Strawberry? No, strawberries!

Part two.

Chapter 3

There is nothing left before the landing, but a lot of work remains to be done. My wife and I collect lines to put pots of strawberries in them, but there is another key point for the greenhouse, which we do not yet have. Capacity for watering. The summer schedule, in which water is supplied in a day or two only in the morning and in the evening, is not available here. Water is constantly needed. Every day, from morning to evening. But the purchased containers at that time are expensive for us. For myself, I have already decided the issue with capacity. Everything has long been in my head. It remains only to do. And my wife and I are going to the store again. Bought a galvanized metal mesh. Which rolls are sold in all stores of building materials. We bought a six-meter film. Bought clips for clamping the film around the perimeter. Bought on the little things float valve, ball valve, piece of polypropylene pipe, corners. Bought ... Yes, we did not buy anything else. Total bought somewhere in the five thousand rubles. And they made a pond. At ten cubic meters. The question is closed!

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With last year's potted seedlings, a serious joint came out. She suffered quite well from the winter frosts, and did not suffer from them at all. But she was seriously bitten by mice. Ate everything above the root. In the photo below it is very clearly visible.

Generally it is my fault. Fearing frost, strawberries I covered with dornitom. The material is warm, but coarse. And even when the aisles, in which I set the pots for the winter, covered the snow well, a cavity remained between the pots and the dornitus. Ideal wintering for mice. They even bred there. No need to punch a mink or a tunnel in frozen snow, which accidentally comes across feeding. On the contrary, there is warm and free. And you run right across the stern.

The roots themselves were not affected. And the new shoots have gone. But it was already clear that the expected harvest would not be again. Almost all points of growth and future flower stalks laid since autumn were destroyed. Once again I was convinced that there are no trifles in growing strawberries, and it does not forgive a negligent or illiterate attitude.

But be that as it may, we set up our pots on the line, hooked up drip irrigation, automation, and started the greenhouse. Without film yet. Therefore, a pritenyayuschuyu grid was made in arcs. The floor was covered with agrofabric.

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Technology "In bag" (In bag)

Everyone who is engaged in strawberries knows that the harvest of the next year is laid in the previous year, and considering the time of growth of planting material, it is necessary to think about it in the spring. What area of ​​the site will be under the berry. How much seedlings will be required. Where to take it. Buy or grow. If grown, then again the area of ​​planting and the number of uterine plants. And in the case of a greenhouse and hydroponics, there is still a number of growing containers (pots, containers, boxes, mats or bags). The pots purchased a year ago were only enough for a third of the greenhouse. We need even more than a thousand. And to replace another half. For the money it turns out a little. Yes, and the timing is also not an option. Last year they went a whole month. We decided to look for a replacement.
The first thing that came to mind was a plastic sleeve. Stuff with peat, solder the ends, make holes and plant seedlings. After searching on various sites and some meditations, this idea was also dismissed. Too long in delivery and then technologically. What to do? Three, four years ago, a long time ago, one of my friends in the forum sent me an interesting video. Somewhere in Europe ... Planted flowers. They are planted right on the pavement, paving slabs, and indeed, God knows what. They take a rather long sleeve from ... black spunbond. Agrofibre that is. Stuffed with its substrate. Bring drip irrigation. And planted flowers. The whole trick and originality of this decision is that this “sausage” or “gut” can be put on the surface as you like. You can roll a ring and there will be a round flowerbed. You can put three or four such sleeves, respectively, a triangle or a square. You can snake ... And beautiful. I always kept in mind this video and thought like something to try this version of growing, but not flowers, but strawberries. But apparently it's time not to try, but to dive headlong into this topic.
Sewed test bags. Stuffed with a substrate. Calculated costs. On the material to work. They're funny. We have peat, purchased on time. Agrofibre in any store. No need to wait a month for delivery. Began to sew. I have a professional seamstress daughter. Having properly organized the workplace, she sewed seventy bags in an hour. More bag per minute. That is the question of what to plant, was resolved.

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But the first bags were not perfectly sewn. The task was not only to find a replacement for pots, but also to make this replacement ideal, without rework, fit into the already finished irrigation line. That is, given the already installed droppers and tips and their number, as well as the distance between them. And what would be the complete interchangeability of pots and bags. Those first test bags did not meet these requirements. And then there appeared bags with sizes, which I now call the “ in bag ” standard . With which we planted old ridges, in which we grew seedlings for the next season. They ideally approached our lines in the greenhouse. Which we have already sold. And from which we collected berries almost until the end of October.
The fact is that in terms of the size of the bag, it corresponds exactly to two square pots. And also corresponds to the number of bushes and the distance between them. In two pots eight bushes. And in one bag, too, eight bushes. The length of the bag is thirty eight centimeters. And two pots, too, thirty eight centimeters. The width of the bag and the pot is the same - eighteen centimeters. Five days. Not every day. At selected hours. In the high season. But we sewed four hundred bags. A little later, a hundred more. Later, in the fall, at the end of the season, we bought a roll of agrofibre and, over the winter, washed almost two thousand bags. For the next season and the next. This problem was solved and closed forever.

