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Strawberries are a familiar berry to everyone, and every owner of at least a few acres of land necessarily strives to grow it on his site. Of course, in order to get a good harvest, you need to make an effort, because strawberries are not a berry for the lazy, they require attention and constant care. Therefore, the desire of every gardener to find and plant a strawberry variety that would please with a good harvest and excellent berry taste is understandable. But it also happens that a person puts in maximum effort, and as a result, the cat cries of the berries, or it turns out to be sour and is suitable only for jam.
One such variety that is unlikely to disappoint anyone, especially with proper care, is the Asia strawberry.
This variety, despite its relative youth, has already managed to win the hearts of not only many summer residents and gardeners, but also professionals. What did many lovers of this delicious berry in the Asia variety find so attractive?
In this article, you can find not only a description of the Asia strawberry variety, but also its photos, as well as reviews of gardeners who have had experience growing it on their backyard plots.
Description of the variety and its characteristics
Strawberries of the Asia variety are native to Italy. It was obtained by New Fruits breeders in Cesena. It happened more than 10 years ago in 2005.
- Strawberry Asia is characterized by a powerful root system that can easily withstand the Russian frosts, therefore, although without shelter it can survive at -17 ° C, under a good snow cover it will quite withstand the harsh Siberian winters. If in your region winters are characterized by a small amount of snow, then strawberry bushes must be covered for the winter.
For these purposes, you can use both non-woven material and a variety of organic matter: straw, coniferous spruce branches, fallen leaves. - The bushes of this variety are large in size, medium leafiness, a little mustache is formed, but they are strong and thick. The leaves are quite large in size, slightly wrinkled, deep green in color. The shoots are thick, tall, and form a large number of peduncles.
- The strawberry variety Asia belongs to the medium-early in terms of ripening, that is, the first berries appear around the beginning of June, in the southern regions the beginning of fruiting may shift even to May. The fruiting period is quite extended - within a month.
- The variety can be called fruitful, especially when compared with conventional, non-remontant strawberry varieties. From one bush, you can get from one to one and a half kilograms of sweet berries.
- The description of the strawberry variety Asia will be incomplete without mentioning its shortcomings. Strawberry Asia shows moderate resistance to drought and various types of rot. It resists poorly to anthracnose and is poorly resistant to powdery mildew and chlorosis.
Fruit characteristics
What do they love strawberries for the most? Of course, for her berries. And in this respect, the Asia variety compares favorably with many others in the shape and size of strawberries. On average, the size of berries can vary from 25 to 40 g, but truly gigantic specimens weighing up to 100 grams are quite common. And in general, the berries are rather large, and most importantly, with age, they practically do not crush them, like in many other varieties.
The shape of the berries is also often unusual. As a rule, they resemble a truncated, slightly flattened cone, sometimes with two tops.
The color of the berries is intense bright red, with a glossy finish. The pulp has the same color, but a more delicate shade.Internal voids are usually not observed, the density is moderate.
The flavor characteristics of the Asia variety are excellent.
Strawberry Asia belongs to the versatile varieties due to its wonderful taste. It is suitable both for fresh consumption and for freezing, as well as for preparing an infinite number of preparations for the winter: jam, jam, compote and other yummy foods.
The berries are easily detached from the stalk. Strawberries of the Asia variety are quite suitable for long-term storage at low temperatures, as well as for transportation over long distances. In addition, the berries are able to attract buyers with their appearance. From the foregoing, it follows that the Asia variety may well be grown for sale and even used on an industrial scale.
In this video, you can see the berries and bushes of strawberries Asia from all angles:
Planting strawberries
When planting this variety, it must be borne in mind that the bushes are large in size, respectively, and the distance between them should be at least 40 cm. It is better to plant Asia strawberries out of the blue, with good illumination from all sides. Neither elevated areas nor pits are suitable for good strawberry growth. Since in the lowlands, the bushes can begin to rot from stagnant water, and on the hills, plants may lack moisture all the time.
Each term has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Of course, when planting in spring, the seedlings take root well and immediately grow, but you should not count on the harvest this season. It will bear fruit only next year. Moreover, in the year of planting, it is imperative to cut off all the mustaches and flower stalks so that the seedlings have the opportunity to form a strong root system, survive the winter perfectly and give an excellent harvest in the next season.
If you plant strawberry seedlings in the fall, then in the summer you can harvest a completely full harvest. But if the winter is too cold and snowless, then the bushes may freeze out.
For good development and full-fledged yield of the strawberry harvest, Asia requires light, breathable, but fertile land. Two weeks before the intended planting of seedlings, the land must be thoroughly loosened, having selected all the rhizomes weeds and add for each square meter of beds:
- 2 buckets of humus or compost;
- Half a bucket of coarse sand;
- 1 tablespoon of ash;
- 50 grams of urea.
All components are mixed, the surface of the bed is leveled. Its width can be about one meter. A good way is to plant strawberry seedlings on a ridge in a checkerboard pattern. At the same time, the bushes receive enough lighting and nutrition, and more bushes can be planted on one square meter.
When planting seedlings, make sure not to cover the central growth point with soil - it should be located directly at ground level. After planting, moisten all the bushes well, and mulch with any organic matter: straw, sawdust, cut grass with a layer about 5 cm thick.
Features of care and reproduction
The Asia strawberry variety is comparatively drought tolerant, so the plants can tolerate a lack of moisture for several days. But if there is a possibility, then it is better not to arrange such tests for strawberries. On hot days, it is advisable to water every two to three days, spending about 3 liters of water for each bush.
Due to the high yield, strawberries in Asia need regular feeding throughout the growing season. At the beginning of growth, it needs fertilizers with a high nitrogen content. For these purposes, you can apply a solution of mullein or bird droppings, diluted in a ratio of 1:10 or 1:15, respectively. You can also use watering with a solution of urea with the addition of wood ash. For 1 sq. meter is used 10 liters of solution with 50 g of urea and 2 tbsp. spoons of wood ash.
Before flowering, strawberry bushes must be fed again with manure or bird droppings in the same concentration. It is also good to use spraying with solutions of Agricola preparations with trace elements and Ovary. They help to set fruit well even in unfavorable weather conditions.
After fruiting, Asia strawberries are fed a third time, and in the fall the bushes are covered with humus or compost.
Since Asia strawberries do not differ in a large number of mustaches, it is optimal to use transplanting young rosettes at the end of summer for its reproduction. They manage to take root well before the onset of frost and by next summer they will delight you with the first harvest.
Also, after the end of fruiting, you can carefully dig up and divide the largest mother bushes. It is advisable only to do this in cloudy, cool weather.
Gardeners reviews
As you can see, the reviews of gardeners growing strawberries in Asia are quite positive, they mostly notice only positive moments behind it.
I named this berry - a berry to show off. Really very large, well transported, retains its presentation for a long time, sweet, but no aroma. When there are two plates with the Asia berry and the Festivalnaya berry on the table, the Festivalnaya is eaten first.