What kind of strawberries can be grown on a windowsill all year round?

Repairing garden strawberries, or strawberries, on the windowsill can be grown all year round with minimal time and effort for care. Of course, growing a berry crop on a window, or rather on a windowsill, implies the correct choice of the variety, as well as adherence to the care technology not only in summer, but also in winter.

Variety selection criteria

Before growing garden strawberries at home, you should take into account the fact that not all varieties are suitable for cultivation in greenhouses. To grow at home not only a beautiful and strong, but also the most productive plant, it is recommended to give preference to the most unpretentious and shade-tolerant remontant varieties of garden strawberries. Almost any variety of strawberries can be grown at home, but among the best in taste and yield indicators, remontant ones are most often mentioned.

Variety name	Botanical description	Characteristics of the berry	Dignity	Varietal disadvantages
"Everest"	High-yielding and very promising French cultivar, producing medium-sized and compact plants	Medium to large sizes, light red color, pleasant sour-sweet taste	High level of winter hardiness, good yield indicators and taste quality characteristics of the berry	Average level of resistance to pests and diseases
"Cardinal"	Very vigorous shrubs with large glossy leaves	Large size, spindle-shaped, red with shine, dessert taste	Resistant to damage by gray fruit rot and spotting. The crop is well transported and stored. The variety is suitable for vertical cultivation	The risk of powdery mildew damage, the difficulty of reproduction with rosettes at home
"Queen Elizabeth II"	Plants are vigorous, compact type, rapidly flowering and fruiting	Large or very large, bright red, with firm and tasty pulp, suitable for transportation	Possesses sufficient winter hardiness and high productivity	Needs proper care and uninterrupted nitrogen and potassium intake
"Forest Fairy Tale"	Plants of medium size, fairly compact, with a significant number of peduncles	Small in size, dark red in color, conical in shape, with a juicy and pleasant pulp	High taste of berries and pronounced berry aroma	Almost completely absent
"World debut"	Pink-colored variant of remontant garden strawberry with long peduncles	Large, with an attractive red coloration and excellent berry aroma	High yield and large-fruited, as well as decorativeness	Insufficiently high level of resistance to certain diseases and pests

Growing rules from seeds

To obtain high-quality seedlings of garden strawberries from seeds, you should prepare planting pots or boxes with drainage holes, as well as nutritious soil and choose the right place for growing. The soil for sowing must be loose, and it is also good to let not only moisture, but also air to the root system of plants... You can make a soil mixture yourself by mixing turf, peat and coarse sand in equal proportions. To disinfect the soil, it is calcined in an oven for 1/2 hour at a temperature of 150-160 ° C.

Strawberries: growing on a windowsill (video)

To obtain the highest quality seedlings, it is recommended to soak the seeds for 48 hours on a damp cloth before planting. Then the seeds should be spread over the surface of the well-moistened soil, which the seedling containers are filled with. Finished planting containers with crops must be covered with plastic wrap and placed in a warm and well-lit place, at a temperature of 20-22 ° C. Until the germination stage, it is necessary to keep the soil moist by regular irrigation with warm water from a spray bottle.

Subject to the sowing technology and temperature regime, the first shoots of garden strawberries appear in about two to three weeks. Until the appearance of five true leaves, daily airing and systematic watering should be carried out. After the formation of five or six true leaves, the seedlings are picked into separate containers, the volume of which should not be less than 2.5-3 liters.

Also read: Mulching tomatoes in a greenhouse: choice of materials and technology

Summer and winter care

To get the most out of the strawberry harvest when grown on a windowsill, it is very important to create the most suitable conditions for the berry crop for full growth and normal development. Garden strawberries are recommended to be placed on windows facing south or southeast. In winter, plants need to be provided with artificial lighting in the form of additional lighting with fluorescent lamps. The full development and fruiting of a berry culture is impossible without creating lighting at the level of 12-14 hours a day.

It is important to adhere to the optimal temperature regime, which cannot be lower than 18-20 ° C throughout the entire growing season. Electric heaters and air humidification devices are used if necessary. However, it should be remembered that excessive moisture often causes damage to plants by various fungal infections. For strawberries in home gardening conditions, feeding is very important, which is due to the limited nutritional area of berry crops. Fertilizers should be applied twice a month, using for this purpose universal complex fertilizers without an increased nitrogen content.

