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Growing remontant strawberries is becoming increasingly popular, because this variety of sweet berry bears fruit continuously or allows you to harvest two or three times per season. Of course, this significantly increases the yield of strawberries in general, and the opportunity to eat fresh berries at any time is only pleasing. But Some gardeners talk about the disadvantages of remontant varieties: the increased vulnerability of such strawberries, and the taste of the berries is supposedly much different from the fruits of ordinary garden varieties.
Is it worth planting remontant strawberries on your plot, and what are the features of growing remontant varieties of strawberries? This article is about that.
Features of remontant strawberries
Repairability is the ability of a crop to bloom and bear fruit continuously or to do so at least twice per season. Not all plants have such an incredible ability; of all garden crops, remontant varieties are found only among strawberries, raspberries, wild strawberries and some types of citrus fruits.
Fruit buds of ordinary garden strawberries are formed only in conditions of short daylight hours, therefore this type is abbreviated as KSD. Whereas remontant strawberries can lay kidneys in two cases:
- in long daylight conditions (LDC);
- under neutral daylight conditions (NDD).
The DSD berry variety bears fruit twice per season: strawberries ripen in July (10-40% of the harvest) and in late August - early September (90-60% of the fruit). But the NSD variety of remontant strawberries is capable of blooming and bearing fruit throughout the entire growing season, yielding its harvest gradually.
The main problem of remontant varieties is the severe depletion of strawberry bushes with such a tight fruiting schedule. After the last harvest, not all plants survive - most of the strawberry bushes die.
This circumstance significantly affects the lifespan of plants; most remontant varieties are capable of bearing fruit for no more than two to three years in a row.
The primary task of the gardener is to follow the rules of agricultural technology for remontant varieties, and you can learn how to properly grow remontant strawberries from this article.
Growing remontant strawberries in open or closed ground
In fact, there is not much difference in how to grow sweet berries: in a garden bed, in a greenhouse or on a windowsill. The good thing about remontant varieties is that they are unpretentious to growing conditions and climatic conditions. However, most often remontant strawberries are still planted in the garden and grown in ordinary beds.
Planting remontant strawberries and caring for the bushes must be carried out strictly according to a certain scheme.
How to grow a remontant variety
Remontant strawberries can be grown in several ways:
- from seeds;
- dividing the bush;
- rooting the mustache.
Each method has its own strengths and weaknesses. So, for example, sowing seeds for seedlings is much cheaper than buying ready-made seedlings from a nursery, but this is a troublesome task. At the same time, not all varieties of remontant strawberries have mustaches; there are many without mustache varieties of sweet berries. You can divide the bushes only if they are healthy and full of vigor, which, as mentioned above, is rather rare for remontant varieties.
Therefore, each gardener must independently determine for himself the most appropriate way to grow berries. Strawberries can be planted both in spring and autumn; remontant varieties tolerate winter cold well.
Therefore, most gardeners prefer to plant seedlings in the ground in September, then the bushes will have a couple of weeks to take root, and next year they will already bear sweet berries.
Seedling growing method
In this case, the gardener must purchase or collect strawberry seeds himself, and then plant them in the same way as the seeds of vegetable crops, such as tomatoes, peppers or eggplants.
The berry loves nutritious and loose soil; it is better to prepare the soil for seedlings in advance. For these purposes, experienced gardeners recommend taking soil from the area of the garden where vegetables grew last season, but turf garden soil is not suitable for seedlings.
The soil should be slightly acidic or neutral. Seeds will germinate only if the soil moisture is at least 70%. Such conditions can be ensured if at least 0.7 liters of water are poured into a kilogram of purchased substrate or soil mixed with humus. The soil is thoroughly mixed so that there are no lumps and placed in prepared containers for seedlings.
Leave about 3 cm from the top of the cups or boxes; the rest of the container is filled with substrate. The seeds of remontant strawberries are evenly spread over the surface of the soil, then they are carefully sprinkled with a thin layer of dry earth or river sand. All that remains is to water the seeds; for this, use a spray bottle.
