Garden

Strawberry Queen: description and characteristics of the variety

There are many varieties of strawberries, or as it is also called garden strawberries. One of the remarkable varieties of Russian selection will be discussed in the article.

Variety selection history

The material for creating the Tsaritsa variety was the Scottish variety Red Gontlet and Lithuanian Venta. This is the result of the work of the Russian breeder S. Aytzhanova. Her goal was to create a winter-hardy culture for taiga regions. And this quality was brought to extreme temperatures.

Description and characteristics of the variety

The queen fully justifies her name and has the following characteristics:

neat compact bushes with dense leaves of saturated green color;
flowering is plentiful, but not long;
high percentage of pollination;
the fruits ripen in June within a month after flowering;
peak yield - the first 2-3 years after planting;
yield from 1 bush about 700 g, under good conditions, you can collect up to 1.5–2 kg;
cone-shaped fruits weigh on average up to 20-30 g, sometimes weight reaches 50 g;
sweet berries with a sour taste (tasting score - 4.8 out of 5);
juicy pulp has sufficient elasticity, which ensures good transportation and storage;
with a thickness of the snow layer up to 30 cm it is able to withstand frosts up to -30 ... -35 ° С, and without a snow shelter the survival threshold is about -20 ° С;
like all strawberries, it prefers moist soil, but is able to withstand short droughts.

Did you know? There is a restaurant in New Orleans that serves the most expensive strawberry dish. Its price is 1.4 million dollars. Its main value is a 5-carat pink diamond jewelry.

When growing this variety, some recommendations should be considered:

this plant is a short daylight and flower buds are laid with its duration of not more than 12 hours. This affects the landing dates that fall at the end of August - beginning of September or April;
every 3-4 years it is necessary to rejuvenate the plantings . With industrial cultivation, this should be done more often - every 2 years;
to obtain a replacement for aging bushes, in the second year it is necessary to make a mother liquor for seedlings .

What climate and region is suitable for the variety?

As already mentioned, the variety was developed for cold regions, so it can be successfully grown in the Vladimir or Yaroslavl region, as well as in the Moscow region, Siberia and the Far East. It is clear that in warmer areas it is also possible to make a choice in favor of the Queen. From this it follows that the cultivation of this crop is possible almost everywhere.

Growing Features

The queen has relative unpretentiousness in leaving, however, to obtain the optimal harvest, certain rules of agricultural technology should be taken into account.

Site and material preparation

Most gardeners are inclined to believe about the benefits of spring planting of this variety:

seedlings take root faster thanks to the length of daylight and the activity of microorganisms;
in autumn, the soil microflora is not so active that it affects the rooting and development of strawberries;
during autumn planting in warm areas, plants quickly build up green mass and normally do not root. It is dangerous to freezing the roots.

Before you start growing strawberries, you should correctly purchase seedlings and determine the place of planting. The quality and volume of the crop largely depend on this.

Important! You should not be late with the timing of planting, so that flower stalks are formed, otherwise the plants will "fatten" and build a mustache.

When choosing planting material, you need to pay attention to the following:

the leaves should be saturated green, without any damage;
the diameter of the horn is about 0.7 cm, the greater its thickness, the better the future crop;
the whole bush should be without signs of wilting;
the plant should have at least 3-4 well-developed leaves;
the root system is well moisturized, light brown in color. Its length is up to 5–7 cm;
diameter of the root neck - up to 0.5 cm.

Cultural productivity is also affected by the right choice of location.

In this case, you need to consider certain nuances:

the place should be well-lit (fencing, buildings or trees are not allowed near), without drafts, but well-ventilated;
the culture prefers slightly acidic (pH - from 5 to 6), permeable and loose loam;
it is good if the bed is with a slight bias;
you can not choose lowlands, prone to waterlogging and waterlogging;
plots on high altitudes are also not suitable;
strawberries will not develop and bear fruit on salt marshes and limestones, as well as with soil acidity below 5;
proximity to nightshade crops is not desirable in order to avoid the spread of many pests and diseases;
optimal precursors will be cereals, grains or legumes, and after solanaceous, cabbage or cucumbers, strawberries should not be planted.

Did you know? The city of Nemi in Italy celebrates a strawberry festival. During the celebration, 1000 kg of strawberries are poured into a large container and poured with champagne. Everyone can enjoy this drink.

