The conditions of the climatic zone play a decisive role in the timing of strawberry ripening. In the central zone of Russia it is collected in the second ten days of June, but early varieties may be ready at the beginning of the month. In the Siberian regions this deadline is 2-3 weeks late. In the southern regions, the berries ripen by the end of May.
So that strawberry beds can easily overwinter, it is better to plant seedlings in July and August, but it is possible in September depending on the weather. At this time she will have time to settle down well. If this period was missed for planting, it can be done in mid-April, preferably under film, and you can get the harvest even a little earlier than expected.
The ripening time from the beginning of flowering and pollination of flowers is usually four to five weeks. Weather conditions and quality of care play a decisive role. In warm weather, ripening occurs faster.
Strawberry berry close up
According to the duration of fruiting, strawberries are divided into ordinary, with the berries ripening once per season, and remontant, producing a harvest from May to September-October.
Ordinary varieties
Ordinary strawberry varieties are classified according to ripening time as follows:
- Early. Popular species - Clery, Olvia, Zarya, Anita (Italy), Czech beauty,. Proper care and favorable weather are the key to the fact that fruiting begins in the second - third ten days of May;
- Medium early. Stand out - Stolichnaya, Elsanta, Corona (Holland), Red Coast (Belarus), Ellis (England). The fruiting period in mid-early species shifts by an average of a week compared to early ones;
- Mid-late. These include Present, Nightingale, Shelf, Asia, Arosa. They bear fruit another week later;
- Late. There aren't very many of them. Famous ones - Tarusa, Chamora, Adria (Italy), Pegasus are the last to ripen.
An ordinary berry produces a harvest once a season. Fruit weight is from 25 to 50 g. It is distinguished by an abundance of developed antennae.
Remontant varieties
Remontant varieties of strawberries are increasingly leading the way in gardens and household plots. They are remarkable for their ability to flower and bear fruit multiple times within one season. Plants produce 15 times more inflorescences than ordinary ones; they yield 2-3 times during the growing season. The convenience of growing is that it practically does not produce a mustache.
Berry ripening occurs in waves. The first batch of the harvest is harvested in June, the second stage of berry ripening begins in the early ten days of July. In mid-August you can harvest for the third time. Fruiting continues until frost occurs.
Remontant strawberries grow intensively, the bushes develop quickly. Experts do not recommend keeping it in the garden for more than two years.
Favorite species remontant strawberries Queen Elizabeth, Uralochka, Charlotte, Brighton, Lyubava, Primadonna, Tribute, Albion perform.
Remontant varieties are divided into long daylight hours(dns) and neutral daylight hours (nsd). They have different terms ripening of berries. To ensure continuous fruiting, it is recommended to plant both of these species.
Remontant strawberries can be small-fruited or large-fruited. The advantage of the latter is considered large fruits weighing up to 50-70 g. Remontant varieties produce an order of magnitude more yield than ordinary varieties.
How to speed up the ripening time of strawberries in open ground?
What methods exist to speed up the ripening of berries. To accelerate the ripening of berries in open ground gardeners recommend some simple techniques:
1The most common is growing under a cover made of non-woven material - spunbond on a frame made of arcs. You can arrange such a shelter in early spring, when the air temperature is stable above -5 degrees. IN middle lane this is the end of March - beginning of April.
It is permissible to simply cover the plantings with agrofibre without a frame in a spread, but the disadvantage is the lack of ventilation.
The method of mulching the row spacing with lutrasil or black film will speed up the process of berry ripening and soil warming. The spring sun will warm the soil faster and create conditions for the start of plant growth. This technique will speed up the harvest 6 days earlier than usual.
Later, when the ground thaws, you need to cut off all the old leaves with pruning shears. To protect plants from spider mite, shed the middle of the bushes hot water temperature 60-65 degrees. Sprinkle the beds with ash and loosen them to a depth of about 3 cm. Mulch with humus. Then cover the plantings again with light non-woven material stretched over the arcs. During the day, when the bushes are flowering, the covers must be removed to pollinate the flowers. The ripening period of berries in this case will be shorter by 1-2 weeks.
