Strawberries are rich in vitamins, and in fact they are so lacking in winter time. Many people, even living in high-rise buildings, grow strawberries on the balcony. There is nothing difficult in this, the most important thing is to know the rules and strictly follow them. Some varieties of strawberries and wild strawberries get along well in ordinary flower pots or in special containers. You can grow them all year round. Among the most common varieties that are grown on the balcony, the following can be distinguished: "Homemade Delicatessen", "Sarian", "Aluba", "Elizabeth II", "Alpine". Strawberries are grown from seeds or seedlings.
How to grow strawberries? The most important thing is to choose the right place for growing. The ideal option is a glazed balcony, which is located on the south side. But if the balcony faces the north side, it will also be possible to grow strawberries, you will only need to take care of additional insulation and lighting. Important - containers with a plant should not stand in drafts. Strawberries on the balcony do not like cold through wind. At the same time, you need to ventilate the balcony every day for at least 20 minutes.
Flower pots (volume not less than 2.5 l) can serve as a planting container. For each bush you will need a separate pot.
The plant gets along well in balcony boxes. At the same time, the distance between the bushes should not be less than 15 cm. It does not matter what the strawberries will grow in, it is important that the containers have holes at the bottom to remove excess moisture.
If humus, sand and leaf turf are preferred, then the ratio should be 5:2:3. If peat, sand and humus are selected, then the components are mixed in equal amounts. Any soil before planting the plant should be steamed for 2-3 hours at t 100 ° C to remove harmful microorganisms.
Landing can be done in the spring, most best time- the second decade of March. If the balcony is not glazed, then the ideal time is mid-April. To help strawberries grow, the seeds should not be buried in the soil, they should be planted at a medium level. In this case, the soil is moist (not wet or slightly moistened). After planting, the ground is slightly compacted with fingers.
Growing strawberries - care rules:
Be sure to protect strawberries from diseases and pests so that they can grow on the balcony. To do this, you need to treat the plant with special pesticides. Various decoctions can be used. For this, bitter chilli pepper, horse sorrel, red elderberry are suitable. The procedure is carried out every 8-9 days until the plant begins to bear fruit. If manifestations of the disease become noticeable, the affected areas are immediately removed.
As soon as the fifth leaf appears, once every 14 days you need to feed the strawberries. To do this, you should purchase any fertilizer and act according to the available instructions.
It is possible to make top dressing with your own hands. Two-liter container is half filled with powder eggshell(whether boiled egg or raw), wood ash (150 g), water is added. Liquids need to be added so much that a homogeneous mixture is obtained. It should be insisted within 4 days. Then dilute with water in a ratio of 1:15 (15 parts of water).
When the thaw comes, the sawdust must be removed. It is not necessary to cover strawberries in a glazed balcony, but on condition that the temperature remains at least + 5 ° C.
Strawberries, properly grown on the balcony, will bear fruit for three years, after which the bushes and soil must be replaced.
Ordinary varieties of strawberries are not profitable to grow on the balcony, because they bear fruit only once a year. Great alternative is a remontant strawberry.
Landing time is early February. At the same time, the plant will begin to bear fruit in August. Strawberries on the balcony can delight with berries for 3 years. The soil scheme can be of three types: a layer of high-moor peat + a layer of soddy soil + a layer of sand (6: 3: 1); a layer of high peat + soddy soil + a layer of humus (1:1:1); a layer of high-moor peat + a layer of sawdust (1: 2). The soil will be more fertile and will help strawberries grow if biohumus is added to it.
You need to grow strawberries in a surface way. Seeds are laid out on moist soil and insulated with polyethylene (glass can be used).
Do not worry if after two weeks, the plant has not risen. The duration of its growth is from 2 to 31 days. As soon as the first shoots appear, it is not necessary to immediately open the protective film layer. Within 3 days, you should open the container and ventilate for 30-40 minutes 2 times a day. When 3 leaves appear, picking is carried out. Here you need to be very careful, because when planting each bush in a separate container, the main thing is not to damage the strawberry rhizome. She does not tolerate deformation very well. The bush may die.
