Mulching strawberries

In general, all plantings need to be mulched, but strawberries need mulch like air. The ideal mulching material for it is pine needles. It retains moisture, protects from pests and diseases, rots over time and nourishes the garden bed. No needles - no big deal. Straw, mown grass, and trimmed weeds are suitable for mulching strawberries. In the fall, after harvesting, pruning and processing strawberry bushes, it doesn’t hurt to mulch the beds with a thick layer of fallen leaves. This mulch will also help protect the berries from frost.

Secrets of growing strawberries in open ground

The secrets of strawberries are quite simple: since the crop requires soil moisture, the beds should be arranged in such a way that this need is satisfied as fully as possible. At a certain place, a ditch is dug 80 - 90 cm wide and up to 5 inches deep.

The secrets of growing strawberries are to fill the ditch to the brim with horse manure, which is trampled down and watered heavily. Along the edges of the ditch, edges are placed to form the edge of the ridge.

Then a layer of soil, the best one available, with a thickness of 2.5 to 3 vershoks is placed on the manure; The width of the ridge, the most convenient in all respects, is 80 cm: a narrower ridge is inconvenient for the growth of strawberries, and a wider one is for caring for strawberries and picking berries. The manure under the soil layer rather serves to retain strong moisture under the bushes, as a result of which the bushes quickly take root. Later, a year later, the same manure will provide good nutrition to adult bushes for 1 or even 2 summers. In the southern provinces, ditches should be dug deeper so that the layer of manure is thicker.

Watering with liquid mullein is very useful: the main secret of growing strawberries in open ground is to provide maximum nutrition to the flower bud even before flowering. The first watering is done after flowering, when the berries are set, the last - when the first berries ripen. In between these two waterings, water 1-2 more times.

The result is a significantly larger harvest, with individual berries reaching enormous sizes. Instead of mullein, you can take a mixture of two parts (by weight) 30% potassium salt and 2 parts Chilean nitrate; on a ridge of 10 fathoms (1 fathom -2.143m) the length is taken to be 1.5-2ft. (1 lb-410 g) of this mixture dissolved in 15 buckets of water.

Fertilizing the soil with mineral fertilizers has a beneficial effect on strawberries; they are introduced in the following quantities:

1. Chilean saltpeter - 5 lbs. on a ridge 10 fathoms long;
2. potassium chloride - 3 lbs. (can be replaced with 30 percent potassium salt in double quantity) and
3. Thomas slag - 3 lbs. In addition to a significant increase in yield, mineral fertilizers also affect the shape of the berries: until the end of fruiting, large berries are obtained, but there are almost no underdeveloped monsters. The color of the berries becomes sharp and intense; Apparently, these fertilizers soften the acidity of the berries.

Secret 5: Fertilizing strawberries

Where would our brother be without feeding?
Nowhere! It is advisable to feed ordinary strawberries three to four times a season: in spring, before flowering, during fruiting and in autumn. With remontant strawberries, things are different: fertilizing once a week is required, otherwise there is no point in messing with it. What to feed? If you are against mineral fertilizers, feed the beds with an infusion of grass, vermicompost and ash. An infusion of vermicompost is made as follows: 1 glass of vermicompost per 10 liters of water is infused for 24 hours, then diluted with water 50:50. The recipe for the herbal infusion is as follows: fill a bucket filled with herbs with warm water and leave for 3-4 days. Ash is poured under the roots after each harvest, as well as during autumn processing.

You can read more about fertilizing strawberries here:

Secrets of growing garden strawberries (with video)

To get good results by the next summer, there are strawberry secrets: caring for the plantation must begin in July of the previous year. To do this, first of all, the turf with which the bushes are overgrown must be cut out quite cleanly, and the earth around it is loosened with a knife. Then the entire weeded area is watered very generously with liquid fertilizer, if possible - 2 or 3 times over the course of a month.

The secrets of growing strawberries in large quantities are that at the end of August, the grass that has grown during this time is weeded out, and all the spaces between the bushes are filled with a thick layer of horse manure. In late autumn, a layer of manure is added. 2-3 months after the first shelf, even before autumn, the bushes have time to significantly recover and produce new leaves, thicker and larger.

The secrets of growing garden strawberries are that by next spring the bushes have already reached almost the height that is typical for their variety, and the berries themselves are quite large; and in the second summer, subject to the above technique and proper care, the strawberries become quite prolific and large-fruited.

As for the care itself, for the fertility of strawberries it is necessary, first of all, to ensure that in the spring, all the time until the bush prepares foliage and flower buds, the soil is clean of weeds, loose and shaded, and at the same time it is useful to water the bushes with liquid fertilizer to enhance growth.

