Home grown strawberries. Which is better - seeds or seedlings? Young berry bushes

Garden strawberries are a variety of wild strawberries. She has larger leaves and berries, rich in vitamins and trace elements. The culture propagates by seeds and rosettes. The plant takes root in any soil, but the size of the fruit depends on the quality of the soil and the amount of nutrients. You can plant strawberries in the middle or late spring, as well as in autumn. In order for the culture to quickly take root and not die in the winter, you need to follow a few rules.

planting material

A simple way to propagate domesticated strawberries is mustache seedlings. In summer, shoots form at the plant. Rosettes are sprinkled with a substrate and watered regularly so that they take root. Closer to autumn, the workpiece is separated from the mother bush with sharp scissors or a knife. Seedlings are dug up and inspected, healthy specimens are selected. Viable blanks have white and elastic roots, a well-developed core and at least 3-4 leaves. Deformed and sluggish sockets are thrown away; they will not survive the winter. Roots strong seedlings shorten, leaving 6–7 cm. The shoots are soaked in water or solutions that stimulate growth before planting.

If the strawberry does not let a mustache, you can propagate it by dividing the bush. Choose the largest and densest varieties and dig. The root system is carefully cleaned of an earthen clod and sharp knife cut into 2-3 pieces. Each blank must have a core and full leaves, at least 4 pieces.

Most hard way reproduction - seeds. Planting material is prepared independently. Take away large fruits and wait for them to mature. Soft berries of a rich red hue are kneaded and passed through a sieve, separating the pulp from the seeds. The seeds are transferred to a colander lined with gauze, washed with water. Planting material is sown in prepared pots or open ground. In the spring, seedlings appear, which must be carefully looked after. Fortified sockets are dug up and seated. They give a harvest in a year.

Soil preparation

• colorado potato beetle;
• nematodes;
• wireworm.

In the spring, they wake up and begin to actively multiply, destroying the root system of domesticated strawberries. Strawberries do well in soil that used to grow marigolds, cereals, onions or garlic, carrots, beets or radishes.

Choose plots located on the southeast side of the garden. It is ideal if trees grow next to strawberries that will create shade and cover delicate foliage from direct sunlight. Strawberries give a rich harvest if they grow in black soil or dark gray forest soil. The culture likes loamy and sandy soil. The berries will be small and sour if the owner of the cottage has chosen a sod-podzolic or light gray substrate located in a lowland. Strawberries do not take root in areas with too wet soil, which is constantly flooded.

The earth before planting the crop is dug up and carefully inspected. If beetles or eggs are found in the substrate, the soil must be treated with ammonia water. The solution destroys larvae and spores of fungal diseases. Alkaloid lupine can drive away pests. The selected area is sown with a plant, and after a year they dig it out and replace the culture with strawberries.

Areas with a lot of weeds are watered with a Roundal solution. For 1 ha, take 2 liters of the drug. The tool copes with perennial plants that are firmly rooted, and destroys weed seeds.

The substrate is enriched with humus and wood ash 2–3 weeks before planting strawberry bushes. You can use compost or peat. Fresh manure is prohibited, the component produces a lot of nitrogen, which stimulates the growth of green mass, but inhibits the formation of buds.

Fertilizer is abundantly sprinkled with beds and dug up to the depth of a spade bayonet. The site is leveled with a rake and left for 3 weeks. To get a good harvest, it is recommended to supplement the compost with potassium compounds and superphosphate. For 1 m 20 g of the first and 40 g of the second additive are taken. At hyperacidity soils use dolomitic lime, approximately 250–300 g.

Strawberries are transferred to new beds every 2-4 years. The land in which strawberries grew is recommended to be sown with grain or onion crops. They help the soil recover and saturate nutrients. Strawberries can be returned to the old site after 3-4 years. This is how long it will take the substrate to be enriched with micronutrients.

good time

Domesticated strawberries are planted in spring or autumn. In summer the air temperature is too high. The soil dries out quickly, does not even help frequent watering. A culture deprived of water withers and dies.

