Growing strawberries in a barrel: tips and tricks

Gardeners are original people, and if the plot is small, they will find many fantastic ways to grow the maximum number of cultivated plants, while saving acreage. As a rule, these are combined plantings. But some gardening enthusiasts have gone even further. They began to use any container for planting plants.

One interesting option is to use vertical containers for growing garden strawberries. Gardeners, even with extensive experience, immediately have a question about how to care for such plantings and what agrotechnical standards must be followed. Let's say right away that strawberries in a barrel not only save space, but also simplify care and harvesting.

Making vertical beds with your own hands

Before you begin, you need to prepare the appropriate materials and tools:

1. A PVC pipe of large diameter and a pipe of smaller diameter (this pipe will serve for irrigation and should be a few cm longer).
2. Construction mesh, burlap or non-woven material.
3. Plug for watering pipe.
4. Electrical tape or tape.
5. Rope or twine for tying.
6. Drill for drilling holes of different diameters.
7. Drainage and nutrient soil.
8. Strawberry seedlings.

Now everything is ready to go.

Instructions for making a vertical bed

The piece of pipe should be slightly lower than the gardener’s height - this will not only make harvesting easier, but also planting and care.

The watering pipe should be 20 cm longer than the main one. Small holes are drilled in it, which will serve for drip irrigation.

Important! Before installing a smaller pipe, it is wrapped with non-woven material and secured with rope so that the soil or root system does not clog the holes.

The bottom drain is closed with a plug. We drill holes in a larger diameter pipe for planting seedlings. Holes can be made anywhere, but you must follow the rules: a distance of 25 cm from each other, the diameter of the hole should not be less than 10 cm. If desired, the pipe can be painted in your favorite color and decorated as you wish.

Step by step installation:

1. It is better to place a large pipe on a stand for better transportation.
2. We install a watering pipe into the main pipe and fill in an 8–9 cm layer of drainage (the drainage will not only serve to retain moisture, but will also give the structure additional stability).
3. We fill the remaining space with a nutrient substrate. Filling should take place gradually. After each layer, we spill the soil with water to eliminate the air cushion.
4. We plant seedlings.

The vertical bed for strawberries is ready.

Strawberry varieties and planting rules

To grow strawberries vertically in pipes, you need to select varieties that will:

• unpretentious to weather conditions;
• high-yielding;
• early ripening;
• not giving a mustache.

These varieties include: Cardinal, Black Own, Bogota, Beauty of Zagorya, Garnet, Troubadour, Zenith, Pendant.

The best option for vertical growing is ampelous remontant varieties of strawberries. They, of course, will not curl by nature, but they will provide beautifully hanging berries. Remontant varieties ripen much earlier and bear fruit all season until the first frost. For such varieties, it is necessary to create all favorable conditions for growing and carry out constant feeding.

How to select and prepare a barrel

To grow strawberries, wooden, plastic, PVC or metal barrels with a capacity of two hundred liters are suitable. A container of this size can accommodate 28-30 bushes. Not necessarily new: gardeners use old barrels that are available at any dacha.

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Containers made of wood have a short shelf life, so plastic or metal barrels are preferred. To extend the life of a wooden container, it can be coated with paint, creating a decorative garden feature often used in landscaping.

The barrel must be prepared for planting. It is recommended to work with it outdoors, since the first stage of preparation is to rid the container of old paint and dirt. Mark holes for strawberries at a distance of 20-30 centimeters, observing a checkerboard pattern. The outline of each cell is outlined (size - 5 × 5 centimeters or 8 × 4).

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Drainage holes measuring two by two centimeters are drilled at the bottom to ensure drainage, then outlined circles for the strawberries are cut out. The cuts on the metal barrel are bent inward and pressed so that the sharp edges do not injure the berries and bushes. A thick layer of large stones is placed at the bottom of the container as drainage.

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A drainage layer must be poured, since moisture stagnation cannot be allowed at the bottom of the barrel, and it will be provided, taking into account the heavy load on the lower layers of the soil. In the center of the barrel, a pipe is installed in the drainage with holes cut around the perimeter, which do not require a plug. Its diameter should not be more than a third of the diameter of the bottom of the barrel. The pipe is filled from bottom to top with fine gravel. It can be wrapped in burlap to prevent soil from getting into the holes. Using the pipe, watering will be carried out, and the water will reach even the lowest bushes.

