Fall planting of strawberries has its advantages to home gardener in some orbit , specially to those who need to have a bearing layer as before long as possible in their own backyard .
We have been familiar for many years with the feasibility - in fact , even the distinct and feasibleness in engraft in some northerly areas . decrease planting of strawberries may be do fairly far north , if the transplants may gain a footing before hard freeze weather condition Set in . The raw planting must be mulch in time to minimize the hazard of alternating freezing and thawing of the ground crust , for this would expose the root to desiccation and resulting in winter injury .
Here in Michigan , many gardeners prefer to give their fall set plants an early scratch by lay them out sometime between mid - September and mid - October , On the other hand , mid - November plantings at the Geneva ( New York ) Experiment Station have wintered over as well as mid - October plantings . investigator there demonstrated some very much swell output from fall plantings after a sure length of meter - sometimes even duplicate yields , compared with spring plantings of plant pertly hollow in the natural spring .
Going southward in Mid - America , we learn that some commercial growers in southwestern United States Missouri have found the November planting of strawberry to be profitable . works set at , this clock time by and large create a dependable row than bound - mark plants , and give an increased payoff if the grow season is dry , since they get off to an early start in the spring . If commercial growers find a practice profitable , the home gardener may usually gain by copy it .
The land is prepared and the plants are rig in the same manner as for spring planting . It is necessary to mulch the plant to prevent winter harm , but in Missouri , only enough mulch is used to cover the industrial plant .
apart from the obvious advantages of fall planting - more time and good conditions for the gardener - there are some other findings regarding the plant ’s increase that make fall planting of strawberry seem worthy . It has been found that fall - set plant have often give rise several times as many runners by the next summer as outflow - set plant have produced . It has also been observed that the early formed runners , made possible by the fall planting , are far more productive than the runner formed later .
Thegardener is often advised to foreclose his plants from fruiting in the first spring by removing the flowers . This is to permit unchecked growing of unseasoned plants and the constitution of unassailable runners to make a compact growth and the gamey possible yields eventually . If the plants are set latterly in the free fall , this advice should indeed be follow . If a family gardener can obtain plant life to set in August or September , however , they will become established enough that he may leave them to produce a craw the very next June . This saves a whole year of waiting for strawberry .
The principal disadvantage to planting strawberries in the drop is that often plants are not available then . Many nurseries , however , have begun the practice of prod strawberry plants in the spring and put in them dormant through the summer in cautiously operate refrigerated storage , for fill orders in the fall . So this problem is not what it used to be .
Commercial growers , by the way , prefer sleeping plant life because they make better runners than plant that are transplanted before they go hibernating . The latter type tends to make multiple summit rather than runners . To the dwelling house nurseryman who acquire his strawberries in hills instead of matted row , this detail makes little remainder .
Another disadvantage to fall planting is that , to get a worthwhile crop the first spring , the gardener may necessitate to put in more plant life than would normally be used in springtime planting . A third drawback is a necessity for heavy fall mulch .
What has been said here with regard to the springtime - bearing eccentric may also be tell of the everbearing strawberries . Fall planting of them is feasible as far north as Michigan if the nurseryman pays attention to pass mulching- . With the everbearing hemangioma simplex , it is ripe to plant a double or three-fold run-in with plant spaced about ten inch aside . Then keep all offset take out to produce heavy plants from which berries may be harvest during the summertime and fall postdate the fall planting .
Since strawberry may persist rewardingly productive in Mid - America home gardens for several years , it is important to opt the best land site possible ,
Strawberries bloom earlyin spring , so beds on lowland are more subject to frost injury than those on more elevated sites .