In spring, strawberry seedlings are planted at the end of April or May, when the earth warms up to a depth of 5–6 cm. In autumn, strawberries are prepared for propagation in September. Some summer residents begin planting crops in the last days of August. Autumn seedlings have time to take root and take root over the winter, so the crop is harvested the very next year.

Preparation and landing methods

Sockets are soaked in a solution of copper sulfate before planting. The drug is mixed with baking soda in a ratio of 1 to 6. The workpiece is diluted with water: 10 liters of liquid are taken for 30 g of the composition. blue vitriol disinfects seedlings and protects against fungal diseases.

Sockets dug out of the ground are sent to a cellar or basement for 12–24 hours. The root system is dipped in a mash of orange clay. Mix 5 kg of the dry component with water to get a creamy mass. The workpiece is insisted for several hours, and then smeared with orange paste strawberries. The roots are also wrapped in wet paper so that the shoots do not lose moisture. Seedlings protected from drying out can be stored for several days.

Strawberries are planted in the evening, choose a cloudy day. Well, if it rains a little. There are 4 common landing methods:

• carpet;
• nests;
• separate bushes;
• rows.

First option is suitable people who rarely come to the country. The tendrils that form in strawberry bushes do not break off, but allow them to take root. The culture gradually grows and captures the site. A special microclimate is created, and a layer of natural mulch is formed on the ground. Strawberries planted with the carpet method rarely need to be watered and fertilized. Weeds do not grow on a plot with strawberries. The earth is rarely loosened, mainly in autumn and spring.

At carpet method the only downside. Berries from behind a large number whiskers and rosettes gradually become smaller.

Summer residents who want to get large fruits choose the method of planting in separate bushes. Between the beds, a distance of 45–60 cm is observed. Strawberry whiskers are regularly cut off so that the plants do not intertwine with each other. The handicraft method is complex and time-consuming. You often have to loosen and mulch the soil with straw, fertilize and water the beds, and fight weeds.

Thanks to the artisanal method, strawberries develop and bear fruit intensively, and the likelihood of fungal diseases is reduced, because each plant is ventilated.

In order to transplant strawberries not after 2–3 years, but after 5–6 years, summer residents divide the plot into rows. 15–25 cm recede between the pits. The row spacing is 40 cm. The method practically does not differ from the artisanal one. Mustaches are torn off from strawberries, row-spacings are regularly weeded, plants are watered and mulched.

A rich harvest is obtained by planting strawberries in nests. The largest and fluffiest bush will become the core, which is surrounded by other plants. Form a hexagon. The distance between the central and side points is 5–6 cm.

This method will require a lot planting material. A distance of 25–30 cm is observed between the nests. The method provides a rich harvest.

Modern options

Summer residents who are tired of fighting weeds are advised to pay attention to non-woven material. The invention is called "Spunbond". The dense black material allows air to pass through and retains moisture in the soil, creates a favorable microclimate for the development of strawberries, but protects against pests.

Summer residents using Spunbond plant strawberries in rows. The earth is plentifully watered before work. In dry soil, strawberries do not take root well. At a distance of 55–60 cm, grooves are dug, the substrate is covered with non-woven material and fixed with stones or boards. In a dense blank, cross-shaped incisions with a diameter of 5–6 cm are made. Holes are formed by hand, into which seedlings of strawberries are placed. The root system is straightened so that the shoots look down and a little to the side, sprinkled with earth, leaving the core on the surface. corners nonwoven fabric gently straighten so that they cover the base of the strawberry. Outside, only the leaves remain.

In a similar way, strawberries are planted without non-woven material. The wells are abundantly moistened, straighten the root system and sprinkled with a wet substrate. Seedlings are watered abundantly so that they take root better. Topped with fresh straw. Thanks to mulching, moisture is retained in the soil longer, and the roots do not overheat and do not freeze.

