Queen Elizabeth is one of the best repairing varieties of garden strawberries. Bushes with bright green leaves and red berries are a truly exquisite decoration of the site.
History and description of two related varieties - "queens"
Variety Queen Elizabeth originally from England. In our country, his research was conducted by the Donskoy Nursery research and production company. In 2001, plants with more impressive berries were discovered among the plantations by accident. In 2002-2003, the newly identified variety was tested, and in 2004 it was brought to the State Register under the name Elizabeth II, but sometimes it is also called a clone of strawberry Queen Elizabeth.
Often, even in popular science literature, strawberries are still mistakenly called strawberries.
The bush of garden strawberries Queen Elizabeth is erect, semi-spreading, the leaves are medium and large, smooth. Mustache forms a little. The flowers are white, five-petalled. Peduncles are under the leaves. The berries are red, with dense pulp, large, weighing 40-50 g each, and in the southern regions this figure reaches 90 g.
The bushes of the variety Elizabeth II are powerful, slightly leafy, and the berries are even more impressive (up to 100-110 g).
Photo gallery: features of the varieties Queen Elizabeth and Elizabeth II
- Queen Elizabeth - a very productive variety, from one bush during the season you can get up to 1.5 kg of berries
- Variety Elizabeth II is sometimes called a clone of wild strawberry Queen Elizabeth
- Variety Elizabeth II combines large-fruited and high-yielding
Variety Queen Elizabeth is popular among gardeners, which among its advantages are especially noted:
- fruiting several times a season;
- early flowering and early first harvest - at the end of May, subject to shelter in winter;
- the fact that fruiting does not need a long daylight hours - a sort of neutral day;
- large size of berries;
- universality - the berry is delicious fresh, suitable for processing and freezing;
- good transportability;
- high productivity - with good agricultural technology, you can get up to 10 kg from 1 m2.
At the moment, the variety Elizabeth II is also gaining popularity, because he took all the best from his predecessor, but its fruits are twice as large and disease resistance is higher.
Description of strawberry planting
Repairing varieties bear fruit all summer. But in order to get a high yield, favorable climatic conditions and suitable care are needed. You can grow Queen Elizabeth variety by seeds or seedlings: choose the method that you can do.
Seedlings for planting from seeds
Getting strawberries from seeds is a relatively troublesome job: the seeds are tight and the seedlings appear unevenly. From sowing to germination, it may take from 30-40 to 60 days. Sowing for seedlings is carried out at the end of January.
If the difficulties do not scare you and you still decide to grow strawberries from seeds, then follow the instructions:
- Prepare the soil from 3 parts sand and 5 parts humus.
- Warm the soil mixture in the oven for 3-4 hours at a temperature of 90-100 aboutFROM.
- Prepare containers for planting.
- Soak the seeds in a stimulant solution, for example, use Epin-Extra.
- Fill the landing container with soil, slightly compact.
- Moisten the soil from the spray bottle and spread the seeds.
- Cover with glass or film so that the soil does not dry out.
- Keep the first 3-5 days in a cool place with a temperature from 0 to +5 aboutFROM.
- After 5 days, rearrange to a place where the temperature is from +20 to +22 aboutFROM.
- Make sure that the soil does not dry out, spray it.
- When one or two true leaves appear, seedlings are peaked in separate pots.
- Reduce temperature to +15 aboutFROM.
- The appearance of 6 true leaves indicates that the seedling is ready for transplanting into the ground.
Growing strawberries from seeds, be prepared for the fact that not all new bushes will retain varietal properties.
Child sockets as planting material
As seedlings, rosettes with roots grown on the strawberry mustache are used. For planting, the first bushes from the mother plant are suitable.
Take care of the quality of the planting material. Buy bushes from trusted manufacturers: unfortunately, unscrupulous sellers can often offer non-varietal plants under popular names.
Preparation of a bed and a choice of term
Seedlings of remontant strawberries can be planted from early spring to autumn, and each time has its own characteristics.
Prepare the soil for strawberries about a month before planting. Form a high bed so that there is no stagnation of water during snowmelt and prolonged rains. If you plan to plant seedlings in the spring, you will have to take care of the garden from the autumn. The berries of Queen Elizabeth are ripened from May to October, so the plants are in great need of nutrients. When digging, apply fertilizer to provide strawberries with everything you need.
Table: fertilizers for wild strawberries
Types of fertilizers | Dosage on 1 m2 | |
Organic | Peat | Up to 5 buckets |
Humus | Up to 5 buckets | |
Mineral | Kemira | 60-80 g |
Calcareous | Dolomite flour | If necessary - 300-600 g |
Features planting strawberries Queen Elizabeth by time:
- mid-April - make a film cover on the frame, remove the first peduncles;
- July-August - until the bushes are acclimatized, cover them with a film or non-woven material, be sure to provide ventilation, remove peduncles and mustaches;
- September - for the winter, cover with non-woven material, remove the buds.
