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Garden strawberries, a large and sweet berry, are grown by everyone who has a plot. Every year, breeders present new interesting varieties. Strawberry Irma, a variety bred in Italy for its northern mountainous regions, is relatively recent in Our Country. In our climate, he showed himself well and found his fans.
Characteristic of the variety
The remontant strawberry Irma has taken root in our gardens, thanks to the excellent taste of beautiful berries and the fact that you can enjoy it for almost 4 months. A plant of neutral daylight hours combines high tasting qualities, productivity and transportability. The properties of the variety perfectly show themselves in latitudes with a sufficient level of natural precipitation. With prolonged rains, slight cracking of the berries is possible, which still retain their taste and are suitable for processing.
In those regions where rains are welcome guests, strawberries have to be watered. It happens that by the end of the first season the bushes fade. You need to take care of re-planting. Strawberries of this variety are also grown in greenhouses.
One bush of strawberries is guaranteed to give more than 1 kg of fruit, subject to the requirements of care, the yield increases to 2,5 kg of berries. They are consumed fresh, because the remontant strawberry Irma, as the reviews say, contains a high percentage of vitamin C. The berry is rich in organic acids, antioxidants, valuable and essential mineral elements for the body: selenium, zinc, iodine. The fruits are harvested in the form of various jams and preserves for winter desserts.
Features of fruiting
As noted in the description of the variety, Irma strawberries are medium-early. The first crop of attractive berries is harvested in mid-June. Abundant fruiting continues until autumn.
- Berries do not have a pronounced smell;
- The sugar content is constant, independent of rainy days;
- The first berries are the sweetest;
- In the last days of August and early autumn, the most abundant harvest of fruits is obtained;
- Then the berries become smaller and slightly change their shape.
To help the plant form a full-fledged re-wave of the crop, planting strawberries of the Irma variety, according to reviews, must be regularly watered, fed, loosened and mulched.
Advantages and disadvantages
Based on the photo and reviews of gardeners about Irma strawberries, as well as the description of the variety, it is organic to conclude that the plant is popular due to its obvious advantages.
- Excellent taste properties;
- stable yield;
- Drought resistance: berries withstand the sun;
- High commercial qualities: fruits are dense, keeping and transportable;
- Frost resistance;
- Ease in reproduction through mustaches;
- Sufficient immunity of the strawberry variety to tick damage, fungal infections: gray mold and spotting, moderate sensitivity to Alternaria pathogens.
The disadvantage of the Irma strawberry variety, as follows from the description, is a decrease in fruiting during the prolonged heat. The installation of a drip irrigation system, as well as the shading of strawberry plantings with a net, will help in this situation. Then, at the end of the season, gardeners harvest an excellent crop of Irma strawberries, as seen in the photo.
Description
The Irma strawberry bush corresponds to the description of the variety and photo: compact, low, with sparse, dark green large leaves. Plants have a well-developed root system. Mustache bush creates not much, but enough for reproduction. Peduncles are tall.
In the reviews, gardeners admire the fruits of Irma strawberries, which weigh 25-35 g. Berries with a dense structure, but without rigidity, do not crunch, fleshy, juicy. The shape of the berries is cone-shaped, with an elongated sharp top, there is a neck near the stalk. By autumn, the shape of the nose loses its ideal lines a little.
Delicate glossy cover and flesh – bright red, without voids. Summer berries have a higher percentage of sugar content. The taste of the fruit is pleasant and delicate, inherent in the entire crop, even in the rain. Unobtrusive sourness sets off the sweetness of the berry, gives a delicious dessert taste.
Cultivation
The Irma variety gives a particularly good and generous picking of berries in the second year of growth. And then the yield of strawberries decreases. For home gardens and summer cottages, crops for the third and fourth years are acceptable, subject to timely top dressing. Then planting remontant strawberries change. Reviews of those who grew Irma strawberries indicate the ability of strawberries to easily reproduce with a mustache. This method is easier and more familiar.
Mustache breeding
The strawberry variety is easy to breed as it produces enough whiskers.
- Gardeners, according to reviews of Irma strawberries and the description of the variety, choose which plants they leave for picking berries, and remove mustaches from them;
- Future seedlings grow from others. But flower stalks are already removed on these bushes so that the plant feeds layering;
- It is better to root only the first two sockets;
- Mustaches are left on biennial plants and the plantation is renewed for commercial use for the next season.
Reproduction by seeds
The method of growing the Irma strawberry variety from seeds through seedlings, according to sweet berry lovers, is more complex and laborious. But the troublesome process ensures the purity of the variety.
- Irma strawberry seeds are sown in February or early spring in containers with soil for seedlings of vegetable crops, covering the top with a thin layer of soil;
- The containers are covered with foil or glass, but aired and watered daily if the soil is dry;
- It is necessary to adhere to the optimal temperature – from 18 0C;
- Seedlings appear after three weeks. They need maximum lighting;
- Seedlings are moved to a permanent place when 5 leaves are formed on it.
Site Selection
Planting and caring for Irma remontant strawberries, as experience shows, will be successful if the appropriate site is chosen: sunny, rich in nutrients. If possible, the ideal area for planting this variety may have a slight slope to the southwest.
- Clay and sandy soils should be avoided for planting the Irma variety;
- Soils with very high or too low levels of acidity are also undesirable;
- Strawberries grow well in areas where radishes, garlic, legumes, fodder or green crops used to be;
- Humus, compost are introduced into the soil;
- The introduction of peat is also accompanied by 200-300 g of lime or dolomite flour;
- From mineral fertilizers, superphosphate, potassium chloride are appropriate.
Landing
Strawberries are planted in spring or autumn. But late autumn planting entails low productivity of the first fruiting season.
- Width between two-row strawberry ribbons – 60-80 cm;
- Inside, between the rows, a distance of 35-40 cm is enough;
- Holes are made, retreating 15-25 cm. They must be dug to a depth of 10-12 cm in order to freely accommodate the roots of the plant;
- For planting, prepared soil is poured into the holes: 1 bucket of site soil and compost, 2 liters of humus, 0,5 liters of wood ash.
Care
Caring for strawberries is not difficult, but the culture requires attention.
- Need regular watering, especially in hot July. Then the soil is slightly loosened, weeds are removed and covered with a layer of mulch;
- In the first year of planting, for a better harvest, the flower stalks of the first wave are removed, as well as all mustaches;
- It is necessary to periodically pluck the reddened leaves;
- Strawberry leaves are sprinkled with wood ash. The tool serves as a top dressing and protects plants from pests;
- If berries still ripen in October, the plants are covered with a film or agrofiber;
- In late autumn, cut off the mustache, damaged leaves. Humus or peat is placed on the soil, covered with snow in winter;
- In the spring, during flowering and the creation of ovaries, mineral complex fertilizers are applied.
A versatile variety with sweet berries will appeal to connoisseurs of fresh homemade products.
