The need for strawberry transplantation is caused by the peculiarity of its development: aging bushes hibernate worse and significantly reduce yield. The proper selection of the place and time of the year for transplantation plays a significant role in the subsequent development of culture. It is as important as fertilizing and protecting against diseases and pests.
What is a strawberry transplant for?
A transplant is necessary to obtain a rich harvest of sweet and fragrant berries. Having strawberry plantings of different ages in the garden, you can provide yourself with a stable crop every year.
A transplant is necessary to get a good annual ripe strawberry crop.
Strawberries bear fruit in one place for 3-4 years, then the number of berries is reduced and their size is noticeably reduced. The soil is depleted, diseases and pests are accumulating. Removable strawberries that bear fruit from the summer until the onset of steady cold weather consume nutrients from the soil faster and require even more frequent transplantation. For such varieties, an annual transplant is ideal.
This procedure can be carried out throughout the growing season, but flowering plants take root worse. It is also necessary to recover the bushes after picking berries. Therefore, strawberries are transplanted two to three weeks before flowering or two weeks after fruiting.
What bushes are used for transplanting
Most fruitful are young bushes growing in one place for at least two years. Experienced gardeners apply a transplant to a new location for rooted mustache or split bushes.
Young (biennial) strawberry bushes are most fertile
So that the soil rests, after digging old bushes for two to three years, vegetable crops are planted.
Ideally, it is not necessary to give fruiting to those bushes that are planned to propagate, breaking off the peduncles. The uterine bush should be strong, with a large number of peduncles, fruitful.
Video: how to choose a bush for transplanting
Transplant Methods
Getting sprouts is pretty easy:
- use vegetative layers - mustaches,
- adult plants are divided into divisions.
Reproduction by seeds is rather laborious, the resulting seedlings do not always inherit varietal characters of uterine plants.
Rooting mustache
The vegetative shoots of strawberries are called mustache. They take root quite easily, forming new ones corresponding to the plant variety. One bush can give up to 15 shoots with rosettes. The procedure is carried out as follows:
- Choose a healthy mustache with root buds.
- They are laid on the ground at a distance of 20-30 cm from the uterine bush and squeezed a little into the ground.
- Or mustache is rooted immediately in pots with nutritious soil.
- In 2-2.5 months, seedlings will grow, which can be transplanted directly with a lump of land, which will accelerate the survival of sprouts.
Strawberry mustache can be rooted immediately in pots with nutritious soil
Bush division
Most often, by dividing the bush, strawberries are propagated, giving few mustaches or not giving them at all. This method is also used after a large winter attack of plants. Adult plants are divided into horns, from one bush, depending on its age, size and yield, you can get up to 10 seedlings. Too old bushes are not suitable for this method, they produce weak seedlings, and you can not wait for the crop at all.
Usually transplant on a cloudy day:
- Choose strawberry bushes no older than three years.
- The place is prepared well-lit, closed from strong winds.
- They dig the earth a month before transplanting, fertilize with humus (1 kg per 10 sq. M). If the soil is acidic, lime is applied (from 350 to 500 g per 1 sq. M of medium-heavy soil, depending on the acidity of the soil).
- On the eve of landing, the ridges are shed with water.
- Shrubs are dug from the ground, washed roots in a bucket of running water.
The roots of the uterine bush must be washed with water
- Gently divide the roots with a knife or hands into several parts.
Strawberry roots are cut with a knife into pieces.
- Dig holes to a depth of 30 cm, make a knoll at the bottom.
- Holding the seedling with one hand, the second straighten the roots in the hole. Then they sprinkle the outlet with soil and press it with his hands so that there are no voids in the hole.
- The distance between plants in a row is not less than 30 cm, and between rows - 50-70 cm.
Separated bushes planted according to the scheme 30 to 50 cm
- Apply a one-line landing, two-line, as well as carpet, that is, solid.
- Planted sprouts need to be watered, and the soil should be sprinkled with ash or peat.
When is it better to transplant strawberries
For transplantation, young, healthy seedlings with root buds or with an already developed root system, but without flowers, are taken, since a flowering plant is less likely to take root in a new place. On bushes there should not be traces of damage by pests and diseases.
The best precursors for strawberries are legumes, onions, garlic, carrots, and herbs. You should not plant strawberries in the beds where potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage grew before it.
Spring strawberry transplant
The best time to transplant strawberries is spring:
- there is still a lot of moisture in the soil;
- young plants during the summer have time to take root, develop the root system, and also lay flower buds for the coming summer.
In spring, strawberries are planted in late April or early May, with the soil to be prepared in the fall. They dig a plot for planting on a bayonet shovel, carefully select the roots of weeds, add rotted manure, compost or humus. Humus, depending on the cultivation of the soil, may need up to 10 kg per 1 sq. m
In spring, strawberries are planted in late April or early May.
At first, you need regular watering to provide seedlings with moisture. Excessive moisture is not permissible, as it causes the development of mold and rot. In order to prevent the development of diseases, the soil around the seedlings is sprinkled with ash.
Video: spring strawberry transplant
In addition to disease prevention, ash is a source of potassium for plants.
Autumn strawberry transplant
You can plant strawberries in early autumn, in late August and early September. The undoubted advantages of autumn planting:
- suitable for the end of the summer season and, accordingly, the availability of free time to work;
- frequent rains during this period, which reduces watering.
Bushes with the largest berries are marked in advance in the summer. Seedlings are taken from healthy two-year-old mother plants that produce the sweetest berries and bear fruit abundantly. Many gardeners plant strawberries at the end of August or the beginning of September: plants must have time to take root well before the onset of stable cold weather (seedlings stop developing at temperatures below 5 ° C). The soil is prepared no later than 15 days before planting.
Video: strawberry transplant in the fall
Strawberry transplantation is best done in cloudy weather or in the evening at a temperature of no higher than 20 ° C: for young plants, the scorching rays of the sun are destructive.
What rules must be followed
In order for the plants to take root well and give subsequently a rich harvest, it is necessary to know certain rules:
- seedlings should have at least three leaves and a root length of about five centimeters;
- if the roots are longer than five centimeters, they must be trimmed for easy planting. There is no need to spare them - roots bent in the soil will not give the seedling normal development, which will ultimately lead to a loss of productivity;
- the soil must be shed with water before the procedure, planting is carried out "in the mud";
- in a correctly planted seedling, the growth point (the so-called heart) should be flush with the ground. If the planting is done finely, the plant rises above the bed and can dry. Seedlings buried during planting can sprout and rot.
For a correctly planted seedling, the growth point must be flush with the ground.
Strawberry Care after Transplanting
Planted bushes can be mulched with hay, rotted manure, freshly cut grass, sawdust or film. Mulching keeps the soil loose and moist, and accelerates the ripening of berries. In the first year, seedlings usually do not require additional top dressing.
Strawberries are grown in one place for 3-4 years. During this time, it absorbs a lot of nutrients from the soil, the number of pests and diseases increases. Therefore, the gardener has to periodically change the place of cultivation of this capricious, but such a delicious berry. A plot is prepared in advance for planting young plants, and the vacant beds are fertilized and planted with vegetable crops.
