Ampel strawberries - a variety of ordinary strawberries obtained by breeding. In this culture, relatively new to our gardeners, practical benefits are combined with aesthetic ones. Bearing fruit for a long time and abundantly, ampelous varieties become an exquisite decoration of premises, gardens, patios.
What is ampel strawberry?
The main difference between ampel strawberries and ordinary varieties is the formation of fruits not only on the stems, but also on the mustache. Plants look very attractive, especially when planted in tall flowerpots and flowerpots - they are often used for decorative decoration of rooms and personal plots.
Features of ampel strawberries:
- All varieties of ampel strawberries have a number of similar characteristics. They have compact bushes with a diameter of 20-30 cm. The length of the mustache branches is 50-100 cm. The flowers are mostly white, but there are several varieties in which the color of the petals is pink.
- On the bushes most of the time there are berries that give the plant an extraordinary decorative effect.
- Plants form many long mustaches, which can, without touching the ground, form fruit-bearing rosettes - they, in turn, give a new mustache with rosettes. Thus, there is an intensive growth of the bush, so ampel strawberries are often called "climbing". But, in fact, it is not such - the mustache does not curl, but simply hangs down.
The formation of a mustache begins earlier than the first peduncles appear. Therefore, when the mother bush turns red with the first berries, the first buds are already formed on the rosettes.
Ampel in German is a hanging lamp. Initially, ampelous varieties were considered exclusively decorative - they were planted in pots that were hung from the ceiling.
Fruiting
Today, the ampelous “long-playing” strawberries are actively grown for the sake of the harvest - after all, its fruiting lasts almost year-round. New ovaries with branches immediately form on the place of ripened berries, and this continues uninterruptedly - throughout the entire vegetation cycle.
Berries in ampel varieties give not only flower stalks, but also a mustache, which does not even need soil - they are able to bear fruit, eating exclusively from the mother plant.
Maintainability
Abundant fruiting due to the mustache is not the only plus of ampel varieties. The second quality, for which gardeners of the whole world fell in love with them, is the multiple harvests. Almost all ampelous varieties belong to the repair ones - they give harvest after harvest during one growing season.
Autonomy
Varieties that are capable of bearing fruit without the participation of pollinating varieties are called self-fertile. To produce non-self-bearing varieties, pollinators have to be planted nearby, or flowers need to be pollinated manually. Among ampelous strawberries there are many self-fertile varieties, it is easy to clarify this point by looking at the list of properties printed on a bag with seeds.
Terms
Ampelic varieties tolerate a lack of lighting. They grow excellently in conditions of a small deficit of light - balconies, terraces, greenhouses are suitable for them. Ampel strawberries can be planted on vertical "beds" - it is convenient and profitable, the mass of the area is saved. It also grows well on tall structures - the berries do not touch the ground, which prevents many diseases, including rot.
"Curly" wild strawberries curls "reluctantly." But if you tie the mustache to the props, then they will entwine them.
The gardener in his video demonstrates the ampel strawberry, which he grows in unusual conditions - on hanging beds:
Sustainability
Most ampel varieties have moderate frost resistance, and their drought tolerance is low. Only a few varieties can boast drought resistance. Ampel strawberries, growing at a height, are less vulnerable to fungal diseases and rot. Most varieties have good resistance to all types of diseases.
Taste and application
The berries of all ampel varieties are large, sweet and tasty. The shape of the fruits is different - there are varieties with cone-shaped, elongated fruits, and there are with spherical berries. Everyone can choose an option to their liking. The average weight is 20-30 g. Berries ripen quickly. They have a pleasant strawberry flavor with a slight acidity.
The saturation of the color of the berries is affected by air humidity, as well as the presence of potash fertilizers in the soil.
The culture is universal - it is used for landscaping, as an ornamental plant, to produce delicious berries. Fruits are suitable for all types of blanks.
Advantages and disadvantages
Ampel strawberry varieties have earned the best praise from gardeners and decorators - planting such a berry will decorate your home or garden, and a generous harvest will be an additional reward.
