Strawberries and strawberries are 2 different plant species that belong to the same Pink family, the Strawberry genus. They are dissimilar in appearance, have different tastes, different ripening periods. Further, it will be described in detail how strawberries differ from strawberries.

What are strawberries

The strawberries that are grown in gardens come in two varieties:

  • garden;
  • musky.

Strawberries grow in the wild:

  • forest;
  • meadow.

Strawberry is a small bush (20-30 cm in height) with fibrous roots. Over time, the rhizome grows widely around, each season forming young growths (horns).

Strawberries have three types of shoots:

  • An annual stem is a horn. In the spring, the horn grows rapidly and turns into a miniature berry bush with a flower bud at the crown and a rosette of several leaves.
  • Flowering shoots. They grow in the second season from a flower bud. A flower and a berry are formed on them.
  • Mustache. They begin to grow actively after the end of flowering. A daughter rosette is formed on the antennae. And initially it just hangs in the air without roots (then touching the ground, they begin to take root). Further, a mustache grows from the first outlet and a second-order daughter appears on it. The process continues with rosettes of the third order, etc. If you stop controlling the spread of the whiskers, the plant is able to cover the entire area with a carpet, since one plant can give from 20 to 100 such shoots per season. Therefore, for the entire growing season, you should cut off the mustache 4-5 times.

What are strawberries

Bright green leaves are ovoid in shape, serrated, heavily pubescent with hairs. Flowers are collected in inflorescences of 5-12 flowers, depending on the age of the bush. The buds themselves are quite large (2.5 cm in diameter), unisexual. Pollination is completely dependent on insects. From flowering (May) to harvesting (June) only 2-2.5 months pass.

A young sapling by the time of planting has 2-4 horns, and by the end of the season it has about 10. In old bushes, these horns can be from 30 or more. The yield depends on the number of horns.

Description and differences between meadow and forest strawberries

Wild strawberry grows in the forest, closer to the edge (where the sun looks). Its fruits begin to ripen early, by the end of June. The ripe berry has a very delicate, red flesh and a rich musky-honey aroma. And even unripe berries smell. The ripe berry is easily removed from the stalk, so the crop does not need to be cleaned again. The berries have a lot of hard seeds. Due to their excessive softness, the berries are prone to caking. Therefore, it will be correct to collect them in wide baskets.

Forest strawberries can be successfully grown in a summer cottage. It takes root well and grows in shaded areas. It is undesirable to plant a wild berry next to its cultural relative, as they can become highly pollinated, which will affect the quality and quantity of the harvest of garden hybrids.

The berry is rich in many useful substances and trace elements:

  • iron;
  • pectin (up to 1.7%);
  • tannins (up to 0.25% in the leaves and up to 9.4% in the roots);
  • ascorbic acid (about 90 mg 100 g);
  • carotene;
  • copper;
  • manganese;
  • zinc;
  • chromium.

Wild strawberry

A close relative of the forest grows in sunny glades - meadow strawberries. It tastes sweeter than forest and has no bitterness. The berries are round, weighing about 2 g. Until fully ripe, the calyx tightly fits the fruit, and in the case of a ripe berry it turns outward. It is better to pick not quite ripe berries, but for now their color is pink with white and greenish spots. But it should be understood that the berries are picked together with the stalks, after which the collected fruits are sorted out and cleaned of them. The ripe berry has a burgundy red color. The transportability of meadow strawberries is higher than that of forest strawberries. In appearance and taste, the berry resembles garden strawberries.

The difference between strawberries and strawberries

These two berries differ in the following parameters:

  • strawberries are unisexual (bushes can be either male or female), and strawberries are bisexual (there are both female and male flowers on the same bush);
  • the sepal of the strawberry very easily departs from the berry, and that of the strawberry adheres firmly to the fruit;
  • ripe strawberries are entirely red, very sweet and fragrant, and the strawberries are always white inside, even if they are bright burgundy outside, and the berry itself is sour;
  • strawberries are very soft, and strawberries keep their shape and are well transported.

Also, strawberries give much less whiskers and, accordingly, less productive.

What is the difference between forest strawberries and wild strawberries?

Forest strawberries (or nutmeg strawberries) grow in the forest at the edges or along the roads. Bushes are low (about 12 cm in height), almost beardless. Fruits are spherical, small. The color of the berries is pink, turning red to the top. There are also pale yellow varieties. The smell is weak, nutmeg. Whereas strawberries have red fruits, somewhat elongated, with a very rich aroma. And the bushes themselves are twice as high.

Forest strawberry

The difference between strawberries and garden strawberries

Garden strawberries can be distinguished from strawberries by their berry size. For example, the Victoria variety: its fruits are 10 times larger than strawberries. Unlike strawberries, garden strawberries produce more whiskers. The attachment of the sepal is also different. In the first, it sits tightly on the berry. And also these species have different generic characteristics.

Strawberry-strawberry hybrid

Zemklunika - this is the name of a hybrid of strawberries with strawberries. It was bred by a domestic breeder - Kantor Tatiana. We managed to get a plant with better properties of “parents”. The fruit is like a strawberry sweet and aromatic, like a strawberry is large and dense. We also managed to correct winter hardiness and disease resistance.

The bushes turned out to be similar to strawberry, but much lush and larger. Very good yield - up to 1 kg of berries per bush.

