The most tender, most delicious and, without a doubt, the most beautiful berry of the garden is strawberries. It is recognized all over the world. Everyone loves this magnificent berry, as many admirers as her have no garden culture.
That is why, breeders do not stop work on the cultivation of new varieties with more and more improved qualities. Strawberry “Tsaritsa” is such a culture - a magnificent table berry of Russian selection, which will be discussed in the article.
Features
Fully consistent with its royal name, this strawberry impresses with the size of the fruit. The ripened first-order berries reach 40-50 g, since large-fruity is a kind of visiting card of the variety. Subsequent fruits ripen with a gradual decrease in size, but, as a rule, there are no berries weighing less than 12-15 grams on a bush. In addition to this undoubted advantage, the Tsaritsa strawberry perfectly tolerates all the vicissitudes of the harsh climate of temperate Russian latitudes - cold awkward winters and dry summers that occur in June and July. Only snowless winters are dangerous for her. In such conditions, with frosts below -15 ° C, flower buds are seriously damaged. Covering strawberry bushes with fir spruce branches or special materials, such as spanbond, will help them survive these seasonal trials. The presence of snow cover significantly increases the frost resistance of plants, and they withstand a temperature drop of -25-40 ° C.
Strawberry Queen: Variety Description
A medium-ripening crop, strawberries are tall, rather sprawling bushes with large white flowers peeling out from under the bright green foliage.
They are located on sturdy peduncles not exceeding the height of the leaves. Ripe berries of excellent burgundy red color with a glossy appetizing surface have the correct conical shape. The consistency of the fruit is juicy, fairly dense, pale red, the flesh is sweet with pronounced sourness and a moderate strawberry aroma. The density of the berries provides high transportability, and their magnificent
appearance greatly increases the sales efficiency of this product. Greenish-yellow seeds are slightly deepened in the berry. Thanks to the large fruits, the Tsaritsa strawberry variety is good, first of all, for fresh consumption, although it is excellent in any berry processing - stewed fruit, jam, jam and other dishes. High-quality crop care will ensure a yield of 2-2.5 kg per square meter.
Due to its immunity to various types of autumn decay and many fungal diseases, strawberry “Queen” bears fruit for a long time and remains active until the colds.
About the benefits of berries
In addition to excellent taste, the culture has very high beneficial properties, since it contains a huge amount of vitamins and various organic compounds that have a beneficial effect on the human body. The use of berries has a rejuvenating effect, improves memory and hematopoiesis function, strengthens the immune system and positively affects the state of blood vessels. A unique set of trace elements - potassium, magnesium, calcium, helps strengthen the nervous system and stabilize neural connections. And the presence of endorphins in berries, called hormones of joy, improves mood and adds optimism.
Strawberry variety "Queen": how to grow?
The prospect of obtaining a good strawberry crop is provided by competent soil preparation. Before planting, you should treat the area from pests - wireworm and larvae of the May beetle, which can destroy young plants. You can secure them by treating the soil with ammonia water.
Strawberry "Queen", the variety description of which is presented in the article, like other representatives of this type of berries, is undemanding to growing conditions, but it certainly responds to care and quality care, giving high yields. You can plant it in spring or in the fall. Both methods are good, and each has its own advantages. It is believed that bushes planted in the spring will take root better and grow stronger over the summer. Although rosettes, which began their independent life in the garden at the end of August, manage to take root well, because before the onset of cold weather there is still a lot of time, and the vegetative ability of strawberries is very high.
The best soils for cultivating crops are light, sandy, slightly acidic soils without close standing groundwater, located in open sunny areas and protected from strong, through winds that can cause significant damage - interfere with pollination or pick up the necessary moisture.
Bed preparation
The soil for planting should be prepared - dig on a bayonet shovel, adding for each square meter of area a bucket of humus and the necessary trace elements found in any complex mineral fertilizer.
During spring planting, emphasis is placed on nitrogen supplements, and in the fall a set of
potassium-phosphorus fertilizers will be required
. If the soil is too acidic, add a deoxidizer, for example, dolomite flour.