Advantages of ampel varieties:
- the ability to fully develop and bear fruit in the absence of light;
- prolonged fruiting;
- high taste characteristics;
- the ability to place vertically;
- high productivity.
Disadvantages:
- regular transplantation is needed - every 2-3 years;
- high frequency of watering;
- exactingness to soil fertility - if fertilizers are not enough, the berries are smaller.
Best ampel varieties
Earlier, much was not required from decorative varieties of wild strawberries - if only they would grow and be beautiful. Today, breeders have bred dozens of varieties that are not only decorative, but also have all the qualities of the best strawberries - they are fruitful, have tasty fruits, and are resistant to viruses, bacteria and fungi.
Table 1 lists the most popular varieties of ampel strawberries, and their features.
Table 1
Grade | The average weight of berries, g | Maintainability | Short description |
Tuscany | 30 | Yes | Collection from one bush - 1 kg. Relatively young variety (bred in 2011). The bushes are compact, with a diameter of up to 30 cm. The length of the shoots reaches 1 m. |
Temperature F1 * | 15-25 | Yes | On an adult bush, up to 20 peduncles are formed. The fruits are large and juicy. Harvesting begins a month after flowering. The pulp is sweet, dense, pleasantly smelling. From the bush collect up to 1.2 kg of berries. |
Queen Elizabeth II | 30-40 | Yes | The variety is acclimatized in Russia. The fruit has the correct cone shape. Color - saturated red, the skin is smooth, glossy. Fruits 2-3 times per season. Transplantation - every 1.5 years. |
Kletter Star | 40-50 | Yes | High resistance to drought and frost. Able to endure winters without shelter. Bushes are compact, with a large number of mustaches. Peduncles bend down under the weight of the fruit. the fruits are juicy, bright red, with a strong aroma. Fruits tolerate transportation well. |
Temptation | 30 | Yes | Bushes are small, densely leafy. Peduncles long, with large flowers. The berries are large, oblong, cone-shaped, bright red in color. The fragrance has a musky touch. High frost resistance. It does not tolerate heat and drought. Harvest - 1, 5 kg. |
Geneva | 45-50 | Yes | The bushes are medium-sized, sprawling. They do not have close to each other - the bushes need space. Crampedness increases the risk of gray rot. There are few whiskers - about 7 pieces on one plant. The shape of the berries is a truncated cone. The surface is glossy, red. The pulp is juicy and aromatic. The taste is sweet, no acidity. The main difference between the variety is the ability to bear fruit for a long time in one place, not 5-2 years, but 5-6 years. |
Ostara | 50-60 (first berries), then - 15-30 | Yes | A reliable variety in which the fruits are tied, regardless of the length of daylight hours. The variety is early. The height of the bushes is 25 cm. The first berries appear in June, the bulk of the crop - 80%, ripens in August-September. One bush gives 1.2 kg of berries. The peculiarity of this variety is the harvest on bushes growing from a mustache. They separate from the mother bush, take root, and bear fruit. The maximum size of berries is 75 g. Taste is sweet and sour, aromatic. The berries are minced during the season. |
Eternity S1 ** | 10-15 | Yes | Harvest from the bush - 0.5 kg. A variety for amateur gardeners. Fruiting - from the beginning of summer to frost. Feature - pink flowers. The variety is winter-hardy, resistant to drought, pests and diseases. |
Fresco | 20 | Yes | Fruits from June to September. The fruits are not large, but numerous. The taste is sweet and sour, the aroma is strong, the pulp is dense, but juicy. Feature - resistant to temperature changes, high immunity. |
Pink miracle | 20-30 | long fruiting period | Pineapple type hybrid. Very tasty berries. Bushes are powerful, with pink flowers. The variety is frost-resistant, with high immunity. Berries are harvested as they ripen. |
Elsanta | 40-45 | Yes | High-yielding variety - 2 kg of berries are harvested from one bush. The surface is shiny, glossy. The first berries have bright ends. The berries are medium and large. The peduncle easily comes off. |
* The symbol F1 means that the plant is a hybrid, obtained by crossing two different varieties. From a hybrid seeds are not collected for further cultivation. Since it is unlikely to get a good harvest from such seeds, and other positive qualities will also not be passed on to the next generation.