Quite often, at home, strawberry plantations are attacked by such a plant parasite as a spider mite, there is a fairly high risk of being affected by gray fruit rot. A good prophylactic agent is a tincture based on chopped garlic with the addition of laundry soap and red pepper, which should be sprayed on the plants at the first signs of damage. On too hot and sunny days, garden strawberries grown on south windows may need shading, which will reduce the risk of damage to the foliage of the berry culture by burns.

When grown indoors, you should pay attention to the fact that strawberries need artificial pollination. For this purpose, you can use a regular watercolor brush with the softest bristle possible. Using such a brush, a simple pollination event is carried out, which consists in transferring pollen from one flower to another. The procedure is best done in the morning.

Reasons for the lack of fruiting

It is easy to guess that the home conditions for growing strawberries are far from ideal, and you will need to use all agricultural techniques to achieve decent fruiting. The complete absence of fruiting when growing a berry crop at home can be the result of the following violations of the technology and botanical features of the plant:

untimely planting does not allow plants to lay full-fledged flower buds for the formation of a crop;
the lack of full-fledged irrigation measures often negatively affects the fruiting ability of garden strawberries;
insufficiently correct carrying out of the procedure for artificial pollination of plants;
violation of the temperature regime or humidity indicators in the room for growing garden strawberries.

How to plant strawberry seeds (video)

The reason for the lack of fruiting can also be the acquisition of low-quality planting material, represented by a weedy variety of berry culture. Such plants form an abundant amount of barren flowers in the complete absence of ovary formation.

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Every second gardener or just a lover of home plants wants to grow not only a beautiful, but also a useful plant. And almost every housewife will not mind strawberries being such a crop. This is beautiful too - the flowering plant emits a pleasant aroma, has a beautiful appearance, and you can get healthy and tasty berries all year round.

General concept of remontant strawberries

In order to enjoy delicious berries all year round, you need to know what species and varieties are required for reproduction. We have already written in detail about what remontability is.

Homemade strawberries all year round is quite possible if everything is organized correctly.

Experienced gardeners use for similar purposes exclusively remontant varieties, however, you should know which varieties are capable of bearing fruit continuously, and which ones - only two harvests.

Can strawberries be grown on a windowsill?

The answer is yes!

Remontant crops differ from the usual species not only in that they are able to bear fruit several times during the warm season, but also in the duration of daylight hours. Ordinary crops, as a rule, are characterized by ripening with a short daylight hours, that is, they ripen even in the dark, if the temperature allows.

Strawberries have bloomed on the windowsill, we are waiting for the first berries.

Differences in varieties

Repaired crops are divided into maturation of long daylight hours and neutral daylight hours - DSD and NSD.

DSD repairmen are able to develop and lay buds only in the presence of long-term illumination - yield twice a season... At the same time, as a rule, the second crop is distinguished by larger fruits and a higher overall level of yield. However, in this case, this species does not differ in particular endurance, as a result of which many bushes die after the season - dries up.

NSD repairmen are characterized by stronger endurance, fruiting is characterized by continuity, does not depend on the length of daylight hours... If favorable conditions are created, they are able to give a high level of yield for about ten months in a row. If grown at room temperature, with sufficient light, the weather and climate are not affected either.

Classification of varieties

If you decide to grow strawberries on the windowsill, you should ask the store what kind of seedlings they are, what are they called.

Ornamental strawberry variety "Tristan".

Large-fruited strawberry "Brighton".

Repaired early ripening variety "Roman".

The main popular names of NSD remontants:

Queen Elizabeth;
Queen Elizabeth II;
F1 novel;
Tristar;
Brighton.

Queen Elizabeth

Periodic yield.

It is believed that Queen Elizabeth refers to a species of long daylight maturing, however, many gardeners still prefer to grow it in an apartment due to the large size of berries and high taste..

The main advantages of the variety:

ease of grooming;
large whisker formation for breeding;
the size of the berries is 50 grams;
beautiful flower stalks - nice decor on the window;
pleasant aroma;
long-term storage in fresh and processed form.

In most cases, the first Elizabeth is grown in the house by those owners who are satisfied with such a period of strawberry productivity due to employment... The rest of the varieties are bright representatives of their species, they are distinguished by regular fruiting, pleasant aroma, beautiful peduncles, and a high level of endurance.

Rules for planting strawberries at home

When choosing a variety, it should be borne in mind that the plant will live in the selected container for about three years, since frequent transplantation is harmful to the crop - it reduces immunity and productivity, and lengthens the adaptation period.