In early spring, organic mulch in the form of sawdust and straw, laid in the fall, must be removed from the roots of the bushes; it slows down the thawing of the soil.
It must be remembered that the earliest varieties are most suitable for obtaining early berries: Zarya, Alba, Honey, Clery, Kimberly and others.
The method of growing strawberries in greenhouses is effective, but it is quite expensive.
Additional stimulation is required to obtain an early harvest fruiting in the form of fertilizing and protective treatments against pests and fungal diseases. The list of basic agrotechnical requirements also includes the removal of old leaves, regular watering, weed control, and loosening of rows.
Conclusion
In central Russia, gardeners grow a considerable number of strawberry varieties domestic and foreign selection. Today there are more than 64 varieties in the State Register. Among other characteristics, they differ from each other in the timing of berry ripening.
In order to grow and harvest strawberries from your own beds, you need to study the characteristics of the varieties. The main thing is to plant seedlings of the right varieties in a timely manner and provide them with proper care.
Planting several varieties on a plot will extend the period of eating tasty and healthy berries.
The result of the labor expended will be a good harvest!
Meadow strawberries (field strawberries) are often confused with other plants of the Rosaceae order and the Strawberry genus. You can recognize it by its characteristic features.
| Plant part | Botanical description |
| Aboveground part | Height varies from 5 to 20 cm. The rhizome is thick and brown in color. The mustache is shortened. The stem part is thin. |
| Leaves | Oval or ovoid, diamond-shaped, with blunt teeth. The lower part has dense pubescence. |
| Inflorescences | Irregular, few flowers. Flowering is bisexual. The flowers are white, up to 2 cm in diameter. The petals are slightly pointed. |
| Berries | Spherical, weighing 1-2 g, difficult to separate from the calyx. The calyx is not tight-fitting when fully ripe. The color at the stage of technical ripeness is pinkish-red with green and white splashes, at the stage of full ripening it is cherry. The pulp is aromatic. |
Beneficial features
Meadow strawberries are very similar to strawberries, but differ from them in chemical composition:
- sugars - 4.5-15%;
- pectin substances - 1-1.7%;
- tannins in leaves - 0.16-0.25%;
- tannins in the rhizome - up to 9.4%;
- ascorbic acid in berries - no more than 90 mg per 100 g;
- ascorbic acid in leaves - no more than 280 mg per 100 g.
Meadow strawberries: harvesting (video)
The berries are valued due to the presence of folic, malic, citric, salicylic, quinic and other acids, as well as copper and manganese. In addition, the pulp contains a large number of carotene, essential oils, phytoncides, easily digestible fiber, iron, zinc and chromium.
Strawberries are successfully used for the treatment and prevention of many diseases.
| Purpose of berries | Mode of application |
| To increase appetite, improve digestive processes, quench thirst | Fresh berries |
| With anemia, various types anemia and uncomplicated uterine bleeding | Fresh berries |
| Diaphoretic | Dried berries |
| For diseases of the liver tissue, scurvy | Berry juice |
| For any inflammatory processes in the stage of stable remission associated with the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract, for kidney diseases, viral colds, impaired water-salt metabolism | Decoction and infusion of leaves and berries |
| As a wound healing and regenerating agent | Leaf decoction |
| For diseases of the cardiac and vascular systems | Flower decoction |
| For cosmetic masks | Fresh berries and juice |
It should be remembered that strawberries are an allergen, therefore, it is recommended to be consumed together with fermented milk products, which reduce the allergic effects of the berry. It is also not recommended to eat fresh berries if there is increased acidity of gastric juice or exacerbation of peptic ulcers of the gastrointestinal tract. With great caution, fresh strawberries should be included in the diet of pregnant and lactating women, as well as young children.
Places of natural growth
Under natural conditions, meadow strawberries grow in forest zones in almost all regions of the European part of Russia. It can often be found in Crimea, Western and Eastern Siberia, mountainous regions of Central Asia, and Western Europe.
Growing rules
Cultivating meadow strawberries is not difficult: they are unpretentious and can grow even in slight shade. The best predecessors of berries are cabbage and legumes, lettuce, garlic, onions, carrots, and beets.
