Early ripening strawberry varieties attract gardeners with the ability to quickly harvest. Let's consider the description and characteristics of the Florina strawberry, its advantages and disadvantages, how to properly plant seedlings of this variety, grow them, and propagate them on your home plot. How to protect against diseases, prepare for winter, how to harvest and preserve it.
- Description and characteristics of strawberries of the Florina variety
- Advantages and disadvantages
- Cultivation technology and crop care
- Planting scheme
- Watering and fertilizers
- Loosening, weeding, mulching
- Removing a mustache
- Wintering
- Diseases, pests and prevention
- Features of variety propagation
- Harvesting and storing strawberries
Description and characteristics of strawberries of the Florina variety
The Florina variety is early, productive, and produces 1 kg of berries per bush. Belongs to the Dutch selection. The variety is remontant, blooms consistently from May to October, and produces berries for a long time. Ripe fruits weigh 35-40 g, round-conical, shiny. The berries are sweet and have a characteristic smell. The pulp of Florin strawberry fruits is dense, pink, and the skin is red. Suitable for transportation, storage and freezing.
The bushes are medium-sized, compact, with an average mass of leaves. The peduncles are tall, rising above the leaves, the leaves are green. Florina strawberries do not tolerate thickening well, but are resistant to disease and cold.
Advantages and disadvantages
Cultivation technology and crop care
To get a harvest of berries, you need to choose a suitable place on the site for the crop. This should be an open, well-lit area; strawberries will not grow in the shade. Also, the site should be protected from strong winds.
Only healthy, undamaged plants are selected for planting. Before planting, prepare the seedlings: cut off the tips of the roots, dip them in a solution of a root formation stimulator. Treatment with the drug accelerates the survival rate of planted plants. The lower leaves also need to be cut off.
Planting scheme
Make planting holes 20 cm deep, according to the pattern of 20-30 cm between plants in a row and 50 cm between rows. Strawberries Florina are planted in the evening or in the morning, at moderate temperatures. Straighten the roots of the seedlings, cover them with soil up to the root collars, so that the centers are not covered with soil. Water with water and cover with mulch to prevent the soil from drying out.
Watering and fertilizers
Seedlings are watered every day or every other day, then once a week. Adult bushes are watered as the soil dries, less often in rainy weather, more often in hot weather. Water with warm water in the mornings or evenings. Fertilize Florina strawberries 3 times per season: at the beginning of leaf growth, before flowering and after flowering, use organic matter or ready-made mineral fertilizers.
Loosening, weeding, mulching
After watering, loosening follows, it is carried out after the soil has dried. At the same time, they do weeding to prevent weeds from growing. To reduce the number of waterings and loosening, mulch is placed on the beds. Under a layer of plant material, moisture is retained longer and the soil is not compacted. Mulch is laid in the spring and remains until autumn. Instead of plant material, you can use spunbond or black film.
Removing a mustache
All mustaches are trimmed as soon as they begin to grow. Pruning the mustache is necessary so that nutrients are supplied to the berries, and the mustache does not take root where necessary. The mustaches are cut off on all fruit-bearing bushes, leaving only on those that are planned to be propagated.
Wintering
In the fall, in October, all leaves are removed from the plants, all diseased and damaged leaves are trimmed, and the mulch is removed. Everything is taken out of the garden beds and burned. Lay new mulch, cover all plants with the material, not only the root zone, but also the middle.The mulch layer should be at least 10 cm. In winter, during severe frosts, when there is no snow, you need to add a layer of mulch.
Diseases, pests and prevention
The Florina variety can be affected by powdery mildew and, to a lesser extent, gray rot. Before signs of disease appear, spray with fungicides or copper-containing preparations. The treatment destroys fungi before they begin to reproduce.
Among the pests, strawberries are attacked by aphids and mites. If the pest has not yet had time to multiply, you can try to get rid of it by spraying with folk infusions of garlic, ash, and soap.
If this does not help, you need to spray with agrochemical insecticides.
Features of variety propagation
The method of propagation of the Florina variety is rooted mustache. The healthiest and strongest plants are selected, the first-order tendrils are selected and buried near the strawberries. Until autumn, they are not separated from the bushes, but they are watered and fed, like adult bushes. They are dug up in the fall and transplanted to new beds. They are propagated by dividing the bush, young plants are divided into 2-4 parts and replanted.
Harvesting and storing strawberries
The berries are harvested gradually, as they ripen unevenly. Ripe fruits become red and fragrant. Based on these characteristics, one can determine their suitability for harvesting. By this time, the pulp of the berries becomes soft and sweet. Those suitable for storage are placed in shallow boxes or baskets and placed in a cool and dark place with low humidity.
Strawberries can be stored for no more than a month, so they need to be quickly sold or processed. Florina is distinguished by its sweetness, so the fruits make excellent homemade preparations.
The Florina variety is a large-fruited and productive strawberry.It is well suited for growing at home due to the fact that it bears fruit for a long time. Berries can be picked all summer, until autumn. You can transplant the bushes into a container and grow them warm in winter.
