Description and characteristics of Kama strawberries, cultivation and care
Garden strawberries or strawberries are a delicious, aromatic summer berry. Many varieties have been bred by breeders, one of them is a strawberry called Kama. It has excellent taste, which makes it highly demanded in the market. Information on the characteristics of this strawberry, as well as how to grow it and how to care for it, is given below.
Description and characteristics
Kama strawberries are grown by Polish breeders. They crossed 2 varieties: Cavalier and Zenga Zengana, as a result of which they got a berry with a rich aroma, universal in use. It can be consumed both fresh and canned, as well as used for long-term transportation.
Description of Kama strawberry:
- the plant is low, compact;
- leaves of deep green color, their lower part is slightly pubescent;
- branched roots, powerful;
- fruits are cone-shaped, their weight is 20-30 grams;
- the color of the berries varies from red to burgundy;
- the pulp is dense.
Strawberries begin to bear fruit at the end of May. Harvesting continues until the end of June. With proper care, the gardener can remove up to 1 kilogram of berries from the bush. The largest ones grow at the beginning of the season, then they shrink a little.
Note! A distinctive feature of the Kama strawberry is that its pulp in a state of technical ripeness is dense, the taste is sweet, with a slight sourness.
Pros and cons
The advantages include the following qualities of strawberries:
- high productivity;
- early ripening;
- duration of fruiting;
- pronounced strawberry taste and aroma;
- good transportability;
- drought resistance;
- the grade is remontant.
The pluses include the possibility of growing Kama strawberries in greenhouse conditions. When grown indoors, the berries ripen by mid-spring. The disadvantages include the low location of the berries, as a result of which they can get dirty with earth. In addition, the bushes require a large area of nutrition, as well as shelter with agrofibre during return frosts in the spring.
How to grow properly
All stages of strawberry cultivation are important: from purchasing seedlings to caring for bushes after picking berries. The harvest depends on this not only in the current year, but also in the next season.
How to choose seedlings
It is necessary to purchase seedlings of garden strawberries from trusted sellers, since they value their reputation, and therefore sell high-quality goods.When buying, you should pay attention to the following factors:
- bushes should have elastic leaves, without any points on them;
- high-quality seedlings have leaf plates of a rich green color, with pubescence from below;
- if the seedlings are sold in a peat pot, the roots should be visible from it: this means that the bushes were grown in it, and not transplanted before selling;
- if the seedlings are sold with open roots, then their length should be at least 7-8 centimeters.
Important! It is necessary to purchase strawberry seedlings from trusted producers or distributors.
Place and timing of disembarkation
The best time to acquire seedlings is spring. It is sold both in containers and with an open root system. The earlier the strawberries are planted on the plot, the earlier the gardener will harvest. If for some reason the seedlings are not planted in the spring, this can be done in early autumn. The strawberries should have time to take root before the frost is stable.
The landing site should be well lit by sunlight, without shading. To prevent strawberries from contracting fungal diseases, it is necessary to choose their predecessors correctly. They should be cruciferous or leguminous plants. It is undesirable to plant it after tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, as well as Jerusalem artichoke and sunflower, which are too depleting of the soil.
Landing scheme
So that each bush has enough space for growth and development, the seedlings are planted according to the following scheme:
- the distance between the bushes in a row is 40-50 centimeters;
- the distance between the rows is 60-80 centimeters.
It is not recommended to thicken the plantings, since the bushes grow strongly and they require a large feeding area. The soil for strawberries is selected loose, moisture-consuming, breathable. In terms of pH, it should be neutral or weak acidity. Before planting, the roots of the seedlings for disinfection must be dipped in a solution of potassium permanganate of low concentration for 10 minutes.
How to properly care for your culture
Strawberries of the Kama variety are unpretentious, caring for them is easy. To grow a good harvest, you must adhere to certain rules.
Watering and fertilizing
After planting, the seedlings must be watered every day for better survival. Then moistening is done as needed. After each watering, the soil must be loosened to prevent crust formation. If the bushes are mulched, frequent watering is not required.
If the seedlings are planted in spring, then after 2 weeks the bushes can be fertilized with organic infusion by dissolving 30 grams of superphosphate and a handful of wood ash in 10 liters of water. The next feeding is needed for strawberries during the period of the appearance of peduncles and the first ovaries. To do this, take mullein, which is diluted in a 1: 6 ratio, or bird manure, which must be diluted even more: 1:20.
