How to grow strawberries at home business. Business of growing strawberries all year round, costs and profitability. Features of the sale of the grown product

Growing strawberries as a business is a promising direction for starting your own business. According to statistics, the demand for this berry is growing by about 30 percent every year. Even investments in seasonal soil cultivation will pay off after the first harvest: strawberries are sold not only for fresh consumption, but also processed into juices, jams, and preserves. The greenhouse option and other methods of year-round ripening are even more cost-effective. During the cold season, the demand for aromatic and healthy berries is much higher.

There are several methods for growing sweet berries. In addition to garden beds and standard greenhouse conditions, strawberries also bear fruit well in a regular barn or even a room where special lamps are installed, as well as in hydroponic installations. When creating a business plan, the first thing to choose is the growing method. It is used as a starting point when calculating start-up capital, selecting equipment and other agrotechnical nuances.

Choosing a method for growing berries is the first step of a business plan

Enterprise registration

Any type of strawberry business has a common point: the design of the enterprise. The easiest way is to become an individual entrepreneur-agrarian. Being in this category will ensure a low tax rate. You will need to pay the single agricultural tax (UST), which is only 6%.

In addition to registration, you need to take care of crop certification. You will need to receive:

• certificate with information about the varietal characteristics of strawberries;
• a document with information about the fertilizers used;
• license permit for trade in berries;
• declaration of conformity to State Standards;
• phytosanitary certificate (mandatory for all agricultural products).

Important! When registering as an individual entrepreneur, the OKVED code is indicated. Here it is - 01.13.21 “Growing fruit and berry crops.”

Equipment purchase

Each type of cultivation will require its own equipment and consumables:

At the same time, special sodium phytolamps will be required for greenhouse and home growing methods. They provide lighting in the blue and red spectrum that is comfortable for strawberries. Additionally, you need to purchase an online cash register to work with clients. You can read more about growing strawberries at home in.

Greenhouse option

Setting up a strawberry greenhouse has many advantages. Among them:

In greenhouse conditions, almost one hundred percent profitability can be achieved. The only disadvantages noted here are the need for independent pollination of the bushes and the consumption of electricity to light and heat the room.

Selection of varieties

Remontant varieties are suitable for greenhouses. In addition to year-round flowering, the chosen option should differ:

Entrepreneurs who are already engaged in the strawberry business note such varietal options as Elsanta, Vizhe, Cambridge, Kama, Glima.

Greenhouse preparation

It is possible to grow strawberries in any structure: be it glass or polycarbonate. In greenhouses, shelving shelves made of metal profiles a meter wide and up to half a meter high are installed. The trays are selected in the shape of a trapezoid, tapering downwards.

Compost from light sandy loam and humus is poured into each container at a depth of 10 cm in a ratio of 4:1. It should first be heated over low heat with water to disinfect it.

Drip irrigation tubes are laid on the substrate, taking into account the location of one hole per root.

Then, above the level of the shelving, they place a water tank and connect the pipes to it. If watering is necessary, turn on the tap, and the water flows directly to the roots.

Important! As for lighting, it is necessary to calculate so that one 400 W lamp illuminates one “square” of shelving.

Features of cultivation

If you decide to grow strawberry bushes from seeds, they are planted in containers with well-moistened soil. A small layer of soil is poured on top of the seeds. After the seedlings appear, they are picked.

The microclimate in the greenhouse must be maintained at the level of the following parameters:

• temperature – 22–25°С,
• humidity – 75–80%,
• ventilation – moderate;
• daylight hours – at least 14 hours.

After the seedlings appear or are acquired, the bushes are planted for a “permanent place of residence.” Before this, it is advisable to fertilize the compost with mineral fertilizer. Before planting seedlings, they need to be kept in a cool place for 2-3 days.

How to plant berry bushes and care for seedlings:

If you have strawberry seedlings, grafting the bushes with tendrils onto unoccupied areas of soil in containers will be enough. After 30 days, you will have young strawberry bushes - rosettes.

Important! Harvesting remontant berries is possible only for two years, so strawberry beds will need to be constantly updated.

