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It is difficult to meet a person who does not like strawberries. It is good both in its natural form and with cream; it is used as a filling in dumplings, fragrant jams and delicious jams are prepared. Strawberries do not bear fruit for long, in order to enjoy a freshly grown tender berry, you have to wait for the next season.
Have you heard the term “repairability”? The origin of this name has French roots, translated as “repetition”, and means that the plant is capable of multiple fruiting during the season. Repairing signs are shown by some varieties of citrus fruits and raspberries. And strawberries have many remontant varieties, among them there are even beardless varieties. If you can get a repeated harvest of berries per season, then questions arise: remontant strawberries, what does this mean, what are the secrets of caring for these varieties, when and how to plant them, how to propagate, does the plant need enhanced watering and top dressing. In this article, you will learn how to properly care for remontant shrubs to get the most out of them.
Differences between remontant strawberries and ordinary
Remontant varieties have common properties with ordinary strawberries: bushes also hibernate under snow without shedding leaves, and its flower stalks suffer from the lightest and shortest frosts. Remontant species require close attention: more frequent watering and fertilizing are due to an increased load on plants, and constant fruiting accelerates the aging of bushes. All gardeners know the amazing vitality of ordinary garden strawberries, remontant varieties have their own characteristics: they require more care and frequent replacement of bushes, but they delight with berries until autumn.
Varieties of remontant strawberries
This culture is classified according to several criteria. One of them is the formation of kidneys. Some remontant cultivars are able to bud in LSD-neutral daylight, while others only bud in long daylight hours (LDD). Ordinary garden strawberries lay buds with a short daylight hours (SDL), this is the reason for its difference from remontant varieties. Remontant seed bags are marked NSD and DSD. When choosing, keep in mind that the yield is higher in remontant species with NSD.
Remontant varieties are also classified by the presence or absence of mustaches. Each type has advantages and disadvantages.
beardless strawberry
The beardless variety (Alpine remontant strawberry) is better resistant to diseases, less capricious to the place of cultivation, less often requires transplantation, bears fruit throughout the season without interruption. The absence of whiskers allows you to get a stable crop, reduces labor costs for caring for the garden bed and saves space. Alpine remontant strawberries tolerate a lack of moisture and heat worse than usual, so on hot days it should be shaded. You can propagate beardless strawberries either by sowing seeds or by dividing the mother bush, when the rhizome dies off in an old, three-four-year-old plant, and it breaks up into several parts.
mustachioed strawberry
Mustachioed remontant varieties produce less mustache than ordinary garden strawberries, and are good because they begin to bear fruit already in the year of planting, giving two harvests, the second of which is much more abundant. The berries are larger than those of beardless remontant varieties, but a bush exhausted by a bountiful harvest may die at the end of the season.
Transplanting
Remontant strawberries do best on light (loamy or sandy) soils of neutral or slightly acid reaction. The site for growing remontant species should be located on a slight hill to prevent moisture stagnation. Planting can be carried out both in autumn and in spring, having prepared the soil ahead of time: for spring planting in autumn, and for autumn spring.
Advance soil preparation
The rules for preparing the soil for planting remontant varieties are simple, but they are important for the subsequent harvest. Dig up the ground with a pitchfork, select the rhizomes of weeds. Add humus, compost or mullein at the rate of a bucket of organic matter per 1 m2 soil and season with wood ash, five kg per square meter. About a month before planting bushes, for each m2 add a tablespoon of Kalijfos or 40 g of superphosphate mixed with 10 g of potassium sulfate.
Seedling planting rules
The day before planting the seedlings, loosen the soil to a depth of about 15 cm, prepare the holes. Their depth should be slightly greater than the height of the roots. At the bottom of the planting hole, make a small mound to evenly spread the strawberry roots over it, water it. In cloudy weather, or in the evening, carefully transfer the seedlings from the cups into the hole. You can revise the roots: cut off damaged and too long (over 10 cm). Dip the root system of the seedling into a mash of thick sour cream, prepared from soil and humus with the addition of stimulants for the formation of roots, such as Epin, Kornevin or similar preparations.
