[Ebook Việt Hoá] The Instant Guide to Healthy Houseplants: Fragaria (Strawberry)

English

Luscious, juicy strawberries can be grown successfully in window boxes, tubs or special strawberry barrels if they are in an open location in good light. The fruits should be raised off the soil by using straw or similar mulching materials. For a good crop the following year, plant in late spring or early summer; if planting later, pick off the first flowers next year to build up a vigorous plant for an autumn crop. 

Light

Prefers full light in open location. 

Temperature

Prefers warm, sunny environment when bearing fruit. Will survive frost, but fruits will not form; so protect from spring frosts. 

Water 

Never allow plants to dry out. 

Feeding

If planting in midsummer, feed in early autumn with top dressing of bone meal (1 oz per sq yd, 28 g per sq m). When new growth appears in spring, give liquid feed every week until fruits are ripe. For plants 2 and 3 years old, add fish, blood or complete bone fertilizer to top soil in midsummer, then feed as first-year plants in autumn. 

Humidity 

They need a dry atmosphere. Do not spray when bearing fruit. 

Soil 

Use loam-based soil, soilless potting mix or equal parts of each. 

Maintenance 

Remove yellow leaves. Cut runners off if not propagating, or leave as decoration over side of container. 

Varieties 

Many varieties are available. Choose one suitable to your region of the country. It is best to choose varieties resistant to verticillum wilt, red stele and viruses. 

Propagation 

Plant produces runners (small plantlets on tips of trailing stems). Peg them to soil with 3-in (8-cm) wire staples. New plantlets will root by midsummer and can be cut off and transported or left in place. Then treat as new plants. Alpine and seed varieties should be sown as soon as days lengthen. 

What Goes Wrong 

• Flowers turn brown overnight: Frost. Fruit will not set on affected flowers. Protect flowering plants from frost. 
• Plant small and sickly with yellow lower leaves: Root rot. Remove carefully from container. Do not drop infected soil on other plants. Treat soil with fungicide. 
• Plant does not grow well, soil surface dark and scummy: Overwatered. Check drainage in container and allow excess to drain away before watering again. But do not allow to dry out completely. 
• Small red, gray or purple spots on leaves: Leaf-spot disease. Spray with bordeaux mixture. 
• Leaves dry and brown, fruits small: Too dry. Keep soil moist, never allowing container to dry out. 
• Small colonies of insects on leaves and growing points: Aphid. Many kinds feed on strawberries and spread viral diseases. Spray with diluted malathion every 10 days until flowers open. Do not spray when in flower or bees will be killed. 
• Gray mold on leaves and fruit, especially if fruit is damaged: Botrytis. Spray in late evening with benomyl. 
• White powder on stems and fruit: Powdery mildew. Dust in late spring with sulphur dust or captan to prevent attacks. 
• Holes in ripening fruit: Birds or, if also slime trails, slugs. Destroy any visible slugs and put down slug pellets following manufacturer’s instructions. Keep pets away. Protect from birds with eaten off, lying on sailor hanging limply. Possibly blossom weevil. Pick off and burn affected buds. Spraying with diluted mal-athion before flowers open will prevent attack. 
• Leaves drab with pink scruffy look underneath: Red spider mite. Spray with rotenone from early spring until flowers open to prevent attack. If not in flower, spray with diluted malathion. 
• Leaves, crinkled with brown marks on upper side, feel hard and brittle: Tarsonemid mite. Spray or dust in late evening with rotenone. Check manufacturer’s instructions before picking sprayed fruit. 
• Lacy holes in leaves, flowers eaten and fruit marked: Moth caterpillar, possibly between leaves that are folded over with fine threads. Pick off affected leaves and dust plant with rotenone dust.