If transplanting into a box is planned, then the distance between plants should not be less than 20 cm. Good drainage should be taken care of. Strawberries do not tolerate too much humidity.
The plant does not like extreme heat, dry air. Cultivation is carried out in the cool. Therefore, in winter, you can not worry about its development, but in summer it is better to create conditions for its normal life. You need to water and feed strawberries in the same way as strawberries.
Year-round strawberries can be grown on the balcony in bags. To do this, a special substrate is placed in a bag, and holes are made around its perimeter for strawberry bushes. Applied in this case already grown seedlings. Airing the room is carried out every day for 5-10 minutes 5-6 times.
This is very important, because if it is violated, the roots will rot and the plant will die.
On the south balcony, this can not be done. Growing requires a certain temperature regime– not less than +5° С.
Remontant strawberries are distinguished from ordinary varieties by the ability, after the first fruiting, to lay buds and set new fruits. Its cultivation is carried out in a standard way. But such varieties should be watered more often than regular strawberries. But, there will be fewer fruits, but they can be eaten all year round. Strawberries live 3 years.
Strawberries are planted in the same way as described above. The only rule is that watering is carried out 3 times a week in the afternoon.
It is possible and necessary to grow strawberries, strawberries on the balcony in order to eat vitamins all year round. To do this, you must follow the rules of planting and care for the plant properly.
More recently, strawberries could grow only in the garden. Today, thanks to breeders and new varieties, strawberries grow well on the balcony, winter well and bring a good harvest.
Even if you live in an apartment, growing strawberries on your balcony is not a fantasy, but a quite feasible and common way. If create right conditions cultivation, strawberries will grow all year round in almost any container, be it a pot, hanging hanging planter, basket or compound pyramid. Compliance with the basic instructions for planting and caring for the berry itself throughout the year will provide you with a delicious harvest without leaving your home.
Important! It should be noted right away that open balconies and loggias are not suitable for year-round strawberry cultivation.
So, the guarantee of an excellent harvest - correct balcony or a loggia and we first of all examine the future place of our "strawberry kingdom". To do this, it is necessary to take into account several key points:
Before setting up a berry mini-garden, you need to decide on the place and, accordingly, on the type of container for planting. Below we offer you some ideas for the implementation of this venture.
The strawberry pyramid has a compact, decorative look, suitable for growing berries even in a tiny balcony space. It can be multi-level round or square version layout. The bottom base layer, then two or three smaller layers stacked on top, like a tiered cake. Or, the lower base layer is the main one, planted in a large box, and a frame of plantation boxes is installed on top of it. It can also be individual boxes with a multi-tiered layout.
The tiered arrangement of plastic pots and containers is maximum use balcony space
The planting area of each level must be at least 20 cm wide and 20 cm deep in order to root system could develop freely. It is better to fill the layers of the pyramid with rich compost mixed with clean sandy loam or sand and peat.
Arrange the strawberry pyramid in such a way that the plants on each side receive at least six hours of sun per day. Because the north side of the pyramid will be shaded, turn the container a quarter turn every two or three days to ensure each side receives even coverage.
Advantages:
“Strawberry towers” are also built according to the pyramid principle, with a built-in reservoir in the upper pot - an excellent and unique way growing juicy and fresh strawberries when there is not enough space. The tower is easy to maintain, consists of two plastic 5-liter pots with drainage system and holes for seedlings stacked on top of each other. In addition, the built-in reservoir, which serves as a 1-liter plastic bottle with water, facilitates watering and does not allow the soil to dry out.
A few tips:
Important! Do not worry if one of the bushes has died, you can replace it with another, or when neighboring plants give a mustache with "children", dig into the empty space, they will easily give roots and take root.
Enough convenient way cultivation, especially if there is a free wall. The design is suspended to it on fasteners and does not occupy the balcony space.
Technology horizontal manufacturing quite simple and uncomplicated. Holes are cut along the pipe for bushes, or one common. Install plugs on the sides. Drainage holes are punched in the lower part, covering them with wire mesh and a layer of drainage so that the soil does not wash out during irrigation. Fill the pipe with sterile, fertile soil with the addition of compost, peat and sand. Bushes are planted.