Secret 1: Variety of strawberry varieties

If, after a long search and experimentation, you have found a tasty, aromatic, chic variety of strawberries suitable for your land... continue your search!
Because in order for strawberries to delight you throughout the season, it is recommended to have at least four different varieties of this berry in your garden. Or better yet, six. One or two varieties should be early ripening and produce a harvest in early July. Two or three varieties are medium, that is, bear fruit in July and August. Well, one more variety - late, so that you can eat fresh strawberries before the beginning of September. It is advisable to make a separate bed for each variety of strawberry, and so that all the beds are not nearby, but scattered throughout the site. In this case, you will be able to fully appreciate the merits of each variety.

Of course, there are also remontant strawberries, which, with proper care, are capable of producing one wave of harvest after another, but they have their own rules and special agricultural techniques. We will definitely have a separate conversation about it.

The Big Secrets to High Strawberry Yields

We continue to look at the secrets of obtaining a large harvest of strawberries on a personal plot with minimal effort. Covering the gaps between the rows of strawberries with a layer of rotted manure and lightly rubbing it over the plants themselves will not harm the plants at all.

On the contrary, if this is done in the fall, then the plants, even in very unfavorable site conditions, etc., overwinter well. Moreover, the strawberry beds covered with manure do not thaw so quickly, and this saves the plants from being beaten by spring mornings. And if autumn is cold and snow falls late, then covering the ridges with manure saves strawberry plants from autumn frosts.

These strawberry harvest secrets allow experienced gardeners to achieve consistent results year after year. In addition, strawberries require a lot of nutrients, and, consequently, a lot of fertilizer, given mainly in the form of manure; therefore, manure taken to cover the beds for the winter will supply the plants with the nutrients they need.

Remember the following secrets of high strawberry yields: in old strawberry plants, the rhizomes rise somewhat above the ground and are especially susceptible to freezing, in order to prevent this, these plants should be covered with earth (a good addition to it of highly decomposed manure or compost) and only then the ridges should be covered with manure, a layer thick 1-1.5 inches, taking care that the top of the plant, and especially its core, is not crushed by a heavy piece of manure, which would retard the development of the plant. After laying manure, it is useful to place dry brushwood or plant stems on the beds with strawberries to help better retain snow.

Berry diseases and pests

insects most often attack strawberries :

• ants;
• woodlice;
• types of mites: earthen, transparent, spider;
• slugs

The main method of pest control is strict adherence to the rules of agricultural technology . If insects appear, the crop is treated with chemicals (insecticides), and during the growing season - with biological ones.

The most common strawberry diseases :

• gray rot;
• brown or white spotting;
• powdery mildew.

To prevent these diseases, it is necessary to maintain the correct microclimate; to eliminate the problem, treat the bushes with fungicides.

Should strawberry beds be dug up?

Each gardener decides for himself whether he should dig up his strawberry beds, but the information offered below will make this process more reasonable. When digging both in the fall and in the spring, we actually loosen the soil, make it receptive to light and air, but at the same time we destroy the fibrous roots.

This happens despite all precautions, because these roots are thin, like a spider's web, and spread far across the soil in the form of a network, which we tear apart every time we stick a shovel.

After digging, the plants begin to slowly form new lobes, slowly in the fall, more quickly in the spring, but those who have observed correctly have long known that strawberry plants have already prepared the next year’s harvest in September. If we dig up at this time or a little later, in the fall, we will make the plants, due to the destruction of the roots, more resistant to frost.

If we dig in the spring, then although the planting will not suffer from frost, often very strong spring winds can have a very harmful effect on it. Therefore, you should do this: as soon as new growth begins and the condition of the soil allows it, hoe shallowly, but as often as possible and when there are no weeds, therefore much more often than other plants.

In this way, a permanent, although very shallow, but loose layer will be achieved, allowing air and light to the roots and reducing the evaporation of much-needed moisture.

Secret 3: Removing buds from young strawberries

In pursuit of a big harvest, we treat every flower on every strawberry bush with reverence.
However, this approach is completely unacceptable for young bushes in their first year of life. The task of a young plant is to take root, develop a root system and prepare for the coming winter. If it spends energy on fruiting, then the likelihood of freezing will increase significantly. Therefore, we will be merciless - we remove all flowers in first-years without hesitation. Yes, this year we will miss a dozen berries, but in a year well-developed, powerful bushes will thank us with a bountiful harvest.

How to avoid problems when growing strawberries

An interesting question: what is the difference between an experienced gardener and a beginner? Is it just years of “horticultural” experience, and how much of it is needed? You can determine who you are - a student or a master - at the moment when you encounter a certain problem when growing plants.

To learn how to avoid common problems when growing strawberries in open ground, read on and see the attached table.

All novice gardeners actively ask reputable experts about ways to solve the problem, looking for answers to questions in all the numerous sources of information now available. Truly experienced people, when a problem arises, turn first of all... to the plants themselves. And who better than themselves can know and tell about what they need?