In order not to transplant strawberries once again, you need to immediately choose a larger pot.

In addition, adult seedlings may well die due to the fact that they are not able to adapt to new conditions as much as possible.

For one bush, you can use a container with a volume of no more than three liters.... The flowerpot should be wide and medium in height - at least twenty centimeters. Balcony boxes can be used for group planting. Depending on the size of the box, the number of seedlings is calculated. If the approximate volume of the container is from ten to fifteen liters - four bushes, the distance between them is twenty-five centimeters.

Tank preparation

The seedling container must be properly prepared.

Drainage holes in the bottom of the pot.

Expanded clay or pebbles at the bottom of the container.

Loose and nutritious soil.

At the bottom of the pot or box, holes should be cut out for the drain of excess water, and the bottom of the container should be filled with a drainage mixture - expanded clay, pebbles, broken brick or pebbles.
As a substrate, you can use a universal ready-made mixture from a store, which is used for indoor plants.
But it is also permissible to use a mixture prepared by yourself - forest land, humus, humus, peat, sand.
The dose is selected on the basis of two parts to one part.

Planting a seedling

We keep the rhizome in potassium permanganate.

Place the seedling in the pot.

We add fertile soil.

Checking the location of the heart.

Top dressing

Top dressing is applied several times during the entire active period - before flowering, during flowering, during fruiting.

It is recommended to feed approximately once every fourteen days..
The frequency and amount of dressings will depend on the condition of the seedlings, the stage of development, and the season.

It should be remembered that there is a so-called "dead period" when the plant rests - it does not bloom, does not bear fruit, does not throw away its stepsons. At this time, all the functions of the culture freeze - the plant thus rests - you can not make any dressings and fertilizers... Can be used monofertilizer, or you can - a complex consisting of several substances.

Growing algorithm

Landing begins, as a rule, in July.

Around the second week after transplanting the seedlings, new leaves should appear.

This is due to the adaptation period - so that the seedlings can adapt to the winter, and show the result in the spring. It is planted in a large pot, can be placed on the balcony, on the sunny side - on the south or southeast side of the balcony.

The appearance of the results - the first additional leaves - is expected on the eleventh day... If young leaves appear, the plant is firmly rooted and took root. In this case, the old leaves gradually die off and crumble.On the thirtieth day, the first ear of flower stalks can be expected to appear, which should be removed in order for the second flowering to bring better results.

Peduncles

Approximately thirty-seventh day - flower stalks open.

The first flowers appear on the bushes planted more than a month ago.

Several disclosures appear first - roughly from two to four inflorescences... The duration of flowering varies within three days, then the petals crumble and the first fruits are tied.

The conditional end of flowering, if the strawberry belongs to the period of a long day of ripening, falls on about fifty-second days after planting.

Helping flowers to pollinate.

The first berries

At the same time, the first berries increased in size, and the peduncles bloom and fade in turn.

It is necessary to monitor the stems due to the fact that the first berries are extremely large - the stems may break.

To prevent such a phenomenon, a fabric roller or foam rubber can be placed under the stems. And you should also remember about systematic watering as needed. The first sample of ripe berries usually occurs on the sixty-first day, if all the measures of correct agricultural technology are followed.

Deformed berries appear with insufficient pollination of peduncles.

Fruiting all year round

For winter fruiting, strawberries need additional lighting, as a result of which the length of the day will increase to about twelve hours.

Extra lighting for homemade strawberries.

The temperature regime is maintained at the level twenty degrees centigrade... If the DSD variety is used for indoor cultivation, it is worth remembering that the duration of the active productivity of this species is two or three years.

If a decision is made to grow NSD remontants, you need to be prepared for the fact that a decline in productivity may occur in a year, and then you will need to carry out a new planting and breeding of young seedlings.

Video on how to plant strawberries from seeds at home

To many novice summer residents and gardeners, strawberries seem to be grown only in a garden bed. Although in fact this fragrant and tasty berry takes root well in an apartment, subject to simple rules. Learn to care for strawberry bushes at home, and you will no longer be worried about the high cost of berries in stores, especially in winter. Let's find out together all the intricacies of how to grow strawberries at home on a windowsill.

Specific features of strawberries and variety selection

Botanists who know well the peculiarities of plants, hearing about strawberries, will immediately recall the erroneous names of different species that are common in colloquial speech.