Technology vertical manufacturing , more difficult than the first option, but if you follow the step-by-step instructions, it will not be difficult. Take two pipes of different diameters. Wide (up to 60 cm) and narrow (up to 6 cm).
Table 1. Step-by-step instruction vertical fabrication technology.
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| We make the foundation of the future beds from wide pipe, we retreat from the edge from above and below 10 cm. At a distance of 15 - 20 cm from each other vertically, and horizontally drill holes with a diameter of 2 -5 cm. Start the first row of holes from the bottom of the pipe. Then, we block the lower part of the pipe with a cork or cement cap. | |
| smaller diameter pipe vertical rows drill small holes. The more holes, the better for irrigating the soil. We wrap it with a layer of burlap or fine mesh so that the holes do not become clogged with soil when watering. We block the lower part with a cork or fill it with cement. In the upper part, you can fix a small funnel, for convenience when watering. | |
| We install a pipe of small diameter inside a wide one, fix it. At the edges, we fill the bottom with a small layer of drainage, then with fertile soil. We plant bushes in the outer holes. We fill the inner pipe with water or liquid fertilizer, thus ensuring that each seedling is provided with the water and nutrients it needs. |
Important! Feed strawberry bushes with a balanced liquid fertilizer once a month, filling them with inner tube beds. And check the humidity level daily. The soil in such beds dries out much faster than in garden beds.
Advantages:
According to the same principle of fastening to the wall, you can use ready-made planters (volume of at least 3 liters), phytomodules or hanging pockets. The latter can be sewn independently from an old oilcloth, in the form of small pockets-handbags.
Strawberry seeds
Balcony improvement flower pots or crates of strawberries is becoming an increasingly popular activity. As a matter of fact, why not? What could be nicer than picking fresh and sweet fruits from your balcony, especially if the growing conditions permit?
For planting, you can use any pot, with a minimum volume of about 3 liters per plant, a depth of at least 13-15 cm. 3-4 plants can be planted in large pots of 10-15 liters. The boxes are selected deep, at least 20 cm. It is better to plant bushes at a distance of 15-20 cm from each other.
Strawberries are not for the lazy, start growing them in small boxes
Important! Too deep pots also do not use. The horse system does not have time to grow, the soil does not have time to dry out when watering, and the plant can get sick with fungal diseases.
Strawberries prefer a mixture of soil. More than half of the soil should be peat, the rest sand and humus, in a ratio of 5:2:3., Or all ingredients in equal parts. Twice a month at the time of watering, or directly into the soil, a slow release fertilizer should be added to feed the plant as it grows.
To protect the strawberry plant from drying out in boxes and pots, the surface of the soil can be sprinkled with pebbles, small pebbles, drainage balls, or a plastic bag with holes punched in it (for soil drainage). A plastic bag will keep more moisture in the soil.
Don't forget about drainage system. Strawberries do not tolerate stagnant water and may die. If there are no drainage holes at the bottom of the box, they should be drilled or punched with an awl in several places. Then lay the mesh, the drainage layer, and only after that fill it with the substrate, plant the plants and water.
Advantages:
by the most important factors Successful balcony gardening is not just choosing the right container, but also filling it with the right soil mix, fertilizing throughout the year, watering and planting.
Table 2. The most favorable and suitable growing substrates.
Do not forget to spill the substrate for disinfection warm solution potassium permanganate, or steam it at high temperature.
Strawberry bushes use a lot of energy to produce berries, so they need a constant supply of nutrients. Root or foliar method, the latter is best applied before flowering. And necessarily not a concentrated solution, it can burn the roots.
Important! The best fertilizer for your plants will be cow dung. Fermented and diluted with water in a ratio of 1:20.
ferrous sulfate
Watering is one of important points Without proper irrigation, containerized plants will suffer and yields will certainly be poor.
The amount of water needed for irrigation depends on weather conditions, humidity, the type of container you use, and the maturity of the plants themselves. The easiest way to know when it's time for water is to stick your finger into the soil. If the soil seems dry, it's time to water. If it doesn't, wait another day and check again. It's that simple.
