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Modern breeders delight gardeners with a wide variety varieties of garden strawberries or strawberries. This crop is occupying more and more areas in summer cottages and garden plots. Gardeners who grow strawberries create productive beds with different ripening periods in order to obtain fragrant and tasty berries for as long as possible.
Gardeners often plant early varieties of strawberries, but not all of them are adapted to the climatic conditions of Russian regions. Clery strawberries satisfy the requirements of gardeners in many respects, including frost resistance and early harvest. This is a variety of Italian breeders, bred at the Mazzoni Group enterprise.
Botanical properties
To learn better about Clery strawberries, you should look at the description of the variety, photos and reviews from gardeners.
- Garden strawberries are early remontant varieties. It grows as a strong, spreading or compact bush.
- On a high stem there are large dark green leaves with a characteristic shine of the Clery variety.
- The inflorescences do not rise above the foliage. The flowers are snow-white, with a bright center. Fruit set is high.
- The berries of the Clery variety are large, each weighing up to 40 grams. The fruits are characterized by almost the same size.The variety has its own record holders, reaching a weight of 50 grams.
- The shape of the berries is conical with a slightly blunt tip.
- At the ripening stage, the fruits are red, when technically ripe they are shiny, dark cherry.
- The variety has sweet berries, almost without sourness, with the aroma of strawberries.
- The fruits, as gardeners note in reviews, are as dense as those of the variety Alba, without voids inside. This can be clearly seen in the photo below.
Strawberries begin to bloom early, in early May, because the flowers are not afraid of slight frosts. At the end of May, beginning of June you can treat yourself to a delicious aromatic berry.
The yield is high, so there are no problems with growing strawberries. The whiskers are located close to the ground and take root well.
Characteristics
The Clery variety, bred in Italy, has many advantages, although disadvantages could not be avoided.
Let's start characterizing the variety with positive aspects:
- The high density of Clery strawberry pulp allows the crop to be transported over long distances. This quality attracts farmers. During transportation, the berries do not wrinkle, do not lose their shape and do not leak juice.
- When optimal conditions are created, they can be stored without processing for up to 5 days.
- The Clery strawberry variety is universal, suitable for any culinary processing, including freezing.
- The absence of acid allows the berry to be consumed by people with gastrointestinal problems and high acidity.
- In terms of chemical composition, the Clery variety is superior to many varieties of strawberries, therefore it is considered the most useful.
- The ease of care is also attractive, because the plants tolerate winter well and are able to withstand short-term drought with virtually no crop loss.Clery strawberries are not too demanding on the soil.
- A plant with an average yield, which does not always suit gardeners: from a bush you can collect 250-300 grams of shiny, tasty berries.
- Clery garden strawberries are resistant to root diseases and various molds.
According to gardeners, Clery has a number of disadvantages:
- Clery seedlings produce a small harvest in the first year, good fruiting is observed in the third year of life;
- frequent replacement of plantings, after about 4 years;
- when one bush of Clery garden strawberry becomes infected, all plantings are affected by the infection;
- high cost of planting material.
Reproduction methods
Garden strawberries of the Clery variety can be propagated in any way, but, according to gardeners with extensive experience in growing strawberries, it is better to use rooting rosettes and dividing the bush.
Propagating strawberries with a mustache
Unlike many varieties of garden strawberries, including Alba, Clery produces a sufficient number of mustaches. When choosing, you need to pay attention to the yield of the bush. Since seedlings with a closed root system take root 100%, any plastic containers are used for rooting. The method for obtaining seedlings of the Clery variety is well presented in the photo.
When 6 leaves are formed on the seedlings, the seedling is transferred to a permanent place.
Dividing the bush
The yield of the Clery variety when planted in divisions occurs faster than with seed or rosette seedlings. To do this, choose the strongest and healthiest three-year-old strawberry bush and divide it into parts.
Rules for planting and care
It is best to plant Clery strawberries in early August so that the strawberries can gain strength before frost. You can use spring planting immediately after the snow melts.
Clery strawberries do not require a high bed, but they do need to be fertilized and watered thoroughly.
The bushes are planted in two rows with a step of 30 cm, row spacing within 45-50 cm. Pay attention to the growth point: the heart should rise slightly above the surface of the ground.
With proper planting and care in June, Clery strawberry bushes will look like in the photo.
Caring for the Clery variety is no more difficult than caring for other strawberry plantings. It all comes down to loosening the soil, timely watering, removing weed and weeding.
To water it, it is better to use a drip system.
Despite the resistance of the Clery strawberry variety to diseases, it is necessary to monitor the condition of the bushes. At the first signs of illness, immediate action must be taken.
How and what to feed
Clery strawberries require regular feeding. Organic matter should be added in the spring, as this is more to the liking of the plants.
The feeding schedule for the Clery variety with mineral fertilizers is shown in the table:
| Time | Fertilizer |
|---|---|
| Early spring | Complex, including a large number of microelements. |
| During budding | Nitrophoska – 40 g + potassium sulfate – 5 g per 10 liters of water. Root feeding 0.5 liters for each plant. |
| When strawberries bloom | Watering with mullein in a ratio of 1:8. |
| On the 20th of August | Add complex fertilizer for strawberries (40g) and a glass of ash to a 10-liter bucket of water. 1000 ml per bush. |
Trimming
Strawberries of the Clery variety produce a sufficient number of tendrils. If they are not removed in a timely manner, the bed will be completely covered by rooted rosettes. In this case, you can’t dream of any harvest. There will be few berries, they will begin to become smaller. After all, Clery’s garden strawberries will devote all their energy not to fruiting, but to growing daughter bushes.
Since a lot of leaves are produced, they are cut off, but only the old ones that have dried out. Green foliage should not be touched. Strawberries are pruned at the end of fruiting so that new leaves can grow before frost. Cut off the petioles, being careful not to catch future flower stalks. Look at the photo below how a gardener does this work.
Wintering
If garden strawberries of the Clery variety are grown outside, then they must be covered for the winter. Before this, leaves, shoots, and mustaches are cut off. The soil under each bush is loosened so that oxygen reaches the roots.
The bed with strawberries needs to be mulched, then covered with pine needles, straw or hay. The photo below shows how to properly cover the Clery variety in warm regions of Russia. In regions with harsh winters, covering strawberries needs to be taken more seriously.
Clery garden strawberries have an amazing property: they can bear fruit all year round. Many gardeners transplant plants into large pots and grow strawberries indoors.
Different varieties of strawberries in the video:
