Maestro Strawberry: variety description and characteristics, planting and care rules

Maestro is a remontant strawberry variety characterized by high and stable yield. Refers to cultures of neutral light day. It bears fruit several times a season, with the right approach to growing and caring for a crop, highly productive fruiting can be achieved. Since the berries are of high quality, they are suitable for commercial cultivation.

History of selection

A popular strawberry variety originated in France. While working on the creation of a new variety of culture, breeders have made efforts to obtain a high-yielding hybrid with good disease resistance, a sufficient level of fruiting and high gastronomic qualities.

The considered plant variety was brought to Russia not so long ago - in 2022-2023. So far, the culture is just beginning to gain popularity, but farmers have noted that it is suitable for growing in different regions of the country.

Description and characteristics of the variety

Maestro strawberries are perennial plants. In one area, it is able to bear fruit for 4 years in a row, after which it is transferred to a new place. The bush has a medium size with strong peduncles that firmly hold the fruits, preventing them from falling to the ground.

The berries are large, capable of reaching 30 centimeters in diameter. Painted in bright red, have a conical shape. The average weight of 1 fetus is 30-40 grams or more. The pulp is dense, has a pleasant taste, mostly sweet, but sometimes with a slight sourness. Strawberries have a pleasant, well-palpable aroma.

Strawberry bushes are highly resistant to most phytopathologies and have good frost resistance.

Positive and negative qualities

The hybrid has many advantages that make it in demand among summer residents and agricultural enterprises. Culture benefits include:

• multiple fruiting for the entire vegetative cycle;
• disease resistance;
• frost resistance;
• good yield;
• hardiness to hot climates (with regular watering);
• unpretentious care;
• application of seedlings for industrial cultivation;
• proper organoleptic characteristics;
• large fruits.

Minus - the impossibility of cultivating strawberries in regions where the temperature in winter drops below -30 ° C.

Growing and Care Tips

For the cultivation of Maestro strawberries, you need to create favorable conditions for it. Therefore, you should be guided by the following rules:

1. Choose the right soil. Strawberries love neutral to slightly acidic, loose, well-drained, breathable soil. The culture can grow on loam, but you should not expect a big harvest from it. The best option is sandy soil.
2. Beds for planting new strawberry bushes should be prepared in the spring.The selected site is first recommended to dig up, mix the earth with fertilizers or humus. You can pre-sow green manure plants on the allotted piece of soil, which, when digging, turn into top dressing.
3. It is advisable to plant strawberry bushes at the end of April. Between seedlings it is necessary to maintain a distance of 30 to 40 centimeters, between beds - up to 1 meter.
4. So that the plants do not cast a shadow on each other, pits for strawberry bushes should be placed in a checkerboard pattern. Then sprinkle each hole with fertilizer, place seedlings there, sprinkle them with earth and water well.

As for care, here you need to perform the following activities:

ProcedureFeatures of performance1Irrigation

	Carried out as needed, when the topsoil dries up.Irrigation is carried out under the root, for each bush separately. For one culture, you will need about 3-5 liters of clean, warmed up to room temperature water. Excessive drying or, on the contrary, waterlogging of the soil should be avoided. Recommended for every watering of strawberries. During manipulation, it is advisable to remove weeds. nitrogen fertilizers are applied to stimulate the set of vegetative mass by the bushes. In the future, at the end of the fruiting period or directly during its duration, potassium-containing and phosphorus preparations are used.

To prepare strawberries for winter, it is enough to form rows by removing excess whiskers along with rosettes, as well as cutting off dry leaves. It is not necessary to cover the bushes if severe frosts above -28 or -30 ° С are not observed. But, as a precautionary measure, you can cover the bushes with straw, having previously carried out abundant watering of the plants.

Maestro strawberry protection from diseases and pests

To prevent the occurrence of phytopathologies, gardeners recommend taking preventive measures annually. In the spring, a solution of copper oxychloride is used to spray strawberries. Preparations are also introduced when new bushes are planted in the soil. In this case, it is advisable to use liquid antifungal agents, which are sold in specialized stores. And if the culture was hit by slugs, it is treated with Karbofos.

Reproduction methods

Maestro's strawberries are propagated by whiskers/rosettes obtained from the mother bush. Planting material is pressed to the ground and sprinkled with a small amount of soil. You can fix the escape in another convenient way. When the seedlings take root, they are carefully separated from the mother bush, watered and fed.

Another breeding method is the division of an adult bush. But this method is rarely used, since the survival rate of daughter crops is very low.

Harvest and storage of crops

From the moment of formation, the berries fully ripen in about 2 weeks. In the south, the fruiting period begins at the end of April, and ends somewhere at the end of December. After the first harvest, re-ripening of strawberries is observed in a month.

Berries can be stored for a maximum of 7-10 days, after which they begin to rot. Therefore, they should be implemented or reworked as soon as possible after assembly.

Maestro is a strawberry variety that Russian farmers are just beginning to get acquainted with. But, based on the characteristics of the culture, it is likely that it will soon become one of the most grown and sought-after berries in the country.

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