Many people like strawberries for their pleasant taste and aroma. There are so many varieties of the plant that you can enjoy fresh berries from the end of May until the very autumn by combining varieties with different ripening dates in your garden. And you can start this feast with Clery's early strawberry, which brings unusually sweet fruits.
History and description of Clery's Strawberry
Strawberry Clery appeared thanks to the efforts of Italian breeders in 1996. Clery's “parents” are Sweet Charlie and Onebor, and the place of origin is the Mazzoni Group (Comachio). The selection was made in 1998, the variety was tested under the code A20-17.
The Clery variety is distinguished by a rather powerful bush and large berries
Clery's strawberries grow in tall and powerful bushes. Large shiny leaves on long stalks are painted dark green. By the time of flowering, multiple thick peduncles are formed on the bush. Claire blooms luxuriantly, with large white flowers with a bright yellow middle, the height of the inflorescences does not exceed the height of the leaves.
The fruits are one-dimensional, large: the average weight is 30-40 g, in rare cases up to 50 g. The berries have the shape of a cone with a blunt end. Ripening fruits of red color, in the stage of technical ripeness - dark cherry. The pulp is dense, without internal voids, with a strong strawberry aroma, very sweet.
Colery's large conical strawberries weigh up to 40 g
This variety is suitable for both amateur and industrial cultivation. It can be cultivated both in open ground and in greenhouses.
Grade characteristics
Clery is a variety of early ripening, and a characteristic feature is the mass achievement of ripe berries. The entire collection period of ripened fruits takes 12-15 days. The average yield of the variety is 0.25-0.3 kg per bush or 290 kg / ha.
Plants are actively developing, for a season you can get 25-30 young rosettes from one mother bush, so there are no problems with getting planting material. Strawberry blooms in early May, easily tolerates small frosts.
Planting Clery is designed for 4 years: during this period the variety retains its characteristics. The maximum harvest occurs in the 3rd year. Then productivity begins to fall, and the berries are finer.
Video: Clery's strawberry crop ripens
The main advantages of the variety:
- high resistance of berries to transportation and long shelf life (up to 5 days);
- universality of the use of berries (for any culinary processing and freezing);
- the diet of berries (can be used for diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and high acidity, as they do not contain acid);
- good winter hardiness and average drought tolerance;
- undemanding to the composition of the soil;
- good resistance to diseases of the root system, medium - to brown and white spotting.
The variety is not without flaws:
- very weak first year crop;
- the need for frequent transplants (every 4 years);
- poor resistance to anthracnose;
- tendency to the rapid spread of disease.
Growing rules
Further yields largely depend on proper planting.
Planting strawberries
First of all, you need to correctly choose seedlings: the leaves should be brightly colored, not wrinkled (a sign of mite damage), without spots. The roots should be well developed, at least 7 cm in length, without dried areas. It is advisable to purchase seedlings in containers. If you bought seedlings with open roots, you need to immediately dig it into moist soil.
Strawberry seedlings do not tolerate drying of the roots, so plants with an open root system should be planted as soon as possible, no later than 2 days after acquisition.
Seedlings from containers take root better because the roots are less damaged when planted
The optimal planting date for Clery's strawberries is considered to be early spring, immediately after the snow has melted. However, if desired, you can plant in the second half of August - mid-September. Before spring planting, seedlings need to be "hardened" for 3-4 days at a temperature of 10 ° C.
The soil for Claire’s strawberries is nearly any, but medium loam is preferred. On too heavy or light soils, a large amount of organic fertilizer is required. Areas with close to the surface occurrence of groundwater are not suitable for planting. To save from stagnant moisture, you can plant strawberries on high beds. The soil reaction should be as neutral as possible.
The soil is neutral if nettle and shepherd’s bag grow on it. If the plot is covered with horsetail, wild mint, plantain or heather, then the soil is acidic. If poppy seeds and bindweed - alkaline.
Before planting strawberries, the soil must be carefully treated.
The site should be flat or with a slight slope facing the southwest. It is not worth planting on the southern slopes - snow cover leaves them early and bushes can freeze.
It is advisable to plant strawberries after annual grasses, lupins, winter crops. Potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers are not suitable as precursors to strawberries, as they are susceptible to the same diseases.
The soil must be prepared in advance, 3-4 weeks before planting:
- Remove weeds.
- With increased acidity of the soil, add chalk or dolomite, with increased alkalinity - gypsum or peat.
- Dig to the depth of the bayonet with the simultaneous application of organic fertilizers (per square meter - 1.5-2 buckets of compost or rotted manure) with the addition of 2 tablespoons of Azofoska.
