Secrets of growing strawberries in a greenhouse all year round

Delicate berries amaze everyone with their taste and aroma, one problem - strawberries bear fruit for only a month. Growing strawberries in a greenhouse can help solve this problem. With the right approach, you will enjoy juicy fruits all year round. There is one condition: if you want to be with a rich harvest in winter, don’t spare money to buy high-quality equipment. In a greenhouse, assembled from scrap materials, at best, you will taste a few stunted berries, although you will spend a lot of effort on leaving.

Site preparation for growing

A polycarbonate greenhouse is best suited. In glass and film shelters, it is impossible to maintain the desired temperature; in severe cold, plants freeze out. In severe frosts, a greenhouse without heating equipment will not be able to maintain the desired temperature. If you want to run around and put firewood at night, you can get by with an ordinary stove, but it is safer to purchase an automatic heating system. A good design is not cheap, but only it will make it possible to feast on berries all year round.

In order for flowering and fruiting to be abundant, plants need good lighting in winter. Buy a greenhouse that can accommodate electric lights. Only with a day of light of at least 14 hours will the harvest be rich, and in winter one can only dream of long-term natural light. Lamps must be 400W. At 3 m² you will need 1 lamp located at a height of 1 m from the plants. It is also advisable to equip the room with a reliable watering system in order to facilitate the care of the strawberries and not to walk with the hose along the racks.

Advice

If it is not possible to buy a drip irrigation system, you can make it yourself. Place a container with water on a raised platform, at the bottom, install hoses with medical droppers. Stick the tips into the ground near the bushes and adjust the intensity of the passage of the liquid.

It is better to collect soil for planting on the site where cereals grew that year or siderates... The worst predecessors are cabbage and potatoes. If the soil is too heavy, add sawdust to make it loose. Sometimes for growing strawberries, not soil is used, but coconut fiber or mineral wool.

If you don't want to mess with the soil, you can practice growing strawberries in hydroponics. The nutrient solution will be supplied to the plant roots using a special system. The method is considered progressive and economical, but do you only need berries pumped with chemical compounds?

Planting strawberry bushes

Not every variety is suitable for growing in winter in a greenhouse. The best results are obtained from the Dutch strawberry, specially bred for obtaining rich harvests indoors. If you could not get planting material of this type, you can try any repair grade.

Experts recommend using strawberries of the following varieties for growing in a greenhouse:

• Mount Everest;
• Marmalade;
• Zenga Zengana;
• Elsanta;
• Yellow miracle.

Planting material can be purchased at the nursery or collected at your dacha. In the fall, the antennae are planted in a separate bed. To obtain seedlings, a strong bush is taken, which in the first year is not allowed to develop buds and mustaches. The next summer, the plant will release many shoots, they need to be rooted and left in the open field until frost. In autumn, the bushes are dug out, the green part is cut off, and the roots are stored in the refrigerator. There is no need to care for the seedlings, but it should be checked from time to time to ensure they do not rot.This method allows you to get a lot of material for planting without cost and complex work.

In the greenhouse, the roots are planted in boxes or polyethylene bags. The second method is more convenient: containers with soil are easier to carry, store and place on racks. For planting, holes are cut through 25 cm from each other and a bush is placed there.

Winter planting care

To grow strawberries in extreme conditions all year round, you need to provide them with sufficient nutrients. The soil must contain both organic matter and minerals. The easiest way is to buy a special mix for feeding strawberries... If you can't find one, add compost or rotted manure to the ground. Top dressing is carried out 2 times a month.

For fertilization, use a composition of the following components:

• potash preparations;
• phosphorus fertilizers;
• urea.

For fruiting all year round, you need the correct temperature and humidity regime. Outdoors, flower buds begin to wake up in cool weather. Before the berries appear, the temperature of the soil and air gradually rises, and the harvest takes place on hot days. Plants in the greenhouse in winter need to create similar conditions, then their development will go right. A good heating system will help to create a suitable temperature regime in each period:

• when landing - +10 ⁰С;
• by the time of flowering, the temperature should be gradually raised to +20 ⁰С;
• for fruit ripening it is best of all +24 ⁰С.