Tip: The ammonia solution in which sockets are soaked to prevent fungal infections can be replaced with garlic water. The tool is prepared from 2-3 crushed cloves and 1 liter of liquid base.

If a country cottage area small, and you need to save space, it is recommended to build a pyramid from old tires or boxes. The height of the structure can reach 10 m. The containers are filled with a nutrient mixture, which includes peat, soddy soil and humus. To make the substrate looser, a little sand is added to it.

The distance between the bushes in containers is 15–20 cm. The volume of land for the root system is 1.5 liters. In winter, the structure is dismantled, and the components are buried in the ground and mulched with fallen leaves. In the spring, during the period of frost, the containers are covered with a film or non-woven material.

Growing seedlings in early spring

Summer residents who want to harvest in May or June build mini-greenhouses for strawberries. The earth is enriched with fertilizers, dug up, and after 3 weeks beds are formed. They make small arcs of wire with a radius of 50–60 cm, set at a distance of 1 m.

The covering material is fixed on the frame with a jute rope. One side of the film is pressed to the ground with iron slats or stones, the other is left free to make it convenient to plant strawberries and take care of the crop. The ends of translucent polyethylene are tied with ropes and fixed with pegs, and then dug in with earth. In a makeshift greenhouse it will be warm and humid. The film attracts sunlight, retains water and protects against weeds.

A thermometer is attached to the inner wall of the greenhouse. If the thermometer shows +25 or higher, the free edge of the film is slightly opened and the greenhouse is ventilated. Strawberry loves warmth, and because of the heat, it weakens and gets sick.

The greenhouse is ventilated sunny days, and when the bushes bloom, the covering material is removed for the whole day, and returned to its place in the evening to protect the seedlings from frost. The film is completely removed after the formation of berries.

In the early morning before the onset of heat, the culture is watered with heated water. You can’t cold, otherwise the strawberries will get sick. The beds are moistened once a week. The earth is periodically loosened, removing weeds and dried bushes. In autumn, strawberries grown in a greenhouse are covered with a mixture of fallen leaves, straw and spruce branches. Before mulching, the soil is enriched with peat and compost.

Seedling from seeds

Hybrid varieties of strawberries are propagated by rosettes and dividing the bush. Other varieties can be obtained from seeds. Growing seedlings is easy. You will need a container with a depth of 10–15 cm. The container is half filled with a substrate for seedlings, the soil is watered abundantly.

Small grooves or depressions are made in the ground with a toothpick at a distance of 5–6 cm. Seeds are laid out in the pits, they are not sprinkled with soil. The container is covered with glass and taken to warm room. A container with young shoots is placed on a lighted window. The transparent cover is removed so that the seedlings breathe.

Seedlings with 2 true leaves dive into separate pots. Fertilizers for strawberries are applied to the soil every 2 weeks. Grown up and strengthened bushes are planted in open ground in spring or autumn.

Care

Strawberry beds are advised to be surrounded by plants that repel pests. Slugs do not like the smell of parsley, Colorado potato beetles and other insects do not like garlic, radishes, marigolds, onions, sage and spinach. Pests are repelled by beans and lettuce, as well as cabbage and beets.

In bushes planted in spring, tendrils and inflorescences are removed in the first year. They prevent the plant from taking root and getting stronger. 15 days after planting, the ground is fertilized with mineral or organic supplements. AT flower shops sell biohumus. At home, fertilizer is prepared from fermented grass or bird droppings. The workpiece is soaked in water and insisted for several days. The concentrated solution is diluted and added to the substrate after weeding and abundant watering.

The ground around the strawberry bushes needs to be mulched. The soil is sprinkled with pine or spruce needles. The aroma of pine needles repels the bear, the Colorado potato beetle and other pests. Spruce needles are replaced with straw. The workpiece is first soaked in water and spread in a thin layer on a film or sheet of iron, left in the sun. Waiting for weed seeds to germinate. Clean and dry straw is scattered between the rows and under the bushes. Hay or dried grass is used in a similar way.