- Select all rhizomes, larvae, form a bed.
- Sprinkle the surface of the beds with a 2-centimeter layer of coarse sand (to combat slugs and centipedes).
Landing is carried out in the following sequence:
- Sort the seedlings, leaving only healthy and developed plants (at least 5 leaves). Cut the roots too long to a length of 8-10 cm. Dip the roots in the soil mash.
- Treat the soil with copper sulfate (2 tablespoons per bucket of water, flow rate 1.2-1.5 l / m2) for disinfection.
- Prepare holes of sufficient size for the root system at a distance of 30-35 cm from each other and pour half a mug of warm water into each.
- Place the seedlings in the holes, sprinkle the roots with soil and compact with your hands. In no case do not cover the growth bud with earth.
- Water the planting.
When planting seedlings, compact the soil around the bush properly
Plant care
The maximum yield depends on careful care. The correct agricultural technology of strawberries consists in watering, weed control, top dressing, tillage, protection from pests and diseases.
Watering strawberries is the most important component of care. For the normal development of plants, it is necessary to ensure constant moderate soil moisture.
Water for irrigation of strawberries should be warm.
The greatest need for water occurs during flowering and ovary formation, and then after picking berries. Usually, strawberries are moistened every two weeks from late May to mid-August (once a week in hot weather), then the frequency of watering decreases. The Clery variety suffers a short-term drought without negative consequences, but in order to get good yields, the water regime must be observed. The last watering is carried out in October for the purpose of moisture recharge.
Strawberries can be sprinkled with a regular watering can.
Before flowering and after harvesting, the best way to water is sprinkling (you can just from a watering can). The rest of the time, they are watered between the rows so that the water does not fall on the berries.
After each irrigation, weeds must be removed, the soil loosened between the rows (10-15 cm deep) and around the bushes (2-3 cm), the surface of the earth mulched with straw or pine needles (to reduce evaporation and protect the berries from touching the soil).
For the winter, you need not only to cover the soil with mulch (straw, sawdust, agrofibre), but also to wrap the plants themselves - in severe weather conditions. For covering you can use ready-made non-woven material.
Traditionally, the soil around strawberry bushes is mulched with sawdust, straw or pine needles.
Do not forget to remove the old mulch, covering material and garbage from strawberry plantings in the spring, as well as remove dried leaves.
After removing the mulch in the spring, you need to wait for the growth of new leaves and cut old ones. During the summer, you need to regularly eliminate the extra mustache that Clery forms too actively. If this is not done, the planting will become thicker, and the yield will drop sharply.
Fertilizer application
The size and sweetness of the berries are very dependent on fertilizers. Clery is usually fed 4 times per season.
- Fertilizers are applied for the first time in early spring. You can use complex fertilizer or limit yourself to adding organic matter - 3-4 kg of humus per 1 meter of row.
- The second top dressing is carried out when young leaves begin to grow: under the root make 0.5 l of urea solution (1 tablespoon in a bucket of water).
- The third time they are fertilized before flowering: 2 tablespoons of Nitrophoska and 1 teaspoon of potassium sulfate in a bucket of water, contribute 0.5 l under each bush.
- The fourth top dressing is carried out after harvesting: 1 liter of a solution of 2 tablespoons of Nitrofoski and a glass of wood ash.
In addition, during the season it is good to periodically water the plantings with a solution of organics (for example, dry chicken droppings). Fertilizer is diluted with water in a proportion of 1:10 (1 part of chicken droppings and 10 parts of water), insist for 2-3 days, then poured into the grooves under the bushes, trying not to fall on the leaves. After top dressing, it is necessary to water the plantings.
One of the best fertilizers for strawberries is chicken droppings: it contains nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus and magnesium, necessary for plant life
With the introduction of increased norms of nitrogen fertilizers, strawberry bushes actively grow at the expense of yield.
Pest and Disease Control
Clery is little susceptible to fungal infections. Fear should be mainly anthracnose. From this disease, elongated depressed spots of red-brown color appear on the petioles and mustache, then turning into black ulcers. Brown impressions also appear on the berries. The diseased parts of the plant dry out, the whole bush may die. If there are signs of the disease, you need to remove the affected leaves or even the bushes as a whole, otherwise the disease will spread rapidly. It is necessary to process plantings three times with Bordeaux mixture or copper sulphate with lime (100 g and 130 g per 6 l of water, respectively).
Anthracnose-affected berries are covered with pressed brown spots
Of the pests, the greatest damage to strawberries is caused by:
- slugs
- strawberry mite
- Chafer,
- sometimes aphids and weevils.
