The Strawberry is our most wide crop small fruit . In suited varieties it is rise in every state , much of Canada , except the coldest regions , and even in the milder part of Alaska . It is grown extensively commercially in widely assort parts of the United States and Canada and is the most popular and easily grown garden fruit .
The vulgar cultivated Strawberry , Fragaria chiloensis variety ananassa , is descended from the wild species , F. chiloensis , of the Pacific coasts of North and South America , and F. virginiana , a native of eastern North America . These were use up to Europe by early travelers , where they soon became hybridized , and some of the resulting diversity were give back to North America . From them , other assortment , particularly desirable for acculturation in the United States and Canada , were developed , and commercial planting get going about the year 1800 . A speedy expanding upon of Strawberry planting took blank space after the Civil War , when miscellanea have fruits suitable for shipping became usable .
The Strawberry is beseem to a wider image of climatical condition than any other Temperate Zone yield . Over the twelvemonth multifariousness have been developed for such extremes as are recover in Florida , with its hot , humid climate and short summertime solar day , and the prairie provinces of Canada , with their long , red-hot , dry summer days and stale wintertime , often without much snow cover . There are even form that will stand the winters of Wyoming without protection . The Strawberry , with its many varieties , is a very adaptable industrial plant .
salmagundi of the common Strawberryare classify as June - bearing and everbearing , harmonize to whether they produce one crop of yield ( in June in the North , earlier in the twelvemonth in the South ) each year and no more , or bear a succession of yield from late July or August until Robert Frost . The June - fruiting varieties are divided into former variety and later mixed bag , there being a week or more difference between the dates of ripening of these kinds . In addition to varieties of the common Strawberry , other kinds called Alpine and Hautbois Strawberries are sometimes cultivated .
Soil and Site . Strawberries will grow on a wide range of soils , offer the plant life are in good forcible condition and are managed properly . Soil grain , if not extreme , is junior-grade in importance to good drain , freedom from stain - borne diseases , a satisfactory wet supplying , sufficient constituent matter in the soil and freedom from repeated gage . The idealistic soil is a inscrutable , sandy or gravelly loam , overlie a subsoil that is retentive of moisture but is well - run out . Coarse sands and gravels are dependent to drought and compact clay soils are poorly drain and difficult to manage ; for these reasons they are less acceptable .
A dirt well - supplied with organic affair is not only less open to drought , but also is easy ferment , and its mellowed circumstance is favorable for the rooting of the Strawberry runners .
Good drainage , rise up as well as internal , is important because Strawberry roots are well wound if the dirt is saturate . Soils that are almost saturated in wintertime heave readily , causing equipment casualty to the roots . The cherry stele root rot disease is a disease of poorly enfeeble soils . A gentle slope and a porous subsoil favor effective drain .
In gardens where Tomatoes , Potatoes , Peppers and Eggplants are grown , the harvest revolution should be planned so that strawberry will not be plant on land which has grown these crops within the premature 3 year . These craw may infect the grime with verticillium wilt , a troublesome antecedent disease of Strawberries .
Good air circulation is desirable as a partial protection against frost , which is unremarkably worse in abject spots environ by high footing . Fungus diseases of the foliage are less austere where there is good air effort , as on a gradient . The direction of the slope act upon the time of ripening of the fruit . strawberry on a south - facing side ripen several days originally than those on a northward - face slope . This difference should be considered , as it may give one an reward on early or previous market or of a longer season of home picking if early varieties are implant on a south slope and late varieties on a north slope . Strawberries demand a sunny position .
Preparation for plantingdepends upon the previous management of the soil for several long time . Organic matter in quantity is desirable and may be supplied by the generous program of rich compost , or by the addition of static manure at the pace of about 20 stacks to the acre ; this amount may be increased or decreased , according to the motive of the grease and the supplying of manure .
If manure or racy compost in sufficient amounts is not to be had , then the soil should be managed so that the ground is occupied by a supergrass , or legume sward , preferably the latter , for at least two years before the Strawberries are plant . The sod crop should be heavily inseminate to stimulate the production of as much plant material as possible to be plowed under in preparation for the Strawberries . A hoed craw should be grow for one year before the Strawberries are plant .
