Strawberry "Crown": characteristics of the variety and cultivation
The strawberry variety "Crown", although it does not occupy a leading position, is quite a worthy choice. Its main advantage is the ability to easily endure low temperatures, as well as bear fruit throughout the year if this strawberry is grown at home.
Variety Description
Strawberry "Crown" was bred more than forty years ago in Holland. Despite its foreign roots, this garden strawberry fits perfectly into Russian realities: the variety is able to tolerate traditional winter temperatures down to -22 ° C without additional shelter.
This berry is remontant, which means that you can get a crop almost throughout the year - strawberries will bear fruit a second time, and then a third.
The bushes are formed quite small, but the leaves are large and concave. Peduncles are powerful and impressive. The weight of one berry varies from fifteen to thirty grams, and a kilogram of strawberries is usually collected from one bush. The fruits look like small cones, even hearts, painted bright red. Strawberries have few mustaches, which even pleases most gardeners, because the culture is not trying to spread throughout the site.
The pulp of "Korona" is very juicy and tasty smelling, taste characteristics are also at the proper level. It is important to note that only the first berries turn out to be the largest, and in the future their size gradually decreases.Gardeners start harvesting somewhere in the third week of June, and finish in early August. Usually the collection is carried out either early in the morning or late in the evening, when the sun has already set.
Although strawberries are quite resistant to common fungal diseases and survive cold temperatures quite well, things are not so smooth with transportation. It is important to note that "Korona" develops well in closed ground. Culture requires high-quality lighting, heat, lack of drafts, loose, oxygenated soil.
This variety is used either fresh, or as jam and jam, or used for fillings and desserts. Freezing berries is not recommended, because the fruits are too soft for such processing.
Advantages and disadvantages
The positive features of the variety "Korona" include frost resistance, stable satisfactory yield, as well as early ripening. Of course, such strawberries are valued both for the opportunity to enjoy fruits for a long time, and for their excellent taste. It is not particularly demanding on the composition of the soil and is not distinguished by an abundance of whiskers. Suitable "Crown" for almost any purpose, including blanks.
As for the minuses, we can say that the variety does not survive in dry periods, and it is also impossible to transport it. Although Korona copes with powdery mildew, the culture often suffers from the fact that the root system begins to rot - strawberries are affected by white spot and gray rot. For some, the disadvantage is that the fruits cannot be frozen. Perhaps, for beginners, the problem will be that you need to water the strawberries regularly.
Landing Rules
Strawberries "Crown" are planted either according to a single-line scheme (20x40 cm) or two-line (20x40x60 cm). Landing is most often carried out in early spring in the evening hours, when the sun has already gone below the horizon. First you need to dig the ground well and form high beds, the width of which ranges from one to one and a half meters.
After the recesses are formed, all the soil is watered very carefully. The seedling of the "Crown" is carefully placed in the hole, the roots are straightened and everything is sprinkled with earth. Then the soil at each bush should be sprinkled with two or three tablespoons of wood ash. Planting is completed with another watering, as well as mulching with straw or sawdust.
It should be mentioned that, according to the rules of crop rotation, strawberries are planted where peas and beans used to grow. The same beds where potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers and cabbage grew are not recommended.
Features of care
Caring for the "Crown" is, in principle, traditional: top dressing, watering and loosening. It is necessary to loosen the beds to a depth of seven to eight centimeters in cases where a dense crust forms on the surface. This procedure promotes the transport of oxygen to the root system. Watering is usually carried out in the morning every three days. This must be done carefully, making sure that the liquid does not end up on the leaves and the strawberries themselves.
The temperature of the water used should range from 20 to 25 degrees Celsius. If it is sunny outside, then you can simply use the water that has warmed up over the whole day. In the event that rains begin, irrigation is postponed until the moment when the earth is completely dry. By the way, the need for watering can be determined by the state of the bush itself - if the leaves begin to dry out, then they do not have enough moisture. The amount of water for watering one square meter of flowering beds is 20 liters, and then it is reduced to 10 liters.