Against sucking pests, a tansy broth helps well: boil 0.7 kg of dry raw materials in a bucket of water for 0.5 hours, after cooling, bring the volume to 10 l and add 30-40 g of soap. You can use ready-made insecticides - Karbofos, Actellik.
Table: Straw Pests and Pest Control
| Pest name | Description of the pest and signs of damage | Control measures |
| Slug | The first sign of the presence of the pest is the gleaming "paths" of dried mucus on the leaves. Slugs eat strawberry leaves and berries. The affected leaves show round recesses along the edges, and in the berries gnawed holes, sometimes entire passages (in which you can find small slugs). |
|
| Strawberry mite | Small insects indistinguishable by the eye suck juices from leaves and mustaches. Affected leaves shrink and dry out, the growth of the bush slows down. |
|
| Cockchafer (Khrushchev) | A medium-sized taw beetle lays eggs in the soil. Emerging larvae can invade the roots of strawberries, leading to complete drying of the bush. |
|
Photo Gallery: Strawberry Pests
- Slugs can ruin a crop, especially if the weather is wet
- Strawberry mite leaves wrinkle and then dry
- Maybug larvae gnaw strawberry roots
Harvesting, storage and use
Clery's strawberries begin to ripen in late May - early June. The berries ripen together, so that within two weeks you can collect the entire crop completely. Harvesting is carried out in stages, as the fruits ripen. It is recommended to remove the berries in the morning after the dew.
Do not pick strawberries in the heat or in the rain - the shelf life is reduced.
The berries are picked carefully, along with the stem. Stacked in small boxes or containers. Strawberry does not tolerate shifting, so you should pick it right away in the container in which it will be transported.
Keep harvested should be in the refrigerator. Unlike other varieties, which withstand only 2-3 days of storage, Clery berries can lie 5-6 days.
Strawberry Jam is considered to be one of the most delicious
If you can’t eat fresh strawberries, you can freeze it or make jam, jam, wine, pear or other delicacies. In addition, strawberries are used for cosmetic and medicinal purposes. A decoction of berries is recommended for hypertension. Various strawberry masks will help get rid of acne, wrinkles, freckles, and improve skin condition. The leaves (steamed or in the form of a decoction) are used for healing compresses, and are also part of the urinary and choleretic collections.
Gardeners reviews on Clery's Strawberry
Early grade. The bushes are powerful, medium leafy, the leaves are dark green, shiny. Inflorescences at the level of leaves. The berry is roundly elongated, shiny, very beautiful. Increased transportability. No diseases were observed. As for the taste. I would classify this variety as risky, and this spring in the regions where it rained proved my assumption. Since the variety is still bred in Italy, then, roughly speaking, without heat and sun, the berry will not pick up taste. Now, after a week of warmth, the taste has really improved. The pulp is dense.
Annie//forum.vinograd.info/archive/index.php?t-2795.html
Clery is a variety with a very beautiful and delicious berry. So far, it has bore fruit only once, so it's too early to talk about productivity. But in communicating with some Ukrainian strawberries, I know that with us he is not the most productive. It is even possible that one of the reasons will be far from the Italian winter ... That is, you will have to take some measures for normal wintering.
Ivann, Ivano-Frankivsk region Ukraine//club.wcb.ru/index.php?showtopic=960
This year I tried the taste of my Clery for the first time and after that there was a great desire to get rid of this variety! stopped her daughter, she got a ripe berry, but there are berries and more sweet, most of all I like her appearance, very beautiful berry, good for sale!
Olga Vasilievna//forum.vinograd.info/archive/index.php?t-2795.html
I also have Clery and gave berries last year, but the berry is solid and the first impression is not very, it needs to be fully ripened, a very unusual taste, and the look is even better !!!
OlgaRym, Stavropol Territory//club.wcb.ru/index.php?showtopic=960
I have two CLERI beds, one in the sun, the other in partial shade. In the sun, ripened 1.06 in partial shade will only begin, the taste is as always good, the berry is large, a market variety. My observations on Clery this year (2011): a very large percentage of marketable berry Commercial presentation of the berry Large berry Tasty, sweet berry Odor weak Harvest mediocre Good yield of berries (minimum harvest) Drought tolerance normal
ilativ//forum.vinograd.info/archive/index.php?t-2795.html
Although Clery's strawberry comes from Italy, she feels quite well in Russian conditions. Care for it is required no more than for other varieties, and yields, albeit not too large, will please with large sweet berries. In addition to great taste, strawberries have healing properties, and masks made from it magically transform the skin.
