What is the price of milk strawberry seedlings? How are they grown?
Milk strawberry is a strawberry variety that has become quite popular in recent years. It looks better and tastes sweeter than ordinary strawberries, winning over many fans, but it is not actually irrigated with milk. So, what is the price of milk strawberry seedlings? How are they grown?
1. What is the price of milk strawberry seedlings?
At present, the price of milk strawberry on the market is roughly 0.45-0.7 yuan per plant. This variety has excellent characteristics such as vigorous growth, early maturity and high yield, large fruit, bright color and excellent quality, uniform fruit shape, and strong resistance, and is most suitable for forced cultivation in greenhouses.
2. How are milk strawberries grown?
1. Site selection and land preparation
A strawberry garden should preferably be chosen with sufficient sunlight, slightly higher terrain, level ground, convenient irrigation and drainage, fertile and loose soil, and a previous crop of legumes or onion and garlic vegetables. The garden site should first be cleared of weeds and underground pests. After 1 week, apply 5000 kg of high-quality decomposed farmyard manure, 100 kg of calcium superphosphate, and 50 kg of potassium chloride per mu as a base fertilizer. Combined with deep plowing of the garden, prepare the land finely and make raised beds 20 cm high and 50 cm wide, with furrows 30 cm wide. The length of the greenhouse should be limited to 20 m, with 4 beds inside.
2. Transplanting technique
In order to strive for strawberries to go on the market from the end of January to early February, the time for transplanting strawberry seedlings from the propagation nursery onto the greenhouse beds should be in early September. Seedlings should be lifted and transplanted at the same time. Plant 2 rows per bed, with a row spacing of 27 cm and a hill spacing of 20 cm, planting 12000 plants per mu. When planting, the inflorescences of plants in the same row should face the same direction, so that the arched back of the strawberry seedling faces the intended growth direction of the inflorescence, the crown is exposed above the bed surface, and the root system is spread flat and buried in the loose soil layer. Water immediately after planting to settle the soil, and bury exposed roots into the soil layer.
3. Planting management
(1) Cultivation and fertilization
From November to December, shallow cultivation should be carried out 3 times, and fertilizer should be applied once each at the early flowering stage and the early fruit-setting stage. Apply 10 kg of urea, 20 kg of phosphate fertilizer, and 10 kg of potassium chloride per mu, or 35 kg of ternary compound fertilizer.
(2) Management in the early stage of flower bud differentiation
For strawberry seedlings transplanted in early September, in addition to timely replenishment of water, a shade net should be added for shading. The net should be 1.2 m above the ground for easy operation by workers. Dead leaves, old leaves, axillary buds, and stolons should be removed in time, maintaining 5-6 leaves. Flower bud differentiation requires relatively low temperature and short-day conditions, so straw mats (straw curtains) can be added over the shade net. Through the process of uncovering and covering the straw mats, short-day conditions and relatively low temperatures are artificially created to promote the differentiation of the terminal inflorescence and axillary inflorescences, lasting for more than a month.
(3) Irrigation and drainage methods
During flowering and the early stage of berry growth, irrigate once each. Furrow irrigation is preferable, with water filled to 2/3 of the furrow height, allowing water to gradually seep into the bed soil, and the remaining water in the furrow to be drained out. If there is drought, irrigate once every 5-7 days. Use a rubber hose with a section of metal pipe attached to the front end for hole irrigation, which saves water and helps keep the bed soil loose. In rainy autumn, drainage should be carried out in time. Drainage ditches should be prepared early around the area so that the water in the bed furrows inside the greenhouse can be fully drained.
(4) Covering with plastic film
From October to early November, at the end of the strawberry inflorescence differentiation stage, the shade net can be removed. After “Lidong” (Start of Winter), cover with ground film, and before “Daxue” (Major Snow), cover with greenhouse film, keeping the temperature inside the greenhouse at 28-30°C so that strawberries can grow normally.
5. Ventilation management
The soil moisture for strawberry seedling growth should preferably be 70%-80%. The air humidity inside the greenhouse is best at 60%-70%. Therefore, when the temperature inside the greenhouse exceeds 30°C, ventilation should be carried out. From November to December, the plastic film at both ends of the large greenhouse and the middle greenhouse should be opened for ventilation from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. When the humidity inside the greenhouse exceeds 70%, ventilation should also be carried out to reduce the air humidity inside the greenhouse. Another function of greenhouse ventilation is to prevent and control strawberry powdery mildew.
6. Disease control
Mainly prevent leaf spot, powdery mildew, gray mold, verticillium wilt, and so on.
7. Harvest
From flowering and fruit setting to the coloring, softening, and release of the unique aroma of the berries, strawberries take about 30 days. After the strawberry berries mature, they should be harvested in batches for market, generally yielding 1500 kg of strawberries per mu.