Albion strawberry is one of the few foreign varieties suitable for growing in Russia. This overseas strawberry attracts our farmers with its productivity. By growing Albion under cover, you can pick berries all year round.
strawberry variety "Albion"
strawberry "Albion" variety is picky about soil fertility and needs intensive feeding
dense pulp of the Albion variety allows you to safely transport and store the harvested crop
Description of the variety
Variety Albion is a hybrid native to America. It was created at the beginning of the 21st century by crossing the large-fruited varieties Diamante and Cal 94.16-1. The variety was bred specifically for industrial cultivation.
Botanical description
Brief botanical description:
- Bushes. Vigorous, well leafy, reach 40-45 cm in height. Peduncles are highly erect, they can hold a significant load. The fruits are raised above the ground - this reduces the likelihood of their rotting. Leaves are medium sized, glossy, dark green in color. Bushes form a little mustache.
- Fruit. Large, slightly elongated. Conical shape. Ripening, turn red, shiny. In the ripe state, the berries acquire the color of pomegranate. The pulp is juicy, pink in color, quite dense.
- Flowers. Bisexual. The size is medium. White color.
Main characteristics
Variety Albion, except for the USA and the south of Canada, is popular in Italy and the Russian Federation. In central Russia, it is rarely grown in the open field - usually in greenhouse conditions, with good lighting. The hybrid is not included in the State Register of the Russian Federation.
Main agrotechnical indicators:
Characteristics / parameters | Description / Meaning |
Fruiting | remontant variety, 4 crops are harvested |
Beginning of flowering | May |
Ripening time | early maturing |
The average weight of berries | 40-50 g or 35-45 t / ha |
Yield | 0.5-2 kg per bush |
Taste | sweet, sour |
Scent | rich strawberry |
Tasting point | 3,5-4,5 |
Frost resistance | low |
Albion has the same size fruit. They have a peculiarity - the shape of the berries can change by the third or fourth fruiting. For example, from conical to heart-shaped or oval.
The gardener made a video review of the Albion strawberry, where he weighed and gave a description of the properties of this variety:
Advantages and disadvantages of the variety
Pros:
- It grows and forms ovaries continuously. In the middle lane - from May to October. If grown under cover, it bears fruit almost continuously.
- Fruits are one-dimensional, without voids.
- Continuity of fruiting. This remontant variety, having given its first harvest in May, continues to bear fruit in waves until September.
- Good shelf life and transportability are natural for an industrial grade. The berries perfectly tolerate transportation - they do not crumple, keeping marketability.
- Disease resistance. Albion is resistant to heart rot and all fungal infections.
- Ecological purity of berries. Due to its resistance to fungi, the variety can do without chemical treatment.
The disadvantages are rather the characteristics of the variety:
- Growing conditions affect the taste. Ideally, the berries are sweet, in unfavorable climates they are sweet and sour.
- Fruiting begins only in the second year of planting.
- Weather conditions and care affect the yield.
- It is struck by spotting - brown and white.
- After 3 years, the planting is renewed.
- In temperate climates it freezes if you do not use insulation.
Preparation and landing
Albion in the southern regions is planted mainly in late summer or early September. Then the first harvest is removed the next year. When planting seedlings in spring, the harvest takes longer. Read here how to properly plant strawberries in spring.
In autumn, seedlings are planted a month before the onset of persistent frost. Autumn planting is not desirable in temperate climates. The variety does not tolerate severe frosts, and it is not advisable to plant it under winter. In the central regions, spring planting is practiced. It starts when the soil warms up to +15 ° C. The mustaches and peduncles of seedlings planted in spring are cut off as they grow back - so that the plant does not waste energy on reproduction and fruiting, but forms a powerful root system.
Requirements
The variety was bred for a mild climate with warm winters, so the Russian frosts are fatal for it. Albion grows well in the south of the country - in the Krasnodar Territory, Crimea, in the North Caucasus. In the middle lane, the variety is grown in a greenhouse method, or carefully insulated for the winter - but there is no guarantee that the bushes will not freeze out.
For landing Albion choose well-lit areas, smooth, with good drainage. The variety grows well on any soil, but prefers fertile loam with a weak or neutral reaction.
Soil preparation
The soil is prepared 3-4 weeks before planting the seedlings. The task is to remove all weed vegetation - its surface and underground parts, and to increase the soil fertility.
For 1 square. m of soil prepared for planting seedlings of Albion, bring:
- superphosphate - 70 g;
- potassium sulfate - 30 g;
- ammonium nitrate - 30 g;
- humus - 2-2.5 buckets.
Having scattered fertilizers, the soil is dug onto the bayonet of the shovel. If the landing will be carried out on the beds, they will be formed. The standard height of strawberry beds is 25-30 cm. The beds are optional, they are usually made when water stagnation is observed on the site.