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At the final stage, the barrel is filled with prepared nutrient soil and planted with strawberries. Filling with soil and planting is carried out when the barrel is installed in its permanent place.

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If you don’t have an old barrel on your farm, you can purchase a suitable box in the store. Now there are containers on sale called “strawberries”. They are already equipped with the necessary slots for strawberries and drainage holes. The height of the structure reaches one meter, diameter - 60 cm.

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Ways to grow strawberries

The sweet, beloved strawberry berry grows in almost every summer cottage or garden plot. It is grown both in greenhouses and in open ground.

You always want to get a good harvest, a lot of berries, so you can eat them fresh and store them for the winter. To optimize the use of usable space, the most unexpected solutions for organizing beds are being invented. Growing strawberries in a barrel has already taken root in Russian dachas.

But this is not the most exotic method. There are even more original options: for example, growing strawberries in a pipe. The location of the pipe itself can be vertical or horizontal. An excellent option that allows you to save a lot of space, and in some cases (horizontally suspended pipe) not take up fertile soil or space on the site at all.

Growing strawberries in a barrel is convenient and practical. For this purpose, barrels of various sizes are used. It is not recommended to use containers in which chemicals or fuels and lubricants were stored.

The system is simple: several holes are made in the barrel with a diameter of no more than 5 cm and at a distance of 20 cm from each other. Usually in a checkerboard pattern. It is worth retreating 20 centimeters from below and making a drain so that the water can drain away. Strawberry bushes are planted in the holes.

For irrigation, a pipe with many small holes is inserted into the center of the barrel. The plug at the bottom prevents water from leaking out; under the pressure of its own weight, it gradually moistens the soil.

Caring for strawberries is the same as for conventional cultivation: watering, pest control, harvesting.

Growing strawberries in a pipe allows you to significantly increase the area of ​​the total plantation for the crop. Pipes can be arranged horizontally in several rows and tiers. The vertical option, in addition to yielding a harvest, will help make a picturesque and unusual hedge.

When equipping such “beds,” you should definitely take into account the strawberry’s love for the sun and the berry’s poor tolerance to drafts. You will have to bury the pipe at least 35 cm, be sure to provide an irrigation system, it is approximately the same as in a barrel.

There is another option - strawberries in boxes. Growing is practically no different from ordinary garden beds. You can make several tiers of various shapes: from ordinary steps to a pyramid, as much as your imagination and manual skill allow.

Such “beds” can be installed anywhere in a summer cottage or placed on the walls of outbuildings. Multi-tiered structures will allow you to harvest more crops from a smaller area.

It is a very real option for strawberries to grow in boxes on city balconies. Growing is not burdensome; any housewife can do it. Several rows of small boxes can be mounted on the wall; it is better if it is on the south side of the house.

Planting strawberries

The soil must be poured in layers. The first layer should extend to the bottom edge of the first row of holes. The seedlings are placed in the holes, the roots are spread over the surface of the soil. When the first row of seedlings is laid, a second layer of soil is poured.

Its upper border should extend to the bottom of the second row of holes. To prevent the soil from subsiding in the future, it is carefully pressed down with your hands. Planting of each subsequent tier is carried out in the same way. Cover the container with strawberries from the sun for a week.

Variety selection

Not just any variety is suitable for a barrel bed. Summer residents who practice this method have come to the conclusion that they need to plant remontant hybrids. Several waves of fruiting will allow you to reap quite a decent harvest from a small garden bed. Modern strawberry hybrids begin bearing fruit in June and end in September.

Strawberry varieties tested by summer residents are suitable for planting:

1. Kimberly.
2. Queen Elizabeth.
3. Brighton.
4. Geneva.
5. Freestar.

Particular attention should be paid to caring for strawberries. There is no need to talk much about caring for strawberries when growing them in a barrel.

It comes down almost 100% to watering, which is not difficult to carry out. The presence of an irrigation pipe makes the work easier. It is necessary to fill the entire pipe with water; the soil will be moistened evenly over the entire area of ​​the barrel

There is no need to talk much about caring for strawberries when growing them in a barrel. It comes down almost 100% to watering, which is not difficult to carry out. The presence of an irrigation pipe makes the work easier. It is necessary to fill the entire pipe with water; the soil will be moistened evenly over the entire area of ​​the barrel.