The best varieties

The most popular varieties for today:

  • Anastasia;
  • Diana;
  • Strawberry;
  • Chit;
  • The merchant's wife;
  • Muscat Biryulevskaya;
  • Nadezhda Zagorya;
  • Penelope;
  • Raisa;
  • Report;
  • Student;
  • Candied Muscat.

Of the above varieties, the largest-fruited is Kupchikha. The hybrid needs good lighting and frequent watering. Due to the size of the bush, plantings should be less frequent than those of the parent plants.

Zemklunika

In 2018, new high-yielding varieties were bred, such as:

  • Alba;
  • Christina;
  • Honey.

Raspberry with strawberry flavor

There can be no hybrid of raspberries with strawberries. Strawberry is a herb and raspberry is a shrub. But in East Asia, a variety of strawberry-flavored raspberries grows under natural conditions - this is strawberry-raspberry. She also owns the following names:

  • seductive;
  • Chinese;
  • Tibetan;
  • Himalayan;
  • strawberry;
  • strawberry;
  • dwarf;
  • rosaline or rose-leaved.

In addition to the pleasant taste of berries, the bush itself has decorative value. It has beautiful pink-like leaves and charming large white flowers. Characteristic for this variety is the simultaneous presence of flowers on the bush, and bright pink large fruits, which taste like strawberries.True, the berries are not suitable for transportation and therefore it is almost impossible to find them on sale.

What are siderates

Siderata are plants that are able to grow green mass several times per season. The tops are mowed and left in place to rot and enrich the soil. Each culture has its own siderates.

Plants have the following effect on the soil:

  • improve the quality of the soil structure;
  • prevent the growth of weeds;
  • enrich the soil with elements necessary for subsequent planting;
  • promote the reproduction of the necessary microorganisms;
  • saturate the soil with humus;
  • free the earth from pathogenic microbes and pests.

What are strawberry siderates

Strawberry precursor

In a limited garden area, it is difficult to maintain a crop rotation or even leave some of it under fallow. We have to look for other ways to restore the depleted land. This also applies to the planting of garden strawberries. In one area, it bears maximum fruit for 4-5 years. Then the berry bed needs to be updated. But before that, a new site should be prepared. These can be beds after:

  • beans or other legumes;
  • parsley or celery;
  • garlic and onions;
  • carrots, radishes or corn.

Interesting! To save space on the garden plot, it is very convenient to plant strawberries in car tires. They are installed in tiers. In addition to saving space, yield increases and plant maintenance is easier.

Siderata for garden strawberries

At the proposed planting site for garden strawberries, it is recommended to first grow siderates.

For a garden berry, the best in solving this problem are:

  • rape;
  • lupine;
  • radish;
  • buckwheat;
  • Vika;
  • phacelia;
  • oats;
  • mustard.

Siderata for garden strawberries

During the summer, the planted crop should be mowed several times, moreover, there is no need to remove the grass. Just by decaying, it will enrich the earth with humus. It will be even better if, during the season, several different crops are planted on the site in turn, each of which will fulfill its function. For example: legumes emit nitrogen, mustard with rapeseed - phosphorus, buckwheat - potassium.

Note! Mustard and rapeseed are good phytosaniters, oats do a great job with nematodes, and calendula and marigolds - with verticilliasis.

A simplified version of the preparation of the site for planting berries

There is also an accelerated option to prepare a site for planting berry crops. To quickly restore the soil, you can sow some kind of green manure immediately after harvesting Solanaceae and mow several times before winter, you can also uproot the old berry bed and sow it with fast-growing green manure.

Strawberry neighbors

When planting various crops, their proximity should be taken into account, since plants can interfere with each other to fully grow and develop, and they can also have a beneficial effect.

Garden strawberries respond well to the neighborhood with garlic, parsley, marigold flowers. You should not plant raspberries in the immediate vicinity. During the season, she grows many root suckers, which will sprout on a strawberry bed. In addition, they will pick up moisture and nutrients from the berry bushes.

Can strawberries be planted next to strawberries? Plants can be planted next to each other. Without scientific intervention, they will not pollinate among themselves. But when located close, they can sprout on each other's territory with the help of a mustache.

Strawberry Victoria

The experience of gardeners in growing strawberries Victoria

Gardeners advise adding one new bed each year when planting. After five years, the first plantings are uprooted, they will no longer yield a crop. Thus, at the same time in the garden there will be 5 different-age plantings. Of these, 3 and 4-year-old berries are the most productive.

The choice of planting material

If you plan to plant a bed with your own planting material, you need to stake out more productive bushes in advance. Plants with many large and uniformly sized fruits are the most productive. It is from them that you should take a mustache for a new garden.As soon as a suitable material has appeared, it is immediately transplanted. The best sockets are of the first order. The second and subsequent daughters will be weaker. But they also take root, especially if transplanted in June-July.

Important! When planting a young bush, the growing point should be level with the ground.

Frequent difficulties

A common problem: the bush blooms, but there are no berries. The reason may be:

  • stigma frostbite;
  • weed variety;
  • lack of pollination.

To avoid such a problem, garden work should be started in early spring. Main spring events:

  • cleaning the beds from last year's grass;
  • loosening;
  • top dressing;
  • mulching.

Strawberries and strawberries have many distinctive features. The climatic conditions of central Russia are quite suitable for the cultivation of most of the currently existing varieties of these berry crops.