Whiskers are used to propagate strawberries. Planting is carried out both in spring and autumn, in a row, maintaining a distance of 60-70 cm between rows and 15-20 cm between bushes.
The soil must be cleared of weeds in advance. It is advisable to place the plantings on a hill where it will be illuminated by the sun as much as possible. If the groundwater level is high, there is a risk of developing root diseases, so growing in beds is recommended.
Caring for meadow strawberries is standard and consists of watering and fertilizing, which are especially important during the flowering and ripening phases of the berry, as well as after harvesting. It is recommended to use complex fertilizers such as “Zdraven”, “Kemira-Lux” and “Ideal”: they have a positive effect on productivity and quality characteristics berries
Ripe meadow strawberries are widely used for making jam, desserts, baking, freezing and drying.
How to plant meadow strawberries (video)
Meadow strawberries differ from wild strawberries in the spherical shape of the berries, as well as their characteristic taste and aroma. In central Russia, the berry fully ripens at the end of June or beginning of July. The crop is not characterized by high productivity, so its cultivation in household plots and garden plots is not economically feasible and is rather decorative in nature. If you are going to cultivate strawberries primarily for their berries, it is better to give preference to other varieties.
Hello, dear reader! Well, we have waited... Along the forest edges, along clearings and forest clearings, along the boundaries of fields, the first wild strawberries are ripening! It also grows well in bushes. But the time has not yet come.
There is hardly a person who has not tried this wonderful berry. Strawberries are the taste of summer, the taste of childhood... It is an unforgettable aroma. Finally, it's mass necessary substances! The beneficial properties of wild strawberries are very great and varied.
Common or wild strawberry (Fragaria vesca) – perennial herbaceous plant from the Rosaceae family. It is very widespread in Eurasia. This common plant forests and forest-steppes. In Russia, it lives both in the European part and beyond the Urals - in Western and Eastern Siberia. The natural range of the common strawberry includes Belarus and Ukraine, the Baltic countries, many European countries, as well as the Caucasus and Kazakhstan. Our wild strawberry even on other continents - in Africa and North America.
Strawberry blossoms
The first white strawberry flowers appear in May. They are similar to the flowers of most Rosaceae. Five petals surrounded by a calyx of five green sepals, a large number of stamens and pistils. The plant is perennial, with a thick rhizome, from which roots and long creeping shoots called “mustache” extend in a bunch. The tendrils take root, and at the rooting site a rosette of basal leaves on long petioles develops. The leaves are trifoliate and toothed. In addition to the rosette of leaves, flowering shoots also appear. In the middle, and more often at the end of June, wild strawberry fruits begin to ripen.
Interesting fact
Calling the strawberry fruit a wild berry is, in general, completely wrong. No, of course, that’s what we call it in everyday life! But from a botanical point of view, this is incorrect... The fact is that any berry, firstly, develops from the ovary of a flower; secondly, there are seeds inside the berry. Simple examples: currants, blueberries, and, in the end, watermelon!
But wild strawberries have a completely different fruit. Its juicy pulp is formed from an overgrown receptacle, which becomes juicy, sweet and colored in various shades of red. “Irregularities” clearly visible on the surface of the fruit are nutlets grown into the pulp. When strawberries are digested—whether by birds, us, or other strawberry lovers—the fruits are not digested. Once in favorable conditions, they will germinate, giving rise to a new plant. Botanists call this fruit a multi-nut, and sometimes simply a strawberry. Of course, wild strawberries also reproduce vegetatively - with the help of whiskers. And if you think about it, it may turn out that you and I eat berries from the same plant that our grandparents ate in childhood... Such is the “connection of times”...
The first fruits appear in open places, in the sun. Often these are slopes facing the sun. The berries here are smaller, but the most aromatic and sweet. Somewhat later, wild strawberries begin to ripen in clearings and clearings. And later than everyone else comes the turn of the one that grows in the bushes. But here the strawberries are the largest, and their fruits, although not as sweet as in open areas, are even sour, contain more vitamin C.