** The symbol S1 means the first generation of a varietal plant. Simply put, S1 is the seeds collected from the 1st year crop of a varietal plant. S2 is the generation from S1. S1 has a higher yield and other indicators than S2 and so on.
How to grow?
Ampel strawberries are grown in different ways - in pots, pots, vases, vertical cassettes, pyramids. The latter is built from any means at hand - barrels, pots, etc. This lawn is also decorated with this culture, forming bushes into trellises.
The plant looks great in winter gardens, on balconies - from it you can make a continuously fruitful arch. Also, bushes can be planted in open ground, but this method of growing is used much less often.
Landing requirements
In order for ampelous strawberries to grow well and bear fruit, they are provided with optimal growing conditions:
- soils are light, drained, with neutral acidity (5.2-5.5 pH);
- 8-10 hours of a sunny day - in a too shady place, the crop can stop bearing fruit;
- lack of drafts;
- Shredded green manure is added to the soil used for planting - nasturtium, mustard, rapeseed, and phacelia.
When planting ampel varieties, you can not plant seedlings too deep and close to each other. If the planting is done in the ground, and even in the early spring, it is important to prevent its freezing on the soil, covering it with a film or other covering material.
Landing methods and instructions for them
Seedlings are usually planted in April-May or in August. Methods for growing ampel strawberries:
- In the pots. For planting, they select such a capacity that for one adult plant there are 1,500 cubic meters. see soil. Then they begin to prepare the substrate, it is prepared from sand - 1 part, turf land - 3 parts, peat - 6 parts. To improve fertility, the soil is fed with organic matter. You can also buy ready-made soil - in a specialized store.
So that the seedlings quickly take root, they are cleaned before planting in a dark place, buried in the ground. There are no special requirements for the pot, the main condition is a height of 30 cm. Holes are made in the bottom so that excess water flows out. Further landing procedure:- A thin drainage layer is laid at the bottom of the pot. Expanded clay, pebble, broken brick will do. Prepared soil mix is laid on top.
- The seedling is immersed in a container - the roots should be located vertically, and sprinkled with earth.
- Seedlings planted in pots are watered abundantly.
- On the grill. Seedlings are planted in open ground. Nearby establish a lattice, grid, wicker fence. An overgrown mustache is tied to a lattice structure. The minimum construction height is 1 m. When planting seedlings in open ground, the minimum distance between them is 30-35 cm.
- Pyramid. From boxes of different sizes build a pyramidal structure. Take, for example, boxes of such sizes - 20x20x20 cm, 30x30x30 cm and 60x60x60 cm. By installing the boxes on top of each other, they are filled with earth.
- Vertical beds. One of the ways to grow ampel strawberries in greenhouses. The beds are most conveniently made from inexpensive plastic pipes - they are installed vertically in the greenhouse. The diameter of the pipes is about 50 cm. They make holes with a diameter of 25 cm. The pipes are filled with a nutrient substrate, irrigation is fed to them, and then seedlings are planted.
You can also grow strawberries in vertically suspended bags of film, which are filled with a substrate. Plants are planted in holes previously made in polyethylene.
the method of growing ampel strawberries "in pots"
growing strawberries "on the grid"
planting strawberries on the beds in the form of a "pyramid"
"Vertical beds" (growing strawberries in bags)
Suppose that it is decided to plant strawberries in pots with a capacity of 3 l with further cultivation in a greenhouse. Work order:
- Pots are placed with a difference in height - 70-80 cm. If the height of the greenhouse is about 2.5 m, it will fit 3 lines of strawberries. The intervals between adjacent pots are 40 cm.
- The greenhouse is equipped with drip irrigation.
- The optimum temperature in the greenhouse is 19-25 ° C. At higher temperatures, complete pollination does not occur.