These rules are common for spring and autumn planting seedlings.
Placement of seedlings on the ridge
Depending on the size of the beds reserved for planting remontant strawberries, there are two methods for placing bushes: ordinary and carpet. In the first case, the distance between seedlings is 20-25 cm, each row is located 70 cm from the previous one. The second method involves placing bushes according to the 20×20 cm scheme. After planting, remontant species do not need to be fed.
Disembarkation dates
One of the features of remontant strawberries is fruiting in the first year, therefore, in warm regions, seedlings can be planted in the spring by mulching the plantings with straw, peat, or agrofiber. Mulching will reduce the amount of watering and loosening the soil, as well as slow down the growth of weeds. In the middle lane, the spring soil is not warm enough, so the autumn planting of remontant varieties is becoming more and more popular. In autumn, planting dates are a month and a half, from late July to early September, depending on the region. If the berry has already been grown on the site, then there is its own planting material. Planted in autumn, remontant strawberries will get stronger by the next season, and will give the first spring harvest.
How to prepare remontant strawberries for wintering
Young plants planted in autumn, before the onset of frost, have time to take root, build up a deciduous rosette. To help the bushes get stronger, the first week after planting they need to be watered two days later in the morning with warm water under the root, without flooding the leaves. From the second week, watering is reduced, but the soil should not dry out, make sure that it is loose and moist.
Protection against pests
Remontant strawberries growing in open ground are affected by pests. To destroy insects preparing for wintering in the upper layers of the soil, carefully, without damaging the roots, loosen the soil 6-8 cm deep and till the soil with Karbofos solution, at the rate of 3 tbsp. spoons per 10 liters of warm water, and cover with a film for three hours.
Disease Prevention
To combat pathogens, treat the soil with a 2% solution of Bordeaux mixture. You can use copper oxychloride by dissolving one tablespoon of the substance in ten liters of water.
If you are a supporter of ecological farming, then the following composition, prepared for 10 liters of water, will help protect remontant strawberry bushes from fungal diseases and specific pests:
- Wood ash – 2 tbsp. spoons;
- Strongly overcooked vegetable oil – 3 tbsp. spoons;
- Vinegar 9% – 2 tbsp spoons;
- Liquid soap – 2 cups.
Mix all the ingredients well, and work the ridge, wetting both the soil and the bushes themselves.
Pruning of bushes
If the remontant strawberry bushes planted in the autumn managed to grow a good leafy rosette, then it is not necessary to cut it off until the bushes endure a couple of light frosts. And when the antennae grow, they should be removed so that the plant does not waste energy on growing a mustache, but strengthens the roots. Check the condition of the soil under the bushes: the roots should be covered with earth. If strawberry roots are exposed, add soil over them.
Mulching of soil
If you spread mulch around the bushes when planting them, then by winter you will need an additional layer of shelter to protect against freezing of the soil. As a winter mulch, take straw, dry leaves, peat, spruce branches or sawdust and lay out a mulch layer about 5 cm thick. Cover remontant strawberries when stable frosts are established, otherwise early covered bushes may rot.
Preparing for wintering adult bushes
The key to a good harvest next year will be the proper preparation of adult bushes of remontant varieties for winter. The plant worked all summer, producing berries, and was greatly weakened. After harvesting, cut off all late flowers, they obviously will not have time to ripen, and the strength of the plant will be taken away. In the fall, remontant strawberry bushes should be fed so that the budding of the next season is successful. Fertilized bushes will winter better and recover faster in the spring. Autumn top dressing includes a potassium-phosphorus complex in liquid or dry form, but nitrogen fertilizers should not be used in the fall so that the remontant strawberry bush does not grow excess green mass. For supporters of organic farming, composting can be recommended.