Wild strawberries are ripening
Useful properties of wild strawberries
Of course, strawberries are very tasty! But wild strawberries are not only delicious berries, but also a lot of useful substances in them. Not only the fruits, but also the leaves of wild strawberries are valuable. This is not only the first berry in our forest in terms of ripening time, but also an excellent healing plant.
Wild strawberry fruits contain a significant amount of sugars, organic acids– lemon, apple, salicylic, some others. Strawberries are distinguished by their high content calcium(higher than in raspberries and blueberries) and especially gland– there is more of it in wild strawberry fruits than in apples, plums and even ferruginous mineral waters!
Strawberries are a valuable multivitamin . In terms of vitamin C content, it is second only to blackcurrant. The fruits also contain carotene (provitamin A), B vitamins, vitamin PP, and P-active substances. Therefore, wild strawberries are useful for the prevention of hypovitaminosis in the spring and summer.
Strawberries will help with anemia. Indeed, in addition to the high iron content, its fruits also contain folic acid, also involved in the formation of hemoglobin.
At vascular sclerosis, hypertension You should also eat strawberries. It improves the condition of the cardiovascular system and strengthens the walls of blood vessels.
Eating strawberries helps normalize metabolism and has a general strengthening effect on the body.
Strawberries are used as dietary product at urolithiasis And cholelithiasis, at liver diseases, at gastritis, at stomach ulcer.
Strawberries have and antiseptic effect. An infusion of berries can be used as a rinse for inflammation of the mouth and throat. Juice from crushed berries is used to treat small wounds and ulcers. They are also used (as well as strawberry fruits) in cosmetics to improve facial skin. Strawberry juice reduces moles and removes acne.
Practical advice
Strawberries should be picked in dry weather. It is best to do this in the morning, after the dew has disappeared, or in the evening. To pick strawberries, use a small, convenient container. You should not pour berries from one container to another, as this will cause them to become very wrinkled. Since childhood, I remember a simple rule: if strawberries spill from a bucket or jar, it is better and easier to pick them up again than to pick up the spilled strawberries! You cannot wash the berries - this will cause them to spoil very quickly. You can store them in the refrigerator for no more than 2–3 days before processing, but it is better to use them as quickly as possible.
Veliki beneficial features wild strawberry leaves. The vitamin C content of the leaves is 5 times higher than the fruits! Therefore, an infusion of leaves should be used to prevent hypovitaminosis and general loss of strength.
An infusion of wild strawberry leaves and rhizomes is used for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract: gastritis, inflammation of the intestines, catarrh of the large intestines, and also when jaundice.
Even old festering wounds can be treated with leaves. To do this, wild strawberry leaves are steamed and applied to the wound. The leaves speed up healing and free the wound from pus.
Practical advice
Strawberry leaves should be collected for medicinal purposes during the flowering period, in dry weather. Only healthy, undamaged leaves are selected. They are cut with scissors and dried outdoors in the shade.
One of the many recipes for an infusion of leaves is as follows:
one tablespoon of crushed leaves should be poured with two glasses of boiling water and then left for 6 – 8 hours. Drink half a glass of infusion daily.
Of course, I have not mentioned all diseases in the treatment of which wild strawberries can take part. But we must remember that there are contraindications
in its application!
Unfortunately, strawberries can have an effect on some people allergic effect. Therefore, if itching, rash, or redness occurs, you should stop using it and consult a doctor.
Strawberry leaf tea
Wild strawberry leaves (can be combined with fruits) are used to produce aromatic and healthy herbal tea. You can brew either freshly harvested or dried leaves. When preparing leaves for tea, you need to take into account that the most aromatic and rich tea will be made from leaves harvested in the autumn.
And if the leaves are not just dried, but fermented, then this will already be a product highest quality! For fermentation, intact leaves without cuttings are selected. They are first dried for 4-5 hours. Then the leaves are rolled into tubes with the palms so that the juice is released. The tubes are placed in cardboard box, cover with a damp cloth and leave to ferment for 7–9 hours. The leaves turn brown.