Garden strawberries are watered from a watering can 2-3 times a week. The hose jet is too strong and can damage leaves and heartwood. The watering can is replaced with sprayers: fan-shaped, swinging, circular or rotary. Strawberries will love it drip irrigation. The main thing is that the water is warm and settled, without impurities of heavy metals.

You can plant remontant strawberries in spring and autumn. ground before garden work enriched with fertilizers, and then mulched with straw or coniferous needles. Young strawberry seedlings are watered and regularly fertilized, protected from cold and pests, and in the first year, tendrils and inflorescences are plucked. Thanks to this, the culture quickly takes root and adapts to new conditions.

Video: proper planting of strawberries

What is a remontant strawberry?

To grow strawberries at home, you need special varieties - remontants. The remontant strawberry differs from the usual one in that it bears fruit not once a year, but during the season it can bring 2 or more crops. But she also makes appropriate demands - she needs high-quality fertile soil and frequent watering.

Pay attention to the "development" of seedlings - the bushes should have 3-5 healthy green leaves and preferably a large bud (heart).

Landing

When planting strawberries, keep in mind that they will have to stay in this pot or container for 1-3 years (depending on the variety). It is not recommended to transplant it from pot to pot, because. already mature plants do not tolerate transplantation.

For planting, you can use any containers, given that a volume of at least 3 liters is required for one bush. For example, in long containers, balcony boxes (volume 10-15 l) you can plant no more than 3-4 bushes with a distance between them of 20-25 cm.

In pots, containers must have holes for water drainage, and at the bottom - a good layer of drainage (expanded clay, pebbles, broken bricks).

As a substrate, store-bought universal soil mixture for flowers is suitable. Or cook it yourself by mixing forest soil, humus or biohumus, peat, sand in proportions of 2:2:1:1, respectively.

Landing dates - focus on March-April.

top dressing

It is necessary to feed, especially during flowering and fruiting. Feeding frequency - approximately 1 time in 2 weeks. It depends on the state and stage of development of the plant, as well as the time of year. For example, you do not need to feed in winter, you can let the strawberries rest, unless they bloom.

Fertilizers can be used mineral complex or organic.

Personal experience

In early June, they gave me a bush of strawberries straight from the garden. The owner, unfortunately, did not know the name of the variety. But he said that over the summer this strawberry brings him 3 crops, and at home - so in general all year round bears fruit.

I doubted very much that I could grow strawberries on my windowsill. But I decided to try it anyway. And here's what came out of it.

Day 1

I bought a universal soil mixture in the store and planted a bush in a fairly large pot. Since it was summer outside, the pot was sent to the balcony. Fortunately, it is not glazed with us, so strawberries on fresh air it was just wonderful. Moreover, the side is sunny - the sun shines through the windows almost all day. It is better to place pots with strawberries on the south and southeast windows.

Day 11

The first new leaf appeared - this means that the plant has taken root. In general, the new leaves came out noticeably shorter than the old ones, but were healthy. But the old leaves gradually died off: they lost their elasticity, lay down and turned black at the base of the petiole. But this did not last long, maybe the change of conditions affected.

Day 30

The first bloom came out. In general, in young plants (seedlings) it is recommended to remove the first flower stalks so that the plants develop well and gain strength. Then the next harvests will be generous. But since my plant was already an adult, I left the peduncle. Moreover, I could not wait to wait for the berries.

Day 37

The first flowers bloomed. In total, 2 flower stalks came out, each with 4 flowers. The flowers lasted 2-3 days, then the petals fell off and the berries began to grow. The flowers were not pollinated.

Day 52

The last flower has bloomed. And by this time, other berries have already grown. The flowers bloom and fade in turn, so the size of the berries is different. Accordingly, the largest berries on this moment- These are the very first flowers. One peduncle broke under the weight of the berries, I noticed it too late. I propped them up with a jar. To prevent this from happening to you, place a fabric roller or a piece of foam rubber under the flower stalks. Watered about every 3 days. At a temperature of +30 °C - every 2 days.