To prevent diseases during the season, carry out 3-fold treatment with the drug “Gumi” mixed with “Fitosporin. Processing periods:

• at the end of spring during the formation of foliage;
• in June during the first wave of flowering;
• at the end of September.

Periodically, you will need to update the soil in the barrel and plant new strawberry bushes. Rejuvenate strawberries according to the variety.

Feeding is convenient. The required amount of fertilizer must be diluted in water and poured into the pipe. Apply fertilizers every week. Use as part of a fertilizer mixture:

This will help you achieve the best result.

There are not many problems with properly planting strawberries in a barrel. The serious one is the soil. It is depleted over the summer, and plants take almost all the nutrients from it. Its structure is deteriorating. The soil becomes compacted and acidity increases.

In hot, dry summers, watering may be difficult. In the sun, the barrel can heat up, which leads to rapid loss of moisture in the soil. If a garden berry grows in a country house that is visited extremely rarely, then even a large-volume irrigation pipe will not save it from drying out.

Planting process step by step: tips and tricks

Planting strawberries in a barrel is a step-by-step process; its features must be observed to successfully complete the process.

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Planting technology includes the following steps:

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• We install the prepared barrel with an installed pipe and poured drainage in a permanent place that is well lit by the sun;
• pour soil onto the drainage layer up to the first cells;
• We plant strawberry seedlings in the holes. It is difficult to plant a plant without causing injury or damage to it, so we recommend cutting strips from thin tin into which you can wrap the green mass of the bushes. These strips can be used to pull lush bushes through the hole in the barrel;
• after planting all the bushes of the bottom row, pour the next layer of soil exactly up to the next row of holes;
• The seedlings are planted in an accessible row. Repeat the process until the entire barrel is filled;
• at the final stage we plant several bushes at the top;
• We water the plants through the pipe;
• Cover the container from the sun for several days until the strawberries in the barrel take root.

Caring for planted strawberries is not difficult, especially since the actions are almost no different from caring for a crop that grows in open ground. But barrel strawberries will have to be watered more often, irrigating the bushes abundantly, since the soil dries out faster in closed ground. Basically, shrubs are watered through the central pipe, but the upper part of the soil also needs to be irrigated with liquid so that the topmost specimens are sufficiently saturated with moisture.

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Once a week, along with watering, you need to feed the plants. Fertilizers for berry crops or a mixture of nitrogen and potassium fertilizers with microelements and superphosphate are suitable. Plants are watered with liquid fertilizers through a pipe. When preparing the solution, you need to keep in mind that a classic barrel with a diameter of sixty centimeters and a height of half a meter is equivalent to a square meter of strawberry plantings in open ground. Pinching the mustache increases the yield of mature bushes. Barrel strawberries are propagated using the usual methods.

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Features of care

Garden strawberries feel quite comfortable when grown in a barrel. The plant needs the following care measures:

• during the first month after planting, it is necessary to remove all tendrils and peduncles, which will allow the development of a strong and powerful strawberry bush;
• the soil in such a planting container dries out somewhat faster than in standard open ground ridges, so it is necessary to carry out more frequent and abundant watering;
• to prevent damage to bushes by fungal diseases, it is recommended to spray strawberry plantings leaf by leaf with a solution based on Fitosporin or Alirin-B;
• Foliar feeding with the biological preparation “Gumi” will nourish the plants and have a positive effect on the yield.

Irrigation activities are carried out a couple of times a week, pouring warm water into the barrel from above. Insufficient moisture causes plants to wilt, but excessive moisture impairs fruiting.

We also invite you to familiarize yourself with the Dutch technology of growing strawberries.

Growing strawberries in a pipe

Recently, the method of growing crops in PVC pipes, which can be installed both vertically and horizontally, has become very popular among gardeners. This technology has its advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of the method:

1. Placing pipes and compact planting allows you to save usable land area on the site.
2. In winter, the structure can be moved indoors, where the plant’s berries will not freeze and can produce a harvest.
3. For this process, you can use unnecessary scraps of PVC pipes.
4. The applied fertilizers are maximally absorbed by the plants.
5. Strawberries grown in containers are resistant to many diseases and are not affected by pests.
6. The fruits do not come into contact with the ground, so they do not require washing.
7. The plant grows in specially prepared soil and does not absorb chemicals, toxins and other hazardous substances from the soil in the garden.
8. The design can become a decoration for a garden or summer cottage.

