How to grow strawberries at home all year round?

Strawberry is a sought-after and long-awaited berry that most consumers love. The disadvantage of growing such a crop in the garden is that its ripening season is rather short. It is only 2-3 weeks in late spring and early summer. To get tasty berries all year round, gardeners grow crops on balconies or window sills.

Not everyone has the opportunity to grow a lot of seedlings at home, as in a regular apartment there is not enough space for this. Indoors, it is necessary to maintain the required humidity and temperature, with which certain difficulties may also arise. Those who want to grow strawberries at home, use a variety of tools and technologies, and also allocate whole rooms to grow strawberries there, for example, in bags.

A bush dug out of the ground is recommended to be planted in a pot that will be the size of its roots. The soil is prepared using humus, earth and sand. If necessary, you can buy ready-made soil in the store. A pot with a seedling is recommended to put in a cold room, where the temperature does not rise above + 10 ° C. The bush must be watered, but it is not often done. Special lighting strawberries in this period is not required, since with an insufficient amount of heat photosynthesis stops.

To wake up strawberries, you must place the pot in a room with a temperature of + 20 ° C and leave it for a short time until fresh leaves appear. When this happens, you need to add heat and light. If in winter, short and cloudy days, the plants will not have enough heat and light, it will be noticeable by their condition. It is recommended to give the bushes 3-4 hours of bright light per day. When the days increase in winter, you can reduce the number of hours of lighting. Already in early spring, artificial lighting can be completely abandoned.

Another way to grow strawberries is to remove it from the seeds. To get a harvest in the spring, it is recommended to plant the seeds in the ground at the end of autumn, but for this it is necessary to provide them with optimal conditions. Initially, the seeds should be placed in shallow boxes with sandy soil. On top of the seeds are filled with fertile composition and periodically sprayed. It is also recommended to cover such a mini-greenhouse with a film so that there is a uniform temperature.

After 3 weeks, the first shoots will appear. Now the pots should be kept at room temperature and give them extra light. When the sprouts get a little stronger, they can be planted in large boxes, and after a while you can get a harvest from them

Some gardeners use automated systems. This system is a design on which there are shelves with strawberry pots. Additional lighting is provided by an artificial lamp with a wide spectrum of radiation. On the shelves is drip irrigation system. The Dutch technology is equipped with sensors that automatically monitor the humidity and temperature of the air, and can also regulate the amount of watering.

It is also possible to grow bushes in bags. This method of growing a culture is no different from when it grows in pots. But the peculiarity of the technique is that you can get quite large yields in a small room, since the bags are placed in several rows on the shelves. This makes it possible to use balconies or other small rooms in which no one lives.

Growing in bags involves the use of bags of different materials, which are packed with soil and installed on the shelf in an upright position. Holes are cut through them, through which bushes are planted. Holes are cut along the height of the bag at a distance of 10 cm. Seedlings are planted in the received cells and look after them.

Optimally choose ampelnye varieties. This will allow to get a good harvest throughout the year, since it is these plants that can constantly bear fruit. The bushes of repair plants are small and beautiful, and therefore can be used in some cases to decorate a greenhouse or balcony. Repair strawberries have many varieties that are constantly updated. At the same time the requirements for their cultivation remain the same. The most common varieties for home cultivation are:

• Geneva;
• Selva;
• Supri;
• Tristan

When choosing a variety, you need to pay attention to such moments:

• early maturity;
• self-pollination ability;
• the size of the berries;
• immunity to fungi;
• demanding of temperature conditions.

It is not necessary to explain to those gardeners who are engaged in growing strawberries professionally, what kind of variety will be optimal in a particular region. But newbies should know that it is preferable to grow and propagate reparative strawberries with seeds. If you need to grow strawberries by forcing, you can dig up bushes from the garden in the fall and move them to a cold room, and in winter to revive and grow good fruit.

Before planting, seedlings need to be prepared so that it has already formed a root part. Young sprouts are transplanted into the boxes, where they will be distilled. To enhance growth, it is recommended that the top layer of soil be constantly moistened and fed.

The room must be prepared in advance. For this you can use the barn, balcony. We must also prepare seedlings and containers for bushes. Bags or pots are placed indoors on the shelves, between which the distance should be 90 cm and the distance between the bags - 30 cm. And also it is necessary to prepare:

• capacities for preparation of top dressing;
• droppers;
• lamps;
• water tanks.

