In Russia, almost every garden will certainly have a garden bed (and sometimes a whole meadow) with strawberries. The cultivation of this plant is a rather laborious process, but the result is a juicy, sweet, fragrant, beautiful berry. Strawberry variety "Bogota", according to gardeners, gives very large and fragrant berries.
The only problem is that the fruits are uneven, so they are difficult to stack and transport. Based on this, the variety is recommended for cultivation in household plots, since farms with such berries are too much trouble.
Definitions
In Russia, the berry, which throughout the world is referred to as pineapple strawberry (Fragaria ananassa Duchesne ex Rozier), is called strawberry, sometimes even "Victoria" (from the first variety imported from England).
The plant was bred by mutual cross-pollination of the Chilean strawberry - Fragária chiloensis (brought from Chile by the French traveler Amédé François Frezier in 1714) and the virgin strawberry - Fragária virginiana (a variety introduced to Europe in 1623, planted in Paris). The famous French botanist Antoine Nicolas Duchen,who received the Chilean strawberry planted it just next to the virgin strawberry, after some time received a new plant with the qualities inherent in two progenitors: winter hardiness (from the virgin) and large-fruitedness (from the Chilean).
The name strawberry, historically used in Russia, has long been associated by all gardeners exclusively with pineapple strawberries (Fragaria ananassa Duchesne ex Rozier), in England it is called Strawberry, in France - Fraise.
Strawberry "Bogota": variety description
Reviews of amateur gardeners about growing this plant vary, which is easily explained by the characteristics of the variety. Strawberries "Bogota" freeze even in relatively warm winters in the Non-Black Earth Region. The state register recommends the variety for cultivation in the North Caucasus region.
The height of the bushes can be up to thirty centimeters, although the plants are quite compact. When cultivating, it should be borne in mind that dense, rather heavy berries can hang and lie down, so the compactness of the bush in this case does not give grounds for close planting. Plants should be placed in a row at a distance of at least thirty centimeters from each other, or even more (in the case of well-fertilized moist soils). The distance between rows should not be less than sixty centimeters. For amateur farms, a chess planting method can be recommended: a cage measuring 40x40 centimeters, a bush in the center.
Large, rounded leaf blades of "Bogota" strawberries are inclined at a slight angle to the central stem. Bright green wrinkled leavesthe touch is dense and leathery. Leaf petioles are covered with soft hairs. Elastic and thick pedicels rarely grow higher than the leaves, remaining almost on a par with the bush.
Strawberries "Bogotá": description
Red fruits, called berries, strawberries (pineapple strawberries) have nothing more than an overgrown receptacle. And the fruits - small brown nuts - are located on the surface of the berry itself.
With good, consistently hot weather and an established irrigation system, it is the size of the berries that attracts "bogota" in strawberries. Gardeners' reviews paint a colorful picture of the taste, aroma and juiciness of the berry. When cut, the color of strawberries is pink almost to the very core. The aroma is persistently strawberry, pronounced. The taste is gently sweet, with a slight sourness, the aftertaste is long, not cloying.
The shape of the fruit is a comb-shaped truncated cone in the largest fruits, and in smaller berries it is just a slightly truncated cone.
Too different sizes of fruits distinguish bogota strawberries. The description of the variety would be incomplete without mentioning this feature. The weight of berries is on average from 13.5 to 15 grams, large specimens can reach 100-120 grams. When harvesting, it is this feature (too different sizes) that makes it impossible to stack the berries for normal transportation, although the fruits have very good elasticity and, accordingly, keeping quality.
Strawberry "Bogotá" recommended for fresh consumptionsee.
Features of cultivation and care
Strawberry "Bogota" - one of the most late-ripening varieties. This makes it possible for the berry to ripen in favorable hot conditions (in fact, this was intended during selection). But dry weather can easily affect the size and juiciness of the fruit. Well-established watering is the main feature of growing the Bogota strawberry variety. Feedback from gardeners leaves no doubt about the need to comply with the timing and volume of watering.
Caring for Bogota strawberries is no more difficult than for all the others. Loosening, weeding, fertilizing and mulching (if necessary) before fruiting, loosening and trimming (not breaking) mustaches - during fruiting, feeding, loosening, removal of damaged (old) shoots - before wintering.
Preparing for winter
In the conditions of warm winters in the North Caucasus region, shelter is not required for Bogota strawberries. When grown in the middle zone of the Russian Federation, when the temperature can drop for a long period below twenty-five degrees with low snow cover, the plant needs shelter. It is best to close the bushes before wintering with spruce branches or cut plants, but you need to cover them only after a steady (but small - up to minus one or two degrees) temperature drop below zero. If you close the bushes in advance, the strawberries will begin to get wet and then rot. But even the shelter will not be able to guarantee against freezing. A fairly good result provides planting withsubsequent shelter in polycarbonate greenhouses, which is usually used by owners of small plots, getting a large crop of "bogotá" strawberries (berries are large and heavy) almost a month earlier than from those grown in natural conditions without shelter.
How to plant strawberries: general recommendations
A good harvest strawberry "bogota" will give in the presence of the sun for at least eight hours a day. It should be grown in well-lit places, forming ridges, ridges, furrows. If the land allotted for the berry is dry, furrows can be formed without raising them high above the ground. If the soil holds moisture well or the occurrence of groundwater is close, you can form high beds with boards or ridges.
If there is no space on the plot, you can try to grow strawberries "bogota" on a vertical ladder or pyramid.
Chopped hay, cut grass no more than ten centimeters high, pine litter, non-woven fabric are ideal for mulching, dark film is worse. A layer of mulch inhibits moisture evaporation, creating a microclimate that maintains moisture and creates ideal conditions for plant nutrition.
Requirements for soils and fertilizers
Strawberry berry gardens cannot be created on lands where tomatoes and potatoes were predecessors - it is impossible to use such soil for four years.
From this point of view, sawdust cannot be used as mulch, as they change the acidity of the soil, which it categorically does not toleratestrawberry "Bogota", however, like all other varieties.
Manure for strawberries is considered the best fertilizer, but it can only be applied in early spring, when the plant is still practically asleep.
It is strictly forbidden to add mineral fertilizers before planting mustaches in August.
