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The Eliane variety was bred in 1998 and is characterized by a long fruiting period. Strawberries begin to ripen early, but the berries do not fall off quickly, but continue to grow until the end of the season. The value of the variety is in its fragrant and beautiful fruits. However, Eliane's strawberries are quite whimsical. The culture is demanding on the soil, climate and even the area where it will grow.
Description of the variety
When considering the description of the Eliane strawberry variety, photos, reviews, you can also come across such names as Elianny or simply Eliana. In addition to these names, one often comes across the strawberry variety Eliani Frigo on the Internet, which has complete similarity in characteristics. There is nothing surprising. This is din and the same variety. But the word FRIGO translates as cold. There is a special technology that allows you to preserve plants frozen, and the Eliani frigo variety lends itself to it.
Strawberries can be briefly described as a crop of short daylight hours. If we take the well-known Elsanta variety as a standard, then Eliane ripens 3–4 days earlier. Fruiting lasts from late May to late June. Peduncles appear as the berries of the previous ovary ripen.
A more detailed description of the variety looks like this:
- Powerful Eliane bushes have vigorous growth.The plant develops especially quickly with abundant watering. Peduncles rise above the leaves and can be level with them.
- The berries are characterized by dense pulp with a bright red skin color. The shape of the fruit is cone-shaped, slightly elongated. The sepals are unfolded. The tender pulp turns pink when fully ripe. Fruit ripening begins from the sepals. The white tip of the berry indicates its technical ripeness. The yellow seeds are slightly recessed into the skin of the fruit. Ripe Eliane strawberries are easily torn from the stem. By the end of fruiting, the berries do not become smaller.
- Reviews from gardeners about Eliana strawberries say that the berries can be stored refrigerated for a long time. The density of the fruit pulp is inferior to the standard varieties, but the harvested crop can be transported.
- Eliane berries taste quite sweet with a slight sense of acidity. What is most valued is the elegant aroma. The taste of the fruit is reminiscent of strawberries, where peach and floral notes are combined.
- The Eliane strawberry variety can be characterized as a crop that is resistant to various types of rot and fungi.
According to gardeners, of all the advantages of Eliane, taste comes first. Extended fruiting and high productivity are no less valued.
Disadvantages of the variety
There are quite a lot of reviews about the strawberry variety Eliana. They allow you to identify not only positive, but also negative qualities:
- When grown in southern regions, Eliane is not tolerant of extreme heat. Fruiting is reduced, and it cannot be called full.
- In hot summers, lack of moisture affects poor mustache formation. If timely watering is not observed in the summer, strawberries will begin to grow belated whiskers in late August and early September.
- Heat accompanied by drought affects the size of the berries. If there is insufficient watering in such weather, the fruits will grow small.
- The yield of the variety allows you to grow Eliane for your own garden. Strawberries are not suitable for industrial production.
- Oversaturation with moisture, especially during long summer rains, affects the taste of the berries. Sweetness fades into the background, and acidity begins to predominate.
- The least number of reviews is about the manifestation of repairability. Most often this happens during the long hot summer.
- Berries do not tolerate heat well. The strawberries are baking in the sun. However, the fruits remain edible. Moreover, only those berries that are not hidden under the leaves are baked.
Residents of the northeast complain about the poor wintering of the variety. During severe frosts, many bushes freeze, and the surviving plants slowly grow in the spring. To protect strawberry plantings for the winter, they need to be well covered.
Rules for planting seedlings in the ground
So, we looked at the photo and description of the Eliane strawberry variety, and now let's look at the rules for growing the crop. Let's start with the fact that infertile soil has a bad effect on plant development. Eliane loves light soil with low acidity. Sandy or loamy soil is ideal. Eliane seedlings are planted in garden beds. To prepare them, dig up the ground well. At 1 m2 the beds are given 30 g of mineral fertilizers and organic matter. The loose soil is given time to settle, after which they begin to mark the rows.
Eliana digs a hole under each bush. Humus is added to the soil, watered well and the seedling is lowered.The roots of the plant are crushed with loose soil, then it is carefully compacted with your hands and watered again. To prevent moisture from quickly evaporating, the ground around the seedling is covered with a thin layer of sawdust.
