Planting and care
Guaranteed to obtain high yields of garden strawberry, you need to provide her with good care. Not less important and the right choice of location for planting. Berry patch is preferable to place on the lit area of the garden, with a slope to the South or South-West. Well, if coming from the North from cold winter winds, they will be protected by high bushes or trees – in this case, will be kept to a minimum the risk of freezing.
To plant "Victoria" is recommended in two rows or band method. The distance between the bushes should be 70х40см. Planting is best done in early spring or in August, when the bushes are formed young mustache. Good yields of the beds is maintained for 4-5 years, then they need to be moved to another place, observing rotation. It's important to shape the bushes, appearing to remove his mustache, so as not to weaken the plants.
It is necessary to keep the beds clean, promptly remove the weeds and loosen the soil and provide abundant watering during the mass pouring of berries. To retain moisture, the mulch will help. It can be shavings, straw or black non-woven covering material. This technique is also important for protection from fungal infections and pests.
Pest control
Spring after regrowth of leaves, clumps of Victoria need to treat with antifungal drugs from Botrytis, brown and white mottling. This used Bordeaux liquid, copper or iron sulfate, colloidal sulfur. Treatment should be carried out twice per season – after the leaves open and harvest. Before using these drugs should carefully study the instructions and do not forget about safety precautions.
A lot of worries and gardeners deliver and pests of garden strawberries. The worst ones are the strawberry mite, Mattila-strawberry weevil, spider mites, strawberry nematodes, wireworms and slugs, sow bugs, red ants, which eat fresh berries. Affected bushes are stunted, the berries are shrinking, and in most cases, the buds wither, not respectives.
To combat them, you can use insecticides "spark", "INTA-VIR" or to use the drug biological action "Fitoverm", which disrupts the life cycle of the pest, and then he dies. This drug is effective against spider mites and strawberry weevil. To combat the nematode must be washed in cold water the roots of diseased plants are then immersed in a solution of salt (5 tbsp of salt per 5 litres of water) for 15 minutes, then again washed in clean running water and planted in another place.
In August, it is recommended to cut off the old leaves on the garden strawberries to get rid of pests. However, it should be done in a timely manner, so that the bushes had to be covered with fresh foliage and not winterkilled winter. For insurance from freezing in autumn, the bushes need to mulch with dry peat or humus.
For effective control of wireworms should be timely weeding, loosening the soil between rows. It is very important to deal with couch grass, sow Thistle, dandelion, remove their roots. You can use herbicides "ground", "roundup" - in accordance with the instructions to the drug, to avoid the loss of strawberries.
Paying enough attention to care for the garden "Victoria", much of the season to feast on aromatic vitamins straight from the garden.