- When the plants blooms, they open the greenhouse - for better pollination of non-self-fertile varieties. If the varieties are self-fertile, then in the greenhouse it is necessary to constantly maintain high humidity - at the level of 90%.
If the area of the greenhouse is 1-2 acres, then the total yield will be 5 buckets, which is half as much as when growing ordinary strawberries.
How to care for a berry?
Ampel strawberries are unpretentious, so caring for them is as simple as possible. It is only important to consider the features of its cultivation:
- Poor tolerance of heat and scorching sun. It is advisable to select a place in partial shade or provide for artificial shading.
- Until the fruiting period has begun, the optimal conditions for development are 80% humidity and an air temperature of 5-7 ° C.
- During fruiting, optimal conditions are 60% humidity and air temperature 20-25 ° C.
Care for planting ampel strawberries:
- Watering. Twice a day - in the mornings and evenings. They don’t pour much water - they only moisten the soil a little. If strawberries grow in hanging pots, then they are simply placed in a pan with water, and they are kept there for about half an hour. This method allows you to water the plant, preventing its overmoistening.
- Top dressing. Plants are fed every 15-20 days. Fertilizers previously dissolved in water are applied during irrigation. The best option is to make a mixture of superphosphate (180 g), boric acid (40 g), potassium permanganate (20 mg), ammonium nitrate (30 g), copper (1 mg) and zinc (2 mg). The ingredients are diluted in 10 liters of water - this solution is enough for 50 plants.
- Pruning. As soon as the first crop is taken, the lower leaves and flowering buds are cut. A number of gardeners advise trimming a mustache. And some believe that the first flowers should also be cut - to increase the volume of the crop.
If ampel strawberries are grown indoors, then preference is given to complex fertilizers, if in the open ground - to organic.
If in the first place when growing ampel varieties is getting a crop, and not decorative, then the main procedure for leaving is the removal of excess sockets and mustaches. The bush is able to feed two outlets, all the others are removed as soon as they appear. The maximum number of mustaches is 5. But each gardener can experiment with the number of mustaches, monitoring the development of plantings.
Breeding
The newest varieties and hybrids of ampel strawberries are bezosy. Reproduction by fission is problematic. The best way to propagate small-fruited varieties - seeds, large-fruited - seedlings from the nursery.Ampel strawberries are propagated in the following ways:
- Rooted outlets. One bush allows you to get several new plants in a year. In the first year, 5 mustaches are left at the bush for fruiting, and all the others are planted in nearby pots placed so that the sockets are rooted in them. Pots put in a slightly shaded place - for 10-12 days. On new, rooted bushes, flower stalks are removed.
Plants begin to propagate in May, before the onset of frost, the plants have time to grow. With the onset of frost, pots are placed in a basement or other dark place, and are not watered until March. In spring, strawberries are taken out of the basement, but put in the sun only after 3-4 days. After 1.5 months, the strawberries will bloom. - The seeds. When buying seeds, keep in mind - they quickly lose their germination. Do not delay their sowing for next year - seedlings will be many times less. The method of propagation by seeds is good if you need to get a lot of seedlings at once. Seedlings grown from seeds bear fruit already next year. You can not take seeds from hybrids - grown bushes can lose all maternal traits.
Work order:- A light, breathable substrate is prepared. Seeds are very small, they cannot be buried in the ground - they germinate only when they are in the light. The best option is peat soil, in which coconut fiber is added. Calcined river sand is poured over the substrate. You can put snow on top - it will melt, and draw in the seeds, pressing them to the soil.
- Crops are covered with glass or film. They put in a warm room (+ 25 ° C) and ventilate every day, removing the cover for 5-10 minutes.
- Seeds germinate in 1-3 weeks. When the seeds germinate, put the container in a well-lit place, and continue to ventilate.
- The film / glass is removed when 2 real leaflets appear. Sprout seedlings with a syringe or pipette - so as not to over-moisten the substrate. Excess moisture can provoke a dangerous disease - a black leg.