Costs and income in the greenhouse business

When drawing up a business plan, you should take into account all possible expenses for organizing a business - they will give the start-up capital figure. It is also necessary to plan income taking into account the risks: crop failure, damage to fruits by insects or rodents, “shocks” during transportation. It is advisable to draw up two versions of a business plan: optimistic and pessimistic, in order to provide for all possible problems.

Let’s imagine that we will harvest from a greenhouse with an area of ​​120 square meters. From each square meter it will be possible to collect 5 kilograms of berries once a month. One family can take care of such an area - no need to hire help.

Table 1. Amount of starting capital

№	Expenditure part	Amount in rubles
1	Rent a plot outside the city for a year	60000
2	Greenhouse installation	100000
3	Purchase of equipment	70000
4	Purchase of seedlings and fertilizers	30000
5	Registration of an enterprise, certificates, online purchase	40000
6	Utilities for three months	30000
7	Fare	20000

The total amount required to open a business is 350,000 rubles. With a good harvest, 120 square meters can produce 600 kg of berries per month. During the season, a kilogram of strawberries costs about 100 rubles. Even at this time, your greenhouse will “earn” 60,000 rubles. In winter, the figure can be safely multiplied by four. As a result, in three to five months, depending on the start of work, the costs will be fully recouped. After this, you can expand your business and even hire workers.

Hydroponic method

In greenhouses, not only containers with compost are used to grow strawberries, but also hydroponics devices. That is, plants are nourished not by the juices of the earth, but by special solutions. In this case, the bushes receive a maximum of valuable elements, they do not need to be watered, and they are not susceptible to diseases and pests. The advantages of hydroponics also include environmental friendliness and non-traumatic transplantation. Almost any remontant varieties are suitable for cultivation.

But the technique also has disadvantages. This is the high cost of installations and high electricity costs.

Here, energy is used not only for lighting, but also for pumping oxygen and supplying nutrients. If the first problem can be solved by assembling the equipment yourself, then saving on electricity is more difficult. Therefore, hydroponics is used in greenhouses with small areas. For a premises of 50 square meters you will need at least 900,000 rubles of starting capital. But this method allows you to collect up to 45 kilos of berries per square, which, even with high utility costs, increases profitability by at least three times. If the harvest is rich, you can recoup the costs in 1–2 months.

Video - Hydroponics for strawberries

Homemade strawberries

To create a berry plantation, a greenhouse is not necessary. This crop can be grown in any room, even in an empty room. True, lighting there will still have to be equipped with special lamps.

Trukar method

It involves growing berries in plastic tubes equipped with a kind of pockets. They are placed vertically, and a berry bush is planted in each pocket. The soil mixture used is the same as in a conventional greenhouse, as are the varieties of berries.

Important! The advantage of the technique is that it saves space and allows you to install pipes anywhere, including in greenhouse conditions.

One trukhar requires only half a square, 90 bushes fit there. In two to three months you can collect at least 10 kilos of berries from them. A fifty-meter room will house 100 such structures. The result is a ton of strawberries. In the winter season, revenue will be about 400,000 rubles. And the starting capital will not exceed 100,000 rubles, including utilities and expenses for registering an enterprise

Video - Strawberries on trucks

Dutch technique

This method of setting up a strawberry plantation may also be of interest to novice agribusinessmen. It makes it possible to save on start-up capital: initial costs are low. Strawberries are grown in any convenient room - a barn, garage, greenhouse. Instead of containers, polyethylene bags are used, which are filled with compost. Special tubes are connected to such “pots” through which nutritious moisture will be supplied.

Only certain varieties are suitable for this technique. These are “Elsanta”, “Maria”, “Albion”, “Darselect”, “Sonata”, “Tristar”, “Polka”, “Gloom”.

How to plant berries using the Dutch method:

1. Fill the bags with soil mixture, after adding fertilizing. Make holes in them with a diameter of 7 cm at a distance of 25 cm in four rows.

   

2. Hang the structures on supports so that there are two bags per “square” of the room. Or place them on multi-tiered racks.

   

3. Connect three irrigation pipes to each structure so that they pass through the ground at a distance of 0.5 m from each other.

