Contents
What plastic bottles have not been used for lately. Craftsmen make interior decorations, toys, various home, garden and vegetable garden accessories, and even furniture, and larger structures like greenhouses and arbors out of them. It is good that all these plastic products are in demand and are becoming fashionable, as this allows them to be reduced to a minimum, and, therefore, improves the natural habitat. It is especially nice if the wise use of plastic bottles can be combined with such a pleasant and rewarding activity as growing strawberries. After all, strawberries are, without exaggeration, a welcome guest in every garden plot. And growing strawberries in plastic bottles can help solve several problems at the same time: increasing the usable planting area, protecting berries from many diseases and pests, and even decorating the site.
Advantages and disadvantages of this method
Why is growing strawberries in plastic bottles of interest to gardeners and summer residents? What are the advantages of such an unusual method?
- First of all, the use of vertical structures can significantly increase the area for planting strawberries. Even if your plans do not include the construction of capital structures from plastic bottles, then containers with strawberries can simply be placed in any place, including concrete and rubble-filled areas.
- It allows you to decorate in an original and original way both individual elements of the house: a wall or a fence, and create a unique atmosphere throughout the site.
- Eliminates the need for weeding and loosening, therefore reducing labor costs for caring for strawberries.
- It reduces the risk of damage to berries by pests and diseases, and, therefore, allows you to do without additional measures for processing strawberry bushes.
- Berries are clean in every sense of the word, in addition, they are very convenient to collect.
Of course, as in any technique, one cannot fail to note the possible difficulties that a gardener inspired by this idea can expect.
Since any plastic containers are limited in size, the soil in them is able to dry out many times faster than in the ground. In addition, it can overheat excessively when exposed to direct sunlight.
As for drying out of the soil, there are several solutions to this problem.
Firstly, a special hydrogel can be added to the soil before planting. Being in the ground, it will absorb excess moisture, and then gradually give it to the strawberry bushes.
Secondly, for constant and regular moistening of the soil in plastic bottles, various drip irrigation systems can be arranged. The simplest such construction will be considered a little later.
Finally, for planting in plastic bottles, you can use special varieties of strawberries with special drought resistance. That is, the yield and taste of the berries of these varieties will not depend on the irrigation regime.
Examples of such varieties are:
- Of the early ripe varieties – Scarlet, Alice, Vesnyanka, Zarya, Early dense, Marshall.
- Of the mid-season – Nastenka, Holiday, Evi-2, Yuzhanka.
- Of the later – Arnica.
These varieties are considered the most unpretentious, drought-resistant and able to withstand some neglect in care. Of course, their berries are smaller than those of ordinary strawberries, but they bear fruit constantly throughout the year and need only watering and top dressing.
The most famous and common varieties of this category are:
- Alexandria;
- Ali-Baba;
- Baron Solemacher;
- Snow White.
Also, a certain problem when growing strawberries in plastic bottles may be the fact that the volume of soil in the bottles is small and the plants will need enhanced and regular nutrition throughout the growing season. This problem can be overcome if long-lasting complex fertilizers in granules are mixed into the soil when preparing the planting mixture. They will gradually dissolve as a result of watering, and supply the plants with nutrients.
One of the problems that often worries gardeners considering such an unusual way of growing strawberries is the need to protect the strawberry bushes from freezing in the winter. Here, too, there are several options for solving this issue:
- First, if you are planning a multi-year cycle for growing strawberries in bottles, then the bottle structure should be light enough to be moved to a frost-free wintering area, such as a basement or cellar.
- In addition, bottles with strawberry bushes before winter can be buried in the ground and overlaid with spruce branches and straw for insulation.
- Moreover, if there are not very many bottles, then they can be transferred to a living room or to a balcony and admire and enjoy delicious berries for a long time.
- Finally, if you are using day-neutral varieties for bottle growing, as they are the most suitable for such conditions, then it is optimal to grow them in an annual crop. Since the plants get such a load, fruiting for almost 9-10 months, they are unlikely to please you with a good harvest next year. The scheme for growing remontant strawberries in an annual crop will be described in detail below.
- Often when growing strawberries in plastic bottles, they face such a problem as lack of lighting. After all, bottled strawberries are often grown on balconies or near walls and fences, and not always on the south side.
Despite the general love for the light of this plant, with all the variety of varieties, there are among them quite shade-tolerant. These include, for example: Seasons, Kipcha, Supreme.
Various design options
There are several design options, mainly vertical type for growing strawberries.