Disadvantages of growing strawberries in pipes:

1. The soil dries out quickly, so its condition must be carefully monitored. At the same time, if overwatered, the roots of the berries can rot.
2. Costs for special nutrient soil for planting strawberries in pipes.
3. Cultures in containers are less tolerant of low temperatures. If there is a sudden cold snap, the roots may freeze, causing the plant to die.
4. In winter, pipes should be insulated.

Required tools and materials

Some components can be found on your site, and the missing ones can be purchased on the construction market. To make vertical or horizontal beds you will need:

• cuttings of plastic pipes and plugs for them;
• a drill or other tool that can be used to make holes in plastic;
• burlap, geotextile or other non-synthetic material;
• nutrient soil;
• fragments of brick, ground coal or expanded clay for drainage.

Preparing pipe beds

Regardless of whether the berries will be grown in horizontal or vertical beds, first of all, to plant them, you need to prepare the beds:

1. The pipes are cut to the required length, and holes are drilled in them in increments of 10–15 cm.
2. In thin pipes, each hole should have a diameter of about 1 cm, and in thick pipes - at least 7 cm.
3. For horizontal beds, only one side of the plastic material is drilled, but for vertical beds, several rows of such holes must be made.
4. Thin pipes are wrapped in burlap or geotextile, which is secured with twine.

Installation of horizontal beds

1. Plugs are inserted at each end of the container, and holes are made only on one side.
2. To remove excess moisture, an additional hole is made in the central part of the structure, which is plugged with a stopper.
3. Drainage is poured inside the thick container, which should fill it halfway.
4. The structure is filled with nutritious soil, after which plants can be planted in it.

Preparing vertical beds

To grow strawberries in pipes vertically, the structure should be prepared as follows:

1. Pipes with plugs and holes on one side are buried in the soil.
2. A thin pipe is inserted into the central hole, which is fixed with expanded clay or soil.
3. A nutrient substrate is poured into the installed structure.
4. A hose is connected to a thin pipe, with which the plants will be watered.

The vertical beds are ready, now you can start planting bushes, filling all the holes with them.

Soil preparation

Strawberries will grow in a limited volume, so you need to take care of the quality of the soil; it must best meet all the requirements of the berry crop. A loose soil mixture with a neutral pH level is suitable.

You can prepare it yourself by taking:

• 1 part sand;
• 2 parts of forest soil (preferably from under birch trees);
• 2 parts compost or humus;
• mixture of mineral fertilizers;
• ash.

Everything is ready to plant strawberries.

Harvesting and storage

The berries of most varieties begin to ripen in June. Depending on the variety, the bushes can bear fruit until autumn. The fruits can be picked as they ripen and consumed fresh. Pick the berries by using your thumb and forefinger to separate the stem just above it, rather than pulling it towards you.

If you have a large strawberry plantation in pots, you can store the harvest in the refrigerator for 2-5 days or freeze it. It is not recommended to pour berries in several layers, so as not to crush the lower berries. They only need to be washed if they are to be used immediately.

Growing strawberries in pots is not difficult. Therefore, if you decide to decorate your balcony with plants with bright berries, be sure to do so. Among the undoubted advantages are beauty and receiving fresh fruits straight to the table. Use the knowledge you gain and enjoy the result.

Technology for growing strawberries in a barrel

Once we heard from our neighbors about the technology of growing strawberries in a barrel and decided to try this method in practice.

Growing strawberries in a barrel

My husband bought a 100 liter plastic barrel. I cut round holes with a diameter of 50 mm in it in a checkerboard pattern (step 250 mm), into which strawberries were supposed to be planted.

To water and saturate the soil with oxygen, I prepared a perforated pipe with a length equal to the height of the barrel: I drilled many small holes in an ordinary plastic sewer pipe with a diameter of 110 mm.

