Zemklunika Merchant

Not all Russian gardeners are familiar with the amazing hybrid non-repairable variety of the universal-purpose earthworm Kupchikha. This plant is not only useful, tasty and aromatic, but also very decorative. It should be noted that this is the only zemplunnik variety entered in the State Register in 2017. In addition, the high transportability of the fruit allows the merchant to grow up on an industrial scale for sale.

Attempts to cross strawberries and strawberries have been going on for a long time. The results are both positive and negative. One of the most successful is the landowner Kupchikha. The hybrid was obtained in 1988 by the breeder of the Bryansk Agrarian University S. D. Aitzhanova as a result of crossing of European nutmeg forest strawberries and large-fruited garden strawberries. Officially, it was not immediately recognized. Only a few decades later, the merchant's wife was added to the State Register.

The plant attracts attention with a large spreading bush 20-30 cm high, covered with wide leaves of bright green color. The bush gives a mustache, and their number differs from the conditions of detention. The number of peduncles increases with age - in plants of the first year up to 10, then 15 or more shoots.

The surface of the leaf blade is smooth and glossy, with jagged edges and slight pubescence, while the petiole is rather fluffy. During flowering, the bushes are covered with a cap of large snow-white flowers with a bright yellow core. Abundant flowering practically hides the green mass. The merchant's wife is grown in the open field, in containers and in pots, which allows you to harvest in balcony conditions. As a result of hybridization of strawberries and strawberries, a stable strawberry aroma, dessert sweetness and unpretentiousness to agricultural conditions were obtained. Strawberries awarded the Merchant with large fruits and productivity.

The hybrid belongs to plants of early and medium ripening. The fruiting period occurs in mid-June and later.

The hybrid is adapted to almost all regions of the Russian Federation, since its cultivation is possible in greenhouses, as well as in Crimea, Ukraine, and Belarus.

The hybrid is characterized by a high yield - up to 1 kg per bush.

A large oblong berry has a characteristic curly outline - at the end the fruits can have two, three, four tips. The fruits are dark red with a purple tint. The berry mass reaches 30 grams with an average length of 3-4 cm. Sweet, juicy and dense pulp with a rich strawberry aroma has the highest score according to a 5-point tasting system - 5 points.

One of the features of the Kupchikha earthworm is its high adaptive ability - it can grow and bear fruit not only in sunny areas, but also in partial shade. This makes it possible to functionally use the land around fruit trees - pears, plums, apple trees and others. Planting in places with periodic darkening slightly delays the ripening of the fruits, but, importantly, the berry grows larger than in the sun. The hybrid tolerates high temperatures well, but during dry periods it needs watering. Sprinkling is contraindicated for young plantings, but adult bushes are irrigated with top irrigation - over the leaves.

For planting, choose a well-drained soil, without stagnation of spring and nearby layers of groundwater. Planting after nightshade almost 100 percent guarantees the defeat of plants by late blight. It is not recommended to set aside places for a dugout next to raspberries - they tend to the same diseases and are affected by the same pests. The soil should be light, fertile (sandy loam, loam with a neutral pH level), filled with organic matter and complex mineral fertilizers.

The variety blooms with bisexual flowers and self-pollinates well.

The traditional rate of top dressing is four times, provided that the dugout feels well. And this means an excellent development of the vegetative mass, the growth of ovaries and the ripening of fruits. If the oppression of plantings is noticeable, then the frequency of fertilizing increases. In the spring, the merchant's wife needs nitrogen and complex fertilizers, during the budding period and after harvesting, potassium-phosphorus compounds are introduced, in the fall it is the turn of organic matter.

Despite its good winter hardiness, the hybrid tolerates temperatures up to -25 degrees well; in regions with cold winters, the plant needs additional shelter. The merchant's wife is covered with spruce branches, mulch from straw, foliage, dill tops. When organizing winter protection, it is necessary to take care of its air permeability and the absence of long dampness in the spring, otherwise the dugout may rot.

Despite its high resistance to diseases, the plant needs preventive treatments with insecticides and fungicides. This will help avoid the attack of fungal diseases and parasitic insects, for example, gray rot, strawberry-raspberry weevil and others. Among the most common means used by gardeners are copper sulfate solution, Bordeaux liquid, Karbofos, Aktara, Inta-Vir. Experienced summer residents advise to loosen the aisles in the fall in order to destroy the wintering places of parasites. The strawberry mite gives up to four generations during the growing season, so in early spring it is necessary to spill the plantings with hot water, but not boiling water, so as not to boil the plants. The water temperature should be in the range of 55-60 ° C. Another effective remedy is considered to be hermetic covering of the ridges with plastic wrap in hot weather in spring and autumn. The high temperature will burn the foliage along with the parasites, and then a healthy vegetative mass will grow. If most of the plantings have been affected by diseases and pests, it is necessary to mow all the bushes after harvesting, leaving only hearts. After complex measures, healthy plants will grow.

Seeds are not propagated by the earthworm, since it is a hybrid, and young plants do not retain their parental properties. It is necessary to use planting material obtained from rooted mustache shoots. Since they are few in number (young rosettes are often affected by hookworms), they are quite expensive. But it is still possible to breed a plantation of several plants on your own plot if you carefully monitor the health of the crop.