Now the containers are covered with glass or film and placed in a warm place with a constant temperature of 18-21 degrees.
After 14-20 days, the strawberry seeds should hatch and the first shoots will appear. Then the film is removed, the seedlings are carefully watered and placed on a windowsill or other place with sufficient sunlight.
When the plants have two or three true leaves, and this period begins no earlier than 1.5-2 months after sowing the seeds, the seedlings of the remontant crop need to be plucked. Plants can be replanted either in individual containers or in spacious wooden boxes. Those who grow strawberries at home can plant seedlings in permanent pots.
Strawberries need to be picked in the same way as vegetables: the plants are carefully transferred together with a lump of earth between the roots. Seedlings should be buried at the same level as they grew before. Now all that remains is to water the seedlings and monitor their development.
Strawberries must be hardened 10-14 days before transplanting into open ground. The pots are simply taken out into the fresh air, gradually increasing their time there. Now the seedlings are completely ready for planting in a permanent place!
Propagation of remontant strawberries by mustache
With the help of mustaches you can both grow individual young bushes and expand the mother bush. Anyway The antennae must first be rooted. Only the first mustache is suitable for these purposes; the remaining branches will have to be removed.
In August, all flowers from the bushes should be removed, otherwise the plant will die, since it will not have enough strength to ripen the crop and root the shoots.
During the period of first fruiting, the gardener must examine the young bushes and determine the strongest and healthiest of them. A shallow groove is made along the edge of the bed, into which the first mustache is laid.
After a few days, shoots will begin to appear on the tendrils; do not leave all of them—the shoots are removed, except for the first two or three rosettes. Young rosettes should not be immediately separated from the mother bush, let them gain strength and power. The shoots are watered together with the old strawberry bushes and the soil around them is loosened.
Approximately 7-10 days before the intended transplantation of the shoots, they are carefully separated from the mother bush by cutting the tendrils. Now the seedlings are ready for planting in a permanent place.
Dividing a remontant strawberry bush
Remontant bushes are divided infrequently, since they are already greatly weakened by prolonged fruiting. But, when there is not enough planting material in the new season, it is quite possible to resort to this method.
First you need to select the most expanded and strong plants - usually two to four-year-old bushes with a well-developed root system are chosen. At this age, strawberries, as a rule, have several branched horns, on each of which a rosette of new leaves is formed.
At the beginning of spring, such a powerful bush should be dug up and carefully divided into rosette horns. Each seedling is planted separately in new beds.
Planting remontant strawberries in the garden
Regardless of how the seedlings were obtained (seedlings, dividing the bush or rooting the mustache), planting remontant strawberries in the ground will be the same. The steps in this process are as follows:
- Site selection. For remontant strawberries, a flat, sunny place in the garden is suitable.Water should not stagnate on the site; the soil is preferably loamy or sandy loam. It’s good if carrots, radishes or parsley grew in the same place in the summer. But predecessors in the form of potatoes, raspberries, cabbage or tomatoes are undesirable for strawberries.
- Land preparation. A place for remontant strawberries should be prepared in advance, if planting is scheduled for autumn, this is done in the spring, when strawberries are planted in May, the beds for them are prepared in October. The soil on the site must be thoroughly fertilized using organic compounds (humus, compost, cow manure or bird droppings). Then the soil is dug up with a pitchfork.
- In spring, remontant varieties are planted in mid-May, when the threat of night frosts has passed. If autumn planting is planned, it is better to do this at the end of August or at the beginning of September, so that the seedlings have time to take root and get stronger before the onset of winter.
- A few weeks before planting, the soil on the site must be fertilized with mineral components: 40 grams of superphosphate and 20 grams of potassium sulfate are added to each square of soil. All this can be replaced with a tablespoon of special fertilizer “Kalijfos”. Wood ash will also come in handy; they don’t spare it and add five kilograms per meter of land.