Top dressing can be done not only root, but also foliar. To do this, you can take, for example, fermented nettle infusion. At the end of summer, the bushes are fertilized with superphosphate infusion with wood ash. It is important that mineral fertilizers do not contain chlorine, which will negatively affect the development of plants.
Advice! Before applying top dressing, the soil must be shed with water to prevent scalding of the root system.
Loosening and weeding
It is necessary to loosen the soil around the garden strawberries after each watering or precipitation. It is important to produce this for the reason that if the ground is covered with a crust for a long time, the plants will receive less oxygen, due to which their growth and development will stop. No less important is such an agricultural technique as weeding, which prevents the penetration of sunlight to garden strawberries.
Mulching
When planting in spring, strawberry bushes are mulched with chopped straw at the end of May. This must be done for the following reasons:
- to maintain optimal temperature and humidity in the soil;
- to prevent berry contamination;
- to feed the roots with organic matter due to rotting straw.
Mulch protects the soil from overheating in summer and from freezing in winter. In addition to straw, you can use sawdust, peat, burlap.
Pruning mustache and leaves
A gardener can count on a large harvest only with regular mustache removal. They take from the plant a lot of the energy it needs to form large berries. For the same reason, it is necessary to remove old leaves from the bushes. Removal of unnecessary parts is done with sharp scissors. If the procedure is carried out manually, then you can inadvertently damage the root system of garden strawberries.
Note! Mulching the soil will prevent the mustache from firmly clinging to it and starting to develop.
Diseases, pests and methods of dealing with them
All ground parts of the Kama strawberry can be rotted. This is due to the fact that during flowering, the spores of the fungus present in the soil penetrate into the fruit plant along with pollen. To save the bushes you need:
- spray them with copper-containing preparations at the beginning of the season;
- perform the next treatment with fungicides during the period of active leaf growth;
- then 1 time in 10 days the ground parts are sprayed with iodine solution (10 milliliters per 1 bucket of water).
Strawberry Kama is a tasty plant for pests such as strawberry mites and weevils. To prevent their appearance, it is necessary to mow the bushes (at least two years of age) after harvest. They are carefully removed from the site and destroyed. By autumn, young, pest-free leaves will have time to grow.
Kama strawberry propagation
In practice, gardeners use 2 methods of reproduction: a mustache and dividing the bush. The cultivation of strawberries with a mustache begins in July. By this period, they have time to form well. 5 shoots are left on the mother plant, each of which should have no more than 3 outlets. The largest and most developed ̶ mustache of the first order.
When the mustache begins to take root, it is sprinkled with earth. It is not necessary to separate it from the mother plant, since through it the children receive additional nutrition. In order not to injure the seedlings by digging and transplanting, the whiskers can be sent to small individual containers. Young plants are fully formed and ready for planting in 2-2.5 months.
One way to propagate Kama strawberries is by dividing the bush. For this, plants of the age of 3 years are taken: a large bush is dug up, which is then divided into small horns. There can be from 6 to 20 of them on one planting. Delenki are planted in August; by winter they have time to take root well.
Collection and storage of garden strawberries
Before harvesting, the bushes stop watering abundantly. This is necessary so that the berries are not watery and can lie harvested for more than 1-2 days. The fruits are removed with a stalk, with which they will be stored much longer than without it. Harvest in the morning, after the dew subsides, or in the evening, when the sun's rays are no longer so scorching.
The peculiarity of the Kama strawberry is that it has dense berries that do not choke during transportation. Therefore, it can be successfully transported and stored for a long time. For this, the berries are placed in boxes lined with paper. The fruits must be free from damage and dents. You do not need to wash them before storing them.
Note! Garden strawberries do not ripen after picking.
Strawberry Kama has a unique strawberry aroma and taste, for which both gardeners and gourmets love it. In addition, the housewives dry it, freeze it, cook compotes, jams, and preserves from it. In addition, strawberries contain a large amount of nutrients that they can supply to the body throughout the year.
I have been growing this strawberry for the second year only because of its taste characteristics. The fruits are incredibly sweet and juicy and can be stored for up to two weeks. Seedlings should be watered abundantly and protected from strong sun.