The beds are prepared a week before planting the seedlings so that the soil has time to settle. Albion bushes are large, they need space for growth, so the interval between adjacent beds is at least 45 cm.
Selection and preparation of planting material
Healthy seedlings are needed for a good harvest.
You can distinguish high-quality seedlings by the following features:
- powerful roots;
- root neck with a diameter of 6 mm;
- the seedlings should look strong and healthy - no dryness or defects.
Preparing seedlings for planting:
- shorten excessively long roots - their length should not exceed 8-10 cm;
- tear off excess leaves - when planting them there should be no more than three;
- place the roots in a growth stimulator - for a day.
Experienced gardeners recommend seedlings before planting to withstand 6 days in the dark and cool.
Landing methods for Albion
The procedure for planting seedlings in open ground:
- On a flat area or on prepared beds, prepare holes for planting. Their depth should be such that the roots of the seedlings fit comfortably in them - they do not curl up and do not bend. Recommended hole layout:
- between adjacent bushes - 30 cm;
- between the rows - 40 cm.
- Throw a handful of humus into the recess. Pour in 200 ml of warm water. And add a teaspoon of ash.
- If a film is used during planting, make cuts in the right places. The film makes it easier to care for strawberries - it retains soil moisture, and there is no need for regular weeding.
- Place the seedling in the hole, spreading the roots out. Sprinkle them with soil, and gently ram them with your hands. Pay attention to the growth point - it should not be buried in the soil, the ideal location is exactly at the ground level.
- If the sun is bright outside, shade the beds for several days - using agrofibre or straw.
Other methods of growing Albion:
- Dutch. Each bush is planted in containers, boxes or pallets filled with a special substrate. With this technology, there is no contact between the fruits and the soil, therefore the berries avoid many diseases and retain their presentation.
The method provides continuous productivity, the seedlings are planted regularly - every 1.5-2 months. The Dutch technique requires a special soil - low-acid soil is mixed with sand, ash, sawdust, compost, and urea is added. - Hydroponic. It is used in regions with clay and marshy soils. This method is based on growing plants without soil. Plants receive everything necessary for life together with nutrient solutions - they are specially prepared for a specific variety and growth period. The method allows you to accelerate the development of plants and increase their productivity, eliminates loosening, pests and diseases. Care is greatly simplified, and the yield increases.
There are several options for hydroponics, the following are suitable for strawberries:- Intermittent flooding system - suitable for large strawberry plantings. A well-established nutrient solution delivery system is used.
- Nutrient layer - in the plants used, useful substances constantly circulate along the bottom of containers with strawberries. The bushes themselves are located in cups. Growing, the roots of the plant are immersed in the solution, receiving nutrition.
Growing and care
One of the advantages of modern industrial varieties is high productivity with a minimum of care. Albion is one of these - he does not need anything unusual, only watering and feeding. Other activities depend on the growing method
Watering and feeding
Water Albion as soon as the soil dries up. Waterlogging is unacceptable - the bushes may die. No less harmful is the lack of water - because of this, the berries lose their taste and quality. Watering frequency is once every 5 days. The best irrigation option is drip irrigation.
Albion has to spend a lot of energy - to bring 4 crops per season, additional nutrition is required. Both groups of fertilizers are applied - organic and mineral.
The variety is responsive to fertilizing from:
- cow dung;
- bird droppings.
Humus and compost are added under the root - they also serve as mulch. In spring, mulch is added to organic fertilizers; in summer, planting is enriched with complex fertilizers.
Top dressing is applied three times:
- Early spring. Watered under the root with diluted urea, 1 tbsp on a bucket of water. l. Learn more about spring dressing here.
- Before flowering. Pour over potassium sulfate (1 hour per 10 liters).
- Fall. 10 l - 2 tbsp. nitrofoski and a glass of ash.
Mulching
To keep the moisture longer in the soil, it is mulched with sawdust, hay, and straw. If no agrofibre or other mulch is used when growing strawberries, the soil must be loosened, removing weeds.
Mulch not only retains moisture, it also has several important advantages:
- eliminates regular weeding and loosening;
- protects bushes from overheating;
- prevents berries from touching the ground - this avoids spoilage and contamination of the fruit.
You can learn more about soil mulching by reading this article.
Reproduction
Intensive fruiting quickly ages strawberries, yields fall, and the quality of berries suffers. We have to regularly update the landings. Seedlings are acquired in nurseries, or cost their own, taken from mother bushes.
Albion seedlings are not cheap, so gardeners are trying to propagate it on their own. Of the three methods of reproduction - seeds, division of the bush, mustache. The first two options are most often used.