In the summer, a container orchard is best irrigated daily.
Plant strawberry seedlings so that the living heart where the leaves grow is at the level of the surface of the container soil. If you plant them too high, the roots may dry out; if you plant them too deep, the leaves may not grow. 18 - 20 cm apart, in well-drained soil.
On insulated balconies and loggias, seedlings are planted, as a rule, in April, since frosts are not terrible for them. On open balconies, it is better to plant at the end of May, while remembering to follow the weather forecasts, when the temperature drops, the plants should be covered.
Seedlings of remontant strawberries are planted in the ground in spring (April-May) and at the end of summer (August). After the bushes have been planted, be sure to water them with room temperature water; on a hot day, it is better to shade the seedlings.
If you are going to grow seedlings from seeds, in order to guarantee yourself one or another variety, then this should be done in the first half of January, from dried August berries prepared in advance. A month before planting, it is better to put the seeds in the refrigerator, this affects germination. In early January, seeds are sown on the surface wet soil, cover with a film and put in a warm place until the first sprouts appear. Periodically checking and irrigating the soil.
Pinch your plants regularly to encourage and maintain a healthy growth cycle. In shoots grown from seeds, the lower 3 leaves are removed, when the plant grows to 10 cm, pinch the top.
Do not forget about the pollination of strawberries. Timely pollination can guarantee you the appearance of a large number of fruits. It is worth paying attention to the fact that the flowers of the plant bloom in different time, which means it is worth using different methods of fertilizing flowers.
It is better to remove the first flower stalks so that the plant does not waste its strength on berries, but rather gets stronger. If the variety is mustachioed, and the mustache does not interfere with lighting, then they can be left. You can read more about trimming mustaches from strawberries in.
Harvest berries when they are ripe. This will help increase productivity.
Remember to control weeds between and near plants. Weeds will rob moisture and nutrients from your strawberries.
lovers garden strawberries can feast on its fragrant fruits and admire beautiful flowering almost all year round. To do this, you need to know how to grow strawberries on the balcony so that even a novice gardener will be pleased with the harvest. In this case, it is necessary to take into account many nuances, which we will discuss below.
The best option would be remontant strawberry different varieties. It differs from ordinary garden strawberries in that it bears fruit more than once per season. However, not everything is simple here either. So, if you want to harvest strawberries on the balcony all year round, give preference to seedlings marked "NSD" that can bloom and bear fruit even in neutral lighting. Consider the most popular varieties:
If you did not find the above varieties in a specialized store or with well-known summer residents, do not despair. The main thing - keep in mind that a variety of strawberries on the loggia should be:
After the seedlings are selected and brought home, do not forget to quarantine them for 5-7 days in peat cups on a well-lit window sill in the kitchen, bedroom or any other room except the loggia.
peat pots 
Are the seedlings healthy? Then it's time to talk about how to plant strawberries on the balcony in the most ergonomic and plant-friendly way for you.
For growing garden strawberries at home, a universal, fairly dense soil mixture is suitable. If you do not want to buy it in the store, cook it yourself. For this you will need:
Regardless of whether you purchased ready-made soil in a specialized store or prepared the soil mixture yourself, do not forget to decontaminate it. There are many ways to do this.
Consider the most convenient and environmentally friendly: 
When cultivating the soil thermally, it is important not to overexpose it, otherwise beneficial microorganisms will die, nitrogen will be mineralized, and the soil will become barren.
Of course, there are more simple ways disinfection with the help of special, inhibiting the growth of harmful bacteria, preparations or the same potassium permanganate. But how will this affect the taste of the berries? Probably negative. Since we are talking about how to grow strawberries on a balcony, and large amounts of soil are not expected, you can work a little for a flawless result.
The easiest way to plant is in a long box on a windowsill. But in this case collect big harvest it will not work, since no more than 10 bushes can be placed in such a container. Much more effective are cascading containers, planters and hanging structures, which can be purchased at any specialized store. Or make your own:
The place for growing is ready, and you can go directly to planting young bushes.