Note: the diameter of the upper holes must be made slightly larger than the diameter of the lower ones so that water has time to escape through the upper holes. Through the lower holes, water flows into the soil faster due to the increased lower pressure when the pipe is filled.

According to this technology for growing strawberries, a perforated pipe must be installed in the center of the barrel and a soil mixture (1 part sand, 1 part humus, 1 part topsoil from deciduous forest) must be compacted into a container around it. We planted strawberries in the holes. It successfully took root and bore fruit.

To water plants using strawberry growing technology, the watering hose must be lowered into the pipe. The pipe gradually fills with water, and we wait until water begins to seep out of the holes where the strawberries grow, now we can turn off the hose. To prevent water from stagnating at the bottom of the tank, my husband installed a tap at the bottom, through which excess water also drains.

Water the strawberries as they dry. In dry summers, you can water the top layer of soil by directly moistening the soil if it dries out faster than the bottom layer. Periodically it is necessary to add soil to the barrel. It is advisable to loosely close the container with a lid.

To overwinter plants, the technology for growing strawberries involves constructing a frame from profiles, which must be wrapped in plastic mesh. We install a barrel inside the frame and fill it with leaves and grass.

We will need a lot of insulation, even our neighbors helped us - they brought bags with their leaves. Strawberries overwinter well in such a shelter in our climate (Ukraine) - they do not freeze. In the spring, we remove the leaves, put them in a compost heap, remove the frame and place them on the garden bed. It is perfect as a support for cucumbers.

After 2 years of growing strawberries in a barrel, there were obvious disadvantages. Optimal conditions for plant growth are created in the middle sections of the barrel. Those plants below suffer from excess moisture and lack of oxygen in the soil, since it is more compressed. Those on top suffer from lack of moisture.

From here it is obvious that unequal conditions inherent in vertical gardening are created for all strawberry bushes. This is noticeable in the development and fruiting of plants. But overall, the experience was successful. I recommend it to anyone who has small plots. At 0.5 sq. meters of area there are about thirty strawberry bushes.

By the way, strawberries can also be grown in ordinary plastic pots.

Reviews from summer residents

Experienced summer residents, who have already tried this method of growing berries in their garden plots for several years, express mixed opinions about it. Judging by the reviews, the method has not only advantages, but also very obvious disadvantages:

• strawberry bushes planted in the upper part of the barrel very often suffer from lack of moisture;
• Plants grown in the lower part of the container, on the contrary, experience the negative effects of large amounts of moisture and lack of air.

The conditions obtained by plants grown in the middle of the structure can be considered optimal for growth and development. In general, with the optimal location of the barrel and proper irrigation regime, vertical cultivation of garden strawberries shows good results.

Rules for caring for strawberries on the balcony

Strawberries can grow just as productively in containers as in the ground.

But since in nature it does not grow in pots, a number of important rules should be taken into account:

1. These plants are compact and fit easily into most pots. But they “love” space and do not grow well in cramped conditions. Therefore, the diameter of the pot for one plant should be at least 20 cm.
2. The root system is superficial, so the height of the flowerpot should not exceed 15 cm.
3. Strawberries reproduce by layering. This is not practical for potted plants. Therefore, they must be pruned so that they do not reduce the productivity of the bushes.
4. Strawberries of any variety grow in temperate climates. In pots, the soil heats up faster and takes longer to cool down than outside. To avoid diseases, you need to surround them with insulating material.
5. Plants are watered as the soil dries. Type of irrigation - root or sprinkling method.
6. In winter, container plants should be moved into the basement or unheated garage.

Instructions for preparing a barrel for planting

Growing garden strawberries in a barrel is convenient and practical. For this purpose, it is allowed to use a variety of barrels in terms of material, volume, size and shape. Preparing such a container for planting strawberries is not difficult at all. It is enough to perform a few simple manipulations:

• the landing container should be washed, if necessary, remove paper or film markings on the surface and paint the outside of the barrel;
• Mark the locations of strawberry bushes on the sides of the barrel in a checkerboard pattern, maintaining the optimal distance - about 15-18 cm between plants;

when marking planting cells for strawberry seedlings, you should adhere to the optimal dimensions - no more than 5 x 5 cm, which will allow soil to be retained inside the barrel and will not have a negative impact on the root system of the plants being grown; Holes should be carefully cut in the designated areas, and the edges of the metal or plastic should be carefully trimmed or bent into the barrel. A 200 liter barrel will comfortably accommodate approximately 28-30 adult garden strawberry bushes

It is recommended to make a drain at the bottom of the container or use a barrel without a bottom. All sides of such a “bed” should be well illuminated by the sun

A 200-liter barrel will comfortably accommodate approximately 28-30 adult garden strawberry bushes. It is recommended to make a drain at the bottom of the container or use a barrel without a bottom. All sides of such a “bed” should be well illuminated by the sun.