The process of planting strawberries
So, the bed is ready, you can begin to land. The following sequence of steps is recommended:
- Choose cloudy days, and on hot plants plant seedlings in the morning or evening hours.
- Schedule the rows. Plant in one or two lines, observing the distance between the lines - 60-80 cm, and between the bushes in the line - 15-25 (in one line) and 20-40 cm (in two lines).
- Make holes to fit the roots.
- Put the roots in the hole, while making sure that the heart of the outlet is not buried below ground level.
- Spread the roots in length, cover it with earth, slightly compacting it so that there are no voids.
- Pour half a liter of water into the bush at a rate normal.
- Mulch the soil.
- Regularly, after 1-2 days, irrigate to complete survival of the seedlings.
Strawberry Care Queen Elizabeth
Strawberries need constant care, which consists of watering, cultivating, destroying weeds, fertilizing, timely removal of mustaches and protection from diseases and pests.
Throughout the growing season, carry out the following activities:
- In the spring, remove all dry leaves, dead bushes and burn them. This will protect your plants from many diseases and pests.
- Feed with ammonium nitrate (5-10 g per 1 m2).
- Spray Bordeaux liquid (300 g of copper sulfate and 400 g of quicklime per 10 liters of water), this will be a good prevention of fungal diseases.
- To protect against strawberry mites, pour each bush with water heated to 65 aboutC, at the rate of 1 liter per two bushes.
- If there is a risk of freezing frost in May, cover the strawberries with a covering material or a film.
- Water the plants, especially during flowering and the appearance of ovaries.
- Reduce watering during ripening to prevent rotting.
- In the summer, pick berries, weed weeds, spend 10-12 fertilizing with complex mineral fertilizers (Mortar, Kristalin, Kemira).
- Continue the fall in the fall: at the end of September-November, add dry leaves, sawdust or peat under the bushes. In case of snowless frosts, cover the plants completely.
Video: the experience of growing strawberries Queen Elizabeth
Protection against diseases and pests
Strawberry Queen Elizabeth is immune to diseases and is slightly affected by pests.
The key to healthy plants will be compliance with agricultural techniques, strong seedlings without signs of disease, crop rotation, removal and burning of diseased plants. Return the strawberry planting to its original place no earlier than five years later.
If the preventive measures were not effective enough, and on the strawberries there were signs of damage, without delay, carry out the treatment of plants.
Table: Pest and Disease Control
Pests and diseases | How to fight | Dosage |
Spider mite, powdery mildew | Colloidal Sulfur Spray | 80 g per 10 l of water |
Gray rot | Treatment with iodine solution 3 times after 10 days | 10 ml per 10 l of water |
Slug | Inter-row pollination with ash or fluffy lime | - |
Strawberry mite | Agravertine Treatment | 2 ml per liter of water |
Infusion treatment of onion and garlic | - | |
Strawberry or Stem Nematode | Removing bushes with a lump of earth | - |
Photo gallery: signs of strawberry damage by pests and diseases
- A spider mite covers the leaves with cobwebs and sucks the juices from the plant
- Gray rot covers the berries with a fluffy coating of gray
- Bushes heavily infected with a nematode become dwarf
- Strawberry-mite leaves shrink, turn yellow and die
- Powdery mildew appears as a white coating on the leaves
Gardeners reviews
Last spring, we bought two bushes of this strawberry. Very expensive, but with a guarantee from a private acquaintance. By the end of summer, we planted almost two beds of young bushes, which is about 25 pieces. We nursed a nursery and cherished, cut off all peduncles. Most interesting, young bushes immediately began to bear fruit, and since the autumn was warm, we ate it for a long time. Naturally, the autumn berries were not as tasty as the summer ones. And about the taste: the berries are not too large (perhaps due to youth), but the flesh is dense, all through it is bright red and very sweet. Honestly, I haven’t eaten so delicious yet.
Shambol guest//dacha.wcb.ru/index.php?s=eb2d1fcbe85b53368519f148caa011e9&showtopic=11092&st=20
Last year I bought 10 bushes of Elizabeth in a proven specialty store. Throughout the season, she bore fruit like a sabotage — I had to cut off half the flowers so that the bush could gain at least a little strength. The only thing is, this culture must be fed more and more often!
Eve//dacha.wcb.ru/index.php?s=&showtopic=11092&view=findpost&p=201125
In the spring I bought 2 sockets, took root without problems. The mustache blossomed immediately and was given, although the store said that there was practically no mustache. The berries are large. But the apple, of course, is far away, dark red, very dense. Under the snow went with berries. In the autumn, he planted a mustache, pieces 20-30, in the spring they bloomed along with the usual one, they still bear fruit, however, the berries are smaller after the first harvest. I didn’t feed anything, the mustache is dark, I am distributing it to everyone.
Guest diva//dacha.wcb.ru/index.php?s=&showtopic=4857&view=findpost&p=86772
Queen Elizabeth - wild strawberry, exacting to leaving. Provide her with all the conditions for growth, and she will thank you with a good harvest before other berries, which can be harvested throughout the season.