Gardeners adhere to two schemes for planting Eliane seedlings:
- The bush scheme involves planting strawberry seedlings in increments of 15 to 25 cm. At the same time, the row spacing is maintained within the range of 40–60 cm. The mustache is cut off from the plants three times a season.
- The strip planting scheme for Eliane strawberries involves leaving wide row spacing up to 90 cm in size. Seedlings are planted in rows, keeping a step of 20 to 30 cm. When the strawberry bushes grow mustaches, they are taken to the side and dug in between the rows. This creates a new stripe.
With any planting scheme for Eliana strawberries, the yield indicator does not change. However, according to observations, the bush method allows you to get larger berries. This is due to the fact that the plant does not spend its energy on the formation and development of mustaches, because they are constantly trimmed.
Rules for caring for strawberries
Caring for strawberries only at first glance presents great difficulties to the gardener. In fact, the Eliane variety requires standard procedures, like any garden crop: watering, weeding, fertilizing.
Removal weed and watering rules
The frequency and amount of watering for the Eliane variety is determined individually, taking into account weather conditions and soil conditions. If the soil is dry, naturally it needs to be moistened. The optimal watering time is early morning. Before flowering, a small strawberry plantation is watered with a watering can, and on a large plot you can use a pump. Drops of water falling from above will wash the dust from the foliage.
When the Eliane strawberry begins to bloom, watering is carried out under the bush so that the water does not wash away the pollen from the peduncle. Once the ovary appears, water should not be poured on the fruits, otherwise they will begin to rot. In hot weather, you usually water your strawberries once a week. In this case, the approximate water consumption ranges from 10 to 25 l/m2. With the appearance of the ovary, the frequency of watering is reduced, but not to a critical minimum.
Strawberry weeds must be removed immediately. Grass draws moisture and nutrients from the soil. Regardless of the presence of weeds, the soil is periodically loosened to a depth of 10 cm. Loose soil better allows oxygen to pass through to the strawberry roots.
In large areas, it is difficult to control weeds by weeding. Here you can use herbicides, but you need to spray the grass no later than two weeks before planting the strawberries.
Top dressing
The Eliane variety, like all strawberries, loves feeding, but within reasonable limits. Seedlings require nutrients during the process of bush formation. For adult plants, fertilizing is applied during the ovary period. At the end of fruiting, the strawberries can be fertilized again. At this time, the plant is preparing for winter and needs nutrients.
Complex fertilizers, which contain many microelements, are ideal for fertilizing. From organic matter, humus or rotted peat is used. The amount of fertilizer applied depends on the condition of the soil. Usually 10 m2 use 15–25 kg of complex fertilizers.
Mulching
The mulching process reduces the chance of weed growth and also retains moisture under the strawberries.Mulch made from straw or sawdust is considered environmentally friendly. The ground around the bushes is covered with this mass. After harvesting, mulch is buried in the beds, and it makes an excellent fertilizer.
According to new technologies, black film or agrofibre is used as mulch. The entire bed is covered with canvas, and the strawberries are planted in the cut-out windows.
Removing a mustache
Strawberries need whiskers for reproduction. The need for pruning them depends on the planting pattern. However, it is imperative that strawberry tendrils be cut off during fruiting, otherwise they will deplete the mother plant. In other cases, if the mustache does not interfere, they can be left on the bushes.
Mustache trimming is done with sharp scissors early in the morning. This cannot be done during rainfall. The mustache is not cut off at the very root of the plant, but a stump 4 cm long is left. In August, after fruiting is completed, the mustache is removed from the bushes along with the leaves. After cutting, only short stems remain in the garden bed.
Preparing for winter
Before the onset of winter, weeding should not be done. These actions can damage the strawberry roots and freeze the plant. The bed is covered with a thick layer of mulch for the winter. Any leaves, straw, cut raspberry twigs will do. Among artificial materials for shelter, agrofibre has proven itself well.
In the video, Eliane strawberries in Belarus:
Reviews
After reviewing the description of the Eliane strawberry variety, reviews from gardeners will help to finally summarize the results of getting to know the culture.