When preparing the territory, certain manipulations should be carried out:

on heavy and dense soils, it is necessary to provide drainage and make sand when digging;
for loosening often used rotted sawdust. If they are not re-read enough, then the raw materials can be soaked in a solution of 2 tbsp. l urea in 2 liters of water (the amount of sawdust is about 10 kg). After soaking, a handful of ash is added to the composition;
the site is well dug in since autumn;
when digging over 1 m², 2 buckets of humus, 0, 5 cups of ash and about 40-50 g of urea are introduced;
to destroy weed seeds and insect larvae, ammonia water is disinfected (1 l / 5 m²) or the Roundup preparation is used according to the instructions.

Landing pattern

When planting varieties, tape (ditch) or hole methods are practiced.

The first method consists of the following actions:

Digging a groove up to 15 cm deep.
The following grooves are placed at a distance of 40 cm.
Bushes are located along the furrow with an interval of about 20 cm.
The roots are carefully straightened and sprinkled with earth.
The soil is slightly compacted and watered (2 liters for each seedling).
The top of the soil is mulched with dry grass, straw or sawdust. Sometimes the soil is covered with a black cloth, roofing material or packing cardboard.

A hole landing differs from the first method in that it does not dig a groove, but holes for each specimen. The intervals and sequence adhere to the same as with the tape landing. When planting, care must be taken not to sprinkle the central kidney, it should rise above the soil level.

Watering and feeding

To obtain decent crops, garden strawberries need to be applied with various fertilizers.

In total for the season there are four such top dressings:

the first spring is carried out with the appearance of young leaves, after cleaning the beds from dried leaves, mustaches and loosening the soil. Its goal is to eliminate the lack of nitrogen and stimulate the growth of green mass;
the second spring fertilization occurs during the formation of the first ovaries. It is carried out in order to increase the number of ovaries and improve the taste of berries;
the third feeding is carried out in the summer, after harvesting the fruits. It is necessary for laying flower buds of the coming season;
the fourth fertilizer application is carried out in the fall to renew the strength of strawberry bushes.

Read also our e-magazine on strawberry cultivation.

For the initial feeding, various formulations are suitable:

chicken droppings solution. For its preparation for 10 liters of water, 200 g of litter is used. During the day, the mixture is infused in a dark place. Watering is carried out only in row-spacings, avoiding contact with bushes (so as not to burn sheets and roots);
300 g of mullein is taken on a bucket of water and infused for 2 days. Then another 15–20 g of ammonium sulfate is added to the infusion. The consumption for each plant is 300-400 ml;
during the day, you can insist 1 kg of yeast (per 10 l). Before watering, the composition is diluted with water 2 times. Consumption - 0.5 liters per bush.

When the first ovaries appear, 2 top dressing is performed.

Possible options:

10 g of water use 5 g of boric acid, 30 drops of iodine and 1 tbsp. ashes. Consumption per bush - 0.5 l;
fill half a bucket with rye bread, top up with water and leave for 5 days in the dark. Dilute the mixture 2 times and add 500 ml under each plant;
you can use a yeast solution, as with the first feeding;
Fill 1/4 of the bucket with mullein, bring the volume to the top with water and insist for 24 hours. 1 liter of solution before use is diluted 4 times. About 1 liter is used per 1 m².

After picking strawberries, summer dressing is carried out.

Important! In regions where snow falls late in autumn, soil around strawberry bushes can be covered with leaves, spruce branches, straw or green manure (shredded). This natural material will enhance protection against severe frosts, as well as enrich the soil composition with nutrients.

You can apply one of the compositions:

1 tbsp. dilute humus in 10 l and insist 24 hours. Before watering, the concentrate is diluted 1: 1 with water;
saltpeter (15 g) can be added to the previous composition;
in 10 l of water, dissolve 20 g of nitrophosphate and 5 g of potassium sulfate;
It is useful to add ash, which can be carried out in a dry way, sprinkling in row spacing and gaps. In this case, about 100 g is consumed per 1 m². Or you can prepare an infusion (100 g / 10 l) and pour strawberries on it.

The last fertilizer is carried out in the fall.

The following recipes can be applied:

in 10 l of water to dissolve 1 tbsp. ash + 25 g potassium sulfate + 25 g nitroammofoski;
in the same volume, dilute 100 g of mullein and insist 2 days. In the finished mixture add 1 tbsp. ashes;
You can scatter manure around the site, which over the winter will cross and enrich the soil with nutrients. Up to 3 kg of mullein is consumed per 1 m².