1 option
For this option, any plastic bottles from 2 to 5 liters are suitable. In the side wall of the bottle with a sharp knife, it is necessary to cut a square window, with a side equal to 8-10 cm. In the bottom of the bottle, holes are pierced with an awl to drain water. After all, strawberries really do not like waterlogging of the soil, so drainage holes are required. Soil is poured through the window, strawberry seedlings are planted in it and watered well. A bottle with planted strawberries is fixed on a support vertically or simply hung from horizontal bars, thus creating something like a curtain of bottles.
If you make a larger hole in length and place the bottle horizontally, then you can already plant two strawberry bushes in it. Just be sure to make drainage holes in the bottom of the bottle.
2 option
This option involves the creation of a structure with the simplest irrigation system, in which the soil near the strawberry roots can be kept constantly wet, but without overflow.
Prepare a bottle of 2-3 liters, cut it in half. The lid must be screwed in, but not completely so that water can seep through it. Then, in the vicinity of the neck, make several holes with an awl or nail. Earth is poured into the upper part of the bottle after it is turned over.
Then a strawberry bush is planted in the ground, and the entire upper part of the bottle is inserted into its lower part. The result is a fairly stable design that has several advantages:
- Watering is carried out through the bottom of the bottle, from where the moisture itself, if necessary, goes to the strawberry roots. Therefore, watering ceases to be a problem – strawberries can be watered much less often, simply by pouring water into the pan.
- When watering, water does not pour out, which means that the structure can be placed anywhere, including indoors – this way you can avoid excess water and dirt after watering.
This design can be placed both on any surface and on weight, creating vertical beds. As a vertical support, you can use wooden slats, metal mesh, as well as a solid wooden fence or any wall.
Also in this option, you can plant strawberries in 5-liter bottles – in this case, two or even three strawberry bushes will fit in one bottle.
3 option
There is another interesting option for creating a vertical structure from plastic bottles for growing strawberries. For him, in addition to bottles, you will definitely need a support, the role of which can be played by a wooden shield or a metal fence.
First, a plastic bottle is taken and the bottom is cut off from it. The cork is not completely screwed on so that water can easily seep through it. The bottle is turned upside down and a cut-out window is made in the upper part, about 5-7 cm deep. The neck of the bottle is filled with earth a centimeter below the cut. A strawberry bush is planted in it.
The next bottle is taken, all the above operations are done, and it is lowered with the cork down into the previous bottle. So, you can repeat several times depending on the height of the support. Each bottle is fixed on a support so that its cork does not touch the soil surface of the bottle below. In this design, when watering from above, water gradually seeps through all the containers without stagnation. Below you can make a pallet where it will accumulate.
Growing strawberries in an annual crop
It is quite possible to proceed as follows if you do not want to mess with dismantling your vertical structures for the winter. And in the conditions of the middle lane – this is inevitable, since the earth in small containers will freeze completely during the winter.
In early spring, seedlings of remontant strawberries of a neutral day variety are bought. It is these varieties, under favorable conditions, that are able to bear fruit practically without interruption for 9-10 months. As an example, we can name such varieties as Queen Elizabeth 2, Brighton, Temptation, Elvira, Juan and others.
Seedlings are planted in containers made from plastic bottles according to option 2 described earlier. The containers are exposed to any bright and warm place and moderately watered. It is possible to immediately place them on the balcony if it is insulated. In this case, in the future there is even no need to move them anywhere, they will always be on the balcony, and regularly delight you with their harvest.
If you want to grow strawberries on your site, then with the onset of warm days (usually in May), the seedlings can be transferred to the site and place the bottles as your imagination tells you: either on a vertical support, or on weight, or placed on any horizontal surfaces.
All summer until the very frosts, you will harvest strawberries from bushes. A month before frost, you need to carefully separate the rooted rosettes from the mother bushes and plant them in separate containers. This is your main planting material for next year. They can be stored either in a frost-free basement or on a balcony. In winter, it is only necessary to periodically moisten the earth, making sure that it does not dry out completely.
The main strawberry bushes are either simply thrown away with the onset of frost, or the strongest of them are transported to home conditions to extend the harvest period by a month or two.
In the spring, everything is repeated, but seedlings obtained from their own strawberry bushes are already used.
Conclusion
As you can see, there is nothing too complicated in growing strawberries in plastic bottles; rather, it is just an unusual process for many. But it provides many opportunities that you must definitely use in order to fully enjoy the result of your labors.