After this, the tubes of leaves are scattered on a baking sheet and dried in the oven, vegetable dehydrator or in the sun. This tea made from wild strawberry leaves will be intensely colored, very aromatic, without a herbal smell.
The beneficial properties of wild strawberries are great and varied! Its fruits are consumed fresh - with milk, cream, sugar (and just “with that”). It’s just better to do this not on an empty stomach, but as a dessert! Preserves, preserves and compotes are prepared. The fruits and leaves of wild strawberries are a real forest first aid kit for many ailments.
I wish everyone a wonderful summer mood!
I hope our meeting was interesting and useful for you? Visit the blog again.
Summer is in full swing. Many interesting things can be seen in the forest now. You can learn a lot of useful things. Therefore, don’t miss a new article!
What it looks like and where it grows
Wild strawberry, wild or ordinary - refers to perennial plants with a short root and small shoots, on which trifoliate leaves are located, forming a basal rosette and creeping shoots, which take root in places of contact with the ground and give rise to a new plant.
The flowers are white with five petals. The fruits are false, red berries with achenes located on the surface.
It blooms in late May early June and continues to bloom almost all summer, and the fruits ripen in June-July.
Distributed quite widely in Russia, most typical places growing areas are forest edges, sparse forest islands, clearings, clearings, slopes of ravines and hills.
We can safely say that strawberries are the most delicious and aromatic of wild berries.
Nowadays many people grow garden strawberries, it is generally quite pleasant, but still it is very far from the forest one in terms of aroma and juiciness. Anyone who has tried it at least once will never forget this unique bouquet of taste.
Collection
In the forest it grows large and juicy, but there is not much of it there. On the hills and others open areas It can be numerous, but here the berries ripen small and are very difficult to collect. Most suitable places for collecting - these are the edges of forests, clearings and overgrown fields. In these places you can find entire glades of strawberries; the berries here, although inferior in size to wild ones, are still quite large.
Harvesting in each region begins at different time. The ripening period is influenced by the climatic conditions of a particular area: daylight hours, temperature, precipitation, etc. It is most numerous from mid-June to mid-July.
It is better to pick berries early in the morning, at this time it is not so hot and, most importantly, there are few flying insects that are quite annoying and in the way. When picking strawberries, no type of equipment is used; everything is done by hand. The process is quite slow and labor-intensive, because... there is rarely a lot of it. Usually, with an average yield, 1-2 liters are collected in 2-3 hours. It is true that there are years when wild berry It will produce especially well and you can collect a small bucket in a couple of hours.
Freshly picked strawberries do not last long, so they need to be processed as soon as possible. During processing, the task is to preserve all the flavors and nutrients on long time. There are the following methods for this: freezing, candiing, making jam and drying.
Canning methods
Freezing
For this storage method, it is necessary to sort out the berries and clean them of various debris. Next, we take a food container, put berries in it in layers, sprinkle them with a small amount of sugar and then put them in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator.
Preserved in this way they are stored for a very long time.
Sugaring
Also very simple and reliable way conservation.
Pour the collected berries into a small saucepan, and then add sugar there at the rate of 1-1.1 kg per 1 kg of berries.
Next, mix everything and put it in a cool place. You need to stir from time to time. When the sugar is completely dissolved, this happens after 1-2 days, pour it into jars and put it in the refrigerator.
This method, unlike cooking jam, allows you to preserve more vitamins, in addition, the smell and taste are close to fresh strawberries. But at the same time, it should be noted that it is stored less than jam, about 1 year.
Jam
Pour the prepared berries into a large enameled plate or basin, add sugar there at the rate of 1.1-1.3 kg per 1 kg of berries, mix everything and set in a cool place for 5-7 hours. Then put it on the fire and cook until done. The resulting product is poured into jars.
The jam is stored in the refrigerator, retaining all its best qualities for quite a long time.
Drying
It is carried out in ovens or special ovens at a temperature of 60-65 degrees.
Strawberries are also used to make compotes, syrups, cocktails, jelly, etc.
Why is it useful?
In addition to its unsurpassed taste properties, wild strawberries have long been valuable medicinal plant. Berries and leaves are used for this purpose.