After you have followed all the rules listed above, planting strawberries on the balcony itself will not be difficult. However, don't forget about following conditions:
After the seedlings are placed in their places, water them abundantly so that the soil adheres tightly to the roots. If desired, you can add growth stimulants to the water that has settled for at least a day.
Since the volume of soil in the containers for growing strawberries on the balcony is not too large, the plants need frequent top dressing. If you do not have the time or sufficient experience, you can buy ready-made liquid fertilizers for fruit-bearing plants. But at the same time, the crop cannot be called environmentally friendly.
It's easy to make your own food. Too "odorous" slurry and chicken manure it is uncomfortable to use at home, so they can be replaced with vermicompost infused (50/50) on water. If you want to get more bright flowers (for example, for the Tuscany variety), add potassium-rich foods to the infusion (banana peel, potato peelings). Strawberries need to be fed at least once every ten days.
As for the frequency of watering: homemade strawberries require the most intense moisture during flowering and berry setting. Keep the soil constantly moist, but do not flood the plant.
It is best to water the strawberries grown on the loggia so that the water does not fall on the foliage. First, with insufficient air circulation on a wet surface, molds and harmful bacteria. Secondly, in direct sunlight, water drops act like a magnifying glass and the leaves will get burned.
To obtain high-quality large berries, it is necessary to remove the tendrils that take away a lot of energy from the bush in time. It is recommended to trim them 15-20 days after planting. This is especially true for large-fruited varieties (Elizabeth II), which can leave half of the new shoots.
If you want to grow strawberries on the loggia all year round, take care of additional lighting and heating during the cold season. So, for a standard room, an ordinary HPS lamp and a temperature of about 20 degrees are enough.
When thinking about how to grow strawberries on a balcony, beginners should first carefully consider the sequence of the process:
In addition, remember that even experienced gardeners will inevitably encounter the problem of plant disease. So, balcony strawberries often suffer from gray mold - in this case, you need to react immediately. To begin with, remove the damaged leaves and treat the bushes with Zircon or the biologically active preparation Polyversum VP.
Strawberries are not only a delicacy loved by everyone, but also a source of vitamins. In supermarkets, these berries can be found all year round, but they are not cheap. In summer, strawberries can be grown on your site, but what if there is no site or the local climate is cool enough? Due to the small size of the bush and the relative unpretentiousness, strawberries can also be grown at home, for example, on a balcony or loggia. What needs to be done for this will be discussed later.
A special variety of strawberries for balcony cultivation has not yet been developed, but the current assortment allows you to choose something suitable.
On the balcony you can grow beautiful fragrant berries
Qualities that strawberries should have on the balcony:
Remontant varieties of strawberries are long-bearing. They bear fruit almost all year round. These include varieties "Bolero" and "Queen Elizabeth.
Varieties for which neutral lighting is suitable are marked with the abbreviation "NSD".
Of the non-remontant varieties that give one crop, you can use the following: Roxana, Rusanka, Catherine the Second, Festivalnaya, Zagorya Beauty, Desnyanka, Moscow Delicacy, Home Delicacy, Tuscany. By combining early and late varieties of strawberries, you can achieve constant fruiting.
A good option for growing on the balcony would be ampelous strawberries. Its main difference from the usual one is that the whiskers of such strawberries also bloom and bear fruit.
This berry needs in large numbers light and sufficient heat and water.
Balconies on the south and southeast sides are best suited for growing. But in any case, the lighting period should be at least 14 hours. To compensate for the lack in the winter season, you can use lamps daylight or special for plants, they are sold in flower shops.
Strawberries love moisture, but not its excess. The soil should be moist all the time, and not turn into a swamp. It is desirable to water the bushes under the root, then the plant will not get burned from direct sunlight, and it will not have a suitable environment for the development of fungi.
The ideal conditions for strawberries are +25°C during the day and +17°C at night. It is clear that such conditions all year round can only be created on a glazed and insulated balcony. Strawberries on the balcony stop blooming and yielding crops at a temperature of + 14 ° C, at even lower temperatures, warming of the bushes is required. Very high temperatures (more than + 35 ° C) during the warm period of the year also inhibit the plant. Under any conditions, strawberries need to be ventilated periodically, while the air outside the window should not be very cold. Also, this plant does not tolerate drafts.