When we started making bags and planting seedlings in them, we still did not know what potential these bags open up. But it became clear pretty quickly. During the season. At first they landed traditionally, in the usual way. That is, they took seedlings ZKS and planted in bags. The seedlings themselves also received as before. Rooted under the fog, pinned his mustache from the parent bush in glasses, or planted cluster seedlings taken on the side. Strawberries in bags began to grow just fine. Soon began to bloom and let the mustache. We completely loaded the middle line in the greenhouse with bags. The rest of the bags we began to place on any surface, where it was possible. On the floor in the greenhouse. Near the greenhouse on the ground. But not on earth literally. In that place the plot was covered with agrofiber so that the grass would not grow. And the bags themselves, so that the roots would not grow through the agrofiber in the ground, we lifted it to fruit boxes. When the bags were no longer available, we began to stack them on our filling tables. And on the old ridge.

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And here a new opportunity has opened, which has become one of the key components of the in bag technology. We began to root the whiskers on the ridges and on the filling tables not in glasses or cassettes, but directly in bags. Immediately. Passing all this technological chain with the acquisition of glasses, stuffing them with peat, planting seedlings in them, rooting, germination and subsequent transportation and transfer to ridges, pots or containers. The whole technological cycle and a lot of components were completely unnecessary. From the word at all. No bulk tables. Neither fogging plant for rooting cuttings. Neither the mother liquor per se. But most importantly, we saved a huge amount of time. Time, which is so lacking in the midst of the berry season. The time that we can now more effectively use to increase production and quality.
Honestly, we ourselves experienced a pleasant shock when the awareness of all this came. It was really a complete breakdown of patterns and breaking stereotypes. The whole technology of growing strawberries, from rooting a mustache to harvesting, as well as the cultivation of planting material, seemed completely different. Seedling "frigo" ... Cassettes ... Glasses ... Just seedlings with an open root ... Any kind of queens, foggers, filling mats and tables for growing seedlings ... A bunch of articles, photos and video on the Internet ... Nothing this is no longer necessary. And not only seen. We have begun to apply this technology with all our might. On the ridges, we began to apply exactly the same bags to the central bag, and rotate the whiskers from the central bag to the side bags. Without any intermediate actions. In these bags we get seedlings, which over time in the same bags, without transfers, will give the berry. Or the same mustache. In other bags already. The root system with this method is not extracted, is not injured and is not subjected to stress or depression. The whole cycle, from rooting to the end of plant life, occurs in the same volume.
What is the trick? What is this method, or specifically this bag is better than others? What is the novelty and originality? And why such a bag, and not another? But really. The bags themselves, as a container for growing, were not invented by me and generally long before me. And strawberries are planted in them in industrial quantities for a long time. They were almost always. Before the advent of synthetics, they were from burlap. Then from a polyethylene film, agrofabric and spunbond (agrofibre). Now on sale there are various capacity pots - bags made of agrofabric. For growing strawberries and vegetables, the market now offers a huge range of plastic bags and groumats, already filled with a neutral substrate or with fertilizers.
Any bag made of cloth has one very serious advantage over plastic bags and ordinary containers made of plastic and foam. He "breathes." There are pots with this effect. The so-called pots "air pot". In them, in addition to the bottom, on the side walls, a lot of very small, with a pin puncture, holes are made. What is it done for? The fact is that even a relatively spacious pot rarely meets the needs of the root system in full. This is especially true of large plants. Roots closely. During growth, they reach the bottom of the pot, and then begin to curl looking for a way out. The plant is seriously inhibited, and at some point, eventually dies. Whatever this has happened, the plant is transplanted into a more spacious container, or in open ground. The following occurs in the air pot. Roots looking for a way out of the closed space of the pot, they inevitably find these side openings and rush into them. But coming to the surface of the pot, the tip of the spine dries out and its growth in this direction stops. But since not all of the root has come to light, but only its end part, it begins to intensively release side roots from its main trunk. Thus, a very compact, but at the same time quite healthy root system is obtained. This effect is often used in the cultivation of krupnomerov. When in general, a rather rather big plant should be placed somewhere in the room. Office or lobby. But a cloth bag, or a breathable pot, gives another very useful effect. The root system in such a capacity can really breathe. And this is a sentence of fungal diseases. That is, in order to rot the roots in such a bag, you still have to try very hard. Exactly these advantages are present in our bag. He breathes, which means he is not afraid of root rot. And it gives the opportunity to get such a compact root system that allows you to make a very dense planting. This density, for which today simply does not exist standards.