The fruits contain a lot of vitamin C, various acids, essential oils and microelements. The leaves contain even more vitamin C and are also rich in tannins.
Various infusions and decoctions are made from dried berries and leaves.
Leaves are usually harvested during berry picking; for this purpose, leaves with a short stem are plucked or cut off.
Using wild berries as medicine: they remove salts from the body, tannins contained in the leaves help fight inflammatory processes in the gastrointestinal tract, cosmetic masks are made from the juice of the berries, and are also used as a general tonic.
The cost of strawberries varies quite significantly in different regions of the country. In addition to the number of favorable places for growth, the price is also affected by the yield of berries in a given season.
The price for 1 liter in the Kirov region in the 2011-2012-2013 season fluctuated around 300 rubles.
You can buy it at the market near your home, but it is most profitable to do it at local residents, selling wild plants on highways.
Strawberries are a fragrant berry loved by many. She became popular not only thanks to her excellent taste qualities. Its fruits, flowers and leaves contain many health benefits. Summer is the time to go to the forest wild berries. In order not to return empty-handed, you must first find out when strawberries ripen.
What does strawberry look like and where does it grow?
Strawberry is a perennial herbaceous plant that belongs to the genus of the same name. It got this name because its berries are located close to the ground.
The plant is widespread throughout Russia:
- in the European part (except for the Black Sea and Lower Volga regions);
- in Western and Eastern Siberia;
- in the Caucasus.
What does strawberry look like:
- bushes grow up to 30 cm in height;
- the leaves are dark green, trifoliate, with jagged edges. Shape - oval or ovoid-rhombic. There is silky pubescence underneath. Located on long petioles;
- flowers corymbose, bisexual, may have different colors- white, pink or yellowish;
- berries - multi-nuts: dry seeds are located on an overgrown receptacle.
Wild strawberries, which are common in Russia, are divided into three types:
- Field - grows in meadows, clearings or edges of deciduous forests. Sometimes appears along highways or railways. When does the wild strawberry start to sing? In central Russia, berries are harvested already in mid-July. It appears earlier than the forest one because it receives more sunlight. The fruiting period lasts about three weeks.
- Forest, or ordinary - ripe berries appear by the end of June. It bears fruit for about a month. Often found in pine forests. Loves areas with moderate grass cover. Ripe berries are soft and cannot be stored or transported for a long time. Strawberries need to be either immediately eaten or processed - made into jam, marmalade, compote.
- Meadow, or green, strawberries differ from forest strawberries in the shape of their leaves. It grows in well-lit places - in forest glades and hay meadows. The berries are cherry-red, round, and difficult to separate from the calyx. They are stored better than fruits of other types. When do meadow strawberries begin to ripen? Almost simultaneously with the forest one.
What does strawberry look like?
When the dugout blooms and ripens
Strawberries begin to bloom in May. IN northern regions later - at the beginning of June. The lifespan of one flower is 4-6 days. After this, a berry is formed.
A common question is how many days later can ripe fruits be harvested? It takes 3-4 weeks to ripen. The collection period lasts about the same. The berries do not ripen simultaneously, but in stages. Therefore, even in one clearing you can regularly pick fragrant strawberries.
Interesting fact. When the strawberries are ripe, sellers with fresh berries appear along the roads and in markets. Some people determine that it is time to go into the forest.
When to pick strawberries in different regions
The strawberry harvest season depends on climatic and weather conditions. It usually falls in June - July. The further north you go, the later the strawberries ripen. In the southern regions, red berries appear at the end of May and disappear in the last days of June. And in Siberia, people continue to feast on them until the end of August. Therefore, it is quite difficult to say exactly when strawberries will ripen.
Strawberry picking season
In central Russia, it begins to ripen in mid-June - around the 15th. In cool weather, the season is delayed until early July.