Strawberries love moisture, so it is important to water them in a timely manner.
Strawberries are demanding on the amount of soil. For normal growth and fruiting, each bush needs 3-5 liters of land. Accordingly, a pot is selected, and it must be taken into account that there will still be about 1 cm of drainage at the bottom (broken bricks, shards, small pebbles). Also, each bush needs certain area, a pot with a diameter of 25 cm at the top will suffice. Pots can simply be placed on a windowsill or hung like a planter, or shelves can be used to accommodate as many bushes as possible. Holes must be made in the bottom of the containers to drain excess moisture.
An alternative to pots can be boxes or containers while maintaining the required amount of soil per bush.
There is also a way to grow strawberries in plastic bags. Their length should be 2 m, and the diameter - 20 cm, the film thickness - 0.3 mm. At the same time, up to three bags can hang on an area of 1 m2.
The main components of the soil for growing strawberries: high-moor peat, river sand, vermiculite or perlite, mineral fertilizers. You can buy a ready-made mixture at any flower shop. A home-made mixture of peat, humus, black soil, sand and sawdust in a ratio of 10:10:10:1:3 is also suitable.
The answer to the question "How to grow strawberries on the balcony?" you need to start with the landing process. Strawberries can be grown from seedlings or seeds. Accordingly, landing can be carried out in two ways.
It is produced in late March - mid-April, depending on the climate of the area. Seeds are planted in moist soil not very deep. After that upper layer compacts a little, and then loosens slightly once a week. Before a full-fledged seedling is formed, all the first flower stalks are cut off. Sprouts with five leaves are considered old enough to be fed to maintain growth.
It is important to grow high-quality, healthy seedlings
Seedlings ready for planting should have at least 5 sheets. They are planted in early autumn or late spring, and in the first case, without high temperature and sufficient lighting, the plants will not bear fruit. Planting depth should be enough to cover the roots and not touch the young leaves and buds. For better rooting and growth, young plants are watered with heteroauxin before planting (1 tablet per 5 liters).
Before planting, it is better to keep the purchased seedlings in quarantine for about 5 days. Special care is not required, you just need to make sure that all plants are healthy.
Like any plant, strawberries on the balcony require some care. In addition to maintaining optimal conditions maintenance and timely watering, it includes top dressing, pollination, protection against diseases and warming for the winter.
For fertilizing strawberries, various mineral mixtures that are sold in flower shops. For this purpose, you can insist vermicompost in water (proportions 1: 1) for this purpose, it will be nice if you add banana peel or potato peels to this mixture for the period of infusion. Top dressing in the form of watering is carried out once a week.
Pollination for non-self-pollinated varieties is carried out with an ordinary brush. She needs to lightly rub each flower, without wiping after each. Or you can simply provide bees with access to the balcony, sometimes they put a fan on the balcony to simulate the wind. For self-pollinated varieties, nothing needs to be done.
Each bush leaves no more than two whiskers, otherwise all the forces of the plant will go to growth, and not to fruiting.
For the treatment of strawberries from various diseases or getting rid of pests, they are suitable as store funds, and made independently. Concentrated decoctions of horse sorrel, bitter capsicum or red elderberry help with many problems. In any case, all means are used only before the start of fruiting and once every 8 days. All diseased leaves and fruits must be removed in a timely manner.
With proper care, the harvest will be good
Seedlings are covered and insulated on the balcony if the temperature during the cold season drops below + 5 ° С. The frozen soil is densely covered with sawdust, if a thaw has come, it is better to ventilate the pots to prevent rotting. It is not recommended to rearrange containers in the house, such temperature drops are not suitable for plants.
Recently, amateur gardeners often have strawberries on the balcony. She also has remontant varieties, but they are planted only with seeds. In early February, they are laid out on moist soil and covered with polyethylene. Seeds can germinate up to 30 days. After the appearance of the first shoots, the plants begin to ventilate twice a day, for 30-40 minutes. Shoots with three leaves are carefully transplanted into large containers and dive at the same time.
