How to understand strawberry varieties
It is not easy to find a person who is indifferent to the sweet, aromatic strawberry. In almost every garden, summer cottage or vegetable garden, different varieties of strawberries grow. Who else but people who are passionate about gardening knows how difficult it is to grow a good harvest and get maximum pleasure from it.
How to order large and best varieties of strawberries?
Only in reliable, trusted nurseries you can purchase full-fledged healthy strawberry seedlings grown using frigo technology.
Strawberry varieties
There are so many varieties of strawberries that you won’t find in your garden plots. These are early, middle and late berries. A variety of varieties are attractive to amateurs and professionals not only due to their ripening time, but also other qualities, such as frost resistance, disease resistance, and drought resistance. In our article you will learn how to distinguish strawberry varieties, how to start growing them and which varieties are better.
Early varieties of strawberries
Early ripening varieties include Mashenka, Elvira, Zephyr, Zarya, Olvia and Alba.
Let's look at some varieties:
Alba is a super early and fairly new Italian variety. It began to be grown in Russia in 2003. Gives high yields, up to 1.2 kg. from one bush. Can be grown in the Northern regions, since the plants are quite frost-resistant and hardy. The shape of the berries is slightly elongated, weighing up to 30 g. Planting is done with seedlings or mustaches. Alba is grown in greenhouses and open areas.
Olvia is a high-yielding, super-early variety with smooth ripening of berries. Can be grown in any climate conditions except permafrost. Farms began planting this variety in the early 2000s. Olvia is propagated by seedlings. Despite temperature changes, the seedlings are hardy, which is very important in a sharply continental climate. Strawberry bushes are powerful and require seedlings to be planted at a distance of 30 cm from each other. Transportability of fruits reaches 100%. The variety is drought-resistant.
Marshmallow - refers to early varieties. Strawberries are large, up to 50 g, and retain their size until the end of fruiting. Differs in friendly maturation. Resistant to fungal diseases, transportable. Propagated by seedlings. Drip watering is required, since with moderate watering there will be fewer ovaries. Requires shelter for the winter.
White Swede is a white strawberry, a variety bred in Sweden especially for people with allergies. They do not contain red pigment, which asthmatics cannot tolerate. The fruits of these strawberries are white, may be slightly pink, and have a pineapple flavor. Refers to varieties that ripen early. In order to determine how ripe the berry is, you should look at the color of the seeds. They should be red or dark red when fully ripe.
Elvira is a Dutch variety of strawberry. Quite large in size, round in shape and bright red in color. Bears fruit consistently even in the coldest and rainiest year.
To prevent fungal diseases, you can soak the roots of any seedlings in a weak pink solution of manganese before planting. This will give the plant the opportunity to strengthen itself and as a result you will get strong, healthy strawberry bushes.
Medium varieties of strawberries
Medium varieties are represented by “Gigantella”, “Zenga Zengana”, “Marmalade”, “Tsarina”, “Junia Smids”, “Marshal”, “Elsanta”. Almost all of these varieties belong to dessert varieties of strawberries.
Characteristics of some of them:
Marmalade is a medium-ripening variety. Grown thanks to Italian selection. High-yielding, up to 14 c/ha. Berries with a sharp tip, rounded downwards. Medium size. This variety can be grown all year round. The fruits are transportable, despite the short shelf life.
Tsaritsa is a hardy variety of Russian selection. Ripens in May-June. Productivity is high, up to 15 c/ha. It has medium sizes. The pulp is dense, which makes it possible to transport the berries very far. Has excellent taste. Drip irrigation is recommended. If you grow strawberries in small quantities, then you can simply add organic fertilizers in the ratio: 1 bucket per square meter. plantation meter. This will make it possible to get a stable harvest.
Zenga-Zengana - obtained by breeders from Germany back in the 50s of the last century. She is very popular all over the world. Belongs to a mid-late variety. The berries are medium in size, but the yield is high, up to 2 kg per bush. The advantage of this variety is the high frost resistance of plants.
Medium-ripening varieties are considered the most delicious and aromatic among their counterparts, since they ripen at a time when the sun is already warm and there is plenty of daylight.