For example. The usual density of planting in greenhouses when grown hydroponically is 10 - 12 bushes per meter. This is considered a very tight, almost maximum fit. In terms of open ground, depending on the number of lines on the ridge, on one running meter of the ridge can be from 6 to 12 bushes. Moreover, the density of 12 bushes per meter (sometimes more) is achieved only on the four-line ridge due to the width of the ridge itself. That is, the use of lateral (from the axis) space. And it takes, ultimately, a large area of ​​the plantation itself. In the “in bag” technology on the running meter, it is easy, without much thickening, when it makes picking berries difficult and inconvenient, and generally without any negative consequences fit freely ... 22 strawberry bushes! That is, once again: 22 bush per one meter. Where? Yes, everywhere. In the greenhouse. On the suspension. Or on the racks. On a country bed. On the ridges of an industrial plantation. This is also one of the important advantages of such a bag. It is absolutely universal. It is applicable for cultivation on any existing technology today. Be it ridges, open ground or protected. Low footage or traditional cultivation. You can just prikopat bag in the furrow. And to grow as they grew twenty, thirty, and forty years ago, just by hosing. And yes. It can also be watered in any known way. Drip tube. External droppers with pegs under each root. Sprinkling with any sprinkler, goldenspray or sprinklers. Be it ridges, open ground or protected. Low footage or traditional cultivation. You can just prikopat bag in the furrow. And to grow as they grew twenty, thirty, and forty years ago, just by hosing. And yes. It can also be watered in any known way. Drip tube. External droppers with pegs under each root. Sprinkling with any sprinkler, goldenspray or sprinklers. Be it ridges, open ground or protected. Low footage or traditional cultivation. You can just prikopat bag in the furrow. And to grow as they grew twenty, thirty, and forty years ago, just by hosing. And yes. It can also be watered in any known way. Drip tube. External droppers with pegs under each root. Sprinkling with any sprinkler, goldenspray or sprinklers.
It can be grown strawberries for berries, used for uterine plants and for the seedlings themselves. Seedlings, in its usual sense, is not here at all. Only at the very first stage. When the first ordinary seedlings are planted in bags. After this, the “in bag” technology is automatically launched, which further implies the entire cycle of cultivation and reproduction in the same bags. Pulling and transplanting a well-rooted bush from a bag is no longer possible. Roots mutually intertwine and try to pull the plant out of the bag - just tear its roots and roots of neighboring bushes. And yes ... And also a very important factor. Such seedlings for sale, too, in these bags. Universal solution. At first I called this technology. Universal solution. Or “ Universal solution”". But this is a long and not very convenient name. And what is vague, blurry. And then, by analogy with the technology "in vitro" (literally "in vitro"), I gave a different name. " In bag ". In the bag. This is the most accurate and specific name. Literal Here, forgive the pun, everything is in the bag, because of the bag and thanks to the bag. All technology, all action algorithms, techniques and even related devices. For example, a special hole punch. Or studs for rooting a mustache. Everything is somehow connected either with the bag or in the bag itself. That is, everything that is not in the bag, it will even translate in English - not in the bag. And this is another technology. So ... "In bag".
What kind of bag is this? Well, firstly, as I said, it is from agrofibre. Black color. But as practice has shown, the color does not matter at all. Therefore, it is possible and white, or even any. The bag in general can be from any fabric, so long as it passes air and water. Therefore, the film for this purpose is not suitable. But no worse will be the bag, for example ... from a fine-mesh, (such as mosquito) mesh. Another thing is the cost and process technology of such options, but the bag from the grid will perform its functions no worse.
Further. Its size. Why is the size exactly the same and not the other? Is this important? Of course, strawberries will grow great and feel in bags of any size. But when we designed the bag, we did it not only for ourselves. We wanted that all this technology, that is, a combination and sequence of actions, and material components, were interesting and in demand by other berries. The bag should be easy to use. In the literal sense. They during the production of work, you have to move from place to place. In the greenhouse or on the ridge. In the car or out of the car. To winter or spring to extract from the wintering place. In addition, it should be as unified as possible. And suitable for hydroponics in the greenhouse, and for the ridges of industrial plantations. Just be the same for both the adult plant and the newly rooted antenna. Our experience with bags showed that all this corresponds to a bag whose length does not exceed forty centimeters, and its width (diameter) is about eighteen. "About" because these values ​​are relative. Agrofibre tends to stretch. In addition, when the bag lies on a flat surface, its bottom also takes on a flat shape, and its cross section is closer to a flattened oval than to a circle. We first tried to work with bags half a meter long. Psychologically, this size is more acceptable and understandable. But such a bag, if it is wetted, has