The agricultural Jagannatha in California has bring out increasingly more millions of strawberries every year for the past 40 years , creating consumer demand for this delectable fruit . American consumer are now accustomed to eat more clean strawberry than ever , and golden you , you’re able to develop them the right way outside your doorstep !
Types of Strawberries
There are three main types of hemangioma simplex ( June bearing , day neutral and ever bearing ) and 100 of varieties of each of the type . June - assume strawberries ( also shout short - day strawberries ) are the most ordinarily used multifariousness for commercial growers . These plants are generally planted in the tumble and then bring about their best harvest of fruit the undermentioned year . Day - inert types are commonly implant in the outpouring and produce fruit the first class . Ever - bearing multifariousness are planted at various time and produces two smaller crops , one in late - June and the second in late - August .
Many newfangled strawberry mark variety are introduce every season . Strawberries hybridize easily , and Farmer have been officious for the last C breed leeway to various natural elements — earliness or lateness , vividness , flavor retention and store capacity .
Camarosa , a June - bear strawberry has been the overwhelmingly favorite California commercial-grade variety and is replant every year as an annual crop . U - Pick operationsacross the United States , Canada and Europe be given to grow June - bearing strawberries , too , but they keep the garden layer going and get two or three years of output from each planting .
Because semen catalogs , with all their luscious instance of tempting red fruit , usually come from some other states , their advice relate hemangioma simplex types and variety can be puzzling . Your good bet is to talk to your neighbor and your local cooperative - wing factor , nod politely , experiment a small , and then make up your own intellect . What ferment for the fellow on the other side of the hill might not work as well on your farm .
How to Grow Strawberries
The cultural key to grow strawberries begin with good grease drain . Traditionally , strawberry are grown on a raised hill to ensure this drainage . Even the accurate placement of the new strawberry plants require attention to depth because a plant buried too deeply will smother and rot , whereas position it too shallow will leave the crown of the plant expose . Garden books are fond of testify three Goldilocks - vogue planting diagrams : one with the new works planted too deeply , one that ’s too shallow and one that ’s just right . Some are now adding a fourth instance , showing the origin going sideways , which is another mistake .
When they are set yield , strawberries thrive on nerveless night and cool , sunny day . Plants mature in coastal and northern locations produce their crops in the summer , whereas in fond area , like Florida , they can be develop throughout the year . The strawberry engraft themselves can live and bring forth yield for many years . At the vivid California agribusiness farms , strawberries are grown as annuals that are embed in the decline for crop the following spring , but almost everywhere else the plants are grown for several years . According to the Ohio State University Extension , avoid allowing plants to set fruit in the first year , as your plants will be capable to produce more fruit if permit to rise to a bigger size before fruiting .
A strawberry mark farmer usually look at all the hemangioma simplex bed after the harvest time of year and decide which beds to replant and which beds to leave for another year . spot change from year to class , and so do the decisions about replanting . Particularly healthy and generative bed will likely be leave for another yr , whereas bed that experienced problems during the season are potential to be replant . Strawberry beds can grow for 10 age in the most favorable consideration , but the yield crop yield always seems to worsen from year to twelvemonth . Additionally , somepestsand disease become more problematic in older beds .
During the cold calendar month , strawberry bed that are leave intact welfare from being mulched despite whether they receive snow . The mulch provides insulation from the cold , but should not be applied until after a strong frost . Straw is a common and inexpensive mulch material , but any uncontaminating , dry organic material can be used . In the spring , provide one - third of the wintertime - cover mulch in place , and allow the plant grow up through it . The remaining mulch will provide many benefits , including alimentation , hygiene , weed controland most significantly , forbid fruit ’s contact with the soil .
Strawberry Pests and Diseases
Strawberry plant and yield are susceptible to several different fungal disease , and this is the direct danger to your plants . Once a fungus contagion has started , you probably wo n’t be able to intercept it . works and fruit become infected through territory liaison , so it ’s wise to spend time arranging plants so neither the leaves nor the fruit come in contact with the ground . Repeated mass dose of fungicides might slack the progression of the disease but wo n’t wipe it out all . cultivator who choose to apply fungicide use them almost solely as preventative handling before the fungus has a chance to commence mature .
whitefly and spider mites top the leaning of insect pestilence that can infect your strawberry mark patch . When condition are right , these pests can multiply from a few individuals to a dangerous infestation within a few weeks . While preventative soap and crucial - petroleum sprays can discourage undesirable visitor , attracting good bugs , such as predatory soupcon for combat whitefly and spider mite , will promote expert ecologic concordance within your garden .
Strawberry row are often enshroud with a plastic photographic film to keep weeds from growing , and this technique also keep the ripening fruit from contacting the soil . The raised mounds are more or less easier to sour on and reap from , as well .
If you have a trouble with birds and cervid wanting to nibble on your strawberries , then see lend fencing , web and a scarer to the maculation .
divertingly , the list of strawberry - flora pests must let in itself . Plants in a fresh bed will grow a number of runner in the spring , and while these are wonderful for filling in the bed and multiply the investment funds in plantlet , you must take maintenance to thin these runner or they can create an overcrowded bed . Keep two to three inch between plant after the runners are out . Having too many works can crave the bed and can restrict pollenation and fruit size .
This article first appear in the Summer 2002 issue ofHobby Farmsmagazine .