In fact, the most common cone-shaped berry today is called garden strawberry (or pineapple).

Strawberries, on the other hand, are a completely different species with round berries, obtained from the natural crossing of forest and oriental strawberries. There is also nutmeg strawberry, so named because of its special piquant aroma.

Let the wrong names remain in everyday life, but when buying seedlings, it is important not to miscalculate with the type and variety in order to ultimately get the desired harvest.

For growing on a windowsill, remontant strawberries are ideal. Reparability is a type of fruiting in which a plant is capable of producing crops throughout the year. There is also a minus: a short life span due to the constant abundant yield - from 1 to 3 years.

The following have proven to be the best remontant varieties:

"Queen Elizabeth";
"Tristar";
Berries of remontant strawberry variety "Tristar"
"Lyubasha";
"White Dream";
"Geneva";
Brighton and others.

Which is better - seeds or ready-made seedlings?

For growing strawberries on the windowsill, bushes dug out in the country, purchased seedlings, purchased in a store or seeds prepared on their own are suitable.

Seedlings from a summer cottage are good because you will be sure of the quality of the future harvest. To prepare the bushes for living conditions in an apartment, they are dug up in the right amount, preferably in the fall, and placed in boxes for a couple of weeks, providing rest time in a dark and cool place. This is followed by the landing stage, the nuances of which will be discussed later.

If you want to get young strawberry bushes, vegetative division of the plant is carried out in the garden. So, how to grow real strawberries from thin tendrils? Antennae with daughter leafy rosettes are cut from the parent bush, for which special care is needed: they are planted in flower boxes, they are abundantly watered and shaded from the sun for 3 weeks.

Propagation of strawberries with antennae

It is risky to take purchased seedlings, but if there is a trusted supplier of seedlings, there is no doubt. Just make sure that the strawberry twigs have developed leaves and white juicy roots.

Grown strawberries from seeds are no different from seedlings. To get seeds from berries, take some pretty ripe fruits, wipe them with a sieve, let stand in a glass of water, and then drain the pulp. Dry the remaining seeds, and you can start sowing. It is best to do this in the summer, but you can also traditionally - from January to April.

How to plant seeds:

Strawberry seeds are sown in a box with nutrient soil - on the very top of the soil, without sprinkling.
The box is left in a dark place covered with a cloth.
For 2 weeks, regular watering with warm water goes, but you need to make sure that the seeds are not washed off.
With the emergence of shoots, the box is already placed on the window, closer to the light. You can equip a greenhouse with film or glass if the room is pretty cool.
When the seedlings grow up to 10 mm, they are transplanted already at a distance of about 5 cm from each other.
And when the sprouts form at least 5 leaves, each of them is already transplanted into its own pot. After that, it is undesirable to transplant them somewhere else, since an adult plant does not tolerate this well.

Seeds germinate well in peat tablets, the soil mixture in them increases the germination of seeds even in the most capricious species. Another plus of this invention: an elementary transplant of immature seedlings into the ground, in which the risk of damaging the delicate roots is minimal.

Self-harvested seeds are stored for 3-4 years.

Where to plant strawberries

For good growth of strawberries, summer residents derived the formula of the soil mixture:

3 pieces of leafy land (leaf turf);
5 parts of humus;
2 pieces of sand.

Option two: a mixture of equal amounts of humus, sand and peat.

Ready-made commercial universal soil is also suitable if there is no time to prepare your own soil base.

In order to 100% exclude soil contamination by pests, a week before sowing, it is disinfected with a hot solution of potassium permanganate or steamed. This is especially true for land that was dug out by yourself or bought more than a year ago.

For processing with potassium permanganate, the proportions are taken: 1 gram per 200 ml of water, a weak pink solution is obtained. The steaming technology is as follows: a colander with soil is placed on a pot of water and under a lid at 100 degrees, hot steam is processed from 1 to 2 hours. Some people manage to steam the earth in the oven on a baking sheet and even in the microwave.

Preparing the soil for sowing strawberry seeds

It is imperative to pour drainage under the soil layer. Despite the fact that the berry is hygrophilous, excess water can damage the roots and destroy the plant. The drainage layer is especially important if the plant is planted in boxes or pots without holes to drain excess moisture. Then it is necessary to pour up to 5 cm of the drainage layer, otherwise a couple of centimeters are enough. Coal, crushed stone, broken brick, expanded clay, small pebbles are suitable as raw materials.

