Sweet berry

Tips from Alexey Kazarin

Continuation. Beginning at No. 49

Other varieties of large-fruited strawberries are less common among summer residents. It is understandable: most varieties, along with positive qualities, also have significant drawbacks.

I do not recommend growing varieties such as Early Makherauha and Talisman because of their low yields and disease resistance. The variety of the German selection Zenga-Zengana has very large fruits of a beautiful barrel shape, but more than half of the crop in our conditions is affected by gray rot. The Moscow Yubileinaya (Mashenka) has low transportability, the berries in the container are crumpled. Very low yields were found in Junia Smides and Hummi Grand, which were often advertised for their exceptional large-fruitedness.

From remontants he grew varieties Ada, Inexhaustible, Mount Everest. Once I bought Huge Suzeren strawberries in the Baltics. Landed and began to wait for large berries corresponding to the name. She took root and began to develop. I look: in appearance, neither give nor take the usual small-fruited strawberries of the forest type. Really, I think it's a hoax, although it doesn't look like the Balts. However, I noticed that they are very fond of inventing plant names for advertising purposes. For example, the common hawthorn, which can be distinguished only by species, is given the name of the "variety" in the catalogs sent out - Dragon's Blood (quite apt, since the hawthorn promotes hematopoiesis). Although no one, of course, was engaged in the selection of this plant there. And there are many such examples. This time, the strawberry really turned out to be unusual - its berries are twice as large as Inexhaustible, continuous fruiting, and besides, it gives a mustache that manages to bear fruit in the first year. Strawberries turned out to be the most productive of small-fruited ones. So the name of the variety, it turned out, was not given in vain.

Of the large-fruited remontants, it should be noted varieties: seedling Sakhalin, Miracle of the World, tapestry - Goliath. The last two bear fruit on the bush twice and additionally on the mustache. The Wonder of the World is two or three times larger than Mount Everest, but it is not winter-hardy enough and requires mandatory shelter. Some varieties were obtained from the experimental farm of the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy. Now again I would like to breed the early variety Vnuchka, with beautiful large transportable berries of dessert taste. This strawberry imperceptibly degenerated in my area due to untimely care. I would like to purchase and test strawberries of the French variety Surprise Galla, which is considered one of the most productive early varieties, as well as high-yielding California varieties Vista, Tioga and Chandler, the Dutch variety Corona. Large and productive berries are also found in our Russian newly created varieties Kalinka, Velvet, Dinamovka, Sudarushka, Tsarskoselskaya.

My attitude to remontant varieties is as follows: I keep them mainly for the collection. I believe that they require more care than conventional single-fruiting varieties. All these varieties, such as Mount Everest, have only loud names, and you will not get a proper harvest in our conditions from them. Noteworthy are only strawberry-strawberry hybrids Penelope and Raisa with a sweet nutmeg aroma.