Strawberry Holiday: variety description and characteristics, cultivation and care with photo
Strawberry is an early berry, widely popular even among beginner gardeners. Most of the varieties give a harvest at the end of May, in August you can already forget about them until next summer. For those who want to enjoy the berry for as long as possible, a type of Holiday strawberry has been created. The fruits are large, fragrant, ripen until the beginning of autumn. In order to successfully plant strawberries, learn how to care for them, it is important to familiarize yourself with all its features, a detailed description of the variety.
Strawberry Holiday: description and characteristics
Dessert-sweet strawberry variety Holiday resistant to weather conditions, not capricious.Bushes grow to medium size, slightly spreading. The foliage is large, wrinkled, light green in color, covered with an edge. Peduncles are low, strong, localized below the level of the leaves. The first berries grow large, their tops resemble a comb.
Average strawberry weight is 32 g. Further harvest waves are smaller, ripening conical berries. They have red skin with a glossy sheen. The flesh is pinkish, has a fragrant smell, the taste is similar to sugar. The average fertility from 1 weave is 150 kg. Strawberries tolerate transportation, storage well, they can be frozen, processed, consumed fresh.
Pros and cons
Variety implies a number of positive and negative aspects. It is important to familiarize yourself with them before boarding.
It is necessary to fertilize with high quality | |
Taste deteriorates with ripening during dry periods and lack of required watering | |
Strawberries shrink after first harvest | |
Despite a small number of disadvantages and features, the Holiday strawberry is extremely unpretentious in care, becoming a frequent choice of gardeners with different experience. No need to be afraid that the bushes will freeze and will not bear fruit. They grow quickly, survive in frosty winters, which is in the hands of summer residents.
Cultivation of variety
The Holiday strawberry variety must be grown in accordance with the rules of agricultural technology. Bushes are regularly fertilized, mulched, watered. Adult plants are able to form large and tall bushes, it is worth maintaining a distance between them at the level of 40-45 centimeters.
When and where to plant
Sowing seeds is carried out in late March and early April in regions with a cold climate. In the south they sow from the second half of February. Seedlings are grown in containers with peat, you can use flower pots or boxes.When 3-4 leaves appear, plant the plant in open soil. Prepare the site in advance for planting.
The soil should have neutral acidity, be fertile, breathable, without accumulations of moisture. The landing site should be located on a flat area with an abundance of sun. Planting on a hill is not worth it. Future bushes should be protected from the wind.
Selecting planting material
The easiest way to plant strawberries is with seedlings that are sold in garden shops or on the market. It is advisable to purchase seedlings from trusted sellers and pay attention to a number of nuances.
- Number of sheets. If the purchase falls at the beginning of May, the seedlings should have 2-3 young leaves.
- Shade of leaves. It should be light green, the surface is shiny, with a margin. A pale shade is a sign of wilting horns. This disease is not treatable - the plant will die.
- Leaf defect. If they are wrinkled, this is a symptom of a tick infestation. Light or dark dots indicate fungal pathologies.
- A seedling should have 1 or more horns. It is important that they are not wrinkled, have a salad shade. It is impossible to buy seedlings with a horn thickness of less than 0.7 centimeters. The thicker it is, the better it takes root and bears fruit more.
- Roots. Normally, they are branched, at least 7 centimeters long.
- If the bush is sold in a peat container or tablet, the roots should be visible. To check the bush, it must be carefully lifted and removed.
If you take into account all the recommendations, you will be able to buy suitable seedlings and get a harvest the first time.
Fitting technology
2 weeks before planting, you need to dig up the ground, fertilize with compost in the appropriate proportions: 1 bucket per 1 square meter.To lighten clay soil, you can add river sand. To neutralize the acidity, limestone is suitable. Pits for planting - pull out at a distance of 40 centimeters. After planting, water, shade with agronomic fiber until the bushes are fully rooted.
Strawberry care
Caring for strawberries is easy, just follow the tips below.
- Every 3-4 years, transplant bushes to another place. This will protect the berries from insect damage, rot, wilting.
- It is important to observe proper watering. Competent care guarantees the juiciness and sweet taste of strawberries. If there is too much moisture, it will become watery and bland.
- Fertilize the soil, fight weeds, trim tendrils.
- Protect bushes from pests, birds.
- Mulch strawberries 2 times a year.
After harvesting, continue care, pick off yellowed leaves.
Irrigation Rules
The frequency of irrigation of strawberry bushes depends on the soil composition, weather conditions.
- Clay soil retains moisture longer, should be watered every 2 days.
- In hot weather, irrigate every 4 days.
- Before flowering, sprinkle once a week.
- When flower stalks appear, water is supplied under the spine once a week.
Drip irrigation is also done or water is poured from a hose between rows, but then there is a risk of washing out the roots. If you stop watering abundantly before picking strawberries, the fruits will be sweet and less saturated with water.
Fertilization
Fertilize the soil before flowering and after harvesting. Potassium, phosphate fertilizers are perfect.
From time to time it is recommended to feed strawberries with organic matter - humus, ash, manure, by digging up the soil or by local application to planting holes.
Weeding and loosening
Holiday bushes need to be loosened often, preferably after rain and when a lot of weeds have appeared. During the growing season, 6-8 weedings are carried out.
- The first loosening occurs at the beginning of March, when the soil dries up from snow, in parallel with fertilizer. It is necessary to weed the area between the beds and in the rows. Try not to damage the antennae. Weed between rows 10 centimeters deep.
- Before weeding strawberries, scatter ammonium nitrate - 100 grams per 10 beds. This is necessary so that the fertilizer penetrates under the leaves of the bush.
- When the crop is harvested, remove weeds from the plot, remove fallen leaves, cut tendrils, loosen the soil between rows 6-8 centimeters deep, in rows - 4-5 centimeters.
The last weeding is done in autumn. To avoid growing strawberries up the rhizomes, it is necessary to hill the bushes.
Mulching
After watering, strawberries are mulched with sawdust, peat or straw. This is done to keep moisture in the soil. The layer of mulch should be 3-5 centimeters. The procedure also helps to prevent plant damage by parasites, accelerates the ripening process. Mulching is carried out in early spring and late autumn. Remove mulch at the end of summer.
Protection of plants from diseases and pests
Strawberries must be protected from birds, insects and garden slugs. For this, insecticides are used: "Aktellik" or "Fufanon", young red pepper.To protect the bushes from birds, they fix the net on the foliage, put stuffed animals, hang shiny and rustling things to scare them away.
Strawberry propagation
Strawberries are widely propagated using tendrils. It is advisable to use the first sockets. Then in the first year the bush will bear fruit. Other rosettes will not produce many berries during the season, but in the future, they will bear fruit with dignity. For reproduction by division, only plants aged 3-4 years are suitable, this method is undesirable, as it entails damage to strawberries.
Collection and storage rules
You need to pick berries early in the morning, after the night dew has disappeared. Take them with the stalk, then they are better preserved. Do not put strawberries in containers in several layers, choose wide, small sizes for baskets and boxes. To preserve the fruits for a long time, they resort to freezing them. Fresh, they can lie for about 7 days.
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