Late varieties of strawberries
Late varieties include the varieties “Bogota” and “Red Gauntlet”.
The following can be said about them in more detail:
Bogota – gigantic strawberries. The berries weigh on average 160 g. This Dutch variety ripens late and has an elastic structure, which makes it possible for excellent transportation of products. Grows best on black soil. Before planting seedlings, it is worth fertilizing the soil well, since strawberries will grow in one place for 3-4 years. Drip irrigation is advisable. With proper care, you can get a yield of up to 800g per plant.
Red Gauntlet - refers to a foreign strawberry variety and represents a selection from Britain. It appeared in Scotland in 1957. Designed mainly for closed soils. The berries are quite small and aromatic. From one plant you can get up to 0.8 kg. Red Gauntled is resistant to fungal diseases and frost-resistant, which allows it to be grown in the coldest places in our country. Refers to the winter variety of strawberries.
All late varieties can be grown both in open ground and indoors.
Good remontant varieties of strawberries
There are many remontant varieties, which have recently become especially popular among amateur gardeners. It is very easy to distinguish it from other species: it belongs to the beardless varieties of strawberries.
A variety of remontant varieties is also represented on the modern market by the following varieties: “Ruyana”, “Albion”, “Queen Elizabeth II”, “Mount Everest”.
Characteristics of some varieties:
Albion – remontant strawberry, obtained in the USA in 2006. It begins to bear fruit in May, then rests and bears fruit abundantly for the second time in August and September. The berry is quite large, some individuals reach 60 g. Due to the fact that the bushes are very tall, all the berries grow without touching the ground, which makes it possible to pick them clean. Albion belongs to the giant varieties of strawberries and will stop producing fruit if it is very hot, up to +30 C. You should not water the plantation too much, as the berries may become watery and sour. The advantage of this variety is that it can grow on the balcony.
Queen Elizabeth II is a fairly young variety of remontant strawberry, which came to our dachas and fields in 2001. The berries are large, reaching 40 g. The plants are large and powerful, representing determinate varieties of strawberries. The fruits are dense and store well. They keep well when frozen. To get a full harvest, you need to feed strawberries once a week during fruiting. Every year it is necessary to renew the plantings and not allow them to thicken, as the berries will become smaller.
Sooner or later, every gardener faces the question of how to grow remontant varieties of strawberries. You can dry the ripe berries, collect the seeds, and put them in the refrigerator for 3 months. This is necessary so that the seed material undergoes stratification. Then you need to sow the seeds in a container and get young seedlings. As you understand, the process is quite complex and lengthy.
You can simply order ready-made seedlings grown using frigo technology. By planting such seedlings, you will receive a guaranteed rich harvest.
If you decide to plant varietal strawberries, you should order seedlings from reliable companies that have proven themselves in the agricultural market.
Strawberries grown using frigo technology
How are we used to propagating strawberries? A simple old-fashioned method: when they simply take young shoots and replant them. The big disadvantage of this method is that along with the shoots, hereditary diseases are also transmitted to the plants. This does not give the effect expected from new plantings.
Today, a new technology for propagating various plants is gaining momentum. This also applies to strawberries. In modern laboratories, seedlings are propagated in-virto, which means “in vitro”:
- To do this, a cell culture is taken and, with the help of special preparations, grown to the state of an initial seedling;
- After this, the material is planted on experimental fields and grown to the state of full-fledged seedlings;
- This happens until approximately October-November;
- After this, the seedlings are dug up, all large leaves are cut off, tied into bundles of 50-100 pieces and packed in boxes;
- Boxes are stored in rooms where a constant temperature of -2 degrees is created;
- Plants can remain in this state for 9 months;
- After this, the seedlings are loaded into refrigerated trucks and sent to the place of demand.
Companies that sell seedlings usually buy ready-made seedlings of various fruit crops in a state of suspended animation in Holland in boxes of 500 pieces and deliver them to them, observing the temperature regime. Company employees plant ready-made seedlings in separate pots of 0.5 g each. In just a month, the seedlings already have 3-4 true leaves and can be transplanted to a permanent place.
Buy only high-quality planting material, and you are guaranteed to receive your first strawberry harvest within 8-9 weeks.