Day 61

First try! As you can see, the strawberries are a very decent size. One of them was very rich red and very sweet. And the other is lighter and with sourness. Probably broke early. The rest are still maturing.

Day 72

Despite the fact that not all the berries have ripened from the first harvest, the bush has already released the third peduncle. And about 40 days have passed since the appearance of the first. That is, the second harvest has gone.

Then you can sum up the results of the first harvest: only 8 berries were formed, 2 of them withered (maybe watered a little, there were very hot days +33 ° C), 3 grew large and 3 small, which are still ripening.

The third flower stalk turned out for some reason shorter than the first two and the berries are smaller.

Around the middle of September, I removed a pot of strawberries from the balcony. The remaining berries from the first harvest and from the second ripened already in the room.

Wintering

In order for strawberries to bear fruit in winter, additional lighting is needed, which will increase daylight hours to 12 hours. After all, the more light, the sweeter the berries. Ordinary lamp HPS is sufficient to produce a crop.

The temperature must be maintained in the region of 18-20 ° C.

Life span of remontant strawberries

Since these strawberries bloom and bear fruit more often, they naturally age quickly. DSD varieties can last you 2-3 years. And NSD varieties - only 1 year, then it will be necessary to plant new bushes.

Well, the experiment went well. As you can see, growing juicy strawberries at home is not so difficult. It took me almost 2 months to do this, i.e. 61 days passed from the moment of planting to the ripening of the first berry.

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READ ALSO

If you are fond of growing home plants, gently and carefully caring for flowers on the windowsill, then the article on growing strawberries at home will definitely interest you. Still, because we are talking not only about beauty, but also about usefulness!

Introduction

Just imagine, in your apartment they will ripen all year round. fragrant berries, which you can treat yourself to on a frosty winter day, when a blizzard is circling outside the window.

Repair beauty

Sowing seeds

Even in a small apartment, with the help of modern technologies, you can get a good harvest of strawberries. Proper care will ensure up to 4 crops per year.

Strawberry bushes should be rejuvenated. Therefore, it is recommended to grow them from seeds.

For planting strawberries, you can use peat tablets:

• Place the peat tablets in Plastic container and fill with water room temperature. Leave for five minutes to swell.
• After five minutes, plant seeds in swollen peat tablets. They are easy to carry with a toothpick dipped in water.
• Place each seed in the center peat tablet. Burying and covering the seeds with earth is not recommended.

• Close the plastic container and sign with a marker the name of the variety and the date of sowing. Transfer the impromptu greenhouse to the windowsill and leave it there until the seeds germinate.

Seeds should be left on the surface of peat humus tablets, not covered with earth and not deepened.

On the eighth day, the seeds will begin to germinate.

picking

Read also: Strawberries: in the open field and in the greenhouse - choose the right way to grow for yourself

• If the seeds sprout densely in 3 - 5 pieces - it does not matter. Do not touch them while they are small, let them develop in small groups.
• When the seedlings grow up, a few true leaves will appear and the seedlings will look like small bush then you can cut off the extra plants with scissors.
• Do not try to pull out plants, as this can damage the root system of neighboring seedlings, remember that strawberries are quite capricious plant.

• If the soil surface is covered with mold, then you can save the plants with calcined sand. Sprinkle the ground around the young bushes with dry river sand, this event will prevent the development of mold.
• Do not overdo it with watering, the soil should not be waterlogged. Most best watering- from below through the holes in the cups. While the plants are very small, you can water them by spraying or from a syringe without a needle.
• Light is necessary for the normal development of seedlings. In the absence of proper lighting, seedlings stretch and turn yellow.

In the evening and at night, containers with plants are recommended to be transferred to a cool place, for example, closer to the window glass.

First you need to get seedlings. If you don’t have time to grow from seeds, buy seedlings, this will bring the harvest time closer.

Remontant hybrids will produce berries in the first year of cultivation. It is advantageous to plant several varieties or hybrids at once, so you can provide yourself with a crop all year round.