Experience comes when you begin to understand the language of plants; they themselves point out to us our mistakes and shortcomings in care:

Watch the technology for growing strawberries in detail in the video, which presents all the intricacies of this process:

• Author: Tatyana
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What reduces strawberry yield?

Productivity decreases:

• wrong type of landing. When planting with carpet, a large area is covered - the berries become smaller;
• late planting of seedlings - they do not have time to set buds;
• frosts during flowering - the flowers darken;
• buds are dropped - a weevil pest has infested;
• few ovaries with abundant flowering - poor pollination;
• bad weather conditions and care during the period of bud formation;
• the variety does not correspond to the climatic zone;
• the presence of whiskers during flowering.

Every three years - a new place for strawberries

Every three years, the strawberry bed must not only be renewed, but also moved to another place. This is due to the fact that the bush develops its potential within three years and then is not able to produce a decent harvest. In addition, root exudates accumulating in the soil inhibit strawberry plants. After three years, it is better to plant other crops in this place, according to the rules of crop rotation.

Garden strawberries produce the most runners in the first year. It is this feature that must be used to update and propagate the variety.

Dear readers! Of course, these are not all recommendations for increasing the yield of garden strawberries. The timing of planting, the composition of the soil, the predecessor plants, the selection of varieties, and the distance from certain plants are important... However, this is the minimum that a crop needs for a good harvest. I hope this article will help you identify those agricultural techniques that, perhaps due to a lack of understanding of their importance, you have previously missed.

Have a good harvest!

No weeds or extra mustache

The beds must always be clean of weeds and excess tendrils - these are competitors for water, food and light, which the crop so needs. And from old leaves. Precisely old ones that have lost their green color. Usually they are already damaged by some kind of disease.

There are recommendations for complete removal of foliage after fruiting. But the garden strawberry bush is a plant, and for its full development it needs the process of photosynthesis, which is impossible without green leaves. For this reason, mowing strawberry leaves is not justified and is considered an unscientific approach to caring for this berry.

Garden strawberry beds should always be clean of weeds and excess tendrils.

How to plant seedlings

Gardeners often plant seedlings in early spring. They believe that with this method, the berry grows better and bears richer fruit. Disembarkation stages:

1. For high yield and quality of berries, only selected seedlings are chosen. To understand the quality of the sprouts, you need to carefully examine them. Good seedlings have fibrous roots, the length of the shoots reaches 6-8 cm. The diameter of the root collar is at least 6 mm. The number of leaves in a rosette is 4-7 pcs. Before planting the seedlings, they are kept in a dark room. The dried roots of the sprouts are placed in water half an hour before planting.
2. Preparing a site for strawberries includes removing all weeds and last year's plants. The soil is leveled with a rake. Chernozem is most suitable for strawberries; wood ash is added to enrich it. Peaty and overly acidic soils are not suitable for the berry. In the absence of a suitable plot in the garden with suitable fertility indicators, bulk beds are created, where store-bought substrates are laid out.
3. For seedlings, holes are prepared, the distance between which is at least 25-35 cm. Before planting, the roots are dipped in soil mash or means for improving rooting such as “Kornevin”. If you use mash, stir it until it reaches a creamy consistency. This will prevent the roots from drying out and help the bushes take root in the soil. Make a hole up to 10 cm deep. Half a liter of liquid is poured into each hole. After this, the sprouts are planted, the roots of the plant are carefully buried, and carefully covered with soil. Properly planted sprouts remain in the ground with weak tugging of the leaves. After this, the bushes are mulched with humus from two to three years ago in a layer of 2-3 cm. The correct planting depth is controlled by the apical bud. If you deepen it too much, the bud will begin to dry out, and if you plant it high above the surface of the ground, the roots will dry out. In both cases, the bush grows poorly, develops slowly and produces a small harvest.

Strawberries can be covered with agrofibre, but if the material is not at hand, hay and straw are used instead. By growing berries using agrofabric, gardeners receive a number of benefits:

• the berry gets sick less;
• agrofibre shades the soil, it does not overheat;
• Weeds do not appear on the site, time is saved on constant weeding;
• slugs appear much less often on beds covered with fabric;
• the berries do not become dirty or rot, since there is no contact with the soil;
• agrofibre reflects sunlight, so strawberries become sweeter.

Spring transplantation of strawberries occurs in the second half of April; in the southern regions, the process can begin at the end of March. The main guideline is that the heat has not yet set in, but there is already enough sunlight for the normal rooting of young rosettes. Autumn replanting is done in the first 2 weeks of September, and in the southern regions until mid-October. This time is enough for the bushes to acclimatize and get stronger before wintering. Strawberries planted in autumn produce the first harvest for the next growing season. Bushes replanted in the spring, if they are not remontant varieties, will produce berries only in the second year.