Depending on the number of bushes planted, the best containers for enhanced growth and fruiting of strawberries will be: a wooden box or several pots of sufficient volume - from 15 cm in diameter.

Now choose a sunny spot for the seedling pots. The best option is a balcony on the south side, but the southeast sector of the house is also not bad.

Strawberries are quite light-requiring, but at the same time shade-tolerant. It's just that in low light, the bushes will give less sweet berries than possible.

Even when located on the south side, the heat may not be enough. For those who want to get the most of the fruit, you can use fluorescent lamps, achieving the necessary 12-hour lighting.

It is better if the balcony is glazed, as strawberry bushes are sensitive to drafts. But an open balcony is also suitable, only the boxes must be supplied from the inside. It is important to ventilate the closed loggia daily to enhance the development of plantings.

Secrets of proper care for homemade strawberries

Let's start by watering the future strawberries. There are two ways to saturate the soil with moisture: watering from the top or from the bottom. Most owners of unpretentious indoor plants are used to the first option. This is a common use for a watering can: water pours until it starts to appear in the sump. The second method is more sophisticated, but it is just more suitable for our home strawberry. For watering from below, the liquid is poured into a pan or the pot is placed in a bowl of water, then waiting for the soil to be saturated with moisture. Then the plant is put in place, allowing excess water to drain.

Strawberries need standard timely watering 2 times a week. The best time to quench the plant's thirst is in the afternoon.
Excessive watering is not allowed.
The water should be well separated and at room temperature.
The tap water for irrigation is settled so that chlorine, which is harmful to plants, evaporates from it. One day will be enough for the evaporation of chloride impurities.

After each watering or once a week, the topsoil should be carefully loosened.

The following guidelines apply to shearing the plant for higher yields:

For this, the first flowers on a young bush are immediately cut off. Saplings taken from the garden already strengthened do not need this operation.
In addition to removing the first peduncles, antennae can be cut off from strawberries. The worse the balcony is illuminated, the more they need to be cut. In the presence of natural and additional artificial lighting, let the antennae grow and form rosettes for planting future plants.

There is such an interesting and important procedure as pollination. After the flowers have formed, they are alternately touched with a simple drawing brush. A simple procedure was performed, and there is no doubt about the appearance of a sweet strawberry harvest on the windowsill all year round.

Additional care for strawberries on the windowsill

Like all living things, a homemade berry needs constant care. Regular feeding will be the key to the plant's reciprocal love for you, its lush flowering and fruiting.

You can start feeding strawberry sprouts after 5 leaves appear. The frequency of the procedure is 2-3 times a month. You can buy ready-made liquid concentrated fertilizers and follow the instructions.

You can prepare mineral dressing yourself according to this recipe:

Take a three-liter jar and fill 1 liter with eggshells.
A glass of wood ash is added to the jar.
The rest of the hollow space of the container is filled with water at room temperature.
The mixture is infused for 5 days in a dark place and then filtered.
The solution is ready to use: it is diluted with water in a 1: 3 ratio.

Humus is suitable as a nutrient fertilizer. It is made liquid, diluted with water, and then the bushes are watered.

Ask the consultants of the store for summer residents about the optimal complex or organic fertilizers for remontant strawberries, they will definitely give the right advice.

It is better not to skip the feeding procedure during the active development of seedlings and their flowering. During winter dormancy, it would be good to exclude fertilizers, providing the strawberries with a good rest.
Do not allow an excess of nitrogen fertilizers, so as not to provoke excessive growth of leaves and an insufficient amount of long-awaited fruits.
The presence of such a trace element as iron in the soil will improve fruiting. There is an elementary way to achieve what you want - to place a rusty nail in the ground. A more modern option is to buy a special iron-containing solution at a flower shop and spray it on the leaves.

An integral point in plant care is disease prevention and pest control. To destroy aphids, a garlic solution is prepared: for one head of garlic - a liter of water. The prepared mixture is infused for about a week and poured into a spray bottle, with which the bushes affected by aphids are processed.

For preliminary flowering, the figure on the thermometer should reach 15-17 degrees Celsius. The optimum temperature for the successful ripening of berries in the room should be kept within 18-20 degrees. At lower values, additional heating by an electrical appliance is turned on.

Garden strawberries are hardy enough and can survive even at -30. But at home, this can be avoided by providing more comfortable conditions and bountiful harvests.

