Strawberry is said to be the natural red gold! They are not just delicious but also have multiple nutritional qualities which makes it a perfect fit for any meal. What if you knew that strawberries bear lots of vitamin C, fiber, and antioxidants? The question is, how can beginners start strawberry cultivation in India?
In this post, we will give you brief information about it, and you will see the step-by-step approach. The best part is strawberries can be grown in an area of your backyard garden or balcony.
Whether it is choosing a suitable variety or understanding its care and harvesting, this article offers you all of the necessary and convenient details that you need to be able to grow an adequate amount of delicious strawberries like a pro.
A popular and well-known variety of strawberries, Chandler berries are large, firm, and immaculately red with a smooth texture and have just the right balance of tartness and sweetness, ideal for fresh eating and processing.
Camaroza strawberries, which are well-known for their exceptional taste and high yield, are the favorite kind that Indian farmers usually grow. The sphere, hard spheres are rich red-colored and have a good shelf life.
A development of a day-neutral selection, Seascape strawberries produce large, firm, and eye-catching berries with a pleasant sweet-tart taste that makes them great for either the fresh market or the processors.
The variety Selva, which yields high and is available early, is a loved item among strawberry enthusiasts for its perfect red, firm texture, and balanced taste that includes sweetness and acidity.
The Sweet Charlie variety has fantastic sweetness and a captivating aroma, which is why they are highly sought after by home gardeners and local markets with deep, oval berries of bright red color.
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By choosing Winter Dawn strawberries, which are favorites because of their reliability, they can ensure a continuous supply of sweet, juicy, and flavorful berries throughout the growing season, making Indian farmers happy.
Nabila strawberries are a new introduction that is coming of age, gaining much popularity due to their attractive look and good shelf life. They are a good candidate for commercial cultivation because of their excellent yields.
Famous for its specific taste and smell, the Mahabaleshwar Strawberry is a local species that grows in the cold climate of Mahabaleshwar, which produces small to medium sweet Madras strawberries.
Soil preparation is vital for a strawberry plantation to succeed. Strawberry plants prefer well-draining, slightly acidic soils, with a pH ranging between 6.0 and 6.8. This type of soil not only provides the minerals needed but also ensures proper root growth and water drainage, which makes the fungus (root rot) less likely to occur.
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Thus, organic matter, such as compost or aged manure, should be added to the soil before planting. These organic amendments, as a consequence, help extend the life span of the soil, increase its capacity to retain water, and provide the said plants with what they need in terms of nutrients. Compost or manure has to be well mixed into the top 6 – 8 inch soils and evenly distributed throughout the whole planting area.
Proper soil preparation will not only lead to good plant health but also give you a better taste and more quantity for the strawberry crop. Through the effort of creating an appropriate soil condition, you’ll get a fantastic reward in the form of luscious and mouth watering strawberries, which will definitely please your senses.
When choosing the strawberry seed, the other question in your mind is, “In which season will strawberry grow?”. Typically, the best time to sow seed strawberries in various climate conditions of the country is either in the fall or spring planting seasons.
Crops like strawberries have a shorter season compared to other cultivars, and they are planted late in the season, i.e., in September-October in the north like Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, in order to allow the crop to mature in the cool winter months and bear fruit during the spring months.
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On the other hand, in south India, such as Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the recommended sowing time is between December and January.
Whether it is for the northern, central, or southern locations, to grow these plants successfully, they need to have six to eight hours of full sunlight daily with the soils well-drained.
If a small space is your concern or strawberry gardening is your first time, and you want to check it out in a raised garden or pots with a well-draining potting mix, strawberries are the best. By using this method, you can control the type of soil, resulting in the good health of the plants, regardless of the area type, like urban or small towns.
Strawberry plants require regular watering, with care being taken to maintain the optimal soil moisture content, particularly during fruit formation. In case of a deficiency of water, the berries will be smaller and have less taste, whereas if the bushes are overwatered, the disease of root rot and fungal disease will be much more common.
One of the top techniques for watering strawberry plants is through the use of drip irrigation. An irrigation tube system placed in the root zone can minimize surface water loss through evaporation and render water splashing on leaves and fruits a non-issue as fungal diseases spreading are significantly reduced.
Besides the correct watering show, mulching would be of high interest in bribing your strawberry plants. The most common form of mulching is black mulching paper, which is mainly used for strawberry farming. This contributes to soil temperature and helps reduce root damage.
Feeding plants with the appropriate plant food plays a leading role in achieving the lush and prolific fruiting of strawberry plants. It all depends on the balanced fertilizer, which is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, including the main nutrient matters. Directions should be carefully read, and the exact number presented by the manufacturer at the correct intervals.
Weed control is a must, and it must be done to ensure your strawberries get the required resources to thrive. Culture your weeds naturally by choosing methods that are chemical-free, e.g., hand weeding and barrier methods like mulch or landscape fabric to suppress weed growth.
Implementation is the best practice of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which plays a superb role in having a vineyard full of strawberries in a balanced and sustainable way. IPM implies the application of a multi-dimensional strategic approach that involves risk prevention, monitoring, and pest-disease oriental methods to manage pests and diseases.
Aphids, slugs, and spider mites attack close relatives of strawberries. Meanwhile, hostile players like powdery mildew, grey mold, and leaf spot can primarily affect the crop. A wise person once said that prevention is better than cure, so begin with growing procedures such as providing adequate plant spaces, crop rotation, and removing infected materials to control the emergence of pests and diseases in crops.
Regarding insecticide use, consider using insecticidal soap and neem oil for plants or pharmacological organisms, e.g., beneficial insects. A handheld sprayer provides a tool that can be utilized to spray these solutions directly and on the target while using a minimal amount of the solution. This will, therefore, be a great tool to increase efficiency and avoid wastage.
One of the most essential points to consider is knowing the perfect picking time. Find a shrub that has deep purple berries, which can be pushed with a tender hand but still impeded by protruding seed jelly.
Check out these strawberries for the telltale signs of ripeness! To ensure excellent quality, it is recommended to harvest your strawberries in the morning hours, which is considered to be the wonderful time of the day as the strawberries might become soft and lose their freshness due to the heat of the day. Use sharp, clean snips and pruners to trim the stem ever so slightly below the fruit.
If you wish for a constant supply of fresh strawberries in growing seasons, think about planting the ever-bearing or day-neutral varieties, respectively. These Strawberry plants of the mentioned kind produce multiple harvests from spring all through fall, thus ensuring a continuous harvest season with a large output.
Similarly, the correct care and maintenance,i.e.regular watering, fertilization, and pest control, will lure out a fruitful period for your strawberry plants. By abiding by these recommendations, you will be able to enjoy mouthwatering freshly picked strawberries for a longer time, which will allow you not only to relish the berries but also make the most of your yield.
If you are a farmer and thinking about starting strawberry production on your farm or already cultivating strawberries, then you must have an Italian spray gun for fertilizer spraying. You can get your spray gun from the best agriculture sprayer manufacturer – Krishispray. Visit Krisispray.in and get the best deals on sprayers, spray guns, nozzles, spray pumps, and more.
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