Itinerário técnico
Um guia de cultivo passo a passo, da sementeira à colheita.
Sow on the surface without covering, because the seed is tiny and needs light. Three to four weeks in the fridge before sowing greatly improves germination, which is slow and uneven and can take three to six weeks. Moisten with a sprayer and cover the tray with clear plastic. Prick out at four true leaves and plant with the crown exactly at soil level: buried it rots, exposed it dries out.
It wants loose soil, rich in organic matter, free draining and slightly acid, at a pH between 5.5 and 6.5. A raised bed with a straw mulch is the classic solution for good reason: it keeps the fruit clean, dry and away from slugs. Do not plant where potato, tomato or strawberry has grown in the last three years.
It prefers full sun and temperatures between 15 °C and 24 °C, with some shade in the hottest hours in an Iberian climate. It is cold hardy and the wild types overwinter well throughout western Europe. Heat above 30 °C sharply reduces cropping and scorches exposed fruit. It adapts to most of western Europe. On the Portuguese coast and in southern Spain use spring and autumn and avoid the peak of summer. Inland in Iberia water more through the dry months. In France and Germany the natural season is spring and summer, sowing once the soil has warmed steadily. In Italy the same rule applies as in the rest of the Mediterranean: spring and autumn in the centre and south, spring and summer in the north.
Its needs are moderate. One to two kilos of mature compost per square metre worked in before sowing covers most of the cycle. If the leaves pale, one watering with a balanced liquid organic feed halfway through is enough. Never use fresh manure, which burns roots and encourages disease.
Water regularly and always at the base, never over the leaves or fruit, because moisture on the foliage brings botrytis straight away. Keep the soil moist through flowering and fruiting. A straw mulch greatly reduces watering and keeps the fruit clean.
Hoe often and always shallowly, because the roots are short, near the surface and break easily. The best method is to prepare the bed two or three weeks in advance, let the first flush of weeds germinate, remove it and only then sow: that gives you a decisive head start. A thin layer of sieved compost between the rows greatly reduces later work.
Slugs and snails eat ripe fruit and are the main problem: a straw mulch and an ash barrier deal with most of it. Birds take the whole crop within days and make netting essential. Aphids and red spider mite attack the foliage in dry weather. Spotted wing drosophila lays in ripe fruit: pick often and never leave overripe fruit on the plant.
Botrytis rots the fruit with a grey mould and is the dominant disease in damp weather: keep the fruit off the soil with straw, space the plants well and remove any rotten fruit at once. Powdery mildew curls the leaves and dusts them white. Crown and root rot kill the plant in waterlogged soil or when the crown is planted too deep.
Pick when the fruit is fully coloured, in the morning and with the stalk attached, because strawberries do not ripen after picking. Pick every other day during cropping and always remove overripe fruit, which attracts pests and disease. Cut off the runners if you want more fruit, or let a few root to multiply your plants. Allow about 60 days from transplanting to the first harvest of this variety. The reference colour is red, and that is what tells you it is ready.