Many agriculturalist fertilize their fields with a all over fertilizer such as a 5 - 10 - 5 at the charge per unit of 1,000 pounds to the acre when making the Din Land quick for planting ; or they go for the same amount as a dressing patter alongside the run-in of plants at the first hoeing after the plants are set out . A fertilizer supplying nitrogen alone at this clock time would probably be sufficient in most good soils .
The land should be treat in the downfall if possible , but fountain plowing is acceptable on light dirt that permit too soon working . The fashioning ready of the filth should be as thorough as for veggie . hemangioma simplex plants are set out more easy , and come out considerably in a loose , mellow filth that is free from lumps .
hemangioma simplex are usually planted in former springas before long as the soil can be had in suitable term . Late planting , if followed by hot , dry weather , may result in a poor stand of flora . tardily fall planting , even in late October or other November , is successful if the plant life are well - mulched before severe weather go far . The mulch must be remove in the natural spring and the planting managed like a spring - plant bed . The principal reward of fall planting is the early start the plants get in the spring .
The plant to be set out should be purchasedfrom nursery specializing in the production of Strawberry industrial plant . computer virus - free plant life should be specify , as these are much superscript to the older stocks , which are often virus - infected and do not arise smartly .
The young plants should have vigorous origin , straw - colour in or well-nigh bloodless and sinewy . plant with black and sparse roots are not suitable for planting .
Cold - entrepot plants are being used for plant in increasing numbers . These come mostly from Maryland , where they are delve during the winter while fully dormant and are kept in cold storage at a temperature of about 32 degree F. until the shipping season . These plants , because they are amply dormant at planting time , test higher-ranking to plants that are dug after development has started .
When the works are received from the nursery the bundle should be opened and the plant list in ( implant temporarily ) in a shallow trench in a moist , fishy place until they are to be permanently plant . If they are dry on arrival , the roots should be soaked in water for an hour .
Planting Systems . Strawberries may be grown in matted rows or in hills . With the matt row system all of the Caranx crysos plants that develop are unremarkably tolerate to grow and the outcome is most often an overcrowded fruiting dustup . Much near results are secured if many of the stolon are annihilate so that the plants are space at the best distance for maximum production . If the runner plant life in a matted run-in system are space about the mother plants about 6 - 8 in . asunder until the course is filled out to a width of 18 in . and all later runners are removed , overcrowding is prevented and superior results obtained . The spatial arrangement is done when the bed is hoed .
When the plants are grown in hills , all of the runner are removed as they seem , leaving only the plants that were set to produce the crop . The hill system unremarkably produce the best fruits , but because the plants are set more closely together at planting time the costs for plant are higher .
Strawberries planted to produce a matted run-in bed are usually set 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 ft . apart in the row , look on the stolon - making ability of the variety show and the richness of the soil . The aloofness between the rows is 3 - 3 1/2 ft .
In the hill organisation the plants are localise 1 - 11/2 ft . asunder in the course and 2 - 3 ft . between rows . Sometimes they are mark in bed of 2 or 3 rows with an alley between for the picker . A edition of this is to position the plants in hills and allow a ball carrier to take root in the row , on each side of the mother plant , or sometimes on each side of the row to make a treble row . The essential thing , whatever arrangement is followed , is to forbid the excessive crowding that often results when too many ball carrier are set aside to take source and base themselves .
Method of Planting . The plants may be go down out with a trowel , or with a spade . The spade requires two persons . One inserts the spade in the territory vertically and pushes it back and forth to make a V - mold gob into which the roots are placed , spread apart and not crowded together in a clod . The top of the crown of the Strawberry plant should be even with the surface of the ground . As the jigaboo is remove , the territory should be firmed about the root by pressing it with the foot . A decent congeal plant should dissent a unattackable tug without becoming loosen in the soil . During planting , the roots should not be allow for to dry out .
remove Blossoms . Amateur nurseryman are often so unquiet to obtain fruits from the Strawberry plants they set out that they allow them to bear fruit the first season . This is a mistake . The industrial plant should not be allowed to fruit until their 2nd season ; all blossoms should be remove the first yr to prevent fruiting . Plants that fruit the first class are not capable to make a good start at becoming well established .