To the question of whether it is easy to grow strawberries on a windowsill, you can without a shadow of a doubt give an affirmative answer. The process of preparing seedlings, caring for them and obtaining a long-awaited fragrant harvest is not difficult and will captivate any avid gardener.

The first delicious berries from the windowsill can please you in 2 months. And all the subsequent baskets with strawberries and the amazing decorativeness of this miniature plant will only convince you of the correctness of the idea of arranging a garden by the window or on the balcony.

Growing strawberries on the balcony - video

Choosing a strawberry variety

All currently known varieties of this culture are divided into two types: remontant and one-time fruiting. Planting remontant strawberries on the windowsill gives a harvest all year round. It depends little on daylight hours and is less whimsical. The bushes planted in flowerpots begin to bear fruit after two months.

The best repair grades are as follows:

"Supreme"
"Lyubasha"
"Queen Elizabeth"
"Geneva"
"White Dream"
Brighton
"Tristar"

One-time fruiting varieties are more demanding on the length of daylight hours. They give only one harvest per season, so growing them at home on a windowsill is not advisable.

Preparing the soil mixture and choosing a container for planting

For repair strawberries, any vegetable or flower dredge bought in a store is suitable. If you wish, you can cook it yourself. Mix in equal parts sand, humus and forest soil (preferably coniferous).

If you take soil from the garden, then it may contain a dangerous pest - a root nematode. Therefore, before using it, it must be steamed according to the following technology: a colander with earth, covered with a lid, is placed on a container with water. While the water is boiling, the soil is treated with hot steam. The procedure should be carried out within 1-2 hours.After that, it is recommended to thoroughly spill the soil with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Use the proportion - 1 g of manganese for 200 ml of water.

Now it's time to choose a container for growing strawberries on the windowsill. If you plan to sell it, it is best to use large plastic bags or boxes. This will allow you to get a large harvest. If you grow berries for yourself, then simple flower pots will do.

Landing methods and features

Seed planting... Breeders have bred various varieties of strawberries, from the seeds of which you can grow seedlings. For example, the variety "Supreme" is suitable for this method. The berry weight reaches 5-7 g, the ovary is formed 4 months after the first shoots appear.

Some gardeners prepare their own planting material. For this, the ripe berries are selected, which are rubbed through a fine sieve. The resulting pulp is settled in a glass of water, and then filtered through cheesecloth. The remaining seeds dry well.

In a small container, a drainage layer 2 cm thick is arranged. Despite the fact that strawberries are a moisture-loving plant, excess water can harm the roots and destroy it. Drainage is especially important if seeds are planted in pots or boxes without holes to drain excess moisture. Then it is necessary to pour up to 5 cm of porous material. Broken brick, coal, small pebbles, expanded clay, crushed stone are used as raw materials.

The next step is to fill the container with the prepared soil mixture. Seeds are embedded in it to a shallow depth (no more than 1 cm). From above, they are sprinkled with a layer of earth, lightly tamped and covered with a transparent film. Now choose the most illuminated place for the seedling pots. The best option is a balcony or loggia on the south side. The southeastern part of the house is also suitable. Since strawberry bushes are very sensitive to drafts, it is better if the balcony is glazed.

When the first shoots appear, the film must be removed. After the formation of two true leaves, the seedlings are transplanted into a large bowl. To grow strawberries on a windowsill all year round, you will need dishes with a volume of at least 3 liters. It is advisable to sow by seed in the summer, when daylight hours are greatest, or traditionally - from January to April, but in this case it is advisable to use additional lighting, for example, special lamps for seedlings.

Bush planting... If you grow remontant varieties of strawberries on your land plot, then they can also be used for planting on the windowsill. To this end, dig up the required number of bushes, place them in a container and sprinkle with soil. Store containers in a cool, dark place for two weeks. This will provide the plants with the required dormancy period.

Next, plant the bushes in previously prepared boxes with earth. During planting, make sure that the rhizome is half buried in the ground. Cut roots that are too long so that they do not bend in the hole. The seedlings themselves before this procedure can be placed for 3-4 hours in a warm solution of heteroauxin (1 table for 5 liters of water). This will help them recover faster. Strawberries are watered with the same solution after planting in the soil, which stimulates the growth of the root system and contributes to better survival.

Plant care

Watering... There are two ways to moisten the soil: watering the top and bottom. The first is used for many unpretentious indoor plants - water pours from the watering can until it appears in the pan. The second method is more difficult, but more suitable for homemade strawberries. The tray is filled with liquid or the pot is placed in a bowl of water. When the soil has absorbed moisture, the plant is put in place.