We can highlight the approximate dates when strawberries appeared in 2018, depending on the growing area.
| Region | Start of collection |
|---|---|
| Leningrad region and St. Petersburg | The first berries appeared on June 30. The main collection period was in July. But ripe strawberries are found in the forests even in August. |
| Seliger (Tver and Novgorod regions), Ivanovo and Yaroslavl regions | The collection began on the 20th of June. |
| Middle Urals | Due to the cold spring, the season began a little later - at the beginning of July. Usually the berries ripen in the second half of June. |
| Serpukhov region and Moscow region | Active collection in Moscow began in early July - around the 5th. There were small quantities of ripe fruits in the forest before. The Naro-Fominsk, Shatursky and Yegoryevsky districts are considered the most berry-rich. When strawberries are already ripe in the Moscow region, then fruiting begins in neighboring regions. |
| Orenburg region | In Orenburg, the picking begins quite early - after June 15 it was possible to pick berries in the forest. |
| Ryazan, Smolensk, Kaluga | Ripe berries appeared after June 20th. In the Kaluga region, strawberries ripen 7-10 days earlier than in the Moscow region. |
| Voronezh region | In Voronezh, active berry picking began in mid-June - after the 15th. |
| Penza and Saratov regions | The collection began in the first ten days of June. |
Actual ripening times vary within a week, depending on the microclimatic conditions of a particular area. But in any case, according to the information presented above, lovers will be able to determine when approximately strawberries ripen in their region.
Thus, the question of when strawberries ripen can be answered this way - from the beginning of June in the southern regions to the end of July in the northern regions. The first ripened berries contain the most nutrients. If the weather is hot, fruiting ends quickly. Therefore, it is better not to postpone your visit to the forest.
A quick way to pick strawberries: a DIY picking device
Picking strawberries is a labor-intensive task. With an average yield, it is usually possible to fill a two-liter container in 3 hours.
Hand harvesters
However, there are special devices that greatly facilitate this process - combines. In general, such devices are divided into two types:
- Manual - simplest option, is a small box where the collected berries fall, with a “rake” - teeth that pick strawberries from the bush.
- Mechanical - similar to grain harvesters. Complex mechanisms that completely automate the process. Designed for large farms.
Hand harvesters are sold in gardening stores. When choosing, you need to focus on the distance between the teeth. For strawberries it is 5-6 mm. Leaves and stems will easily pass through them, and the berries will remain in the box.
Designs with too many teeth cause great damage to bushes. After their use, strawberry yields remain low for up to four years. Such harvesters are considered poachers, and their use is punishable by a fine. But many stores still sell them. Their low cost makes them very popular among the population.
You can make a combine harvester yourself. Tools you will need:
- jigsaw;
- drill;
- hammer;
- wire cutters;
- screwdriver.
In addition, you need to prepare a ruler, marker and scissors. Materials - boards for the box about 10 mm thick and wire for making “rakes” with a diameter of 3 mm. The drawing is easy to make yourself because all the parts have a simple shape.
DIY collection device
The manufacturing procedure will be approximately as follows:
- The boards are marked and parts are cut out of them with a jigsaw - the walls and base of the box, handles for carrying.
- To make the combine more comfortable to hold, the handles are doubled - two identical parts are glued together with wood glue. Then they are sanded with sandpaper to smooth out sharp corners.
- The wire is divided into pieces of the required length (about 60 cm) and bent in half.
- Two square racks will hold the teeth in the combine. Holes are drilled in them every 5-6 mm.
- Wire is inserted into the treated slats. One of them is placed at the base, the other in the middle of the “rakes” to ensure reliable fixation. The edges of the wire are bent at an angle to the side walls of the combine.
All that remains is to fasten all the parts together with screws. The device is ready for use.
What ripens first: strawberries or wild strawberries?
Strawberries and wild strawberries are different berries, although many people confuse them. The main difference is the structure of the flowers. In strawberries they are unisexual, in strawberries they are bisexual. Plants also have different shapes berries Strawberry is round, and its “sister” is elongated and slightly pointed. These species do not interbreed. When the strawberries appear, the strawberries are not yet bearing fruit. She lags behind on average by 7-14 days.
Wild berries are not only tasty, but also extremely healthy. In order not to miss the moment when you can pick strawberries, you should focus on the indicated dates and weather conditions. Nature pleases people with gifts throughout the summer - in July and August other berries ripen, which are no less tasty and healthy.