Breeding
Propagated strawberry "Queen" seeds and rosettes (mustache). Growing from seeds is a rather long process and is used in cases where you want to breed a new variety, and seedlings have not yet appeared on sale. Easier and faster is the process of reproduction by rooted rosettes obtained from the processes of mustache of the mother bush. Rosettes of the Tsaritsa variety are large, moderately developed with dark green leaves. When buying, you need to pay attention to the presence of a healthy central bud and the condition of the root system of seedlings.
The presence of rotten roots should alert, especially if there are a lot of them. The best planting material is seedlings in separate containers that protect the plant from stress during transportation and transplantation.
Clone selection: what is it?
Considering that a bush can produce fruitfully 4-5 years, and then the yield decreases, and the berries grow smaller, many gardeners select new rosettes formed on the beds to plant new plants and use them as planting material. Professionals advise to take a closer look at the bushes and highlight from them with any markers the most productive, that is, those whose fruit production is especially plentiful. Typically, such bushes produce a few mustaches. Only the first, strongest and strongest sockets from each mustache are taken from them. This approach is called clone selection, guaranteeing future high yields. In a similar way, the strawberry Queen is propagated. The description above is also suitable for her.
Landing rules
Although it is difficult to find a garden where strawberries are not grown, gardeners often make serious mistakes when planting, subsequently losing part of the crop. Plant outlets according to certain rules:
• holes are dug at a distance of 0.5 m from each other, thickening of plantings should be avoided;
• examine the roots of the seedling and shorten them a little if they are longer than 8 cm;
• at the bottom of the pre-watered hole, a small mound is made and the plant is placed on it so that the roots are directed down and down along the sides of the mound;
• close the outlet with earth so that the central kidney, the so-called “heart”, is in no case buried and located above the surface of the soil. This is important, because the bud begins to vypryvat, decay and the plant may die or will lag behind in development, which will undoubtedly affect the quality and size of the crop.
After planting, young plants are once again well watered. With the right algorithm of actions, the “Tsaritsa” strawberry (reviews confirm) perfectly take root and, after some time, produce new leaves.
Watering
The most important thing in caring for the crop is regular watering, since it is the presence of moisture that activates fruit formation. With a decrease in the required level of humidity, crops fall. An ideal option for maintaining it is a well-organized drip irrigation system. But it is necessary to remember that excessive watering will provoke the development of a pathogenic, in particular, fungal pathogenic flora.
It is best to water strawberries in the morning, because by evening the wet leaves will completely dry. Strawberry "Queen", the photo of which is presented in the article, prefers watering under the root. However, any variety does not welcome water on the flowers and leaves.
Crop care
Cultivation, periodic weeding and top dressing are the main concerns about the development of the plant. During the summer, strawberries are fed several times: in early spring, before and after flowering, and also in autumn. As a fertilizer, use an infusion of well-rotted manure, dissolving it in a proportion of 1/10 l. In the fall, just before the cold weather, humus, compost or mullein are placed under the plants. Strawberry "Queen" highly appreciates this concern. Responses of gardeners are unanimous: culture loves organic fertilizing.
Thawed bushes also need care. Immediately after harvesting, yellowed, old, or disease-prone leaves are removed. Some gardeners practice the full pruning of old foliage from the bush, but this must be done carefully and in a timely manner, since if the “heart” is damaged in the growing young leaves, the laying of flower buds for the next year stops. You can carry out total pruning of bushes at the end of July, later it is not worth it, because the bush needs to recover by winter.
At the same time, strawberries are inspected for pest damage. The strawberry variety “Tsaritsa” (gardeners' reviews confirm) is very resistant to disease, but pests can cause very noticeable damage. If pathologies are detected, plantings are treated with insecticides, the range of which is very wide today.
The presented article lists the main agricultural techniques and features for the care of such a crop as strawberry "Queen". Description of the variety, reviews of those who are already successfully growing this magnificent berry in the plots, and their own experience suggest that strawberries are well adapted to temperate latitudes, productive and unpretentious.