The best option for planting strawberries at home would be a windowsill or a warmed balcony. It is worth choosing such premises that are facing south or east. It is necessary to refuse cultivation in those rooms that face north, since it will be rather cold there, and therefore it will be necessary to heat the room further.

For a culture to grow well, it must be covered for 12 hours a day. During the summer, daylight is enough for the culture, and in the winter it is necessary to light it artificially.

Feels good strawberry indoors with a humidity of 70%. It is recommended not to overdry the air and not to moisten it above normal. If you do not adhere to these rules, strawberries can be affected by disease.

For landing, you can use different tanks. Need to adhere to the rules of landing. Seedlings need only choose one on which 4-6 leaves have already been formed. Planting is carried out in a pot of at least 3 liters. If the culture is removed from the seeds, then they must initially be placed in small cups, and after the appearance of the leaves, be transplanted into larger containers. It is necessary to choose for disembarkation only healthy saplings on which there are no damages.

Specialized soils can be purchased at the store or make them yourself.For strawberries, you can choose any substrate that is designed for flowers or vegetables.

To prepare the composition, it is necessary to mix sand, soil and humus in equal parts and add a little peat. The main point to be observed in the preparation of such a soil is that it is soaked with moisture and light. After preparation of the composition, it is recommended to add some phosphorus-based fertilizer to it.

Experts note that land from the garden is not recommended for planting homemade strawberries, as it can be affected by various pathogenic microorganisms and pests.

Strawberries do not like dense soil and excess water, and therefore before planting it is necessary to cover the bottom of the tank with expanded clay or pebbles. You can use pieces of bricks. The landing process is carried out in several stages.

• Capacity is filled with substrate and drainage.
• Root for a few seconds immersed in a concentrated solution of potassium permanganate.
• The plant is placed in a pot so that the root is well straightened. In some cases, it can be cut off.
• To quickly restore the bushes, it is recommended to place them in a heteroauxin solution for a while.
• The earth is poured into a container and rammed.
• After disembarking, it is recommended to evenly water the bushes.

Careful care of home plants is necessary from the landing period to the time of harvest. It is recommended to periodically water the strawberries. You can use warm distilled water. We must ensure that it does not have chlorine, and therefore it is recommended to pass through the filter.

Soil moisturize 2 times a week. Better to do it in the evening. After watering the soil must be plowed. After moistening, the culture begins to actively grow, and it can not be watered heavily: it can lead to the appearance of rot or fungus.

Top dressing bring every 15 days. To do this, use the usual dressings, which are designed for indoor plants, or purchase special blends for strawberries. It is necessary to add the drug according to the recommendations of the manufacturer, and it is recommended to begin the process after 4-5 sheets appear on the stems.

The mixture for fertilizer is prepared and independently:

• in a glass dish pour chopped egg shells;
• fill the container with warm water;
• insist 5 days;
• strain;
• diluted with water 1: 3.

After that, the bushes are watered with the prepared solution in accordance with the rules and regulations. If necessary, add some chicken dung. It is worth remembering that it is impossible to overfeed the culture, since a lot of nutrients increase the growth of leaves, which is bad for the condition of the berries.

When the first fruits begin to appear, strawberries require iron in large quantities. Experienced gardeners recommend to add rusty nails to the soil with plants to increase the amount of this chemical element. You can spray bushes with a solution containing iron. When the berries are picked, the bushes are not fed at all, or it is done occasionally.

To obtain a large crop every year, it is recommended to periodically trim bushes. This should be done from the moment when the first flowers appear. And also need to remove the antennae, so that the strawberries do not grow.

Strawberries require pollination. For artificial pollination using several methods.

• To spend on blooming flowers with a brush. This procedure is recommended to perform periodically during the entire period of flowering.
• Direct the fan to the plant, through which the pollen will independently fly from flower to flower.

During the harvest, strawberry bushes can infect a tick or gray rot. To get rid of such pathologies, it is recommended to sprinkle the bushes tincture of garlic. To do this, prepare a solution of 2 cloves of garlic and 100 ml of water.This composition is treated bushes from the spray.

On the technology of growing strawberries, see below.