Breeding methods:
- Mustache. Albion bushes give few mustache, and in order to get a sufficient number of them, all flower stalks are cut off on the mother bush. The sockets, the first in a row from the mother bush, are cut off and planted near the mother bush - at a distance of 30 cm. All the rest are planted in the nursery. In the first year of life, plants should not bear fruit, and all flower stalks are cut off - this is how plants root better
- By dividing the bush. This is the easiest and most reliable way. But only 4-5 year old plants are taken for him.
- The seeds. They are taken from ripe berries. The seeds are kept in rain / melt water for a couple of days - it is replaced 2 times a day. Sow the seeds into a nutritious soil mixture. This time-consuming method does not guarantee that the seedlings will carry varietal traits of Albion.
Diseases and Pests
Albion needs preventative treatment. First, after the snow melts, and then after flowering, the plants are sprayed with fungicides. Spraying with a soap-iodine solution is useful - 30 drops of iodine and 40 g of household soap are diluted in a bucket of water.
To protect strawberries from pests, plantings are sprayed - for prophylactic or therapeutic purposes, with the following drugs:
- Colloidal sulfur (10 l - 60 g) - against strawberry mites.
- Ash or metaldehyde (3-4 g / m) - against slugs. They pollinate planting twice - before flowering and after harvesting.
- Insecticide BI-58 - from a nematode. The best option is to tear out the affected bushes with the roots, and burn.
Gardeners recommend:
- To prevent powdery mildew, rot, white and brown spots, spray the plantings before flowering with Topaz - dilute one ampoule in 10 liters.
- When slugs appear, make traps. Take a jar with smooth edges and dig it in so that the neck of the container is flush with the ground. If you pour beer there, the slugs, falling into the jar, will drown.
- If the area is attacked by wasps, make a trap. Cut off the plastic bottle - cut out the middle of it. You should get two parts - the upper and lower. Insert the top into the bottom and turn the neck down. Pour kvass or jam into the trap and place it on the garden bed. The wasps, once trapped, will not get out of it.
Such simple methods will help to save the crop without the use of pesticides.
When and how to harvest?
If Albion is grown outdoors, it usually yields 4 crops. Periods of mass ripening of berries:
- the end of May;
- early July;
- mid-August;
- in the second half of September.
How to pick berries:
- It is recommended to pick the berries when they are fully ripe. Unripe berries will not pick up sweets.
- Harvest by hand.
- The best time to pick berries is morning or evening. Collection - in dry weather.
- The berries are torn off together with the stalk, and immediately put into containers for transportation.
Albion berries, unlike other varieties, can be stacked on top of each other - in a thick layer. They do not crumple and do not let juice.
Transport and storage
Albion has a good keeping quality, as befits a commercial variety. The berries are stored in refrigerators - here they can retain their freshness and taste for 7-8 days.
Albion is one of the best grades for transportation. Elastic berries are resistant to transportation, and they are allowed to be stacked on top of each other.
Fruit application
Albion berries are eaten fresh, used for cooking jams and compotes - the fruits are dense and do not lose their shape. Like any strawberry, Albion is used not only in cooking, its berries:
- improve metabolism;
- have a diuretic and diaphoretic effect;
- decoctions and infusions of strawberries are useful for stomatitis and pharyngitis;
- infusion of leaves is indicated for high blood pressure, stops blood;
- decoctions of roots are used for hemorrhoids and colitis.
Strawberry reviews
Gardeners who tested the Albion variety in their plots left reviews that noted both the merits and serious flaws of the variety.
Positive points:
- great taste;
- good tolerance for long haul;
- long-term fruiting.
Disadvantages noted:
- medium resistance to disease;
- exactingness to care and climate.
The variety is industrial, and what seems simple for mass cultivation can be difficult for hobbyists. For example, a variety grows perfectly hydroponically - the cultivation process is almost automated. If you take care of Albion by hand, you have to run around with hoses and fertilizers all summer.
Valery R., Belorechensk. The variety is not always harvested as we would like - it requires good care. The first berries do not meet the declared characteristics - they are sour. But then the real sweetness begins. In terms of yield, the variety is clearly inferior to Queen Elizabeth, but still it gives a lot of berries.
Arseny R., Moscow Region. In Albion, it attracts long-term fruiting. Strawberries give berries all summer and even capture a little autumn. True, you have to grow it in a greenhouse - seedlings planted in open ground, a little frozen in the winter, despite the warming.
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Albion can seriously compete with the best commercial varieties. Gardeners argue that it has no equal in terms of storage and transportability, and its yield justifies all the costs invested in growing. Ordinary amateur gardeners in this industrial variety are attracted by long-term fruiting and excellent berry taste.
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Russia. City Novosibirsk
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