Strawberry transplant - timing, planting technology and care
Content:
Transplanting strawberries is not an easy task, but when growing strawberries, this process is inevitable. In this article, we'll talk about why you need to plant strawberries at all, how and in what time frame - this can be done in order to eventually get a decent harvest of berries on your site.
Transplanting strawberry bushes is the key to decent harvests
Why does it even become necessary to plant (rejuvenate) strawberry plantings? The answer is simple - unfortunately, the widening of a strawberry bush, which inevitably occurs over time, negatively affects its fruiting.
And this expansion of the bush occurs due to the increase in the number of new outlets (horns). So, a strawberry bush in the first year of its life cycle has only one horn (it is also the main root), in the second - 2-3 horns (it is at this age that the very peak of fruiting occurs), in the third - more than 6 horns (a noticeable decrease in yield begins ). Consequently, strawberries retain their yield in the same place during the first three years of life (although there are certain varieties that can actively bear fruit for longer, naturally, subject to proper care). To understand when to plant strawberries is quite simple: the berries will become much smaller, and their number will decrease.
So, what can we do to keep fruiting at the same rate?
In the second year of the existence of our strawberry beds, we begin to propagate strawberries. Reproduction can be carried out both with a mustache and by dividing the bush. In the third year of life, we mercilessly eliminate the overgrown bushes, well, or at least divide them into new ones. True, if, nevertheless, you feel so sorry for your old bushes that your hand does not rise, and besides, there is plenty of space on your site, then excellent jam will come out of the small berries of the “retired bushes”, just the right caliber.
Strawberry transplant timing - when is it better?
The answer to that question is completely ambiguous, and largely depends on in which region of our vast Motherland you plan to do this business. For example, if you grow strawberries in areas where frosts start in early fall, then replanting strawberries in late summer is most likely not your option. The bushes simply do not have time to take root properly before the onset of cold weather.
Let's consider what advantages and disadvantages both transplant options have.
In the case of spring planting, the plants will get a lot of moisture, and not the high air temperature will ensure optimal root survival.
However, bushes planted at the end of summer can also receive a sufficient amount of moisture due to the beginning of the rainy season, and there should be enough time for rooting. Yes, and the hassle of a summer resident at the end of summer is still a little less than in spring.
Transplanting strawberries in spring
The most favorable terms for spring planting of strawberries for each region of our country, of course, will be different. So, for the southern regions - this is the end of March-early April, for the middle zone - the end of April-early May, and for the Siberian and Ural regions - the end of May-early June.
However, there are certain signs that the time to plant strawberries has already come. The ground should not be frozen, and the air temperature should be kept within + 10 ° С.You can start a transfer at lower temperatures, but taking into account the further positive weather forecast, tending to the above mark. Small short-term drops in temperature below zero, strawberries will tolerate quite calmly.
An additional advantage of the spring planting of strawberries in the event that you decide to carry out it by dividing the bush will be the fact that in the summer you can get the first, albeit modest, harvests from new plantings. In fact, in addition to dividing the bush for spring planting, only one more method is suitable - to plant seedlings previously grown from seeds, since strawberry whiskers can only form in summer.
Transplanting strawberries in summer
The best time to plant strawberries is August-September. Much worse, strawberries will tolerate an earlier transplant, for example, in July. This is due to the fact that the air temperature in July is too high, and the newly transplanted bushes are not able to fully feed from the ground. At the same time, they actively lose moisture from the leaves, which will evaporate due to the heat. As a result, you risk not getting young plantings of strawberries, but dried bushes. But if, nevertheless, there is an urgent need to plant strawberries precisely in July-June, you need to organize proper care: to ensure daily watering of young bushes using the method of shallow sprinkling.
When planting strawberries in the summer-autumn period, all known methods are applicable: mustache, dividing a bush, growing from seeds. But keep in mind that in the case of a mustache planting, the rooting of these mustaches must be carried out in advance, just in the month of June-July.
How to prepare a garden for planting strawberries
We free the area selected for new strawberry plantings from weeds, spill it with a disinfectant, leave it for several days (but you can also carry out the disinfection procedure right during the planting of new plants). Then we add wood ash to the soil (a liter can for 1m? Of land), or another fertilizer containing potassium (for example, we add 20g of potassium sulfate). Then we add superphosphate (about 45g per 1m2 of land), and then
and humus, or rotted manure (at the rate of about 7kg per 1m?). We dig the garden bed 25-30cm.
In case of emergency, you can, of course, transplant strawberries to the old place, but then it is simply vital to treat the soil with a disinfectant.
Correct strawberry transplant - how to root a mustache
First you need to choose the planting material correctly. To do this, even at the fruiting stage, you should choose the most fertile bushes and take 3-4 (but no more) tendrils from them, and cut off the rest. Moreover, the mustache for rooting is only suitable for the first from the bush.