- In the phase of 2-3 leaves, seedlings are dived. The optimum temperature during this period is 15-16 ° C.
- When the seedlings appear 5-6 leaves, it is transplanted to a permanent place.
Mustache propagation is dangerous by the accumulation of viral diseases in the bushes, and these infections are not transmitted through the seeds.
Diseases and Pests
Any strawberry variety - garden or ampelous, is attacked by the same pests, germs, viruses, and fungi. Thanks to cultivation at height, ampel strawberries get sick less often. In table 2 - common diseases and pests of ampelous varieties, and measures to combat them.
table 2
Pests / Diseases | Damage / Symptoms | How to fight? |
Powdery mildew | The edges of the leaves are curled, the berries are covered with a touch of ashen. | Cleaning dried and affected leaves. In spring, they spray with Bordeaux liquid 3, and after harvesting, the plantings are treated with a 1% solution. For prevention, plantings are sprayed in the spring with a solution of sulfaride (10 l - 2 tbsp. L.). |
Strawberry mite | The fruits of the affected bushes are deformed, the leaves are weakened. | In the spring - preventive spraying with Nero, Actelik, Fufanon. One of these preparations is also sprayed with plantings after harvest and before the cold. If tick infection has already occurred, spraying is carried out every 3 weeks. Mandatory - before flowering and before the formation of ovaries. |
Nematodes | Transparent microscopic worms up to 1 m long. Suck out juices from leaves and stems. The foliage wrinkles, the stems are shortened, the berries harden. | The affected bushes are watered with a solution of bleach, then they are torn out and burned. The remaining bushes are sprayed with a solution of phosphamide or mercaptophos - 2-3 times with an interval of 4-5 days. |
Strawberry weevil | Holes appear in the leaves, larvae appear in the buds. | Sprayed planting Decis, Spark, Karbofosom. |
Gray rot | A fungal disease that develops with high humidity. Light brown fluffy spots appear. The disease can destroy 90% of the crop. | For prevention, plants are sprayed with Bordeaux liquid 3%. After harvesting the berries - with the Azocene (for 10 l of water - 20 g). |
Late blight | Withering and drying of leaves. The death of the roots. | After cleaning the sick bushes - disinfection of the soil. Treatment with copper preparations - chloroxide or Bordeaux liquid. When signs of the disease appear, they are sprayed with Ridomil, Horus or other fungicides. |
Interesting Facts
The unique aroma and taste of strawberries gives special charm to culinary dishes, pastries, cosmetics, perfumes. But strawberries are not only tasty, but also healthy, this berry is a generous source of nutrients. Nutritionists strongly recommend adding strawberries to your diet.
The benefits of strawberries for the body:
- lowering blood pressure;
- heart rate normalization;
- muscle tone improvement;
- blood circulation stimulation;
- improvement of the digestive tract;
- improved metabolism.
Some more interesting facts about wild strawberries:
- Fresh berries have a disinfecting and healing effect.
- Strawberry extract is included in lotions, anti-aging creams, soaps, tonics, and other cleansers.
Thanks to the work of breeders, now even urban residents can grow strawberries on their balconies on their own.
Reviews
Evgeniya I., Tula region We grow strawberries in a heated greenhouse so that the early berries are. In the summer we hang on the street in a cache-pot, we grow up in flowerpots. Very beautiful strawberries, many berries, delicious.
Victor P., Murom. It seems to me that no ampel strawberries exist. You can take any repair grade, plant it in vertical beds so that your mustache hangs - the same thing happens.
Kira. O., Taganrog. I grow a grade of Tuscany. As a decoration. Planted by buying imported seedlings such as frigo. For the winter we clean the room. For food and sale, I prefer to grow ordinary varieties.
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Ampel strawberries, not requiring special care from gardeners, can not only feed the whole family with sweet berries, but also create a mood. Bright, like sparkling berries growing on peduncles and mustaches, decorate gardens, courtyards and balconies from spring to late autumn. Possessing high productivity, ampelous varieties are also suitable for growing in greenhouses - for the sake of harvest.
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