   

4. When the strawberries bloom, they need to be pollinated by hand with a soft brush or simply by turning on a fan.

   

As a result, it turns out that 50 or more bushes bear fruit per square meter. The cost of arranging such an area will not exceed 500 rubles, and up to 25 kg of harvest can be harvested from it. As a result, 50 square meters of strawberries will bring approximately 500,000 rubles out of season. And you will have to invest only 25,000 rubles in the arrangement of the plantation. You will have to spend the same amount on phytolamps. Plus, don’t forget about the costs of registering a business.

Growing in open ground

Table 2. Advantages and disadvantages of growing strawberries in open ground

For growing in garden beds, it is preferable to choose large-fruited varieties, for example, “Gigantella”, “Elizabeth II”, “Honeya”. They must be suitable for the climate of the area where the garden plot is located. It is better to plant several varieties at once so that they ripen at different times.

On the ridges, the crop is planted in rows with a distance of 40 cm. The soil is covered with “breathable” agrofibre, which retains the required soil moisture and protects from direct rays of the sun.

In a good summer, about 30 kg of berries are harvested from one square meter. At a cost of 100 rubles per kilo, you can get 3,000 rubles per square meter, 30,000 per hundred square meters. Moreover, if you have your own plot, there are practically no expenses, a maximum of three thousand for the simplest drip device and agrofibre. You can also save on registering an enterprise if you conduct seasonal sales from your personal plot. In this case, you do not yet need to register as an entrepreneur and pay taxes.

Growing strawberries as a business is an excellent solution for entrepreneurs who understand agriculture. The juicy and aromatic berry is in high demand in retail stores and catering establishments; your own farm will fully pay for itself in just 2 years. The strawberry business is not too complicated, but when organizing it you will have to take into account many important details on which the success of the project depends.

• Technology for growing strawberries for sale
• How to start a strawberry growing business?
• Tips for growing strawberries
• Subtleties of implementation
• How much can you earn from growing strawberries?
• How much money do you need to start a business?
• Which equipment to choose
• Which OKVED code should I indicate for a strawberry growing business?
• What documents are needed
• Which tax system to choose

Technology for growing strawberries for sale

To achieve high profitability, it is better to combine open beds with greenhouses. This approach will help:

• save energy in the summer;
• extend the fruiting season from early spring until frost;
• in heated greenhouses, crops can be obtained all year round;
• the opportunity to experiment with varieties, selecting the most delicious and productive ones.

Industrial cultivation of berries has a number of features. To create open beds you need fairly large areas. To protect yourself from pests and simplify planting care, the beds can be made raised, and the space between the berry bushes and between the rows can be mulched with peat, sawdust or agrofibre. Growing strawberries in open ground makes it possible to get a good harvest; the berries have a particularly bright taste and delicate aroma. The beds have one drawback - they can be harvested no more than 1-2 months a year.

Greenhouses should be placed next to open beds. For successful cultivation of strawberries, structures made of cellular polycarbonate on a metal frame are suitable. The construction of such a structure is not cheap, but a permanent, permanent greenhouse will last for several years and will not require repairs.

Growing strawberries in a greenhouse all year round is quite an expensive undertaking. The colder the region, the more you will have to spend on heating and heating the plantings. It is most profitable to grow berries in the middle zone. In summer, the greenhouse can operate without additional heating; in winter, you can save on electricity by using biofuel.

How to start a strawberry growing business?

To understand how to make money growing strawberries all year round, you need to study several business plans for similar productions. They indicate a complete list of upcoming expenses, as well as calculate future income and the overall profitability of the project. With proper operation, the enterprise will pay for itself in 2 years. The larger the production, the higher the profitability, but the initial and ongoing costs in this case also increase.

The easiest way to organize a strawberry business is on the territory of a former state farm, which has sufficient areas of fertile land. On this base you can arrange open plantations and greenhouses. Land is bought or leased, for this you can get a government subsidy or a preferential loan.

Register a legal entity. The most convenient way to run a strawberry business is on your own farm. This legal form allows you to significantly save on taxation and allows you to count on additional benefits and subsidies.

Build greenhouses. Designs from 100 to 250 sq. m. provide good profitability. m. You can start with 1 greenhouse, after a year the farm should be expanded. To grow strawberries all year round and make labor easier, the shelters are equipped with an automatic watering and ventilation system. Winter greenhouses require a reinforced cinder block foundation and a well-thought-out heating system. It is most profitable to combine electric or water boilers with biofuel from a mixture of rotted manure and straw. The mixture is laid out on the beds and covered with a layer of soil. Biofuel maintains the ideal temperature for 3-5 months and serves as additional nutrition for plants.