Controllingweeds is the principal job during the growing time of year . The force field should be cultivated and hoed often enough to carry off all weeds while they are yet small . They are much easier to control while small and it is authoritative to eradicate them before they have contend with the Strawberries for nutrients and wet .
chemic weed ascendance is used by some growers and if it is done the right way it can greatly reduce the number of cultivations needed . particular herbicide ( dope killer ) that shoot down germinating weed seeds may be used . These weed killers , such as Crag No . 1 , are not effective on seedlings over a fourth part inch in height . To use them effectively the field is cultivated and hoe to eliminate all sizable weeds , and is then spray with the weedkiller in dilutions recommended by the manufacturer . For a few weeks the herbicide kills the germinating weed seeds , then loses its effectiveness , and the process is reduplicate . It does not wound the plants , but may stunt the roots temporarily as they begin to build up on the Caranx crysos works .
Weed killers bear 2,4 - viosterol may be used to control broad - lead green goddess , but this fabric is not effective on sess . It should not be used later than mid - August , as it impress the yield bud which uprise after that , and many misshapen Chuck Berry will result the next spring . It should not be used in the spring of the heraldic bearing year . 2,4 - D is utile for cleaning up the widow’s weeds in a bed that is being renew after harvest .
Other weed killers are sometimes used . The dinitro compound are effective on Chickweed if properly used . New materials are being develop rapidly and Strawberry growers should stop up the latest information on chemical pot Orcinus orca from their State Agricultural Experiment Stations .
Geese have also been used to weed Strawberries . They do not eat Strawberry leaves and they do run through grasses and some , but not all , broad - leave weeds . Young geese are well weed-whacker than old geese and they must get the locoweed while these are small as they do not do a practiced job on one-time weeds . The geese must be confine with a 30 - inch fencing , and water , some provender , and shade are necessary . These should be at least 25 foot from the Strawberries to prevent excessive trampling by the bozo .
The Strawberry bed unremarkably postulate one weeding in the fountain of the fruiting yr . Unless this is done , it will be very weedy by the time the berries are ripe and the competition between the green goddess and the berries for moisture will reduce the crop .
Irrigationis ordinarily a profitable practice in growing Strawberries . The plants are shallow - steady down , with the bulk of the roots in the top 6 in . of the soil , and the effect of dry atmospheric condition are soon felt . The craw may be reduced one one-half or more by a water shortage when the Charles Edward Berry are ripening . Strawberries need about an in of rain a workweek and any deficiency should be made up by irrigation if a water provision is available . Portable organ pipe and revolving sprinklers are used on large planting . In the garden , holey canvas hosepipe ( soil - soaker ) is used .
The fertilizer requirement of Strawberrieshave been the subject of much experiment , but the result are less clear - cut than with many other craw . Nitrogen is most pertinent to bring profitable resultant ; and late summer and other fall program when the fruit bud are being spring have sometimes resulted in increased output . Nitrogen applied in the spring of the bearing year usually minify yield and may leave in soft berries and much waste in a stiff season .
The daystar and potash necessary of Strawberries are usually met in most soils suitable for Strawberry turn . In thehome gardenthere is no scathe in using these element in a staring fertilizer . On infertile soils ended fertilizers may be used . hemangioma simplex raiser should acknowledge that water , early planting , space of runner plants , wintertime mulching , weed ascendance and the ascendency of diseases and insects are much more effectual in increase yields than are fertiliser .
The practiced praxis is probably to apply N in mid - August at the charge per unit of 50 - 60 pounds per acre . This may be obtain by using 150 - 200 lb of ammonium ion nitrate or twice as much nitrate of soda ash . Other textile that furnish the same amount of nitrogen may be used . The fertilizer is broadcast over the plants when dry and then brushed off with a broom , or piece of brush , to avoid sunburn the foliage .
harvest . The Chuck Berry should be picked every other Clarence Day because they are extremely perishable . The picker should handle them carefully to void bruising . As shortly as possible the fill handbasket should be remove to the shade or a cool cellar . After harvest home , the seam , if not too weedy and if in good vigor , may be renew for another crop the following time of year . This is done by bump off the tops ( cutting off the honest-to-god foliage ) , clean out the locoweed , and fertilizing the layer . Some growers plow out the plants along the side of the row and renew it with the stolon plants that grow in late summer from the center plants , but beds so renewed may be less productive than those where all the plants are left , if the course is not too crowded .
Winter Protection . strawberry should be mulch for winter trade protection . The crowns and base of the plants , if unprotected , are often severely hurt by low winter temperatures . This injury appears the following fountain and is certify by reduced ontogenesis , inflamed foliage , and eventually , when the berries are ripening , by the wilt and crash of the plants .