Strawberries need timely watering twice a week. The best time to moisturize the soil is in the afternoon.In this case, the water should be at room temperature and well-separated so that chlorine impurities evaporate from it (one day is enough). Excessive watering is not allowed. After each watering, the soil should be gently loosened.

Shearing a plant... To increase the yield of strawberries, it is necessary to cut them on time. As soon as the first flowers appear on a young bush grown from seeds, they must be removed. Saplings taken from the site do not need this operation. They are already strong enough for further development.

In addition to cutting off the first peduncles, it is recommended to cut the antennae. The less illuminated the place where your "bed" is, the more they need to be removed. If there is sufficient natural and artificial light, this part of the plant can be left - the resulting rosettes are suitable for planting.

Pollination... When strawberries are grown on a windowsill in winter, the plant is devoid of natural pollination. It must be carried out independently in two ways: manually and with the help of a fan.

By hand - each flower is fanned with a soft brush for painting. It is advisable to use only natural bristle tools so as not to damage the fragile plant. The effectiveness of this method is quite high.

By means of a fan - the device is directed towards the peduncles. Pollination will occur naturally due to the movement of air masses. The procedure must be repeated for each bush. This method is simpler, but less effective.

Top dressing... Regular feeding will be the key to lush flowering and abundant fruiting of remontant strawberries. They should start after the appearance of five true leaves. The frequency of the procedure is 2-3 times a month. Acting according to the instructions, use ready-made liquid concentrated fertilizers.

Many amateur gardeners prepare their own mineral dressing. To do this, crushed eggshells (one third of the total volume) and 1 tablespoon of wood ash are poured into a three-liter jar. The rest of the empty space of the can is filled with warm water. The mixture is infused for 5 days in a dark place, after which it is filtered through cheesecloth. The resulting solution is diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 3.

Backlight... Since strawberries are a fairly light-loving crop, the duration of daylight hours for growing them should be at least 14 hours. Therefore, it is required to organize additional lighting with an energy-saving phytolamp (especially on cloudy days). Place the device at a distance of 20-30 cm from the container. Two lamps are enough for one window sill.

Temperature regime... Ensuring the right temperature for the strawberries on the windowsill is easy. Usually, in winter, the temperature in a living room varies between 20-22 ° C. For this culture, these are ideal conditions. When the temperature rises, just open the window. For lower values, supply an electrical appliance for additional heating.

Pest control

An integral aspect of plant care is pest control and disease prevention. The most common problems and solutions are described below.

Aphid... To destroy aphids, a garlic solution is used: one head of chopped garlic is poured in one liter of water. Then the mixture is infused for a week. The finished product is sprayed on the bushes affected by aphids.

Chemicals - Decis or Lirimor will also help get rid of the insect. You can turn to folk recipes. The most common are an aqueous onion tincture and a solution of laundry soap. After this treatment, regularly inspect the plants and remove the infected leaves.

Mites... These pests often live on plants and feed on their sap. Ticks are able to bring healthy bushes to dryness and death. To protect your strawberries, check your planting stock carefully, especially purchased stock.If there are signs of strawberry mite infestation, be sure to heat treat each plant. Keep the bushes in hot (up to 45 ° C) water for at least 15 minutes, then cool and dry well. You can also use the disinfecting emulsion Karbofos. Place the strawberries in it for a few seconds (up to the level of the root collar). The root must remain dry.

Fungal diseases... Fungal diseases, in particular black and gray rot, pose a particular danger to the culture. It lives in the soil on plant debris and looks like a soft bloom that affects all parts of the bush. As a result, the fruits become inedible, and the plant dies. In indoor conditions, too abundant watering contributes to the prosperity and spread of the disease. Therefore, in order to save strawberries, you need to prevent waterlogging of the soil. In the spring, before planting, it is treated with ash infusion, and the plants themselves are sprayed with Nitrofen. During flowering, strawberries are treated with manganese and boric acid.

As you can see, growing strawberries on a windowsill is not that difficult. The success of the whole business depends on the efforts that you put into it. Create the right conditions for your crop to grow and provide it with proper care. In this case, you will receive not only a bountiful, but also a very tasty harvest.

♦ Heading: Vegetable garden on the windowsill.

Date of publication:Growing