How To Grow Ozark Beauty Strawberries?

If you want to grow tasty, large, and well-colored strawberries then you should choose the Ozark beauty strawberry variety for your garden or container. The extremely red variety of strawberries with sweet flavor is an excellent choice.

The shape of the fruit is uniform and will not produce fruit in the first year so you have to show patience and get the production in the second year.

Location For Ozark Beauty Strawberries

Ozark beauty strawberries are an everbearing variety. This variety can adjust in all types of gardening situations. Strawberry is a perennial plant and you should protect your plant in winter.

Strawberry plants like to grow in sunlight so you should choose that location for your Ozark strawberry plants where they get full sun to produce a high yield. 6 hours of sunlight is perfect for strawberry plants to produce fresh fruits.
If you are planting strawberries in the ground of your garden then make sure there should be a distance between the large tree and strawberry plant so there will be no competition between the plants for nutrients and moisture.

Make sure your soil contains organic matter like peat moss, compost, and sand. If you are using potting soil then it will have all the sufficient nutrients for your strawberry plants. You can also apply one or two-inch of a layer of fresh compost on the surface of the potting soil.
If you are growing your Ozark beauty strawberry plants in a container or pot then make sure your container or pot has drainage holes at the bottom. These drainage holes are very important as they will protect your plant from root rot.
Keep the soil moist because strawberry plants can’t tolerate drought conditions and maintain the frequency of water for Ozark beauty strawberry plants.

The pH of the soil for growing strawberry plants must be between 5.0 to 7.0. When you are growing your strawberry plants in your garden you can check your soil with the help of a kit. You can buy these kids from any gardening store.
According to the condition of your soil, you can amend it. If the amendments you can use for the soil are lime and manure. It depends on the soil test whether you need lime or manure.

Growing Ozark Beauty Strawberries

Homegrown strawberries will give you a fresh supply of tasty berries from late spring to fall. Ozark is a heavy-producing strawberry plant and is a June-bearing variety.

You can easily grow Ozark beauty strawberries in your garden or container. If you are facing the problem of limited space then it is suggested that you should plant this variety of strawberries in the container.

In case you are growing Ozark beauty strawberries in the ground of your garden then you have to use the soil of the garden but if you grow plants in a container or raised bed then you can maintain the fertility of the soil.

In container gardening, you must use a high-quality potting mix. Potting mix has all the major nutrients for your Ozark beauty strawberry plant. You must add worm casting and compost to make the soil rich for your strawberry plants.

Ozark Beauty Strawberries growing vertically — **Growing Strawberries Vertically In Towers**

Methods Of Planting Ozark Beauty Strawberries

You can buy Ozark beauty strawberry plants from any gardening store or local nursery. This is an easy way of growing strawberry plants.
The plants you choose from the nursery should be disease-free and healthy so they will produce fresh and juicy strawberries for you.
The other way of growing strawberry plants is by seeds. Use high-quality Ozark beauty strawberry seeds so you will get a healthier crop. If you choose growing plants from seed then this is the cheap way compared to buying plants. You will get all the instructions on the packet of seeds. You should follow them and grow beautiful strawberry plants.

If you are growing strawberry plants from seeds then you should wrap the seeds and put them in an airtight container. This will encourage the germination process. After 2 to 4 take out seeds from the freezer and leave them in a container or jar at room temperature.
Now take the seed tray and fill it with high-quality potting mix and spread the seeds on the tray.
Keep the potting mix moist. After 2 to 3 weeks you will see the seeds will germinate.

Read More:

Growing Strawberries Vertically In Towers

Plant Care For Ozark Beauty Strawberries

If you provide favorable conditions to this variety of strawberry plants then you will get juicy strawberries. It is not possible to get several strawberries without providing the right growing conditions.

Sunlight is very important for the growth of any plant. In the same way, you have to choose that location for the Ozark beauty strawberry plant where it gets 8 hours of sunlight regularly. You will get a higher yield of strawberries when you grow your plant.

Water is another factor that plays a very important role in your beauty. Strawberry plants make sure your plant gets an inch of water. With the right frequency of water then you will be able to pick bright red and firmed strawberries.
You can cut the runners of strawberry plants but you may use them for propagating them. It is suggested that you should leave 2 or 3 runners as it will provide a good base for your plant. In this way, your plant can bear the weight of the fruits easily.
This variety of the strawberry plant is very prolific. This plant can produce flowers very quickly. When your plant produces flowers for the first time then you should cut them off. This simple tip will help you to make your plant stronger. Now the actual plant gets nutrients and energy instead of producing fruit. The next time your plant produces flowers then you will get healthy juicy strawberries.

You should apply fertilizer on a regular basis. A balanced and slow-release fertilizer can give you the best result. A fertilizer that contains nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium works best.
This variety doesn’t need massive pruning; you should only prune the runners.

Diseases And Pests

Strawberries are very sweet, tasty, and juicy. Birds and slugs like to eat them. You can cover your strawberry plants with bird netting. In this way, you can protect them from birds.

Following are the pests and diseases that can destroy your strawberry crop. you should be careful with your strawberry plants.

Nematoda

Nematoda is a very tiny roundworm that is 1 mm long. They like to eat leaves and birds of strawberry plants if you see yellow leaves and it means your plant is affected by this tiny pest when strawberry plants are affected by this pest then they will stop bearing fruit. If the fruit is produced it will be very small and deformed.

Strawberry Mites

The Strawberry mite is a light yellow insect. This is a very tiny insect so you cannot see it with the naked eye. In the presence of strawberry mites, your plant will stop producing fruit.

Spider Mites

Spider mites do not like to eat fruit or leaves of strawberry plants. The cobwebs created by this insect can affect the photosynthesis process of the plant. Eventually, the plant dies.

Aphids

Aphids like to live on the leaves, buds, shoots and even fruit, if the population of aphids will increase then it will destroy the entire crop. This insect likes to live in a humid environment.

Strawberry Powdery Mildew

This is a fungal disease in which the leaves will start bending and at last rot. The seedlings will easily be affected by powdery mildew.

Strawberry Powdery Mildew

Strawberry spot is another disease that creates brown spots on the leaves of the plant. The brown spots will start turning white with the red rim. The leaves will fall and this disease kills the plant.

Gray And Black Rot

Fungal pathogens spread grey and black rot in a humid environment. You will see grey spots appearing on the fruit and destroy it.

Harvest

The best time for picking Ozark beauty strawberries is in the cool morning. This variety is different from other varieties of strawberries as the fruit is not firm. It means you should be careful when picking Ozark beauty strawberries, otherwise, they may bruise easily.

When you see the fruit is ready for picking then grab the stem between your pointer finger and thumb, pull it and twist. In this way, the fruit will not be damaged during the harvesting.
You can also use the sharp season or pruning shears to trim the stem of Ozark beauty strawberries. You should not pick those strawberries that have green tips because they will not ripen.

When you pick the strawberries then they should be dry because wet strawberries do not do well and mold quickly. Place unwashed strawberries in a shady, dry, and cool place. A refrigerator is the best place for storing your strawberries.
You can preserve Ozark beauty strawberries by making jam and jelly. Most people freeze strawberries for future use.