Growing strawberries in bags: features and methods of planting

The cultivation of strawberries in bags is carried out according to Dutch technology, in the vertical and horizontal arrangement of unusual beds. For such methods of planting strawberries, open ground, greenhouses, home conditions using garages and utility rooms are suitable.

What is the advantage of the method?

The cultivation of strawberries in bags has recently become widespread not by accident. This method has several advantages:

• During the year, the berry bears fruit up to five times or more.
• Strawberry bushes are much less likely to undergo various diseases and damage by pests.
• Growing strawberries in bags takes up little space, regardless of where they grow. But this is especially true for greenhouses, where each square meter of area is painted up to a centimeter.
• With this method of breeding strawberries, weeds are absent.
• Growing strawberries in bags all year round is very beneficial, as fresh berries provide the family with vitamins. With a good harvest, there is always surplus that can be sold.
• A business built on growing a berry crop in this way always makes a profit.

Landing bags

For growing berries, you need to stock up on bags. You can buy or make them yourself. For this, a polyethylene reinforced canvas is required. Typically, the diameter of the bags is 20 cm, a length of not more than two meters. The side long seam and one short, which will be the bottom, are welded together. The bags are filled with soil, pulled together on top with a rope. Crosswise holes up to 10 cm are made over their entire area, the distance between them should be at least 20 cm. Then drain holes are made through which excess water will drain. Prepared bags are a kind of beds for plants. They are placed on the allocated area vertically or horizontally.

Priming

How successful the cultivation of strawberries in bags will largely depend on the soil. So that seedlings of culture grow and develop fully, the soil mixture must be of high quality. Strawberries prefer neutral or slightly acidic soil. You can fill the bags with purchased soil, or you can cook it yourself. To do this, you need garden soil, in which you need to add humus, sand and sawdust in equal amounts. Before filling the bags, the ground should be treated (that is, well shed) with a weak solution of potassium permanganate to destroy pathogenic microbes and insects.

Seedling selection

The survival of plants in a new place and their further development and fruiting depend on the planting material. Therefore, some recommendations should be considered:

• You should not choose tall bushes, otherwise they will obscure other plants.
• It is better to buy seedlings of different varieties of strawberries, which will ripen in different periods. This will significantly extend the fruiting time.
• If strawberries in bags are grown in greenhouse conditions, plants of self-pollinated varieties should be planted so that flowers are not pollinated artificially.

The technology of growing strawberries in bags

This method is especially relevant in the absence of significant areas. The technological process of growing berries using such a place of growth does not cause difficulties, but rather facilitates the work of the gardener to care for the crop, thereby increasing productivity. It is very important to consider the following recommendations:

• If the bags are placed vertically, expanded clay is first poured on their bottom. The holes through which the seedlings are planted in the ground, with this arrangement, are made over the entire area of ​​the bag according to the principle of chess arrangement. Ground bags are placed on top of each other (up to about three pieces) or hung on stable supports or hooks.
• If growing strawberries in bags in a greenhouse is carried out using their vertical placement, then lighting is a very important indicator for normal growth. To do this, from time to time, the bags should be turned to the sun so that the plants are lit evenly. Strawberries need air. For his access to be free, you need to have three bags on one meter of the square area of ​​the greenhouse, no more.
• According to the recommendations of specialists, the lower bags should be placed at a small distance from the floor surface to avoid damage to seedlings by slugs.
• When placing bags horizontally, plants are watered in the same way as when grown in the usual way. If they are hung on hooks or stand one on top of the other, drip irrigation is indispensable.
• In regions with a cold climate, growing strawberries in bags in open ground is associated with additional chores. For the winter, peculiar beds should be moved to the room. Of course, they can be left on the street, if reliably protected from frost.
• When caring for strawberries, there is no need to mulch, since the soil is in a bag, the surface of which copes well with this. Weeding and loosening is also not necessary.
• During the planting of seedlings, the growth point does not penetrate; it should be located at the same level with the soil.
• When the ripening period begins, the soil should be enriched with fertilizer once every seven days. Potassium supplements or chicken droppings can be used.
• In order for new plants to develop better, after harvesting, old foliage should be removed.
• Soil in bags and plants in them are used for two years, then everything changes.

