In any suburban area, strawberry bushes grow, spreading carved leaves under the summer sun. But a couple of centuries ago, this berry was recognized as a luxury, even among aristocrats. Of course, peasants harvested wild strawberries from time immemorial. But strawberry garden (often incorrectly called strawberries) first appeared in Russia only during the reign of Alexei Romanov, the father of the future Peter the Great. The sovereign was interested in garden curiosities and ordered gardeners to grow strawberries in the Izmailovsky Garden. Fortunately, the times of strawberry deficiency are long gone. Now you can choose any variety that you like, although it is not easy: in the world there are more than 300 varieties of fragrant berries. The dessert variety Corona is recognized as one of the best.
History and Description of the Dutch Strawberry Crown
This variety of strawberries (garden strawberries) was bred in the Netherlands. In 1972, at the Wageningen Institute for Horticulture Selection, scientists created a new dessert variety by crossing Tamella and Induka. The experiment turned out to be extremely successful, because since then the Crown has been one of the leaders among strawberry varieties.
In our country, the popularity of the Crown is not surprising - the plant is able to survive in the 20-degree frosts characteristic of the regions of central Russia.
Strawberry Crown is frost resistant. It easily tolerates temperatures of -20-22 ° C
The Korona strawberry variety is remontant: with proper cultivation and care from the bushes, you can collect not one but several berry crops per season. If the cultivation of berries is carried out in greenhouse or home conditions, then strawberries bear fruit all year round.
Strawberry bushes - medium height with wide carved leaves, slightly concave. Mustache is not enough. Gardeners liked a small number of mustaches for the variety, because usually the berry tries to crawl around the site, trying to get out either in the garden with tomatoes or in the flowerbed with favorite roses. There are no such problems with the Crown.
Crown - dessert high-yielding variety:
- stems are dense, moderately thick, able to withstand the weight of berries;
- large peduncles, abundant flowering throughout the summer season;
- the fruits are dark red, with a glossy sheen, of the correct "heart" shape, weighing from 12 to 30 g, from one bush you can collect up to 1 kg of berries;
- the pulp is sweet, juicy.
Corona Strawberry Fruit
The crown is universal in use. It can be used in the preparation of fruit salads, confectionery, canning, and consumed fresh.
The grade is frost-resistant. It has increased immunity to fungal diseases.
Video: repair grade Crown in the garden
Characteristics of Strawberry Crown
The crown belongs to the varieties of medium early ripening. It is often grown for sale, including on an industrial scale. However, due to the fact that the berries of the Crown are very juicy, it does not tolerate transportation. For the same reason, strawberries are not frozen.
The variety develops superbly and bears fruit in greenhouse conditions. Productivity when grown in open ground is an order of magnitude lower than that of greenhouse plants, since the Corona is thermophilic. She prefers sunny areas with no drafts. But strawberry is not demanding on the soil composition. The main thing is that the earth is loose, saturated with oxygen.
In greenhouse conditions, the Corona strawberry yields a larger crop than in open ground
Disadvantages and advantages of the variety
The advantages of corona strawberries are:
- unpretentiousness to the composition of the soil;
- resistance to fungal diseases;
- high productivity;
- variety maintainability;
- cold resistance;
- excellent taste of berries;
- resistance to powdery mildew;
- medium early ripening.
Variety Corona is characterized by high productivity
The variety has some disadvantages:
- during transportation, berries quickly deteriorate;
- berries should not be frozen;
- the fruits are often affected by gray rot and white spotting;
- the variety does not tolerate severe drought and needs systematic watering;
- the peduncle is difficult to separate from the berries;
- yield decreases when grown in open ground.
Growing Features
In order for the Crown variety to take root in the summer cottage, feel good and actively bear fruit, it is worth familiarizing yourself with some tips on planting and care.
Breeding methods
There are 3 ways to propagate strawberries:
- mustache
- dividing the bush
- seeds.
For any method of reproduction, choose a healthy, full-bodied plant.
When propagating a mustache:
- Choose a plant with rosettes on the antennae.