Do not buy seedlings from your hands, it is better to contact a specialized store, overpay a little, but get the variety you wanted.

The Koketka variety has proven itself well. This is a garden strawberry of constant fruiting, which is ideal for pot growing. The pot must be at least 15 cm in diameter. This volume of soil will be quite enough to get a good winter crop.

First of all, you need to decide on the variety. The plant must be day neutral, that is, it must be constantly bearing fruit. Varieties that can be grown in pot culture all year round - Elizabeth, Geneva, Coquette.

Yoke- this is a large-fruited remontant beardless strawberry capable of bearing fruit winter time.

Important conditions for winter growing:

• loose, well-drained soil;
• good drainage to the bottom with a layer of 2 - 3 cm (expanded clay), the root system of strawberries does not like getting stuck;
• holes to remove excess moisture.

If you use purchased soil mixtures, it is recommended to add to these substrates a small amount of river sand. Strawberries grow very well in sandy soils. The addition of sand will have a good effect on the development of the plant.

Transplanting from open ground to room conditions

In August - September, it is necessary to choose well-developed bushes, remove damaged leaves, flower stalks, and set berries.

If you leave all the flowers and the set berries, then the weakened root system will not feed the transplanted plant. After transplanting, the plant should be watered abundantly and protected from direct sunlight.

• If the plants are well formed, then some of the leaves can be removed. Do not worry, the bush will have time to become covered with new foliage before the onset of winter.
• It is very important not to miss the moment of temperature drop.
• If you do not have time to bring the plant into the house, and it spends the night at a temperature of 3-5 degrees, it, although it does not die, will go into a state of rest. Such a plant will not bloom in the current year and, accordingly, will not produce a crop.

Avoid overcooling plants. Remember that coming out of dormancy delays the harvest by 60 days. The whole point of growing on the windowsill is lost. Why grow strawberries in winter without getting a harvest?

In general, growing on a windowsill is not difficult. The temperature regime at night is not lower than 10 - 12 degrees, during the day 15 - 18, during flowering 20 - 22 degrees.

Watering

Air humidity should not exceed 70%, with more high humidity air, the fruits will be worse tied and rot.

Watering should be carried out occasionally, but do not allow the soil to dry out. At home, transpiration is not very strong, since there are no direct sunlight, which provoke rapid evaporation of moisture from the surface of the leaf blades. In winter, the plants are not demanding on watering, but make sure that the soil does not dry out.

Lighting

In winter, there may be a lack of light on the windowsill. Strawberries and strawberries at this time require 16 hours of daylight. Additional lighting with phytolamps is recommended.

Pollination

Pollination will have to be done manually, using a delicate brush or feather. It can be pollinated by airing by directing a stream of air with a fan.

Winter growing on a windowsill does not make commercial sense. But how nice it is to pick a ripe red berry when there is snow outside the window or a blizzard sweeps. Certainly worth a try.

Caring for indoor strawberries

To achieve maximum yield, you need to follow a number of rules:

• It is best to place plants on windows that face southeast.
• AT winter period time should be provided additional lighting using phytolamps.
• The normal development of strawberries occurs at 16 hours of daylight.
• The temperature must be at least 20 degrees. If the room temperature is lower, heating is required.
• This plant is sensitive to moisture. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure regular watering, avoiding stagnation of water in containers. It is good to apply spraying from a spray bottle.

Diseases

A common disease of this culture is spider mite, as well as gray rot. As soon as you see signs of damage, immediately treat the plants with garlic tincture.



Recipe for garlic tincture:

• Chop 2 cloves of garlic and pour a glass of boiling water.
• Filter after insisting.
• Process the plants from the Sprayer with the resulting extract.

A well-developed plant will produce a mustache:

• In no case do not cut them, tie them to a trellis or a wooden rod stuck into a pot.
• Mustaches take part in photosynthesis, so you should not get rid of them - this additional top dressing for a plant.
• In addition, with the help of layering, you can propagate your plants vegetatively.
• To do this, young sockets should be sprinkled with a damp substrate. After a while, you will find small roots on them.

