Vertical planting of strawberries in a pipe. How to make a strawberry planting pipe?

Strawberries are one of those crops, for cultivation of which in the classical version is not rationally used land space. Every horticulturist knows that landing in the usual way into the ground occupies a very large area, while the harvest that can be collected from this site is not large. Therefore planting strawberries in a pipe is aimed at increasing the yield from a square meter of land.

Vertical Strawberry Growing

The use of vertical plants and structures for growing strawberries is a practical way to save land. To arrange vertical flower beds and beds, you can use various designs that are available for sale, or make them yourself. One of these options, which is quite new in use, is the vertical planting of strawberries in a PVC pipe designed for sewage installation. Planting strawberries in the pipe is already a proven and reliable way, recommended by leading gardeners.

Materials for manufacturing

To make a vertical flower bed you will need:

• Pieces of PVC pipes of wide diameter.
• An electric drill, a nozzle for wide openings or a conventional wood drill.
• Plug for the pipe.
• Narrow PVC pipe, which is used to supply water to the roots of plants.
• Scotch.
• Knife and cork.
• Sacking, for winding watering pipe.
• Twine or twine.
• Soil mixture.
• Gravel or expanded clay.
• Strawberry seedlings.
• Fasteners.

How to make a strawberry planting pipe

If you decide to plant strawberries in vertical beds-pipes, determine their height. It is necessary to measure the length of the pipe and cut it off by installing a plug from one side. In a thin tube designed to moisten the soil, small holes are drilled into two thirds of the entire surface. This is done to ensure that water comes mainly in the upper part of the vertical flower bed. To ensure that the lower plants are not over-moistened, and the upper ones receive sufficient water, the tube is wrapped with sackcloth and fastened with a string or twine. This is to ensure that the roots of strawberries do not penetrate the tube and do not interfere with the water supply system. A plug is inserted into the lower end of the tube and fixed with adhesive tape. The lower side is the side where there are no holes.

In a wide pipe, it is necessary to make a large nozzle on the drill, or drill out their contours with a thin drill and cut them with a knife. These holes are located mainly on those sides that will face the light. On the side that will inevitably be turned to the north, they will not be needed. The last holes are made at least 20 centimeters from the ground. A watering narrow tube is inserted into the main wide tube and attached to it in any convenient way. Pipes are installed at a constant location, turning the holes to the sunny side, and secured with clamps or other accessible fasteners.

The soil

Planting strawberries in a pipe involves the use of ready-made shop universal soils or their independent harvesting. For this, it is necessary to mix in ordinary parts the common garden land, peat, turf. Sand and sawdust are added for the air permeability of the soil. Also, in the prepared mixture for growing strawberries, it is necessary to add ash preventing rotting, since the strawberry has a superficial, rather delicate root system.

For planting strawberries, the land on which the previous 2-3 years were grown such crops as strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes or potatoes will not do. This contributes to the transmission of diseases that are inherent in these plants. Also in the ground mixture can be added humus or manure in small proportions. Pipes 10 centimeters below are filled with coarse gravel or any other suitable material to create good drainage. From above it is filled up and the soil mixture is slightly condensed to the very top.

Planting strawberries in pipes

In the lower holes of the tube plants are placed, such as marigolds or marigolds. These flowers excel pests well, not allowing them to get to the strawberry plants. If varieties are planted, which propagate by retracting the antennae, then the plants can be planted through a single well, in order to further carry the antennae into the free holes where they will take root. Vertical planting of strawberries in a pipe consists in careful placement of plants in an unusual position for them. You can pre-fill the pipe with soil and then make small digs in it to engage in planting seedlings or place plants in stages, covering them with earth.

That's what a strawberry planting looks like in a tube (photo below).

Care of strawberries in pipes

It is quite simple and differs little from the usual when growing a plant in the ground. This is timely watering, periodic feeding and prevention of diseases. Water is supplied to the irrigation tube. For convenience, at the end of it, towering above the bed, you can place a watering can with a wide neck. The tube is filled completely up to the top. It gradually transfers water through a stretched burlap and compacted around the ground. Having good drainage, you can not worry about the bay of plants. It is easy to determine the condition of the soil, for this, you just need to feel it with your fingers in the holes where the strawberry is planted. It does not tolerate the drying out of the soil, therefore it is necessary to carry out constant moistening.

Top dressing of strawberries is performed in the period of active growth and flowering. When the fruiting period begins, the feeding is stopped. The most effective is the foliar replenishment of microelements. To do this, use a mixture of boric acid, zinc sulphate, cobaltous nitrate and manganese sulphate. To prepare the solution, these substances are taken in equal proportions and mixed with water in an amount of 0.025%. As a root fertilizer use universal fertilizers, as well as solutions of mullein or bird litters.

If strawberry is planted in pipes, wintering under such conditions differs little from soil. However, the advantage of this technology is that these beds can be wrapped up with improvised materials or brought into a covered room.

Varieties for vertical cultivation

Planting strawberries in pipes involves the acquisition of high-yielding varieties, resistant to most plant-specific diseases and pests. Maturity dates are of little importance, since pipes can be easily installed not only in the open air, but also in greenhouses or greenhouses. The most viable are considered such varieties: "Pomegranate", "Zagorje", "Roxana", "Early Maherauha", Desnyanka, "Pavlovchanka." And also foreign brands: Gigantella, Bogotá, Cardinal, Troubadour.

Pest and disease control

The most common pest for strawberry seedlings is a strawberry transparent tick that damages the leaves. It is easy to identify, because when it appears, the leaves of the strawberry twist and turn yellow, and the berries on the bushes become shallow. To combat it, spraying with carbophos is used. For this, a solution is prepared: for 10 liters of water, 3 tablespoons of carbophos. This method of treatment also eliminates such insects as weevil, strawberry beetle and whitefly.

Also on the strawberry often attacked the Colorado beetle and larvae of the May beetle, which must be removed from the plant. It is undesirable to use chemicals as a control against these pests, as they are long-lasting and not suitable for strawberries, which quickly ripens.

Pests for strawberries can become slugs, centipedes, snails. Most often, they settle on plants with waterlogging the soil. Fight them with the help of the drug "Metaldehyde." It is a granular powder that does not require dissolution in water. Its granules are distributed on the soil.

Planting strawberries in the pipe has long established itself as a rational method of using the useful area and obtaining high yields from each square meter. This method is quite cheap and affordable even to a beginner gardener.