Description and characteristics of Bogota strawberries, planting and care
Many people love strawberries, so those who have garden plots will certainly start growing them. There is nothing surprising in this, since the berry was able to win fans due to its fresh and sweet taste, besides, it is consumed all year round: in summer and autumn fresh, and in winter and spring - in the form of jam or jam. Experienced gardeners choose Bogotá strawberries, which are among the largest-fruited. And how to grow it, you can find out further.
Characteristics of Bogota strawberries
The Bogota strawberry variety is classified as late-ripening - the harvest is obtained by July-August. The bushes are characterized by density and compactness, they grow in height up to 20-30 centimeters. The leaves are large, wrinkled, wide. There are many mustaches, they are long and thick. The strawberries are flush with the leaves. The flower stalks are strong and freely support the weight of the strawberry.
The berries are large, white-pink inside, red outside. The shape of the fruit is not the same. So, on one bush, you can see both rounded berries and conical ones. The pulp is quite dense, for this reason the variety tolerates transportation without problems.The pulp of strawberries is juicy and sweet, there is a certain sourness. The tasters give the variety a high score - 4.8.
Description of the variety
Next, we suggest considering the description of strawberries Bogota.
- Strawberry bushes are tall with a lot of foliage.
- The leaves are bright green in color.
- The variety blooms both polo.
- Plants have medium disease resistance.
- The berries are practically not subject to decay. Along with this, the variety is quite often prone to rust and mites.
- Low frost resistance.
- High demand for moisture.
- The yield is slightly above average.
Main pros and cons
As for the advantages of the variety, the following are distinguished among them:
- Not a bad yield.
- Large size of strawberries.
- Reproduces easily.
- Resistance of the variety to diseases, in particular to rot.
- Great strawberry flavor.
Nevertheless, it is worth highlighting the disadvantages of the variety, in particular:
- High demands on growing conditions.
- Low drought tolerance.
- Reduced frost resistance.
Growing features
To get a decent harvest of strawberries of the Bogota variety, you should adhere to some rules and cultivation features, which we propose to talk about further.
The choice of planting material
The land for planting this variety of strawberries should be prepared in advance, about two weeks in advance.It is necessary to choose the most sunny part of the garden, which is also protected from the wind. This variety is better suited to black soil.
If there is no humus-rich soil on the garden plot, it is worth changing the composition of the land in the right direction.
Before you start digging, for each square meter you need to pour two full buckets of humus, adding 1.5 heaped tablespoons of superphosphate and potassium sulfate. If the soil is acidic, add a glass of wood ash with dolomite flour. Peat or rotted sawdust is added to non-loose soils.
Landing time and place
Typically, Bogota strawberries are planted in early spring or fall. In any case, the process should be carried out as early as possible. If the gardener misses the right moment, the seedlings may well die.
If the landing is planned in the spring, this should be done before the onset of the heat, for example, in late April, early May.
In any case, the main reference point is weather conditions. Strawberries are planted in elevated areas that are well lit by sunlight.
Landing technology
As for the landing pattern, it will be as follows:
- Leave 30 centimeters of free space in the row between the seedlings. It should be borne in mind that the variety gives a lot of mustaches, which must be systematically removed. So, according to experts, a mustache can take on almost 30% of the crop. In addition, if you do not get rid of them, the area with strawberries will rapidly overgrow, the berries will grow small due to lack of sunlight and the necessary nutrition.
- Before planting, it is recommended to cover the bed with any covering material. This is done so that the mustache cannot take root. However, even after covering the soil, the mustache will still have to be trimmed.
- When planting, the neck of the strawberry rosette should not be too high.
- After planting, the strawberry variety needs abundant watering.
How to properly care for garden strawberries
If the planting of strawberries is done according to the rules, this is not a guarantee that the owner of the garden plot will receive the expected harvest of this variety. It is also necessary to provide competent care for garden strawberries, which we will talk about further.
Watering, weeding and loosening
Watering is an important part of crop care activities. The ideal option in this case is drip irrigation, however, if there is none on the site, you need to make sure that the strawberries receive a sufficient amount of moisture in the first two weeks after planting.
Until the strawberries take root, the soil must be moist all the time. When the leaves begin to grow, the watering regime changes - once a week (if the climatic conditions are dry, then twice). Water is supplied in large quantities so that the soil is soaked 30 centimeters deep.
Mulching
In the event that strawberries are grown on bare ground, straw or dry grass is laid out in the beds as mulch. Thus, weed growth slows down and moisture is retained.
Fertilizers
This variety requires nutrition, which is introduced according to the following scheme:
- In the spring, nitrogen fertilizing is used: urea or ammonium nitrate. The composition is distributed over the melting snow.
- In autumn, phosphate-potassium fertilizers are used: potassium sulfate and supersulfate.
- In the summer, they resort to complex fertilizing: Clean Leaf, Gumi-Omi, BioHumus.
Preparing for winter
Bogota strawberries are grown in warm mild climates. The berry will not survive large frosts, especially if the winter is with little snow. To the cold weather, the beds are covered with material that allows air to pass through (breathes). To trap the snow, twigs or dill stalks are scattered.
Methods of protection against diseases and pests
A universal remedy is heat treatment, which will allow you to eliminate ticks, nematodes and weevils without resorting to chemicals. In addition, hot water will cope with fungal infections: spotting, rot.
As for chemicals, the most effective remains Karbofos, which fights pests.
In addition, universal fungicides are also used, namely, agents that are aimed at combating diseases. Often, gardeners resort to using drugs such as HOM, Skor. Also, the Borodossa liquid will easily destroy spores of a particular fungal disease on strawberries (powdery mildew, white or brown spot).
Given the susceptibility of the variety to disease, it is recommended to do spraying in advance, before obvious signs of the disease become visible on the plant. So, the first treatment should take place in the spring, at the beginning of the growing season. Further, processing is carried out again, or even two, with a break of 10 days. Once the crop has been harvested, the plants are also processed once or twice, at the same interval.
Some gardeners underestimate disease control methods such as pruning and burning old leaves, which begin to turn yellow and stain. But, if you carry out regular destruction of such leaves, you can get rid of the source of infection, as well as give the bush the opportunity to grow new, healthy greens.
Breeding varieties
The variety is prone to the formation of a large number of mustaches. For those who plan to start selling seedlings or want to increase their own plantation through reproduction, abundant mustache formation on strawberries will be a plus.
For ease of further transplantation, the antennae for reproduction are engrafted in cups.
Collection, storage and use
If, after picking, you need to transport strawberries, picking the berries is in the morning - after the dew has melted, and before the sun begins to warm. Strawberries are torn off along with the stalk. Place the crop in a shallow container. Strawberries keep in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days. Collection for personal needs is carried out at any time of the day. Rotten or dry fruits are immediately deposited in another container.
The variety is delicious, therefore, berries are eaten both fresh and as a dessert. Small fruits are best used for making jam or jam. Berries also go into teas if they are dried in the oven.
Large fruits are frozen or ground with sugar and laid out in containers for storage in the freezer, so an excellent dessert can be prepared for winter.
