The best way to grow strawberries

Garden strawberries, which are often called strawberries, are a wonderful, tasty and healthy berry. It can be found in almost every garden. There are various ways to grow strawberries. The traditional method, which involves planting plants in open ground, is familiar to many gardeners and is most often used in everyday life. However, it has not only advantages, but also some disadvantages, so before you start planting strawberry seedlings, it would be useful to familiarize yourself with the features of all existing technologies for growing this berry.

Strawberries in the open field

Strawberries are distinguished by their unpretentiousness and resistance to adverse weather conditions. Frost-resistant varieties in the open field can be cultivated even in the conditions of the northern regions. In this way, berries are grown in private courtyards and on an industrial scale. The prevalence of the method is explained by a number of advantages. However, having decided to bring the technology to life on your land, you need to know the disadvantages that you will have to face.

Advantages and disadvantages

Growing strawberries in the open field does not require financial costs for the purchase of material or hiring workers. A real strawberry plantation can be created by one person with his own hands. This is perhaps one of the most significant advantages of the technology, however, it cannot be called the only one. Other advantages include:

• easy care for strawberries;
• good air circulation between plants;
• the ability to create plantings of large areas;
• ease of picking berries;
• openness of the root system, which allows it to fully “breathe”.

The method of growing strawberries in open ground has a number of significant disadvantages:

• the presence of weeds that need to be weeded out;
• contact of ripe berries with damp earth, as a result of which gray rot may develop;
• high water consumption for irrigation, since moisture quickly evaporates from the open surface of the earth.

Despite the significant disadvantages of this method, most gardeners use it. At the same time, having decided to grow strawberries in open areas of land, you need to know some features of the technology.

Technology features

Strawberries prefer to grow in sunny areas of the earth. The soil must be fertile and well-drained. You can plant strawberry bushes according to the type of plantation, without creating ridges. However, in this case, plant care becomes more difficult, the bushes receive less light, and mature berries are more often exposed to pathogenic fungi. That is why it is recommended to plant seedlings of plants on trapezoidal ridges in two rows.

Growing strawberries in trapezoidal beds makes it easier to care for plants, allowing each bush to receive enough light. Harvesting in such beds is a pleasure, as strawberries hang from the edges of the ridge. At the same time, air ventilation near the surface of the berries improves, which prevents its decay.

It is worth noting that some gardeners use the so-called carpet method of growing berries. To do this, it is necessary to build a bed-box with dimensions of 2×3 m and fill it with nutrient soil. Plants should be planted in several rows. The resulting mustache from the ridge does not need to be removed. Over time, such a bed will turn into a solid green carpet with a lot of berries.

Growing strawberries in a greenhouse or film tunnel

This method is great for growing remontant varieties of strawberries with continuous fruiting. Artificially created conditions make it possible to extend the vegetative period of plants, protecting them from the arrival of early autumn frosts. A feature of remontant strawberries of continuous fruiting is the fact that its life cycle is only 1 season, which means that at the end of fruiting, the greenhouse can be cleaned, treated for pests and fertilized for the new season.

Advantages and disadvantages of the method

It is worth noting that growing berries in a greenhouse has few advantages, but the most significant of them is high yield. In protected conditions, the process of development and fruiting is not affected by external factors, which means that even in the rainiest and coldest summer you can count on a large number of berries.

In addition to high yield, the method has some other significant advantages:

• high humidity, which is a favorable environment for growing strawberries;
• the ability to grow berries in regions with an unfavorable climate;
• in the presence of heating installations in the greenhouse, it is possible to grow remontant varieties of continuous fruiting all year round, until the end of the life cycle of plants.

Growing strawberries in a greenhouse has several disadvantages:

• financial costs for the purchase and installation of a greenhouse;
• the need for regular ventilation, because in conditions without proper air circulation, the berries rot;
• the need to organize drip irrigation to prevent rotting of berries;
• the development of harmful microflora in the greenhouse environment and the mandatory adoption of measures to protect plants from viruses and fungi;

Thus, we can conclude that growing berries in a greenhouse is more suitable for enthusiastic people who are ready to give a lot of time, effort and money to get a good harvest of delicious strawberries throughout the season.

Features of the method

In the greenhouse it is necessary to use only drip irrigation of plants. Given this feature, it is recommended to create M-shaped beds under cover:

• height not less than 40 cm;
• the edges are sloping like a trapezoid;
• 2 rows of strawberries are planted along the ridge closer to the edges, between them they make a small ditch for a hose with drip irrigation.

On the elevations of the M-shaped beds, strawberry seedlings are planted at a distance of at least 20 cm from each other. It is important that the soil from such hills does not fall into the irrigation groove or passages, as this can expose the roots of the plants. Covering material can also be used to protect the roots.

Before planting strawberries in a greenhouse, you need to take care of fertilizing. You can create nutrient soil using organic matter or mineral fertilizers. As strawberries grow, they will deplete soil resources, which means that plants need to be fertilized additionally. In this case, you can feed the plants by adding fertilizers to the water for drip irrigation.