More detailed information about the autumn feeding of remontant varieties is presented in the table:
| Mullein and bird droppings | We take only fermented. Dilute 1 liter of organic matter in 10 liters of water and insist. Before use, add 125 g of wood ash per bucket |
|---|---|
| Slurry | Dilute 1 liter in 8 liters of water and infuse until thick sour cream |
| Green Fertilizers | Mowed grass or green manure beans are placed in the aisle |
| Wood Ash | Pour into ridges and aisles, per 1 m² – 150 g; |
| potassium and phosphorus | In dry form, potassium salt (20 g) and superphosphates (10 g). Scatter between plants, or use as a solution, water between beds. |
| Integrated | Mix 250 g of ash, 2 tablespoons of Nitrophoska and 20 g of potash fertilizer, dilute in 10 liters of water. Mix, pour a liter per bush. After two days, mulch with sawdust or peat chips. |
Care for overwintered bushes
In March, nitrogen fertilizers can be sprinkled on the garden bed, right on top of the snow cover. In April, the time comes for feeding strawberries with mineral and organic fertilizers, they are applied by mulching the soil. During the period of active growth, flowering and fruiting, observe the condition of the plants, water, loosen and feed in a timely manner. Remontant strawberries are affected by the same diseases as ordinary varieties, and they have the same pests, so use the same methods as for familiar garden strawberries to identify the problem and fix it.
Propagation of remontant varieties
The maximum productive period of remontant strawberries is three years. This is due to the high load on the bush, which is depleted by continuous fruiting. If you plan to update the bushes, then you can safely use your planting material by rooting the antennae of the first order. Choose the most promising remontant strawberry bushes, and do not let them bear fruit a second time, that is, cut off the flower stalks. Dig plastic cups near the bushes, direct the antennae towards them and pin them. After the formation of a young bush and its rooting, you can separate the young plant from the mother bush, and plant it in the ground, as described above. Beardless varieties of remontant strawberries are propagated by dividing the bush or sowing seeds.
Reproduction by seeds
If you are not afraid of troubles, then you can grow remontant strawberries from seeds, a wide selection of which can be found in any garden supermarket. If remontant varieties grow on your site that suit you in all respects, then use your own seed material. To collect seeds from your bushes, you need to choose the largest and most ripe berries. Place the berries in a bowl and set outside in a sunny window. After 4 days, soften the strawberries with your hands and soak in water, changing it several times. Remove the pulp, and the seeds that have settled to the bottom can be used for further sowing.
Sowing and growing seedlings
Sowing seeds for seedlings is carried out in February-early March. Sowing soil must be loose, disinfected, have a moisture content of at least 70%. Scatter the seeds over the surface, you can sprinkle a thin layer of sand on top and moisten it with a spray bottle, preventing the soil from drying out. To reduce evaporation, the seed box should be covered with glass. Germinate in a cool shady place. As soon as the seeds of the remontant strawberry hatch, the glass can be removed and the seedlings transferred to a lighted place. Before planting seedlings, it should be hardened in the usual way. The process of spring planting remontant bushes is similar to autumn planting.
How to choose the right variety
We carefully examined the processes of reproduction of remontant strawberries, its planting, winter care and made sure that the agricultural technology of ordinary garden strawberries and remontant strawberries is similar. The differences are in a shorter fruiting period and more frequent watering, top dressing and loosening of remontant varieties.
By planting remontant strawberries, you will provide yourself with a delicious berry at the end of summer, and there will not be so many fruits in spring. To enjoy plenty of strawberries at the beginning of summer, plant its usual varieties. Combining remontant and ordinary varieties with different fruiting periods in one area, you will get enough berries for fresh consumption and for preservation for the winter.
Domestic and foreign breeders have created a huge number of varieties of short, neutral and long-day strawberries. Short-day strawberries are the usual garden strawberries, and the other two varieties are remontant species. It is necessary to recommend a certain variety in each specific situation, there are no general rules. Each gardener has his own conditions: the climatic zone of residence, the location of the site, and everyone’s own taste preferences are different. Among the variety of remontant varieties, each person will be able to choose the most suitable option for him.