Thus, having mastered the simple techniques of growing garden strawberries at home, you can provide your family with fresh, fragrant, vitamin-rich berries in the winter.

Useful and delicious strawberry grows in almost every dacha and personal plot. This rather capricious plant can be grown at home. This process is laborious, but as a result, it will be possible to enjoy delicious fresh fruits all year round, make jam, and all this will be worth the effort that was spent on growing strawberries in an apartment.

To grow strawberries at home all year round, it is necessary to choose remontant varieties that bear fruit more than twice during the year. They fall into several categories:

1. NST - plants that grow well, develop and bear fruit throughout the year with a neutral light day. They are resistant to unstable temperature conditions, lighting, variable humidity and are unpretentious in care.
2. DSD - remontant varieties that need a long daylight hours for the emergence of buds. Therefore, their fruiting occurs in the summer and early autumn.

For home conditions, ampelous varieties of strawberries are suitable, which are distinguished by hanging lashes.

The most popular remontant varieties of homemade strawberries:

Vertical beds for strawberries from bottles and pipes

Conditions for year-round cultivation

When growing strawberries in an apartment, seedlings and adult plants must be provided good lighting and suitable air temperature. It is unacceptable to ignore these two conditions, since they are fundamental in the process of growing berries. Failure to comply with temperature and lighting is fraught with the fact that fragrant fruits can simply not be expected.

Lighting Requirements

Containers with plants must be placed on the windowsills on the east or southeast side. But if spring and summer is enough solar lighting, then in winter the bushes will need additional light for growth and fruiting. It can be provided with LED lamps, whose emission spectrum is balanced. You can also use fluorescent lighting, combining warm and cold light.

To increase efficiency and even distribution of lighting, it is recommended to enclose a strawberry garden with a screen. It can be made from cardboard, on which crumpled food foil is glued. Foil material sold in hardware stores is also suitable. To artificial source lighting, you can connect a special timer, thereby automating the process of switching on. Strawberry bushes should receive lighting both in summer and winter for twelve to fourteen hours.

Air temperature

The optimum air temperature for growing strawberries at home is +20 degrees. It is easy to provide such a temperature for plants in apartments and houses. If the air temperature rises, then you can open the windows. In the winter season, it is necessary to ventilate the room, but only for a short period of time. In houses where the air temperature is below +20 degrees, you will need to use additional heat sources.

Soil preparation

To grow strawberries at home, you must first prepare a soil suitable for the culture. It should be loose and pass air to the root system of plants. Garden land not suitable for growing strawberries at home.

How to winterize strawberries

The soil mixture can be bought at the store or prepared independently by mixing equal parts of sand, peat and sod land. Before sowing seeds or planting seedlings, the substrate should be disinfected, for which it can be calcined in an oven at a temperature of 150-160 degrees for half an hour.

Instead of earth, you can use a mixture of peat with perlite and expanded clay sand or peat with coconut fiber and perlite. In such mixtures there will be no larvae of pests and pathogens of crop diseases. In addition, containers filled with perlite and peat are much lighter than those filled with earth. They can be easily transferred from the loggia to the windowsill when winter approaches.

Landing methods

At home, strawberries can be grown from seed or buy seedlings. You can also use seedlings of remontant varieties that grew in the garden.

Young berry bushes

Young strawberry bushes are dug out of the ground along with the roots and kept in a cool room for two weeks. This is necessary in order to provide them with peace. After that, too long roots are cut off on the bushes, and the remaining ones are soaked for several hours in a solution of heterouxone (one tablet per five liters of water). This will help the plant adapt quickly and stimulate active growth roots.

After processing, the seedlings are placed in containers filled with soil. Roots should be covered with soil only half.

Strawberry seedlings can be bought at a store or special farms that breed it.