How to plant seedlings?

Bags are an unusual habitat for plants. Therefore, it is important that the strawberries feel comfortable. To do this, observe the following rules:

• Before planting, the seedlings are dipped first in hot water for 15 minutes, and then in cold for the same time. This is necessary in order to exclude the entry of pathogenic microbes and pests into the bag along with strawberry bushes.
• Wells are made in the slots on the bags. Their size should be such that the roots can fit freely. For convenience, vertically positioned bags are tilted. As a garden tool, you can take an ordinary spoon or a small scoop.
• The roots should not be wrapped during planting. First you need to straighten them, and then pour on top of the soil and compact.

Landing Features

Depending on how the soil bags are placed, the strawberries are different. If their location is vertical, the roots of the plants are well buried, and if horizontal - to a shallow depth. Strawberry roots should not remain open for more than 10 minutes, so seedlings should be kept in moist soil before planting. Depending on the size of the bag, planting density can be from 9 to 25 plants. After planting, bag beds should be watered. After about a week, the strawberries will be taken. During this period, she needs leaf feeding.

Dutch method of growing strawberries in bags

A distinctive feature of this berry cultivation technology is the frequent planting of seedlings (after two months), due to which strawberries bear fruit all year round. Soil-free soil enriched with useful substances is laid in bags. Peat and perlite are introduced into it. The Dutch system is used when growing strawberries only in a greenhouse or on a loggia. Strawberry seedlings for mass cultivation are bought in a store. To make the bushes faster, they should be soaked for a couple of hours in the water. Growing berries in this system is easy, it is important to follow some recommendations:

• Strawberries are a light-loving culture, so daylight hours can be extended with the help of fluorescent lamps, which are installed above each bag.
• To maintain the optimum temperature, the greenhouse needs to be heated in the winter.
• Plants should be regularly ventilated, so powerful ventilation should be installed.
• To get a good harvest, strawberries are planted in portions all year round.
• In a greenhouse or other adapted room, compliance with the temperature regime is a prerequisite. Strawberries normally develop at 21-23 ^o C.
• It is necessary to ensure proper care, which consists in watering and harvesting. The irrigation system needs to be arranged in advance. To do this, five to six tubes are removed from a large plastic bottle, each of them is lowered into the bag after 50 cm. Water must be constantly poured into the bottle. For one bag with seedlings, two liters of liquid per day is sufficient.

Horizontal Strawberry

It is possible to grow berries in bags on this principle on the street, and not just in the greenhouse. This method is suitable for large rooms or open ground. The bags are laid directly on the ground or in racks placed in several rows, horizontally. As for the open ground, if the area allows, you can make many long rows, leaving the aisles to the width of the passage of a person. During rain, in open ground, plants are covered with a film so that excess moisture does not get into the bags and root decay does not begin. The horizontal method is very convenient, since the bushes in polyethylene do not need to be mulched, and weed and loosen the ground.

Vertical cultivation method

Vertical cultivation of strawberries in bags significantly saves space both in the greenhouse and in the beds in the garden. Growing strawberries in the open air, the bags can be installed near the fence, which will serve as a reliable support. Only in this case, unusual beds will have to be rotated periodically to ensure uniform illumination of plants. If you equip special supports in the middle of the garden, you do not need to do this. Vertical planting in open ground is not always convenient, since it can be used only in the summer. In the greenhouse, this method is used year-round.

An example of growing strawberries in bags step by step:

1. First you need to prepare the bags and fill them with soil enriched with fertilizers.
2. Then the containers should be pulled with a rope and placed vertically or hung on hooks. You can install the bags in two or three tiers.
3. After that, you need to make holes for planting strawberry bushes at a distance of 20 cm from each other.
4. The final stage is the arrangement of an irrigation system, heating and additional lighting, if strawberries grow in a greenhouse.