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Fragrant strawberries are loved by both children and adults. Today you can find various varieties that differ in size and taste. That is why it is not easy for gardeners to make a choice. One of the varieties that interested fans is the Gigantella Maxim strawberry.
This is a Dutch strawberry variety, distinguished by the power of bushes and berries. Look at the photo below how the fruits look next to the matchbox. To get a decent harvest, you need to follow the basics of agricultural technology, otherwise the variety may degenerate, grind. The qualities of the berry, the characteristics of the plant, how to care for the Gigantella variety will be discussed.
Description
Breeders of Holland, creating a variety, dreamed of getting mid-ripening strawberries with huge fruits. They succeeded quite well.
Strawberry Gigantella in the description of the variety, photos and reviews of gardeners is fully consistent with the real results. And this contributes to the growth of the popularity of the variety.
- The strawberry bush is powerful, sprawling, its height can be almost half a meter, so the plants are not planted close.
- The leaves of the Gigantella Maxim variety are large, juicy green, shiny, with a slight corrugation.
- Gigantella begins to bear fruit in the open ground in the second half of July, when grown under a film 2 weeks earlier. One strawberry bush throws out up to 30 peduncles. Each of them blooms from 6 to 8 flowers.
- Gives a crop only once, but due to large berries weighing up to 60, and sometimes up to 100 grams, it justifies the expectations of gardeners.
- The berries are bright scarlet, with white speckles, dense, juicy. You can determine that Gigantella strawberries have almost reached the desired condition by looking at the nose, which gradually turns scarlet from white. The fruits are very sweet, with a subtle pineapple aftertaste.
- In one place, strawberries of the Gigantella variety can be grown for no more than 8 years.
Characterization
The high yield of Gigantella strawberries attracts not only private traders, but also large agricultural producers. Subject to agricultural technology, more than 3 kg of juicy fragrant fruits can be collected from one bush.
As noted in the description, the Gigantella strawberry variety is famous for its dense berries. This quality is highly valued by gardeners, because during transportation the fruits do not crumple, do not expire with juice.
Taste qualities have not gone unnoticed by culinary specialists: the berry is used for compotes, jams, confitures. Completely keeps a trade dress at a freezing.
Methods of reproduction
Despite the fact that Maxim strawberries can be grown in one place for up to 8 years, they still have to be replaced. You can get new plants in the traditional ways for the species:
- seeds;
- mustache rooting;
- division of the bush.
Propagation of Gigantella strawberries by seeds is not only the most time-consuming method, but the crop can only be harvested next year. Rooted mustaches or root divisions bloom in the year of planting.
About growing large-fruited garden strawberries Gigantella from seeds:
Planting strawberries in the ground
Since the fruits of the Gigantella strawberry are quite large, it is clear that it needs a good nutrient soil. In this case, the harvest will correspond to the characteristics in all respects. The plant likes loamy soils in which organic matter or mineral fertilizers have been added.
Planting peas, beans, beans, lentils can be the predecessors of Gigantella strawberries. Better yet, plant plants in soil that has been given a season to rest. In central Our Country, plants can be planted in open ground at the end of April, beginning of May, since the remontant variety is frost-resistant.
Immediately before planting strawberries, the soil is shed with water, holes are marked for seedlings.
When planting plants, pay attention to the planting depth. Growing points should remain above the surface of loose soil. Look at the photo below how the gardener does it.
planting care
When growing strawberries of the Gigantella variety, there are no particular difficulties. Gardeners write about this in their reviews. Agricultural technology is almost identical to other varieties. Although some of the nuances when growing Gigantella strawberries are still worth paying attention to:
- The bush grows rapidly, throws out a huge amount of whiskers. If you need a good harvest, then you should remove them as they appear. To obtain planting material, a few bushes are enough. They only add 5 mustaches for rooting, so as not to weaken the mother bush.
- Gigantella is also grown in a carpet way, rooting all the whiskers. New rosettes, as the foliage grows, begin to produce flower stalks and produce a crop in the first year.
Useful Tips
- If strawberries are planted simply in the ground (the ridge is not covered with black non-woven material), weeds must be removed in a timely manner.
- Water the plants once every 7 days.
- Sick strawberry bushes should be removed immediately.
- Before fruit set, the soil must be mulched to prevent rotting of garden strawberries.
- To grow a rich harvest, do not forget about top dressing before fruiting. Water the bushes with sodium sulfate and nitrophoska. Re-feeding is carried out after harvesting with nitrophoska and wood ash.
- Frost-resistant Gigantella strawberries do not need to be covered for the winter. It holds up well in the snow.
Diseases and pests
The variety has a fairly high immunity to many strawberry diseases, but cannot resist some fungal diseases. First of all, this concerns gray rot. When a disease occurs, diseased bushes must be removed and the entire plantation should be treated with Fitosporin or other fungicides.
The second disease that Gigantella strawberries suffer from is non-infectious chlorosis. Foliar fertilization with iron-containing preparations will help to cope with this disease.
To grow a rich harvest of large fragrant berries, one cannot do without preventive measures. Every spring and autumn, strawberry bushes should be treated with a 2% Bordeaux mixture.
Among the pests, the most ardent are moles and bears, slugs and snails. You can deal with pests in folk ways. All of them do not like onion and garlic husks. It is simply scattered across the beds. Between the bushes you can plant marigolds, onions, parsley, celery.
If you follow agrotechnical standards when growing Gigantella strawberries, it will be like in the photo.