In a pot with a volume of 2.5 liters (per plant), sand, soddy soil, high-moor peat (1: 3: 6) are laid out in layers from bottom to top, and a drainage layer is made at the very bottom. Biohumus can be added to the top two layers. When grown in common boxes, the distance between the bushes should be 20 cm. Care for strawberries is similar to that already described for strawberries, the difference is only in temperatures. Strawberries love cool and moist air.
Growing strawberries or wild strawberries on the balcony is not only interesting, but also useful in all respects. With proper care, the plants fully live and bear fruit for three years, after which land replacement and new seedlings are required.
September 8, 2016Greetings, my dear readers!
If you want to set up a mini-garden in your apartment for growing healthy and tasty crops, pay attention to strawberries. It is a storehouse of minerals and vitamins we need. At the same time, it is desirable that the strawberries on the balcony and windowsill be remontant.
Berries on such a plant ripen all year round and do it quickly. In addition, from the point of view of aesthetics, during flowering, and then fruiting, remontant strawberries are in no way inferior to decorative flowers.
At the moment, breeders have bred a huge number of different varieties of cultivated strawberries. However, not all of them are suitable for growing indoors.
For the cultivation of berries on the balcony, it is optimal to choose remontant strawberries, both ampelous and bush. It grows well and looks beautiful on the windowsills of the premises or the loggia.
Such strawberries will bear fruit all year round. In addition, it has an impressive variety of shapes and colors of flowers, sizes and colors of berries.
Various varieties of year-round garden strawberries have white, pink or cream flowers, large, medium and small berries. The fruits of the agricultural culture have a red, yellow and cream color.
Therefore, strawberries can be a true decoration of the house. Especially if you cultivate several of its varieties that are different in size and color.
Traditionally, the following varieties of berries are considered the most suitable for growing on a loggia and a balcony:
Especially appreciated by amateur gardeners are large-fruited hybrids (marking F-1), which are suitable for growing in pots:
In the photo - strawberries "Yellow Miracle".
Look also at high-yielding varieties and hybrids with pink flowers different tones and not so large, but fragrant berries:
Before you grow this crop, please note that three new hybrid varieties of remontant strawberries have now appeared. They were brought out by German breeders. They are already directly intended for cultivation at home. This:
Now I will talk about the best, in my opinion, strawberry varieties for growing on a loggia / balcony.
If you own a small balcony, you will have to give up the cultivation of "Queen Elizabeth". However, on a medium and large loggia, you can perfectly combine voluminous containers with bushes of this crop and small hanging baskets (pots) with small-fruited berries of a different variety.
Strawberry variety "Sarian" - the royal choice
If we mention the cultivation of strawberries all year round, then in my personal opinion the best choice for this would be the hybrid of the first generation F-1 "C-141". Such a culture grows well in the garden, delighting others with large flowers of a dark pink color.
However, it does well in pots. They can be transferred to indoor window sills at the end of the spring-summer season when it gets cold.
In winter, such strawberries will continue to delight you beautiful color and fragrant, gradually ripening berries. The relative disadvantages of the winter "S-141" - the fruits in the cold season are smaller and not very sweet.
I will introduce you to this variety in more detail.
The taste qualities of the berries of this varietal hybrid are not the highest, although they are fragrant and sweet. Based on this, in summer season it is better to choose other, tastier types of garden strawberries for planting. And leave the S-141 for the winter.
Remontant types of strawberries on the loggia / balcony are grown from seeds. You can buy them in any special store for gardeners or order them with delivery in the online store.
The success of any event primarily depends on the correct provision of the required conditions for its implementation. Since strawberries are not a common crop for cultivation in an apartment, therefore, you must approach the matter in a special way. For example, carefully select the land for the berry.
Special soil for the cultivation of remontant strawberries must necessarily contain in equal proportions (the first 4 points) such components.
The soil substrate for strawberries should not contain excess nitrogenous compounds. Otherwise, a lush crown of leaves will grow near her bushes, and few berries will be tied.
