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In Russia remontant strawberry varieties appeared not so long ago, only about 20 years ago. While in Europe and the USA, remontant strawberries or, as they are most often called there, short-day strawberries have been grown everywhere for more than forty years. The Ostara strawberry variety has been known for a long time, but nevertheless continues to be very popular both in Europe and in Russia, where it came more than 20 years after its birth.
A description of the Ostara strawberry variety with photos and reviews from those who grew it in the garden can help novice gardeners and summer residents finally decide whether this strawberry is worthy of settling on their plots. Of course, the choice of remontant strawberry varieties today is quite large, however, this variety still has not gone away even after so many years, and that means something.
Features of remontant strawberry varieties
Since remontant strawberry varieties are still a relative innovation in Russia, not everyone still correctly understands the characteristics of these varieties and what proper care for them involves. There is also some confusion among amateur gardeners about the differences between remontant strawberries and day-neutral varieties.The fact is that in the USA it is not customary to distinguish between these varieties and all remontant varieties are automatically called day-neutral varieties, which is not entirely true.
In fact, strawberries have three main varieties based on their sensitivity to daylength:
- Short day plants.
- Long day or long day plants.
- Day neutral plants.
The first group is the easiest to understand; it automatically includes all the usual traditional varieties that have the ability to lay flower buds only when daylight is 12 hours or less. This happens just at the end of summer - beginning of autumn, when a decrease in general temperatures also has a beneficial effect on the general process of laying buds for fruiting in the next season.
Strawberries of the second group are capable of forming flower buds only when the day length is more than 12 hours, ideally about 16-18. For this reason, varieties of this group manage to produce two and sometimes three waves of fruiting during the warm season.
The fruiting of day-neutral strawberries, as the name implies, is not at all tied to the length of daylight hours and can only be determined by temperature and humidity conditions. That is why these strawberry varieties are very convenient to grow in heated greenhouses all year round.
The term remontance simply determines the ability of plants to bear fruit more than once per season. Thus, both long-day strawberries and neutral-day strawberries can rightfully be called remontant.
But there are not so many varieties of long-day strawberries compared to the number of varieties from the third group. And they are not very suitable for growing in year-round greenhouses.But the life expectancy of long-day strawberry bushes is, as a rule, much longer than that of a neutral day. They can be grown in one place for up to two to three years, while day-neutral varieties, due to intensive constant fruiting, quickly exhaust their resources and must be replaced approximately a year after the start of fruiting.
All remontant varieties, and especially those belonging to the day-neutral group, require the use of higher agricultural technology, since they spend a lot of energy on constant fruit set. But they are usually more adaptable and resistant to adverse weather conditions and various diseases. In addition, berries of almost any remontant variety have an attractive taste and aesthetic appearance.
Description of the variety
Back in the distant sixties of the last century, Dutch breeders managed to develop the Ostara strawberry variety by crossing the Masherachs Daurernte and Red Gauntlet varieties. Ostara strawberries are day neutral varieties. Even when cultivated in ordinary open-air beds, it will be able to bring you a harvest of wonderful berries from June until the first snow. Moreover, the autumn harvest is in no way inferior in taste to early berries, and may differ only in the size of the fruits in the direction of their reduction. But the yield of bushes can only increase by autumn, naturally, subject to regular watering and fertilizing throughout the growing season.Over the entire warm season, you can collect about 1.0-1.2 kg of fragrant and tasty strawberries from one bush.
True, experts do not recommend leaving fruit-bearing bushes of this variety of strawberries for the next year, but replacing them with young plants. Because both the yield and the size of the berries next season may greatly disappoint you.
Ostara strawberry bushes have a fairly compact appearance and do not exceed 20-25 cm in height. The dark green, medium-sized leaves are covered with small hairs.
The educational ability is average, depending on the regularity and composition of fertilizing. The more nitrogen component there is in the fertilizers used, the more tendrils and young rosettes will be formed. But this can negatively affect the yield and especially the taste of the berries. Therefore, you should not be overzealous with this.
Ostara strawberries are resistant to most fungal diseases, except gray rot. Therefore, in rainy weather, it is advisable to provide the berries with additional shelter, if possible.
Ostara bushes tolerate winter frosts well, but when grown in the northernmost regions, it is better to lightly cover the plants for the winter. Without shelter, it tolerates frosts down to -15°C. However, this is important only in regions with little snowy winters. Because Ostara strawberries overwinter well under a large, permanent layer of snow.
This variety tolerates hot conditions worse; at temperatures above +28°C, pollen can become sterile and the number of berries decreases sharply.
Characteristics of berries
Ostara strawberries have the following characteristics:
- The shape of the fruit is traditionally cone-shaped, the berries are attractive in appearance and have a shiny surface.
- The color of the berries is uniform bright red.
- Although Ostara strawberries belong to large-fruited varieties, their berries are rather medium in size - about 20-30 grams in weight each. In particularly favorable conditions, the weight of the berry can reach 60-70 grams.
- The berries are not dense, but they are very juicy.
- They are stored for a very short time and are practically unsuitable for transportation.
- But the taste can be called unique; it is very reminiscent of real wild strawberries. The aroma of the berries is also pronounced. In terms of taste, Ostara strawberries received 4.7 points on a five-point scale.
- The use of Ostara strawberries is universal, but they are most delicious when fresh.
Subtleties of cultivation
The timing of planting ready-made Ostara strawberry seedlings depends on what exactly you want to get from this variety. If you need a good and high-quality spring harvest, then it is better to plant seedlings at the end of July - in August, so that they have time to take root well and form many buds.
If you are more interested in the autumn harvest, then you can plant seedlings both at the end of summer - in autumn, and in spring. The main thing is that at the beginning of the season it is necessary to remove all emerging flower stalks from the bushes so that the bushes do not waste energy on early fruiting, but build up a powerful root and above-ground leaf system and form the maximum number of tendrils and young rosettes. In this case, starting from the second half of summer, the bushes and young rosettes will be strewn with flower stalks, on which by the end of summer a lot of rather large and juicy berries will ripen.
If you do not pick off the flower stalks, but continue to intensively feed and water the Ostara strawberries, then they will form a small number of runners and medium-sized berries throughout the summer and until autumn.
Choose which growing method you prefer, but remember that any strawberry requires careful care and attention, without which it may disappoint you in your expectations.
Reviews from gardeners
Ostara strawberries leave mostly favorable reviews about themselves, especially among people who are encountering the cultivation of remontant strawberries for the first time.
