Growing strawberries in a greenhouse: care secrets

What summer resident has not dreamed of enjoying a fragrant and healthy fresh strawberry in the middle of winter? This dream can be realized by growing strawberries in a greenhouse in the country. With a skillful and correct approach, you can not only provide your family with this delicious berry, but also establish a business that will bring a good income. Subject to all the rules of agricultural technology, strawberries in the greenhouse will delight with high yields all year round.

"Correct" greenhouse is a guarantee of a high yield

To grow strawberries in the colder months, you will need a stationary greenhouse. There are special requirements for the material that serves as a greenhouse cover:

• high thermal insulation;
• good light conductivity;
• strength;
• resistance to adverse climatic conditions;
• affordable price.

The most suitable material for a greenhouse is glass and polycarbonate... However, glass is not very durable. And the price for it is quite high. That is why polycarbonate greenhouses are popular with summer residents and are ideal for this type of work such as growing strawberries in a greenhouse in winter.

Strawberries are light-loving plants, so the lightest and sunniest part of the summer cottage should be allocated under the greenhouse, without fruit trees and shrubs that can create shade. The place must be protected from the wind.

Choosing a strawberry variety for growing in a greenhouse in winter

Choosing the right strawberry variety is one of the keys to success in growing this plant in winter. To get a guaranteed friendly harvest, you must adhere to the following criteria when choosing a variety:

• Zoning of the variety. It must be acclimatized to the region in which it will grow. Despite the fact that the strawberries will be grown in a greenhouse, the variety must be zoned for the growing area.
• When choosing a strawberry variety for a greenhouse, preference should be given to remontant plants, which continuously form inflorescences, form ovaries, and then berries. These varieties allow you to get strawberries all year round.
• Early varieties of strawberries are distinguished by the thickening of planting, which allows you to get more harvest from one area.
• The development and maturation of berries grown in the greenhouse should not be affected by the length of daylight hours. Therefore, for winter cultivation, varieties of the so-called "neutral daylight hours" are used. With a fixed daylight hours, strawberries of these varieties will produce a stable harvest.
• Self-pollination is one of the main qualities that guarantees high yields of strawberries in the greenhouse. Not every gardener wants to put clues with bees in the greenhouse to pollinate the plants. The manual pollination method is laborious and time consuming. Therefore, the use of self-pollinated strawberries for winter cultivation is the best option.
• Variety purity is another important factor when choosing a planting material. To obtain plants of the required variety, it is better to purchase planting material in proven nurseries, and even better to grow strawberry seedlings yourself from seeds.

Choosing the right variety, you can be sure that the work will not be in vain and in winter you can enjoy ripe and aromatic strawberries.

Methods for growing strawberries in a greenhouse

Many summer residents ask themselves the question: "How to grow strawberries in a greenhouse?" To get an answer to this question, it is necessary to study various growing technologies that are highly efficient.

The most popular, most expedient and cost-effective are the following methods of growing strawberries:

• in the ground;
• in small containers;
• in plastic bags.

The last two methods are united by one name - the "Dutch" method. This technology allows you to grow strawberries both horizontally and vertically, in one or more rows. This makes it easier to take care of greenhouse strawberries, and increase the yield of a plant per square meter. Strawberries in the greenhouse in bags and small pots are grown only through seedlings.

Growing soil

To obtain high yields of strawberries in the greenhouse, it is necessary to use highly nutritious soil. The best option is to use soil after cereal crops. You can take sod land, but it must be "lightened" with rotted sawdust. Agronomists do not recommend using soil for strawberries after cruciferous crops and potatoes.

To enrich the soil intended for growing strawberries in winter, organic (manure, compost, peat) and mineral (superphosphate, potassium, urea) fertilizers. The technology for growing strawberries in a greenhouse implies the use of complex mineral fertilizers intended directly for strawberries and having a balanced composition of necessary trace elements and nutrients.

Obtaining high-quality planting material

To grow strawberries in the winter months, you need to take care of obtaining high-quality planting material for the greenhouse in the middle of summer. Get seedlings for planting in a greenhouse, you can use the whiskers of mother plants developing in the open field.

Even during the fruiting of the uterine bushes, it is necessary to select the best ones, giving a large number of ovaries and fruits. It is with them that you should leave a mustache with young sprouts, which will be used in the future in the greenhouse. In one bush, you can leave no more than 4-5 outlets, so that young plants can receive full nutrition from the mother bush and develop actively.

In the month of July, rooted plants are separated from the mother bushes and planted in a temporary bed. In mid-autumn (October), strawberry seedlings are transplanted into small pots and stored in a cool place (+2 - +5) until mid-November. It is at this time that the planting of young plants begins to a permanent place. For rooting and budding for the future harvest, a short daylight hours are required, so additional lighting is not required for mid-January.

Temperature regime and air humidity

Strawberries in a greenhouse in winter impose increased demands on the room temperature, so this plant is considered picky when grown indoors. If, after planting young plants, the temperature should not have risen more than 10, then as it grows, it must be gradually increased to 18-20 As soon as the first flowers appear, in order to avoid the ovary falling off, the temperature rises to 23-25 ​​At very high temperatures, the growth of the green mass of the plant is noted to the detriment of fruit formation.

Air humidity is also of great importance for the formation of a high yield. So, after planting seedlings, for its better survival rate, the air humidity should not drop below 85%. In the future, the humidity must be gradually reduced to 75%. During flowering and fruiting, the air humidity should not exceed 70%. This is the only way to get away from various fungal diseases.

Light mode when growing strawberries in a greenhouse in winter

Without optimal lighting, you can not expect high strawberry yields in the winter season. For proper development, plants need to extend the daylight hours to 12 hours during the development of flower stalks, flowering and fruiting. This can be done as follows:

• in the morning, the lighting turns on at 8 am and turns off at 11 o'clock;
• in the evening, switching on occurs at 17 o'clock and ends at 20 o'clock.

Thus, the greenhouse strawberry receives the required amount of light. For plants of "neutral daylight hours" this time is quite enough for quality development.

Many gardeners who grow strawberries in the greenhouse in winter use a drip system for irrigation. With the help of the same system, the necessary liquid fertilizers can be introduced. During the entire growing season, plants should be fed with a solution of superphosphate and potassium salt. This procedure must be carried out every half a month.

By following these basic rules, every gardener can be sure that fresh strawberries will appear on his table on frosty winter days.

Video about growing strawberries all year round in bags