In order for the "donor" plant to send all the nutrients to the development of the whiskers, and not to fruiting, all flower stalks can be removed from it, without allowing the berries to form. But this is not at all necessary.
Under the whiskers chosen for breeding, we put it in the ground, or we install containers nearby, in which we will actually grow new sockets. We fill the containers with earth mixed with compost (or humus) in equal proportions. We put the socket in the container in the middle and fix it on both sides with a bracket made of iron wire or other similar material at hand. Further, to enhance nutrition, we cut off the mustache from the side from which it does not connect to the "donor" bush. We water the containers in which our "kids" grow daily (and even twice a day in hot and dry weather).
After about 1.5 months, our seedlings will already have 5 leaves, and the roots will occupy the entire volume of the planting capacity. Now the young bushes are ready to be planted in the ground. We cut them off from the uterine bush, take them out of the container, cut off the mustache formed from him.
In a prepared (fertilized) bed, we make holes, water them with water, and plant our young plants in them. Here the most important nuance will be the correct location of the "heart" (point of growth) of the bush.It (heart) should be at the same level with the ground. If the planting is too high, the plant runs the risk of freezing out when cold weather sets in, and if it is too deep, it will develop poorly and it will simply be pulled into the ground.
We water the plantings, you can also use a disinfectant (for example, Fitosporin), and we mulch the garden bed.
This method of propagation of strawberries takes place with the least stress for it, and almost all new outlets take root.
Propagating strawberries by dividing the bush
This method can be used to propagate all varieties of strawberries, including those that do not form whiskers. This is perhaps the main advantage of this method. The fact is that the resulting planting material will no longer give full yields, because it is formed from a rather depleted old bush when dividing it. Therefore, this method should be used in extreme circumstances, for example, if during the winter part of the strawberry plantings froze, well, or if the strawberry variety you are interested in does not really form a mustache.
So, let's figure out how to properly propagate strawberries by dividing the bush.
First, you need to dig out the overgrown bush that you plan to divide, along with a large clod of earth. Do this as carefully as possible so as not to damage the roots of the plant. To do this, at the beginning, dig in the bush in a circle.
Then we move the dug out bush into a basin, or another similar container, leave only young green leaves and stems on the plant, cut off the rest. We clean the roots of the earth. We fill the basin with water, and rinse the roots from the rest of the soil. Now, when the roots are freed from the ground, the bush will split by itself, you just need to separate the horns from one another, using just my hands. Those horns that did not separate themselves during this procedure are cut off with a knife. Each detached horn must have an apical bud and its own roots.
On each resulting daughter plant, we leave only 2-3 central leaves on the two youngest stems (and even cut them in half so that the plant loses as little liquid as possible during evaporation), we cut off the rest. We cut off the flowers, we also subject the roots to "inventory", leaving the freshest and strongest.
To make the adaptation process faster, the roots of new plants can be treated with growth stimulants (such as "Kornevina", "Epina", "Zircon"), or disinfected with Phytosoprin. And you can also adopt the proven "old-fashioned" method: dip the roots of the bushes before planting in a chatterbox made from clay and manure (we dilute 3 parts of clay and 1 part of manure with water to the state of liquid sour cream).
On a bed prepared for planting (fertilized in advance), we make indentations corresponding to the size of the roots of new bushes, spill them with water, put seedlings and bury them. As in the case of planting a mustache, we control the position of the heart of the bush relative to the surface of the earth.
It is also important here to ensure that the roots are fully extended and in an upright position, there should be no bends anywhere. After planting, the bed should be covered with a layer of mulch.
Moving the strawberry bush from place to place
Sometimes you just need to transfer strawberry bushes from one place to another, how will the plant react to this procedure? If you carry out all the actions correctly, then your bushes will not experience much stress. To do this, you need to carefully dig out a bush with a large clod of earth (so that the roots of the plant are not exposed) and transfer it with a shovel to a new place of residence. Thus, if necessary, even a flowering plant can be transplanted, without losing peduncles (if the roots turn out to be bare, strawberries, in order to save their energy, will drop all flowers themselves).
Planting scheme and care for strawberries after transplanting
The best precursors for strawberries in the garden are lettuce, sorrel, onions, garlic, carrots, beets, radishes, and legumes.But after potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes and peppers, it is better not to grow strawberries.
As for the planting scheme, the best option is planting in rows, where the "distance" between the rows is about 70cm, and the distance between plants in a row is about 25cm. But there are, of course, other ways (solid carpet, tape in several lines)
Transplanted strawberries need constant watering. Young plants are watered every day for at least two weeks (but of course not flooded), and then as needed.
But strawberry bushes do not need feeding in the year of planting, because you brought everything into the ground at the stage of preparing the garden for planting. But they need shelter from frost with the onset of late autumn, otherwise there is a risk of being left in the spring without new plantings.