It may turn out that you have never done gardening before. Then I recommend that you buy in a special store, along with strawberry seeds, a ready-made soil substrate for it.
Strawberries need the light of the sun. Based on this, it is necessary to grow it where it will receive the maximum required and heat.
Pots with strawberry bushes are best hung or placed not outside, inside the loggia / balcony. These tender plants do not like wind and excess draft.
Having decided on the varieties of strawberries that you will cultivate and, having acquired the seeds, as well as the soil substrate, start planting yourself.
Before planting, mix the seeds with disinfected sand ahead of time (for example, calcined in the oven). Seeds should also be stratified. You can do it like this:
I will tell you about another way to grow seedlings.
Therefore, it is necessary to dive seedlings into such containers in which there will be a lot of room for the growth of the root system. My instruction is as follows: usually, these are boxes, flowerpots, containers with a volume of at least 3 liters.
I warn you that when transplanting strawberry seedlings, shaking the soil from the roots is highly undesirable. And a very small damage can cause the death of a sprout.
When you fail to transplant a sprout with a soil lump, slightly trim the roots before diving. Please note that when interacting with air, the tips of the roots quickly die off.
Trim the roots with sharp garden shears. When diving, make sure that the root collar is not damaged. It should not remain under the ground.
Growing strawberries on the balcony before they bloom requires close observation of the plants and timely care. They will guarantee a good harvest.
With insufficient vessel size and poor ventilation of the balcony / loggia, the growth and development of bushes slows down. As a result, periodically spray the plants with nutrient solutions. Feeding is also good as a preventive measure.
So the sprouts will receive the additional nutritional and mineral compounds they need for health. Feed strawberries about once every 10 days.
Pinch the growing antennae regularly and in a timely manner. So you will help the plant to form correctly (according to agricultural technology). Then all the vital energy of the bush will begin to go to the leaves, the setting and growth of fruits, and not to growth in breadth.
Growing and caring for remontant strawberries on the balcony also implies the creation of conditions for high fruiting. Here are my recommendations regarding this.
Strawberries will give their first harvest 4-5 months after sowing the seeds. 2-3 years after planting, strawberry bushes grow very large. To rejuvenate them, dig up the plants, divide and plant in a new vessel.
The main advantage of strawberries is that it is a perennial agricultural crop.. Her bushes will delight you with their color and fruits for several years. Based on this, ensure a comfortable wintering for plants (if they are not remontant):
With the advent of spring, strawberries will give fresh sprouts, turn green and bloom, and then give you delicious fruits.
You can also plant climbing strawberries on your balcony. This agriculture will give you tasty and fragrant fruits from the beginning of June until the onset of frost.
In addition, for example, the remontant Garland variety will decorate the balcony with waves of thin stems dotted with white, green leaves, ripening yellow and red, already ripe berries.
Amateur gardeners usually cultivate climbing berries on trellis supports. They allow the "lianas" to look great and reach a significant height. Now manufacturers have begun to produce special plastic support grids different colors for climbing crops.
Having presented a modest harvest in early June, the climbing berry begins to actively grow shoots with antennae until the second decade of August. Additional rosettes soon form on the processes (there are several on each of the antennae).
If you do not equip trellises for plants, these sockets will take root in the ground and a new bush will develop from them. On a support, young sprouts form in the air, receiving nourishment from the mother berry. In the first decade of August, the shoots give color and begin to bear fruit.
The trellis support not only enables climbing strawberries to fully express their decorative abilities, but also protects them from diseases that may appear from contact with the ground.
In the period of autumn cold, wrap the trellis on the open balcony with covering material. Then you can collect fruits until late autumn. For the whole season, one plant is able to produce about half a kilo of fragrant berries.
I told you about how to grow strawberries on the balcony. The agrotechnics of this process is not very complicated, the main thing is to do everything correctly and in a timely manner. The price of pleasure is also negligible.
The video in this article will show you a lot more interesting things. Ask questions in the comments if you don't understand something.
So I say goodbye, and success to you in your endeavors!
September 8, 2016If you want to express gratitude, add a clarification or objection, ask the author something - add a comment or say thanks!