The procedure is completed by mulching the aisles with straw, peat or sawdust. In the same place, this variety is allowed to grow for only four years, and then it is worth picking up a new site for culture.
Strawberry "Crown" requires the introduction of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. From organic matter, it is best to choose wood ash and cow dung. The first feeding is carried out when the strawberries are just planted. At this stage, as a rule, ash is introduced. Then you will have to fertilize the "Crown" when the first leaves begin to appear. To do this, one tablespoon of nitroammophoska is diluted in ten liters of water. Watering is carried out very carefully, because not a drop of liquid should fall on the leaves.
The next time fertilizers are applied when the fruits are already forming. For this purpose, two grams of potassium nitrate are dissolved in ten liters of liquid. Fertilizer should be applied under the roots, again, without touching the leaves. Finally, it is recommended to water the thinned plants after harvesting with ten liters of cow dung mixed with a glass of wood ash.
From time to time, the "Crown" mustache is trimmed with a sharp pruner to stimulate productivity, but there is no need for too frequent a procedure. In autumn, diseased leaves are necessarily removed again with the help of a pruner. You can not tear off the leaves with your hands, as there is a high probability of damage to the outlet and even the root system of the culture. All green residues must be burned, otherwise, when used as mulch, insects can multiply in them and diseases can occur. The circumcision procedure should be completed with the application of organic fertilizers.
Of the diseases, white spotting is most common. You can determine this disease by looking at the condition of the leaves: if brown spots appear on them, which then begin to increase in size and turn white in the middle, then most likely this is it. There are two ways to deal with the problem.
- One percent Bordeaux liquid is used to treat bushes before flowering, as well as in the middle of summer.
- A five percent iodine solution in an amount of ten milliliters is dissolved in ten liters of water. The resulting liquid is treated with the "Crown".
It will be possible to help the diseased plant with the help of Falcon - ten milliliters of the product is diluted in ten liters of water. Also, this variety is also exposed to red rot, in which case the leaves of the plant acquire a blue tint. You can treat this disease with the help of the store drug "Fundazol".
The brown color of strawberries indicates the occurrence of gray rot. To eliminate it, Derozal and Topsin are used. To prevent gray mold disease, when brown spots covered with fluff form on the berries, it is imperative to follow the planting pattern so that the bushes do not fit too densely, as well as control soil moisture, for example, by mulching and making shelters in case of rain. You can try spraying strawberries with copper chloride diluted in water.
The main pests that are dangerous for this strawberry variety are aphids, mites, weevils and nematodes.You can eliminate them if you spray the plantings with tincture of garlic.
Preparation for the winter starts in the last week of August. First, the tendrils and leaves are cut off, after which the culture is sprayed with Bordeaux liquid. Just before the frosts, the “Crown” is covered with humus just in case. Often problems for berries are created by birds, which are usually scared away by installing a scarecrow next to the plantings.
Reviews of gardeners
According to summer residents, Korona is able to survive the winter without any problems even without shelter and open the new season without dried leaves. In spring, powerful growth and the appearance of flowers begin. However, too high temperatures, reaching up to 30 degrees, lead to the rapid completion of the strawberry fruiting season. If it is not possible to organize drip irrigation, then this variety will have to be irrigated every day. It is also bad that sometimes the first few berries grow large, and then significantly decrease in size.
Indeed, by the end of the harvest period, the size of the berries decreases, but this allows them to be used for jams, jams and other preparations. The taste of "Korona" is not bad, the aroma is very pleasant.
Some gardeners call "Korona" their favorite variety and praise it for mouth-watering berries, an extensive harvest and relative ease of care. The simplest care is as follows: in autumn and spring, the beds are fed with humus and mineral solutions, and in July with wood ash. Watering is carried out using a drip system, mulching is also used, for example, with a polyethylene film. For the winter, the “Crown” does not need to be wrapped up, it will be enough to trim the mustache and sprinkle the bush with dry leaves.
In the next video, watch the technology of planting strawberries on black agrofibre.