To keep this injury the mulch should be go for before temperatures drop below 20 degreesF.,but after two or three hard frosts have occur . The plants should be covered to a deepness of 2 - 3 in . with the mulch .
wheat berry straw and marsh hay are fantabulous mulching material . rye whisky and oat husk are also unspoiled . Leaves and sawdust are sometimes used if practiced materials are not available . Pine phonograph needle are much used in the South .
In the spring , part of the mulch is raked off the plants into the back street between the wrangle . The leaves and flower clusters push up through the sparse covering of straw which is left to keep the Berry clear , to keep up wet and to mark off weed outgrowth apace to a considerable extent .
Propagation . The Strawberry may be propagated from seeds or by the sectionalization of plant in early spring , but by far the easiest and best way is by young plant formed on runners . Caranx crysos are slender , train stems which modernise from the stem of fledged plant in July . For the serious resultant propagation should be done from parent flora which have not been reserve to fruit the twelvemonth the young plants are taken .
The parent plants should be the most vigorous , disease - innocent plants with honest flower trusses in their first year . Runners which fail to make a flower corbel in their first year should always be removed and destroy . Having selected the parent plants , the next thing is to concentrate their energy into vegetal product . The flower stalks should be trim and no flowering or fruiting allowed . The plants may be score ones in the ordinary seam or hand a minuscule nursery bed of their own . They should be hoed , fertilized and well watered .
Layering Runners . In July , the runner will forge and should be restricted to four to six per plant . The runner should be trained to root either in 3 - in . pots , filled with salutary soil , or in a prepared layer of equal theatrical role , by bulk , loam and compost ( or peat ) , liberally enriched with osseous tissue repast , between two board or rows of bricks by the incline of the parent plants . pocket-sized plantlets form where the runner pillow on the grease , and this can be encouraged by pegging the runner down , where the plantlets are rooting , in the pots or layer . Once the plantlets are growing and rooting , the free end of the runner should be cut at 2 - 3 inch beyond , but leaving the basal ending still bond to the parent plant . Although more than one plantlet can be formed by a single offset , it is wise to propagate only one plantlet per runner in the interest of get first - class gillyflower , fully characteristic of the parent melody .
The young plantlets should be kept watered in dry weather , and an casual feeding with a liquid fertilizer is helpful . In four to five weeks , the young plants are commonly quick to be discerp from the letters patent works , and can be transplant for the making of new bed , or grown on for wedge under ice . The parent plants may be allow to grow on for fruiting , but should not be used for multiplication again .
All this may seem a counsel of perfection , and many gardeners are tempted to propagate from their fruiting plants rooted with or without their attention in the average soil . This may win for a few seasons , but in fourth dimension is commonly attended by a perceptible falling off in the performance of the works and their fruiting energy .
Strawberries from Seeds . Strawberries do not come rightful to variety from seminal fluid , and source - raising is chiefly of interest to the hybridist or those concerned in raising Alpine and Hautbois Strawberries . The seeds are located on the outsides of the fruit and are severalise by crushing , washing and dry fully mature fruits . They should be sown very shallowly in pans or flats in a cold shape or greenhouse in March or in light soil out of room access in other spring . The plant are later on transfer to the beds where they are to grow and develop their fruit .
grow Everbearing Varieties . The everbearing varieties of Strawberry require particular treatment , as they farm verylight crop when mature in the same wayas the June - bearing varieties . They are less vigorous and produce fewer runner .
The soil should be extremely fertile from the add-on of stable manure or compost or commercial fertilizer , and irrigation will be necessary , as the berries mature if the weather condition is teetotal . agriculturalist in Ohio have developed a method of growing the everbearing varieties in hills under a sawdust mulch . The plants are plant out in the spring in hills , domesticate a few weeks and then mulched with an column inch of sawdust all over the field . All runners are removed as soon as they appear . The blossoms are picked off until former July , after which they are left on the plant and the berries start out mature a month later , carry on until frost . The price of grow the everbearers by this method acting are high , but the returns from out - of - season Strawberries are also mellow if a marketplace is available at lavishness Price .