to be held with two hands. Otherwise, in the middle he bends over. In this case, the roots can be injured, especially young seedlings. With a bag length of forty centimeters, it can easily be held with one hand. And even more so when well developed roots are intertwined, bind it like an armature. Taking such a bag in one hand, you freely, effortlessly, hold eight plants in your hands. Eight! And you can take another such bag in your other hand. And hold or carry sixteen bushes. Is it a lot or a little? Look at the traditional pots, various boxes and containers that you use. And think for how many strawberry bushes you can take, and move at a time. And how much it will weigh. There is one more, perhaps the most important argument in favor of such a bag length. All bags produced today by our (?) And foreign manufacturers assume their static condition. That is, until the strawberries are planted in the bag, it can of course be transported, moved from place to place, stored in piles, and so on. But as soon as strawberries are planted in it, that's all. The bag must be on the line table or ridge, that is, on a permanent fixed place. It is simply not designed for carrying and transporting with seedlings. It is quite difficult, inconvenient and can damage not only the roots, but also the plants themselves.
So the bag "In bag" just conceived with such a sight. It can be carried, taken in each hand in a bag. Put on the cart, in the car, on the line or in the opposite direction with strawberry seedlings of any age! Of course not at each other. To do this, there must be a special packaging that allows stacking. But transportation, carrying and transportation are allowed. What is it done for? Experienced berries know that seedlings ZKS preferable to an open root system. It is considered (and reasonably) that it is better. But the fact is that in seedlings with a closed root system, it is very difficult to grow strong roots. With a thick, at least twenty millimeters, root collar and three or four horns. But the seedlings "frigo" from the root, more than twenty millimeters, it is quite possible to see. In a small volume (glass or cassette) it is impossible to obtain such a result. So it is necessary, either subsequently to transplant such seedlings into a large container, or to immediately root the whiskers in a large volume. Only then still remove for permanent residence. Both that and other variants are very, or inconvenient, or labor-consuming. And in the first case, and plants no benefit from periodic transplants. In addition, seedlings in a small glass or pot tolerate much worse wintering, because in a plastic container the risk of dehydration of the roots and their subsequent death is much higher. That is why good, high-quality seedlings ZKS, very rarely seen in the spring. either inconvenient or time consuming. And in the first case, and plants no benefit from periodic transplants. In addition, seedlings in a small glass or pot tolerate much worse wintering, because in a plastic container the risk of dehydration of the roots and their subsequent death is much higher. That is why good, high-quality seedlings ZKS, very rarely seen in the spring. either inconvenient or time consuming. And in the first case, and plants no benefit from periodic transplants. In addition, seedlings in a small glass or pot tolerate much worse wintering, because in a plastic container the risk of dehydration of the roots and their subsequent death is much higher. That is why good, high-quality seedlings ZKS, very rarely seen in the spring.
In the bag do not need to do this. Its volume, even for eight bushes, is quite enough for each bush to develop well and form a powerful root system. And it is non-recoverable. Totally. Throughout life. And it can be transported at almost any age. That is, it is conceived if the bags are viewed and operated as seedlings with a closed root system. Yes, and any other seedlings in this technology is not there. There are seedlings in bags. Which is sold and bought, shipped from place to place, loaded and unloaded. The seedlings in the bag “In bag” winters fine, and can be offered for sale in early spring. With a powerful root system and a few horns, ready to immediately "shoot" a large number of berries. A very serious competitor to the seedlings "frigo" of the highest quality. Competitor, which earlier "frigo" was not. The volume of a bag of the standard "In bag" is not more than seven liters. At the same time on one bush conditionally accounts for slightly less than a liter of volume. Conventionally, because the roots of a single bush are not limited to a liter volume, and eventually occupy the entire volume of the bag. Such a bag, saturated with water and with transplanted plants, weighs no more than five kilograms. For example and comparison, this is the weight of silicate brick. The bag of the standard "In bag", as already mentioned, is unified and uniform for all purposes and methods of cultivation. It fits most standard greenhouse lines. It can be placed on the tables or on the ridges. It is great to root a mustache and grow seedlings. Without any subsequent extraction of seedlings and transplants to another volume. So without stress and injury. It has enough substrate for eight strawberry bushes, and at the same time it is quite easy. Bushes in the bag are arranged in two rows of four. These are not only the requirements of compact and as dense as possible placement. If you have bags of dripping tape, it is very organically placed between the bushes. And these same bushes are fixed from slipping to the side.

Read continued: Chapter Four