It is also necessary to monitor the humidity of the air. Optimal values:

• when landing - 80%;
• after 20 days - 75%;
• during the flowering period - 70%.

The main care is to properly moisturize the soil. For watering, it is better to use a drip irrigation system. The soil must be constantly evenly moist; when watering with a watering can or from a hose, this result cannot be achieved. It is advisable to mulch the surface of the soil with sawdust, this method normalizes soil moisture and prevents a crust from forming.

Dutch technology

When growing strawberries using Dutch technology, the crop can be harvested all year round without interruption. It should be borne in mind that even remontant varieties cannot grow and bear fruit constantly; plants also need rest. Prepare enough seedlings and place them in the refrigerator to allow the strawberries to rest. Bushes are planted every 2 months. This method works for both regular and repair strawberries.

Since plants need special care and their own temperature and humidity values ​​at different periods of development, it is advisable to divide the greenhouse into several compartments. You can adjust the parameters by airing, but it is better to purchase special equipment. There is also a simpler option: new seedlings are placed near the door, where it is cool, and as the bushes develop, they are moved to warmer corners.

For the convenience of work, the cultivation of strawberries in polyethylene bags is practiced. Take the right number of antennae and plant them in pre-cut bags. Bags can be placed horizontally, in one or more tiers. With this method, you need to properly install the lamps so that the upper plantings do not obscure the plants on the lower rack. If you set the film sleeves vertically, you can grow many more bushes in a small area, which will supply you with vitamins all year round.

Secrets of the winter harvest

Growing strawberries indoors is different from growing berry bushes in the garden. You will have to tune in not only to high material costs, but also to hard work. It will be a shame if lack of time or improper care kills the plants, and all the work turns out to be done in vain. Over time, you will find your own method of growing winter strawberries. To get started, a few simple rules will help you improve your yield, and you will feast on fresh strawberries all year round.

The greenhouse must be ventilated periodically.In the stagnant air, fungal spores begin to develop, and the strawberries get sick. The main problem is gray rot. If you are going to treat plants with fungicides, remember that you can use the preparations only until the petals fall off.

It is very difficult to choose a variety that will be ideal. You will have to experiment with different types of strawberries to find the best one for your situation.

When purchasing seedlings, pay attention to the following characteristics:

• zoned variety;
• self-pollination;
• frost resistance;
• duration of fruiting;
• low requirements for the duration of daylight hours.

Even self-pollinated varieties do not always bear fruit well without insects. In a greenhouse, plants should be pollinated. There are recommendations to place the hive indoors, as much as possible - you can check. It is safer to transfer pollen by hand. The method is simple: take a brush and run the hairs over all the flowers twice a day with low humidity.

Advice

Use household appliances to make pollination easier. Take a fan or hair dryer on no heat and blow on the plants.

Be sure to arrange for the ability to adjust the temperature. Growing strawberries in a greenhouse should take place under different thermal conditions. If you put young bushes immediately in a warm place, they will begin to actively develop leaves, and there will be little strength left for the formation of flowers and fruits.

Output

To harvest fresh berries all year round, you need to invest a lot. The costs can pay off: some summer residents have set up a solid business selling strawberries in the winter. Before deciding on such a job, think about where you will put the crop. It makes no sense to build a capital greenhouse, buy expensive equipment and provide the plants with complex care for the sake of a mug of berries a day. The production needs to be productive - more than the needs of the family, and you need to think about ways to market the perishable fruit.

If you decide to do an unusual thing, decide which method is better: growing strawberries using Dutch technology or arranging an ordinary garden bed in a greenhouse. Reviews are the most controversial, since each owner has his own conditions: climate, size of the greenhouse, material capabilities. You can only decide what is right for you by experience.

Don't be afraid of difficulties. The first time will be difficult, but gradually the work will improve, the strawberries will begin to yield. Soon you will have your own secrets and tricks for obtaining berries in a closed field. Do not hide your experience, share with friends and acquaintances, let vitamin products end up on any table. Don't be afraid of the competition, there are never too many strawberries.