- The earth around the bush is watered and loosened.
- Sockets are slightly pressed into the loose earth.
- After the formation of 3-4 adult leaves, the mustache is cut off, and the bush is transplanted.
A rosette with leaves formed on a mustache is pressed slightly into the ground so that it takes root
To divide the bush, the roots must be well developed - in this case, there will be no problems with the propagation of the variety.
When propagating by dividing the bush:
- With a sharp knife, the bush is divided into several parts so that each of the seedlings has a shaped rosette with several leaves and a developed root.
- Seedlings are planted in a new place.
To propagate strawberries by dividing the bush, the roots must be well developed
The most time-consuming method is seed propagation.
Germination of the Crown is quite high: 8 seeds out of 10. But part of the seedlings may die even before the dive due to the lack of the required amount of light and heat. Gardeners advise planting strawberries in small containers with soil.
- Seeds are pre-soaked in Epin solution for 6-20 hours.
- After that, planted to a depth of 5 mm.
- The box is covered with glass and placed in a room where the air temperature is 22-25 ° C.
- As soon as the seedlings appear, seedlings are spotted on the windowsill to provide enough light.
- Strawberries are dived twice: when the first real leaf appears and in the presence of three leaflets.
If there are three leaves, strawberries are dived in separate cells
When planting strawberries with seeds, you can use peat tablets. They will provide the seeds with the conditions necessary for active and healthy development. Tablets are laid out at the bottom of the box, poured with water, and seeds are planted after swelling.
Peat pills will provide strawberry seeds with the conditions necessary for active and healthy development
Planting strawberries
In early spring, plants are planted in greenhouses or in open ground. It is better to build high beds. Planting is recommended in the evening, so the bushes will not get sunburn.
- They dig up the soil well before planting, because the Crown loves loose, oxygenated soils.
- Make beds 1-1.5 m wide.
- On the bed they dig holes of the required depth.
- In 2 or 3 rows, strawberry bushes are planted. The planting scheme for this variety is 50 × 50 cm.
- Water abundantly watered.
- A plant is placed in the well. Sprinkle the roots with soil.
- 2-3 tablespoons of wood ash are poured under each bush as a top dressing.
- After the plant is planted, re-watering is performed.
- After completion of the planting process, the beds are mulched with straw, hay, sawdust or black spanbond. This will increase strawberry productivity and rid it of weeds.
For heat-loving strawberries of the Korona variety, when grown in soil, mulching with black spanbond is good
Good precursors for strawberries are legumes: beans, peas. Planting a plant in the beds where potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage or cucumbers grew before is not recommended.
Video: how to plant strawberries
Necessary feeding
Like any garden crop, strawberries need to be fed. Fertilizers are applied to the soil:
- when planting plants (most often use wood ash);
- when new leaves began to appear at the plant that has taken root (nitroammophosco is diluted with water in the ratio of 1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water, watered strawberries, trying to prevent the solution from falling on the leaves);
- during the formation of fruits (a solution of 2 g of potassium nitrate and 10 l of water is applied under the bush without affecting the leaves of the plant);
- after harvesting (watered with mullein solution (10 l) with wood ash (1 glass));
Variety Care Features
Strawberry Crown needs constant care:
- Strawberry bushes are watered every 3 days. On 1 m2 the norm of 10 liters of warm water is accepted. Some gardeners water once every 7 days. The water consumption in this case is 20 l per 1 m2.
Strawberries watered in the morning
- Loosen the soil after watering, while the earth is wet. Loosening the soil will provide oxygen access to the root system. Then the soil is mulched. As mulch straw, hay or sawdust are perfect.
Loosening the soil on the bed with strawberries is necessary to provide the plant with the necessary access of oxygen
- Whiskers are trimmed from strawberries throughout the season, which helps increase yields. Outlets with young leaflets on the mustache can be used as planting material. Pruning is carried out with very sharp scissors or secateurs.
Strawberry mustache pruning is carried out with sharp scissors or secateurs
- In autumn, to remove diseased leaves and renew the berry, leaf pruning is performed. To do this, use secateurs or clippers. You cannot pick leaves by hand, as this can damage the roots and rosette of the strawberry. The cut height of the old leaves is 5-7 cm.
