- Authors: East Malling Station, David Simpson
- Name synonyms: Vibrant
- Taste: sweet
- The size: medium and large
- Weight: up to 40 g
- Yield rate: very high
- Yield: about 1 kg per bush
- Ripening terms: early
- Advantages: berries are stored for a long time
- Description of the bush: tall, compact, powerful
Strawberry Vibrant is a relatively new frost-resistant variety of berries of English selection. However, culture is often found in Russian vegetable gardens.
Breeding history of the variety
Strawberry Vibrant is named from the English vibrant, which means - bright. The first bushes were bred by Dr. David Simpson at East Malling Station (UK) by crossing two plants SDBL101 and EM881 in 1999. The plant was assigned the number EM1119. This strawberry variety got its name in 2009.
Description of the variety
The bushes of this plant are very powerful, tall, but compact, with leaves tending upward. One peduncle has 4-6 flowers. This strawberry variety is very easy to pick. Due to the height and non-spreading of the plant, the berries are very clearly visible on it.
This variety is very hardy and resistant to most diseases. It has high transportability and good presentation.
Ripening terms
Vibrant strawberries begin to ripen in May. This berry variety is considered early. It has a high yield and good quality. It matures in a variety of climates.
Growing regions
Suitable for growing in all climates. In order to get an earlier harvest, it is required to cover with a film material. In the more southern regions of Russia, flowering begins in the first weeks of May without covering material in the open field.
Yield
This strawberry variety gives a high yield - up to 1 kg of berries from one bush. The crop ripens rather quickly. It can be stored without freezing for up to 3 days and does not lose its appearance and taste. But at the same time, the berry is not hard.
Berries and their taste
Strawberry Vibrant bears fruit with dark red, conical, medium-sized berries. Sometimes quite large fruits weighing up to 40 grams can also ripen. Has a sweet and sour taste with a strawberry aroma. The berries are quite dense, but not firm, which will appeal to many strawberry lovers. And even at the end of fruiting, the fruits do not change their size to a smaller one.
Growing features
When planting, you need to leave a distance of at least 40 cm between the seedlings. Vibrant needs room for the development of powerful peduncles and whiskers for reproduction. And also if you make a small distance between the bushes, constant feeding will be required due to a lack of nutrition from the soil.
Site selection and soil preparation
For planting, choose an area with access to the sun, protected from wind and cold. Vibrant variety can be planted in open ground. The soil is preferred with neutral acidity. The soil is dug up with manure and ash 2 weeks before planting the bushes. The occurrence of groundwater should be closer than 0.8 m so that you do not have to build high beds.
Pollination
The bush is not spreading and elongated upward, its flowers of different sexes have the ability to freely re-pollinate. Therefore, additional pollination is not required.
Top dressing
At the beginning of spring, the plant must be fed with nitrogen-containing fertilizer, or sprinkled with carbamide around the bush before the growing season.
When flowering occurs, the plant itself and its roots are watered with a mineral complex.
To prepare it, 1 tablespoon of mineral groundbait is kneaded in 10 liters of water (1 bucket). Sometimes not ready-made mineral complexes are used, but elements separately. First, sodium humate, and then potassium - in order to get a better result in the harvest.
When fruiting ends, fertilizers with a low nitrogen content in it or organic ash in a concentration of 400-600 g / m2 are used.
One of the important techniques in strawberry care is feeding. Regular fertilization guarantees a rich harvest. There are several different ways to feed strawberries, and each of them is designed for a specific period of plant development. During flowering, fruiting and after it, feeding should be different.
Diseases and pests
Vibrant strawberries have a very high resistance to various types of rot and powdery mildew. But you still need to carry out prevention against diseases and pests. In early spring, the bushes should be treated with Bordeaux liquid 1% or Horus. Repeat this prophylaxis in the fall. We get rid of pests with the help of the biological agent Fitoverm or Aktofit. 2 treatments are required, since these preparations are inactive against insect larvae. The second is carried out 5 days after the first. For results to be obtained, during processing it is necessary to maintain a temperature above +18 degrees - unfortunately, biological preparations do not work at lower temperatures.
With improper care, Vibrant strawberry bushes are prone to verticillary wilt.It manifests itself in the summer in great heat, at temperatures of +21.27 degrees, with high humidity. And also when growing bushes of berries in alkaline soil. The disease appears when there are sharp changes in soil temperatures from heating the surface by the sun and from cooling with water during irrigation.
Strawberries are often subject to many dangerous diseases that can seriously undermine its condition. Among the most common are powdery mildew, gray mold, brown spot, anthracnose, and verticillosis. Before buying a variety, you need to inquire about its disease resistance.
Reproduction
These bushes have a tendency to form a large number of whiskers, so there are no problems with the reproduction of this type of strawberry. Under the larger whiskers, cassettes with soil are substituted for the formation of rosettes and their rooting. And after that they are cut off from the mother bush and transplanted.
If breeding is not planned, then the mustache is cut off with a pruner so that they do not take away the strength from the plant for the harvest.
Vibrant is one of the best new varieties of strawberries. It combines almost all the qualities that attract gardeners so much.