Strawberries in a covered garden

This technology of growing berries is quite progressive. It can be called the best way to grow strawberries in private backyards. The method allows to eliminate some of the disadvantages of other cultivation methods. Using it, you can grow a good crop of berries without much effort.

Advantages and disadvantages

This relatively new method of growing strawberries is increasingly used by ordinary gardeners in their backyards. The popularity of the method is due to a number of significant advantages:

• the material warms the roots of plants and prevents them from freezing in the winter;
• the black coating heats up quickly and retains heat in the ground, due to which strawberries wake up earlier than usual in spring;
• weeds do not germinate through the material, which means that there is no need to weed the ridges;
• water and fertilizers during irrigation fall directly under the strawberry root;
• the material prevents the evaporation of moisture from the surface of the ridge;
• the resulting berries are on the surface of the film and do not come into contact with damp soil, which means that the likelihood of their decay is reduced.

Thus, growing strawberries in a sheltered bed virtually eliminates all the disadvantages of the above cultivation methods. Among the shortcomings of the technology, one can name only the financial costs for the purchase of material.

Growing technique

The newest method of strawberry cultivation is based on the use of agromaterial (geotextile) or polyethylene. The artificial shelter of the beds plays the role of mulch. When choosing a material, it is necessary to pay attention to its color, it should be as dark as possible in order to better absorb heat and solar energy.

To grow strawberries using this technology, it is necessary to prepare nutrient soil by adding mineral and organic fertilizers. It is necessary to form ridges according to the principle of a trapezoid, so that the edges are gentle. Covering material should be laid on a formed and slightly compacted bed and its edges fixed. On the outside of the shelter, you need to mark the points where the strawberry bushes will be planted. At the same time, it is important to follow a certain planting pattern, in which the plants will be well ventilated with air and not obscure each other.

In accordance with the planned markings on the covering material, holes should be made with a diameter of 5-8 cm. Young strawberry bushes are planted in them. Subsequent crop care includes watering and top dressing. The absence of weeds allows the owner not to worry about weeding.

A more detailed description of the technology and a good example of creating such ridges can be seen in the video:

Decorative vertical beds

Some methods of growing strawberries involve not only getting a good harvest of berries, but also decorative plantings. So, there are some ways to grow strawberries vertically. All of them are based on the use of artificial structures, devices.

Strawberries in a tube

This method of growing berries is quite unusual, has a high decorative effect. It allows you to fit a record number of strawberry bushes on a small plot of land, which means that the crop yield from 1 m² soil will be large enough. Another advantage of the technology is the mobility of the design, ease of maintenance. It can be easily and simply removed from the garden, for example, to a barn or other shelter for a safe wintering. Among the shortcomings of the technology, the complexity of creating a structure should be highlighted.

This method of growing strawberries is based on a device made of a pipe and a hose or two pipes of different diameters. The material of the pipe can be any, for example, metal or plastic. In this case, its diameter should be more than 15 cm. A piece of a hose or pipe of a smaller diameter used for irrigation should be prepared by making small holes in it along a length equal to the height of the pipe. A piece of hose 15-20 cm from one end must be left intact. After preparation, the hose must be wrapped with geotextile or burlap, which will prevent the roots from growing into the holes made.

Holes of 5-10 cm must be made in the main pipe. To do this, you can use a drill with a crown of the desired diameter. After drilling, insert the hose into the main pipe so that its entire part rises above the structure. The bottom hole of the hose must be tightly soldered. Gradually fill the main pipe with nutrient soil and plant strawberry bushes in the holes. Subsequently, the plants will be watered by adding water to the hose through the top hole. To feed strawberries, you can use mineral fertilizers dissolved in the same water.

Strawberries on a construction grid

There is another technology similar to the above method of growing strawberries. The only difference is that it is based on the use not of a pipe, but of a construction grid. It is rolled up, fixing the edges. Such a “leaky” pipe must be wrapped with polyethylene, after which an irrigation hose should be inserted vertically into the structure. After that, you need to make holes in the film and plant the strawberries. A feature of this technology is the ability to create a structure of large diameter.

In addition to the above technologies for erecting vertical ridges, there are other methods that are aimed at creating decorative structures. For example, you can grow strawberries in high, multi-tiered beds. To create them, use wooden frames, stone calculations, tires of different diameters. The created structures will decorate the garden and allow you to enjoy the berries. A photo of such a berry bed can be seen below.

Also, farmers practice growing berries in hanging and floor pots, horizontally arranged pipes.

Conclusion

There are various ways to grow strawberries in the country. Each gardener must independently choose for himself the best way that will achieve his goal, whether it is getting a high yield, growing berries at minimal cost, or planting decorative. The article also presents the main advantages and disadvantages, as well as the cultivation technology and features of the most well-known methods of cultivating strawberries in a garden plot.