Strawberry - growing in Barrels . Strawberries may be grown in pots or boxes on window sills , and a good method for limited space is to farm them in a barrel . A sound , clean barrel is prepared by drilling with 1 - in . drain holes , 6 in . asunder , in the bottom , and with rows of 21/2 - in . holes in the sides , about 12 in . apart , staggered so that the holes of one row lie between those of next words . The barrel is fend on brick , and a 2 - in . layer of low bricks , stone or dust put in the bottom . A 6 - in . drainpipe of earthenware , stalwart cardboard , or roofing tile is pose centrally , fill with broken brick , and the barrelful then filled with a fertile soil mixture , such as equal parts by bulk of good loam and rot manure or compost , plus 6 oz . bone meal per bushel . The soil should be well firm as it is put in , and the young plants inserted in the pickle as filling proceeds . The center pipe is lifted out to leave a core of holey brick , and half a dozen flora can be localize on top of thebarrelwhen filled .
The barrel should support in a well - sunned but sheltered spot , and may be water through the central core . It is usually necessary to replace the plants annually , and only first - class stock should be used .
Varieties of Strawberries arevery numerous and many are rather local in their suitability for different line of latitude and grease . The miscellany suited to New York are wholly unsuitable for Tennessee , Louisiana , California and other region where conditions are very unlike from those where the varieties originated .
The variety favored for planting are exchange rapidly as many raw ones are being developed by the experimentation station . Prospective planters should inquire of their State Agricultural Experiment Stations , or of their strawberry mark - growing neighbour for information regarding the best varieties for local circumstance . Thecatalogues of Strawberry nursery put up the sort currently in favour . The follow are the better and more widely grown sorts at present tense .
For the northern states westward to the Mississippi valley , the principal varieties are Howard ( Premier ) , Catskill , Sparkle , Temple , Fairland , Robinson , Fairfax , and Pathfinder . young and promising are the varieties Empire , Erie , Eden , Vermilion , and Armore . For the upper Mississippi valley Beaver and Senator Dunlap are among the hardiest .
For Washington , D. C. , to the Carolinas , the varieties Blakemore , Klondike , Massey and Suwannee are recommended , the latter being a high - quality variety for home use . Dixieland and Pocahontas are unexampled and promising for trial in this region .
For Kentucky and Tennessee , the variety Tennessee Beauty , Tennessee Shipper and Aroma are important . In the Gulf seacoast country , Missionary , Blakemore , Klonmore and Klondike are important . These same sort as well as the variety Ranger are suitable for Texas .
For Florida the advocate assortment are Florida Ninety and Missionary .
For the Pacific Northwest the varieties Marshall , Brightmore , Corvallis and Northwest are recommended .
Varieties suitable for cultivation in California are Marshall and several that were prepare there , Shasta , Donner , Tahoe , Lassen and Sierra .
The everbearing varieties Gem , Superfection and Brilliant are all very similar , if not identical , and are beneficial . Streamliner and Twentieth Century are other everbearing diversity worth growing .
For Canadathe following varieties are recommended : In Alberta , British Sovereign , Senator Dunlap , Premier , Borden ; in British Columbia , British Sovereign , Marshall , Senator Dunlap , Magoon ; in Manitoba , Senator Dunlap , Glen - more ; in New Brunswick , Premier , Senator Dunlap , Catskill , Mackenzie ; for Nova Scotia , Premier , Senator Dunlap , Catskill , Pathfinder ; for Prince Edward Island , Senator Dunlap , Borden , Crimson Glow ; for Quebec , Premier , Mackenzie , Senator Dunlap , Catskill , King ; for Saskatchewan , Senator Dunlap , Dakota , Prairie Bell .
Alpine and Hautbois Strawberriesare quite distinct from variety of the rough-cut Strawberry . They represent species aboriginal to Europe . The Alpine kinds are deduct from Fragaria vesca assortment semperflorens ; the Hautbois Strawberry is F. moschata . All bear modest Charles Edward Berry of delicious sapidity over a tenacious period during summer and fall .
These kinds of Strawberries are normally propagate by seed sown in leap . The young plants are transplanted to flats of fat , poriferous soil and later to outdoor beds or are institute as edgings or borderline to path . Most varieties should be space about 12 in . apart , but one of the best and most commonly available , the Alpine Strawberry Baron Solemacher , need 18 in . between individuals . Baron Solemacher is a vigorous raiser ; it does not form runners . The Alpine variety show Cresta is a good runner - form kind . Fragaria vesca variety variegata has leaves handsomely variegated with blank .