- Mowed foliage is not used as compost, but burned. This is necessary to prevent the appearance of pests and diseases.
- After pruning, strawberries are fed with organic fertilizers to restore plant strength.
The cut height of strawberry leaves is 5-7 cm
- Old and diseased plants are removed from the garden every year. Even if you leave several of these bushes, they will not bear fruit for the next year. In addition, we must not forget that excessive thickening of the beds leads to the fading of berries.
One of the important conditions for the proper development of a variety is systematic watering. The crown does not like an excess of moisture, but does not tolerate a prolonged drought.
Disease Prevention and Treatment
The variety is resistant to fungal diseases, true and downy mildew. But at the same time, the Crown is subject to gray rot and white spotting. To prevent this, it is necessary to periodically inspect the plants.
Preventing the appearance of gray rot is easy:
- it is necessary to follow the landing pattern in order to avoid thickening;
- It is important to monitor soil moisture, as an excess of moisture is one of the causes of gray rot.
To prevent gray rot, it is important to prevent waterlogging of the soil
You can fight the disease with medications containing copper (you can use copper chloride):
- The product is diluted with water according to the instructions.
- The resulting solution is sprayed with strawberry bushes.
White spotting is also a big problem for gardeners. The first sign of the disease is the appearance of reddish spots on the leaves, then the center of the spot begins to turn white. However, white spotting affects not only foliage. Flower stalks and antennae of strawberries also suffer.
White spotting affects not only strawberry foliage, but also peduncles and antennae
To combat white spotting:
- plants are sprayed with Bordeaux liquid (1%) twice: before the flowering of strawberries and in mid-summer;
- iodine solution (5%) is added to water (10 ml per 10 l of water), the leaves are treated with the resulting composition.
Winter preparations
Prepare strawberries for the cold season begin in late August. At this time, pruning leaves and mustaches. Weakened by the removal of foliage, strawberries are vulnerable to disease, so they are sprayed with Bordeaux liquid (1%).
Shortly before the onset of frost, strawberries are covered with humus. Corona is a frost-resistant variety, but it is better to play it safe so as not to lose crop next year.
Video: strawberry pruning in the fall
Reviews gardeners
The crown wintered well - not even a single dry leaf was removed, smart girl !!! Immediately went powerfully to growth, blooms ... It remains to try the berry to decide whether to expand the planting ...
Evgenia Yurievna//forum.vinograd.info/showthread.php?t=6061
This year, the Crown wintered almost perfectly without shelter, just fine, despite the 20-degree frosts lasting for our region, it also developed quite well. But due to the 33-degree heat that had come early in mid-April, it somehow very quickly departed, without having time to prove itself fully. Without drip irrigation, watering is needed every day - not the most hardy variety to heat. In terms of taste, a good variety, but there is better, without a pronounced strawberry flavor. While I leave ...
Cersei//forum.vinograd.info/showthread.php?t=6061
Continuous laudatory odes about this variety ... Yes, it’s tasty, yes fruitful, and the level of transportability, but why doesn’t anyone write that this variety has the first two or three berries large (and very large), and then a trifle? Or is it just me? And further. June is very rainy, but all varieties of brown and white spotting were slightly affected (processed by Ridomil and Azofos), but the Crown ... it is something terrible ... although it was processed on a par with everyone else. Fruiting is not yet completed, and there is practically no foliage alive on it. Very much hit by spotting. And not only adult bushes, but also all young mustaches. Or is it just me too? Three years I have it, and every year is .... All. Stop playing with her. I will throw it away. Maybe it’s different for someone, but it definitely doesn’t work for me.
Svetlana Vitalievna//forum.vinograd.info/showthread.php?t=6061
Strawberry varieties differ from each other not only in taste. The conditions for growing and caring for plants vary, but this does not stop many gardeners. After all, the appearance of a new product on a personal plot, its development, and harvesting is another victory in the hard work of every gardener.
