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It is difficult to find someone who does not like fragrant strawberries. Almost all gardeners, even with small summer cottages, allocate a piece of land for planting garden strawberries. This means that you need to choose a variety so that several planted bushes will allow you to get a good harvest of berries.
Among the cultivated varieties of strawberries with good yields is the Elsanta strawberry. The attractiveness of garden strawberries is that they can be grown in an apartment, harvesting all year round. Even a New Year's table can be decorated with a fragrant berry grown on a windowsill. The features and rules of growing Elsanta strawberries will be discussed further.
A bit of history
Elsanta strawberries are a Dutch product. The variety is relatively young, was created in the late 90s of the last century. His parents were two varieties - Gorella and Holiday. Its characteristics are reference for a given crop; strawberry yield is measured by it.
Description of the variety
It is difficult to imagine Elsanta strawberries without a description of the variety, photos and reviews of gardeners. As the popularity of the variety grows, you need to know what it is:
- Bushes are vigorous, with medium leafiness, erect. Leaves with a noticeable downy are large, juicy green, with shine. They are slightly concave inward. Leaves are highly wrinkled.
- Elsanta strawberries can be recognized by their thick, tall peduncles, located at the same level with the foliage. The inflorescence forms many white flowers with a bright yellow center. Flowers of different sizes.
- The Elsanta strawberry variety has large berries up to 50 grams. They are red and shiny. They have the shape of a cone, with a medium-sized cup. The inside is sweet, with a slight sourness (sugar -7.3%, acids - 0.77%).
- Inside, the berries are without voids, dense, crunchy. It is the crunch that some people do not like.
- There are many seeds on the berry, they are yellow, clearly visible on the fruits.
- In the Elsanta variety, the stem comes off easily without damaging the berry.
- In addition to a large number of peduncles, the variety stands out for its ability to produce a large number of mustaches. Elsanta strawberries have practically no downsides.
- Elsanta strawberries are resistant to many diseases inherent in this crop, but can suffer from root rot and powdery mildew.
- The culture is responsive to warmth and adequate moisture. Dry, hot weather and insufficient watering lead to a decrease in the size of the berry, which negatively affects the yield.
- Can be grown outdoors, but best returns in greenhouses or hotbeds.
- The variety is not frost-resistant, therefore it requires shelter for the winter.
- Zoned in many regions of the central zone of Russia, in Ukraine, in Belarus.
The only drawback of the variety is that you need to replace the bushes after three years.
In the video, the gardener shares his impression of the Elsanta strawberries:
Productive properties
Many gardeners are interested in the issue of the elsanta variety remontability. Immediately, we note that it does not belong to the remontant, although this does not diminish its attractiveness:
- The variety is high-yielding, subject to the rules of agricultural technology, up to one and a half kilograms of juicy aromatic products can be harvested from one bush, and up to 7000 kg from one hectare. That is why strawberries Elsinore (it is sometimes called that) are grown on an industrial scale.
- Dutch strawberries can be stored in a room for more than 3 days, and in a refrigerator for up to 5 days without losing their qualities.
- The presentation of the berries is not lost during long transportation, as gardeners write in the reviews.
- Elsanta strawberries are suitable for fresh consumption, preparation of compotes, jams, preserves, for freezing. After thawing, it does not lose its shape.
Features of agricultural technology
Landing
When planting seedlings of the Elsanta variety, you need to take into account the possibility of growing strawberries. It can be planted in two strips with a distance between bushes of at least 25 cm, and row spacing up to 40-45 cm.
As a rule, experienced gardeners plant the variety in a new location in September. Judging by the reviews, larger berries ripen on autumn planting strawberries. The soil is shed well, the holes are prepared. Saplings are squeezed after planting. If this is not done, then the roots may appear on the surface.
This is not a simple statement. After all, gardeners have been breeding this variety for more than a dozen years. In their opinion, overfed strawberries become less viable. While the bushes, planted without feeding, tolerate heat well. It is better to feed three-year-old plants. They will work for the last year, and they need recharge.
The photo shows the spring flowering of strawberries. You can imagine how many berries there will be.
Watering features
Since the Elsinore strawberry belongs to varieties with low drought tolerance, it is demanding on watering. After planting, the seedlings need to be watered every evening for 30 days. Then once a week. During fruiting, the soil should not be allowed to dry out. When it's hot, the amount of water per square meter increases to 10 liters. Garden strawberries respond well to drip irrigation.
All other agrotechnical methods, according to gardeners with rich experience in growing strawberries, are no different: loosening, weeding, pest control, disease prevention.
In general, Elsant strawberries have positive reviews from gardeners. Such plants should be kept on the site, at least for a change.
Wintering
Yelsanta strawberries will not be able to winter without shelter, even in the southern regions of Russia. Arcs are pulled over the bed, a layer of straw or peat is poured, and a dense non-woven material is placed on top.
Watering the bushes of garden strawberries is necessary to the very shelter. In winter, the bushes should be cut off and well mulched. Although the attitude to pruning the leaves is controversial, according to many gardeners, this procedure is necessary to increase the yield of Elsinore strawberries next year. You only need to cut the leaves, leaving the stalks so as not to damage the growing point. The photo shows how to do it correctly.
Plants are covered only with the onset of frost, so that the strawberries have enough time to harden.