Strawberry bushes are watered regularly and plentifully.

Learn how to water strawberries frequently and correctly.

Carrying out this event, you should consider:

the roots of the culture are located in the upper soil ball, which dries quickly in hot weather;
in the heat, watering is carried out daily or at least every other day. Up to 7 l of water is consumed per 1 m²;
at a low temperature, in the autumn or spring, 2-3 humidifications per week are sufficient. Water consumption - 7-10 l;
in warm and rainy weather, irrigation is temporarily stopped so as not to cause waterlogging and the occurrence of diseases;
loamy soils are watered less frequently, and loamy soils - in large volumes and every day (in the heat up to 2 times a day);
well established drip irrigation, providing constant moderate hydration;
when watering, water should be avoided on leaves and flowers.

Care

In addition to timely watering and feeding, the culture requires loosening the soil, weeding weeds, protection from pests and diseases, pruning mustaches and preparing for winter.

Here are a few tips:

Constant cultivation is necessary for the successful growth of strawberries. It is desirable to carry out after each watering.
Weeds must be promptly removed that compete with berry bushes for lighting and nutrients.
Mulching the beds will eliminate the problem of weeds, rapid evaporation of moisture and frequent loosening.
Instead of a mulching layer, agrofibre can be laid. It will protect against drying out and growth of weeds.
When the fruits ripen, the bushes are sprinkled with sawdust or straw, so that the berries are clean and do not rot.
During the growing season, and especially before wintering, all mustaches are removed so that they do not take the right food from the fruiting plants.
In the absence of snow cover, strawberry bushes can be covered with spruce branches or straw (although the variety is frost-resistant).

To update the planting material, you can leave one of the strongest mustache when trimming. Next year, it will turn out a full bush.

Pest and disease protection

At the end of the article it is necessary to say a few words about the most common diseases and pests:

Gray and black rot can destroy up to 80% of the fruits. Prevention of the appearance of these diseases is spraying in the spring with a 2–4% solution of Bordeaux fluid.
Often, strawberry bushes are affected by verticillosis, phytosporosis or fusariosis. To prevent these problems, before planting the roots of strawberries need to be treated with the biological product "Agate" (7 g per 1 liter of water). And when diseases occur, use "Ridomil" or "Quadrice" according to the instructions.
Verticillosis on a strawberry.
Birds love to eat strawberry fruits. To protect against their invasion, a grid thrown on stakes driven around the perimeter will help. You can also use New Year's tinsel, hanging it on the beds;
Serious problems are slugs. So that they do not make their way to the strawberry bushes, around the site you need to dig a groove and fill it with tobacco, ground pepper or lime. Thunderstorm or Meta drugs have a radical effect on the pest, but they act on direct contact with slugs.
Maybug larvae are a threat not only to strawberries. They can be collected and destroyed or watered with onion infusion (1/3 of the husk bucket, top up and insist 4-5 days). The Nemabakt biological product, which selectively acts on soil pests, fights well with larvae.

The alkaloids of lupine planted on strawberries scare away many pests, and root nodules fill the soil with nitrogen.

Storage and harvesting

Strawberry berries ripen gradually, so they are picked several times a season.

When collecting, you need to know some subtleties:

ripe fruits are collected for direct use, as they have a higher sugar content;
for transportation, the fruits must be unripe. In this case, 1/3 of the surface of the berry should have a characteristic color for the variety, and 2/3 are still white;
it is better to harvest the crop in the morning when the dew drops, such a product can be stored. And for processing, strawberries are harvested at any time;
pick the berries carefully, plucking the stalk and not touching the berry itself;
sorting and sorting of berries is not allowed. This is carried out directly on the bed during the collection. Non-assorted products are removed, and only high-quality fruits are put into the boxes.

When storing berries adhere to such requirements:

a refrigerator or other cool place is suitable for this purpose;
the optimum temperature is 0 ... + 2 ° C;
suitable containers are the lower compartment of the refrigerator or a plastic container. In the bag, the berries may choke and begin to deteriorate.

Check out the beneficial and harmful properties of frozen strawberries.

You need to wash the fruits immediately before use, otherwise they will absorb moisture, become sour and quickly deteriorate. Having studied the reviews of many gardeners, we can conclude that the Queen is really a worthy variety that has many advantages and satisfies the basic requirements of consumers.