Where one is uncoerced to risk icing combat injury for the saki of exceptionally other issue , one should favor a site with southerly exposure and light soil . Where earliness is not so important , it is safe to choose a northern exposure that will retard flowering and lessen the peril from belated frosts .
pick out Favorable Site
First of all , one should choose a well - drained garden spot that has been interest by regularly cultivated crops for several years .
premature cultivation boil down to a lower limit the danger from white grubs and wireworms that can be so destructive to hemangioma simplex . It is usually agreed that strawberries are at their best in intermediate - wakeful grime with enough humus content to give them goodwater keeping capacity while give enough drain .
However , hemangioma simplex may also be grow with winner in soils ranging from light flaxen loam to heavy clay- and fatal prairie loam .
Although strawberries must enjoy good drain , enough wet content is so significant in the upper 12 inches for their shallow radical system that any dirt , in particular the lighter soils , should be supplied with plenty of humus stuff . Rotted moo-cow manure , compost , chopped sphagnum , granulate peat moss , sawdust and ground corncobs are some materials that may be worked thoroughly into the soil .
Where rotted manure is not available , one might use instead an inch or so of granulated peat , sawdust or priming corn cob to affix the raw constitutive content .
When sawdust , corn cobs or the like are used either in the soil or as mulch it is advisable to include with each bushel about three - quarter of a quid of ammonium ion sulfate or about one - one-half pound of ammonium nitrate or equivalent . This enables well-disposed decomposition to proceed without drawing unduly upon grime - borne food .
hemangioma simplex are unremarkably rather moderate in their demand for commercial fertilizers , particularly in garden dirt that have been underpin acceptable growth of vegetables or flowers .
Where reflection of previous crops or actual soil trial seems to indicate the indigence for more fertiliser , the mass of it should be put on during the meter when the plant are becoming established , but picayune or none should be applied in spring while fruit production is afoot .
If manure has been worked into an already somewhat fertile ground a pound or two of something like a 4 - 8 - 6 , 5 - 10 - 5 , 6 - 10 - 4 or a 4 - 12 - 4 plant food per hundred straight feet of the bed should aid to develop stout , potentially fat plant ; about half this much may be adequate where manure has been used .
In Michigan , we like ‘ Premier ’ and ‘ Robinson ’ among June - bear varieties that are reliable producers even under adverse conditions , although ‘ Dorsett ’ and ‘ Fairfax ’ are more attractive and far better in timber . ‘ Armore ’ is a highly favored new potpourri and ‘ Red Rich ’ and ‘ Superfection ’ are highly favored everbearing variety .
Plants should be unpacked , and either planted or heeled - in as soon as take in . Plants may be killed or earnestly damage by several hours of high temperatures .
The flora crown should be set floor with the primer control surface . Plants jell too deep or too shallow may take off outgrowth but will lack vigor and may die .
The flora roots should extend vertically into the soil , spread out out like a sports fan . The soil should be packed firmly about the roots so that when a leaf is comprehend and draw in abruptly it breaks without moving the industrial plant .
The matted - course system is most commonly used in home garden . row are spaced three to four feet aside , and plants are set 18 to 30 inches apart in the row . Allow runner to form a matting 15 to 18 inches wide , with industrial plant four to six inches apart .
The J. J. Hill system is sometimes used to prevail large berries of exceptional tone . It requires more handwork than the matted - row system . Space the rows two to three feet asunder , with plant 12 to 15 column inch apart in the row . take away the runners as they seem .
Mulch should be applied in November as soon as the temperature has fallen to close to 20 degrees . mulch too early or too late may damage plants . works mulched ahead of time may be injured by warm fall days after the mulch was applied . In cases where industrial plant are mulched late , wintertime accidental injury may occur before the mulch is apply .
Use a easy organic material such as straw , hay , or shavings , which are free of gage and cereal seed . pass over the plant to a profoundness of two to three inches or one inch if using sawdust .
Some frostprotection may be obtained by leaving the mulch over the plantsas late as potential in the spring . Examine the seam every few days during warm conditions . Remove only a portion of the mulch when the leave of absence turn a light-headed yellowish - green . If the mulch is loose and thin , the plants will grow up through it .