Requirements for the soil mixture

In order to grow garden strawberries vertically, you must first of all take care of the correct contents for the planting container. You can use either ready-made soil intended for cultivating gardening plants, or a self-made soil mixture, including 2/3 turf soil and 1/3 sand with the addition of wood ash, organic and mineral fertilizers. Also suitable for vertical cultivation of strawberries is soil consisting of meadow turf, two-year-old compost, peat and rotted manure, taken in equal parts. The soil should be loose and fertile.

Growing strawberries in a barrel requires proper planting of the seedlings. The seedling material should not be buried too deep. The central kidney should be located at the level of the ground surface. The soil must be sufficiently moist before planting. After planting the plants, the soil must be thoroughly compacted, and the weakest and excess leaves must be removed from the bushes.

Advantages

Growing strawberries in horizontal pipes has its positive aspects:

• the berries do not come into contact with the soil, therefore, they are less susceptible to rotting, they do not need to be freed from particles of soil;
• takes up little space; on 1 m2 you can freely place up to 100 bushes, and not up to 15, as in a regular garden bed;

• high yield from 1 m2 - up to 10 kg (for comparison: up to 2 kg is removed on the ground);
• small rodents and pests will not be able to reach the crop;
• since the “beds” are located above the ground, there is no need to constantly bend down to pick berries or process them;
• seeds of various weeds do not fall into the closed ground;
• such plantations do not need weeding;
• In addition to practical tasks, such plantings also carry an aesthetic load, especially if you place such pipes, wrapped in greenery, along the fence.

Advantages and disadvantages of the method

Growing garden strawberries in a barrel using the so-called vertical bed method is in demand among gardeners and gardeners due to the following advantages:

• the barrel-bed practically does not require any weeding measures, since the conditions are unfavorable for the growth of weeds;
• there is no need to carry out such agrotechnical procedures as hilling strawberry bushes and loosening the soil;
• ripening berries do not fall to the ground, and the gardener receives absolutely clean berries by the time of harvest;
• the risk of damage to bushes by the most common diseases and insect pests is minimized.

It is very important to take into account that barrels containing chemicals, fuels and lubricants, as well as containers used for storing or transporting herring are completely unsuitable for cultivating garden strawberries.

The most unusual techniques for growing strawberries

The development of the landscape of the site can be combined with the organization of beds for strawberries. The most interesting options involve the use of barrels, boxes, pots, bags and other containers that combine functional and aesthetic purposes. You can even grow strawberries at home if you have a balcony or loggia. Some owners manage to set up a mini garden bed and plant strawberries just under the window using ordinary flower pots.

Ripe strawberries in a barrel

The strawberry garden is not always equipped with special plastic barrels designed for planting vertical beds. All available things are used:

• baskets;
• iron barrels and buckets;
• boxes;
• old wheel tires, etc.

The technologies for growing berries are very similar, but there are still some nuances.

Do not use containers in which chemicals and fuels and lubricants were stored. The plant can either die or absorb toxic compounds.

More often than other options, gardeners choose a barrel due to the capacity parameters and the possibility of decorating the surface.

Possible problems during cultivation

Using the technology of growing crops in a barrel, gardeners will have to face the issue of insulating the beds. This is easy to do by building a frame of pipes and mesh at a distance of 10-20 cm from the container. Fill the cavity with dry leaves or grass. And cover the top of the structure with waterproof material.

Over time, soil compaction and acidification occur. This can be noted by the decreasing yield on the lower tiers. This problem can be prevented by planting crops in the lower rows that are resistant to high soil moisture and density. Aromatic herbs and spices (basil, calendula, etc.) are always useful in the kitchen.

Overgrown strawberries in a plastic barrel