How to grow strawberries "Holiday"?

Garden strawberries "Holiday" - a popular berry shrub with a large berry of unusual taste.The excellent qualities of this culture are recognized as ordinary summer residents and breeders who consider this variety one of the best. To grow a good crop, you need to know the subtleties of planting and caring for this plant.

Holiday Strawberry is an American variety bred by US breeders when crossing the best types of strawberries. This plant, ripening late, while similar cultures have already been planted, has become widespread in northwestern Russia, in its European part, and also in the Urals.

Characteristic culture:

• upright bushes differ in spreading, but moderate amount of foliage, therefore the above-ground part is rather compact, but high, with strong stems;
• formation of whiskers (stepchildren), not too intense;
• the leaves of the plant are light green, large, their surface is dotted with a network of wrinkles and slightly pubescent;
• peduncles are formed on the same level with the leaves or slightly lower; usually there are many of them, they are strong, with inflorescences shaped like umbrellas consisting of several flowers that open simultaneously;
• fruits with glossy crimson peel, ripening during the first harvest, are especially large and reach 30 g - in subsequent seasons, the berries ripen to a more modest size, and their weight is used to gradually decrease from 25 to 10-12 g;
• usually the fruits ripen at the same time, their flesh is quite elastic, rich in sweet juice, the taste can be described as dessert, not counting the characteristic, barely noticeable sourness;
• the seeds of the plant are yellowish, slightly pressed into the shiny skin.

The advantages of culture are:

• high yields - from one hundred square meters you can collect from 100 to 150 kg;
• excellent taste;
• immunity to hot, dry weather;
• good tolerance of low temperatures in winter;
• ability to resist diseases and insect pests;
• the ability to transport fruit.

Main negative characteristics:

• high fertilizer application requirements;
• deterioration of taste during drought ripening in the absence of sufficient watering;
• reducing the size of the berries after the first harvest.

To grow a strawberry culture, you can use the separated parts of the bush, young shoots and seeds.

• Although the growth of stepsons requires constant pruning, to get a seedling, this is probably the easiest method - you just need to select the most developed shoots, straighten them, bury the rosette in the loosened soil, and water it regularly. At the beginning of autumn, the mustache takes root and separates from the mother plant.
• For reproduction by dividing the bush, only plants aged 3-4 years are suitable; however, this method is considered undesirable because the strawberries are damaged.
• Growing strawberries from seeds is the most difficult task, since the process involves the preparation of quality seeds, their drying, soaking, or stratification — a kind of hardening. After that, you will need to grow seedlings, make her picks in different ways.

Sowing of seeds is carried out in late March or early April in areas with cold climatic conditions, in the south you can start sowing from the second decade of February. You can grow seedlings in cups with peat, flower pots, boxes. With the appearance of 3-4 leaves, you can plant a plant in open ground.

The main thing is to pay attention to the following nuances:

• the stems and leaves should be bright green, free from damage and stains;
• growth kidney - have a thickness of at least 7 m.;
• well, if there is a long, powerful root (more than 7 cm);
• on a suitable seedling is at least three leaves.

When buying a plant in a peat container, you need to check that the root system is with an earthen clod.

Place for landing choose on a flat area with an abundance of sun, but not on a hill. Two weeks before planting, they dig up the earth, fertilizing it with compost (1 bucket per 1 m2). To facilitate clayey soil, river sand is added to it, and lime is suitable for neutralizing acidity.

Planting pits are pulled out at a distance of 30 cm from each other, and 40-45 cm are left between rows. After planting strawberries, it is necessary to water it and add agrofiber until the plant has a root system.

Caring for a plant provides all major agricultural work, beginning in early spring and ending with preparations for the winter period.

• In the spring, the shelter materials and foliage are removed from the beds, the soil between the rows is loosened and fertilizers are applied - wood ash and chicken manure. The land around the plants is watered and mulched with sawdust, peat.
• The frequency of irrigation depends on the type of soil - sandy soil is watered often, once every 2-3 days, the land with a predominance of clay requires more rare irrigation. Before the appearance of flowers you will need to irrigate the beds once in 7 days. It is desirable to organize a drip system of water supply in the formation of peduncles. Mulching during this period should be mandatory to prevent dehydration, which can adversely affect the quality of the fruit.
• The application of fertilizers, potash and phosphate fertilizers is necessary before flowering, as well as after harvesting, besides, it is necessary to periodically feed strawberries with organic matter (ashes, humus, manure).
• On the eve of winter, strawberry beds should be protected from the cold with peat, covered with hay and straw on top, and then put pine branches.

The strawberry variety “Holiday” requires transplantation to new beds every 3-4 years, which helps to avoid diseases caused by disease-causing fungi. By the way, it is quite immune to verticilous wilt and gray rot.

However, you have to protect the plant from various pests - birds, insects and garden slugs. To do this, use such well-known insecticides such as "Aktellik" and "Fufanon", apply ground red pepper; to protect against feathered "robbers" they fix nets on foliage, put scarecrows, hang shiny and rustling objects for scaring.

According to gardeners, strawberries "Holiday" - good variety, which, however, has both its advantages and disadvantages.

• A positive point is the rapid growth of bushes, long abundant flowering, so that even on young plants a lot of berries ripen.
• The crops are usually high, it is a pity that only the first wave of them provides large fruits.
• Another undeniable advantage is considered to be unpretentiousness to cold and hot weather, even though the taste of the product may decline, but it depends entirely on the timely watering of plants.
• Transportability is undoubtedly a positive feature of berries, which even after transportation are not damaged and have an excellent presentation.

Along with this, there are also disadvantages of the variety, in particular, poor seed germination, of which summer residents try to grow seedlings.It is possible that, in most cases, the planting material processing technology is violated, and many also omit the stratification procedure.

In the next video, you can take a look at strawberries “Holiday” grown at home on the balcony.