- The planting scheme for remontant strawberries can be carpet or row. In the first case, the bushes are distributed evenly, leaving a distance of 20-25 cm between them. If the planting is in rows, then the step between plants is kept within 20 cm, and the width of the rows is 70-80 cm. When choosing a method of planting a remontant crop, you should take into account the presence of mustaches the variety, as well as the size of the bushes.
- For planting, choose cool weather, it could be the evening or a cloudy day.Pre-watered seedlings or strawberry seedlings are carefully transferred into the prepared holes. If the plants are small, you can plant two strawberry bushes in one hole at once.
- The planting depth should be such that the “hearts” are slightly above ground level. Strawberry roots should not be wrinkled or bent during planting.
- The ground around the transplanted bushes is compressed so that the roots do not hang in the air. Now all that remains is to pour warm water over the strawberries.
How to care for remontant strawberries
In principle, remontant varieties are quite unpretentious. But the large size of the berries, reaching 70-100 grams, as well as fruiting extended over the entire season leave their mark - the bushes are quickly depleted, and therefore require timely feeding.
Caring for remontant strawberries is as follows:
- watering;
- fertilizer;
- loosening or mulching the soil;
- deletion weed;
- pest and disease control;
- pruning bushes and preparing for wintering.
You can use spruce needles, sawdust, straw or humus as mulch.
Watering strawberries of remontant varieties
For the same reason Remontant varieties will have to be watered somewhat more often than regular garden strawberries. Immediately after transplantation, the bushes are watered daily; after a few days, watering becomes less frequent and, as a result, such care is reduced to twice a month.
It is necessary to use only warm water for irrigation, and do this when the heat subsides (in the morning or evening). The soil in the area with strawberries should be moistened by at least 2-3 cm. The next day after watering, the soil should be covered with mulch or carefully loosened so that the roots have enough air and a hard crust does not form.
How to fertilize remontant strawberries
Bushes depleted of abundant fruiting need abundant and regular fertilization. Not only must the soil on the plot with strawberries be nutritious, the reserves of minerals in the soil must be constantly renewed - maintenance must be regular.
Most of all, plants need nitrogen and potassium, but the soil can be fed with phosphorus only once - during the period of preparing the site for remontant strawberries.
An approximate feeding scheme is as follows:
- In the third decade of May, strawberries are fertilized with urea using a one or two percent composition.
- In the second half of June, when re-harvest flower stalks form, the berries are watered with liquid cow manure or chicken droppings.
- Together with organics, mineral additives are used, such as Kemira Lux, Mortar or Kristallin.
Over the entire season, it is necessary to carry out from 10 to 15 complex feeding remontant strawberries, this is what caring for this culture consists of.
Pruning remontant strawberries
Caring for remontant strawberries also includes such a component as pruning the bushes. This procedure should be carried out once a year, but pruning can be done either in spring or autumn.
In cold regions with long and frosty winters, strawberries are usually covered. Therefore, pruning of bushes is carried out in the fall.When the bush gives up all the fruits, carefully remove the lower leaves from it, you need to try not to damage the upper leaves, in the axils of which fruit buds are laid for the next season.
Strawberry mustaches can be trimmed periodically throughout the season, or you can not remove them at all - gardeners around the world are still arguing about this. But, if a summer resident decides to remove strawberry leaves in the fall, then he must also trim his mustache.
If pruning of remontant varieties was not carried out in the fall, care must be carried out in the spring. For this purpose, last year's yellowed or diseased leaves are removed from the bushes, and then the plants are treated against diseases and pests.
You can learn more about how to grow, care for and prune remontant strawberries from the video.
Results
Growing and caring for remontant strawberries does not present any difficulties - anyone who has been cultivating garden varieties will certainly cope with this task.
Remontant varieties can be propagated in the same way as ordinary ones, but most often this is done by rooting the mustaches, and for the without mustache varieties the seedling method is used. Caring for multi-fruiting varieties is not at all difficult: strawberries are watered, fertilized and pruned once a year. And throughout the summer season they enjoy aromatic sweet berries!