Strawberries on the windowsill from seeds

Seeds can be sown in flower pots, plastic crates or carton boxes. Any container is suitable for filling with soil and sowing seeds. Sowing is done in the following way:

Planting irises then "A" to "Z"

The container with crops is placed in heat. After the seedlings appear, the film is removed, and the seedlings are placed in a well-lit place where there is no direct sunlight.

When two true leaves appear on strawberries, the senets are seated in separate pots or in other permanent containers. You can use plastic or wooden boxes and make an “earthy” pillow in them:

• one or two centimeters of drainage;
• eight to ten centimeters of fertile substrate.

Bushes of young strawberries are planted from each other at a distance of eight to twelve centimeters. Plants must be watered and placed on a windowsill or warm loggia where they will continue to grow and bear fruit.

Summer and winter care

When growing strawberries on the windowsill, it needs watering, which can be carried out both from above and from below. It is best to use bottom watering, for which containers with bushes are immersed in a bowl of water until the soil is saturated. You can simply pour water into deep pans. As soon as the ground becomes completely wet, the remaining water from the pans is poured out.

Strawberries need to be watered twice a week with settled water at room temperature. After watering, the top layer of soil loosens. Plants should not be watered too often. From excess moisture in the soil, the bushes can begin to suffer from various fungal diseases.

Feeding Recipes

Home-grown strawberries definitely need top dressing. You can use organic complexes (wood ash, potassium sulfate, potassium nitrate, nitrophoska, etc.) and mineral fertilizers.

The first feeding is carried out when three true leaves appear on the bush. Top dressing recipes for five liters of water:

• 50 g wood ash;
• 1 st. l. potassium nitrate;
• 1 tsp potassium sulfate and 1 large spoon of nitrophoska;
• 0.5 cups of wood ash, 15 drops of iodine and 0.5 tsp. boric acid;
• 1 tsp nitroammophoski.

Recipes for these dressings should be alternated throughout the year. Strawberries should be fed during the growing season, budding, flowering and after harvest. During fruiting, plants are not fed.

In the formation of ovaries important role playing iron. To enrich the substrate with this element, you can use fertilizers containing it or deepen rusty nails into the soil with plants.

Growing black peppercorns at home

Pollination of beds

To receive all year round good harvest you need to self-pollinate. You can do this manually using a soft small brush, or turn on a fan in the room. The first method is longer and more laborious, but it is much more effective.

Diseases and pests

At home, strawberries, as a rule, are not susceptible to disease. But often waterlogged soil can lead to the appearance of gray rot on the bushes. Such a disease leads first to the defeat of the fruits and leaves, and then to the death of the entire plant. Its sign is a fluffy coating that appears on the buds or leaves. If gray rot is found, the affected parts of the bush are removed, and the remaining parts are processed before flowering with a 1% solution of Bordeaux mixture. Watering should be reduced and access to fresh air should be provided to the culture.

Often strawberries at home are affected by spider mites. These small insects settle on the underside of the leaves and feed on the sap of the plant. You can get rid of them with the help of infusion of garlic. If there are a lot of insects, then you will have to use insecticidal preparations. Plants should be diluted and sprayed with them strictly according to the instructions.

Reasons for the lack of fruiting

The culture has its own botanical features, so it will bear fruit only under certain conditions and proper care. There can be several reasons for the absence of fruits:

1. Temperature violation.
2. Incorrect pollination procedure.
3. Lack of full-fledged irrigation measures.
4. Late landing.
5. Insufficient lighting.
6. Incorrectly selected varieties.

If strawberries do not bear fruit, the conditions for its cultivation and compliance with the rules of care should be reviewed.

For a good yield experienced gardeners recommend picking off the first flowers on a young bush. You should also remove the tendrils that appear, which take a lot of strength from the plant, as a result of which fruits are formed worse and less often. If the strawberry bed is provided with good lighting, then a certain amount of tendrils can be left in order to plant them in the future and get new plants.

Having provided strawberry beds necessary lighting, air temperature and proper care, you can grow strawberries on the windowsill all year round and harvest right in your apartment.