Stocks Strawberriesare subject to several serious virus diseases , and at one metre these endanger to make commercial cultivation quite uneconomic and garden finish most dissatisfactory . However , there has been considerable betterment in the general wellness of hemangioma simplex stock since the origination of a government scheme of review .
It is of the utmost importance to commence with disease - free stock and one should purchase from a agriculturalist with a good reputation to sustain .
Strawberry Growing Location
Although the hemangioma simplex is of woodland origin , the mod fruit requires all the sunshine it can get . On the other mitt , the site for the strawberry layer needs to be shelter , for frigid spring malarkey can very seriously check maturation . Thegardensloping mildly towards the south , unshaded but sheltered , will yield the earliest crops .
Although strawberries may be grown in most parts of the creation , late spring frost may be a limiting component . This can be quite a local problem and if your garden lies in a frost pocket there is not much you may do about it except to be quick to give some sort of protection with cloches or plastic to plant in blossom or to evade the difficulty by growing only the so - called perpetual fruiting types , transfer the first trusses of heyday and concentrating on late summertime or autumn fruit .
SoilStrawberries do best in a richmedium loam with mellow hoummos content . Well - rot leaf mould is an fantabulous material to integrate in soil deficient in constitutional matter , but any other rotted vegetable topic can be used . The site needs to be well run out .
Heavy clay , peaty , and very sluttish , sandy soils should be prepared well in approach of planting time .
grunge with a very gamy lime content are inapplicable for strawberries .
Soil Preparation
Where no natural manure or gardencompostis useable 28 1000 ( 1 oz ) per sq . m sq . yd ) each of superphosphate , sulfate of ammonium hydroxide , and sulfate of potash should be sprinkled over the bed after digging and thinly raked in . If thesoil is not already deep in humus , sum up up to half a bushel of peat per sq . m sq . yd ) .
Planting the Strawberry
Strawberries are usually planted in beds , the rows being 0.7 to 1 m ( 2 to 3 foot ) apart , the plants 38 to 46 cm ( 15 to 18 in ) aside in the row , according to the richness of the stain . One reason for early soil preparation is that the grease should be firm .
Summer - fruiting strawberries may be planted either in the previous summertime to early fall or even in the spring , bring home the bacon that in the latter instance , all blossom is removed the first summertime . The earlier works can go out , the bigger and strong plants they will make their first year , if you’re able to incur plants so ahead of time , plant life in July , August , or even September , but October is late .
The perpetual - fruiting varieties can also be planted in fall but rooted runner are not uncommitted so ahead of time . However , as they have clock time to capture up in spring , October planting is quite satisfactory , provided the soil is decently , workable and will break down to a – crumbly tilth . On insensate , heavy soils the planting of aeonian strawberries is credibly intimately put over until spring .
When ordering , for preference stipulate plants that have been root in pots . These will be slightly more expensive but they will transfer more readily , with less root terms , and they will have honorable root development .
Use a trowel for planting and take a hole out for each plant deep enough to accommodate the roots without bend them . Then return a slight soil at the center of the muddle to make a heap on which the hemangioma simplex plant life can ‘ sit down ’ with its root distribute equally around it .
The base of the top should be just at grease level : if it is too eminent , roots are endanger and dry out , resulting in the eventual destruction of the plant ; while if the crown is half bury , it will either produce unwanted weak subaltern growths or waste out entirely .
plant life steadfastly , using the handle of the trowel as a hammering . As you move , see that the root word of works waiting their turn are not discover to the wind instrument . in the end , rake the bed still and give a good watering to take root the soil .
Keep an eye on the weather and the state of the soil because many strawberry industrial plant are lost or seriously retard by the effect of drouth during the weeks immediately after planting . Also , audit the bed after knockout conditions , and refirm with your boot any plants , which have been lift by frost action .
In the early spring scattering fertiliser dress down the rowing at the rate of 56 gramme ( 2 oz ) per sq . m sq . yd ) . This is made up of 1 part of sulfate of potash , 1 part of sulphate of ammonia , and 2 parts of superphosphate ( all parts by exercising weight ) . Be careful that these fertilizers do not go on the leaves , and gently rake them into the surface soil . Then use light mulch of well - moulder farmyard manure , garden compost or peat to help to preserve soilmoisture in the issue of a natural spring drought but be inclined to water as well when necessary .
When to pick the fruit
When , in the spring following planting , the first blossom bud appear , you have to make a major policy determination . First - twelvemonth flowers on maid plants will give the earliest crop and the turgid individual berry , but if you remove this first year ’s heyday and wait until the 2d crop , the yield will then credibly be greater than the total of two years ’ crop on plants fruiting in their first time of year .
If you are very anxious to assure early yield and if you are go to protect them with cloches or polythene tunnels , then first - year blossom should be allow on . Indeed , where earliness is considered all - crucial , the strawberries may be treated as an one-year craw , and a reinvigorated mountain of earlies planted every year , to be dug up and burned immediately after harvesting . In such instances , strawberry may take their place in the regular yearly rotation of thevegetable garden .
Where the size of the crop is considered more significant than earliness , and the plant are deblossomed in their first twelvemonth , there is every prospect of the strawberries continuing to yield well for three year , peradventure for four .
The perpetual - fruit diversity stick out at least two clear-cut crop . In the first year after set , the first flock of blossom should be removed to give the plants a fortune to arrive at size of it and forte . flush appearing after the end of June is allow to develop and the yield will be good from late summertime ahead . In subsequent long time , you have the choice between two crops , one in June and one in autumn , and one , larger crop , earlier in fall or late summer .
Not long after the berries begin to acquire , runners will appear . Unless these are required for extension they should be cut off at once with scissor hold so as not to scourge the plant ’s energies . With early - rooted plants set out early , runner may even be produced in the first fall and these should certainly be removed . Perpetual fruit varieties tend not to produce ball carrier so freely as the summer - fruit kinds , but these , too , should usually be off unless required for an growth .
Protection
Before the first ripening strawberries are grievous enough to weigh the trusses down to the land , some kind of protection is necessary to prevent the berries from being splash by clay . The traditional method is to position stalk on the soil , barley straw being more easily pucker tight to the plant than the stiffer wheat straw and less liable to be a carrier of pests than oat straw . Before set down the straw , weed by gentle hoeing , mitt weeding , or smirch covering ofweed sea wolf .
You should not be in too much of a rush to put down the straw because , as it is light in color , it loses heat energy rapidly and increase the risk of radioactivity frost damage to exposed bloom or lilliputian fruitlets .
Straw , however , is not always leisurely to get , and you could corrupt patented strawberry mark mats or especially - made wire supports which prevail the berries clear of the stain . Even a sprinkling of peat is better than nothing .
slug can do much damage in a strawberry bed and constitutional slug decoy pellet should be scattered freely among the plants and hold back renewed as necessary during the fruiting season .
Picking Out of doors the first berries are likely to mature between four and six weeks from when the blossom afford . The fruit should be picked by taking the stem about 1 atomic number 96 ( 0.5 in ) behind the berry between finger and ovolo . In this way of life the berry can be broken off without being touch .