Choose the right strawberry variety. Hybrids of the latest generation of Dutch, Polish, and Russian selection are suitable for greenhouses. Consumers prefer large, juicy berries of bright red or red-pink color with a pronounced pleasant aroma. To increase profitability and reduce the number of defects, choose a strawberry variety with fairly dense berries that hold their shape well. These strawberries store well and can withstand transportation without problems.

A hydroponic enterprise belongs to the category of promising business in the field of crop production, which is very important in our country. Watermelon and other crops can be grown hydroponically all year round.

Advantages of the type of activity

In a hydroponic system, classic soil is replaced with a special substrate. Compared to the traditional and well-known to all gardeners growing plants in soil, technology based on hydroponics has a number of undeniable advantages, which are obvious to all plant growers:

• the plant is provided with all the substances and vitamins necessary for growth and full development;
• the crop grows stronger and healthier, and flowering intensity increases several times;
• a soilless environment is characterized by the absence of pests and does not support the development of diseases such as rot and fungal infections;
• there is no need to use chemicals for preventive and protective measures;
• the root system of plants does not lack oxygen, and is also not able to experience negative effects from an overdose or lack of fertilizers;
• with a minimum growing area, it is possible to obtain maximum yield all year round, even at home.

A properly developed and competent business plan allows you to optimize production and get a decent profit when growing vegetable or berry products for further sale. When developing a plan, it is very important to consider the main points that are presented:

• a place for growing plants;
• botanical and varietal characteristics of the cultivated crop;
• features of the sale of finished vegetable or berry products;
• analysis of funding flow and expenditure.

The main reason for the worldwide popularity of hydroponic technology is its high economic efficiency, which is obtained by increasing productivity with significant savings in resources.

Hydroponics: growing seedlings (video)

Liquid fertilizer costs

Hydroponic growing technology involves the use of liquid fertilizer. A high-quality and correctly prepared nutrient solution allows you to fully provide the grown plant with the elements necessary for full growth and development. Any type of nutrient solution for plants grown hydroponically must contain all the nutrients necessary for growth and development. Products from the “liquid fertilizers” category sold in our country have proven themselves well in hydroponic conditions.

Name	Purpose	Compound	Mode of application
Etisso Hydro Vital	A liquid type of complex fertilizer enriched with microelements and buffer components, which allows you to equalize pH values	nitrogen 5.2%, phosphorus 5.0%, potassium 4.2%, trace elements and vitamins	10 ml of fertilizer per 10 liters of water
Spezialdunger Hydrokultur	Suitable for growing any plants in	Nitrogen 4.5%, phosphorus 4.5%, potassium 6%, trace elements	30 ml per 20 liters of water
Flora Duo-Bloom	Mineral type of two-component concentrated fertilizer with the presence of bioactive additives and stimulants	N, P, K, SO, MgO, Fe, Zn, B, Mn and Mo	25 ml per 10 liters of water
Flora Duo Grow-HW	The presence of bioactive additives and stimulants allows you to adjust the pH and is suitable for use in hard water	N, K2O, CaO, MgО, Fe, Cu, Zn, B, Mn and Mo	According to the instructions supplied by the manufacturer

Quite often when growing plants hydroponically, the Kemira-hydro fertilizer is used.. When choosing a fertilizer for a nutrient solution, you need to consider the molar mass of the nutrients. It is imperative to monitor the indicators of nutrients so as not to exceed the concentration of micro- and macroelements added to the substrate.

Settled water should be added to the system as needed to maintain the volume of the nutrient solution. Every three months, it is recommended to completely replace the nutrient solution in a hydroponic growing system.

Basic equipment

The equipment involved in hydroponic growing varies. You can use ready-made diagrams and make the system yourself, or you can use an industrial, highly productive installation, which most often becomes the choice of greenhouse owners. Before choosing equipment, you must evaluate the different options, and also consider both the advantages and disadvantages:

• when growing low-growing plants, the most acceptable choice is to use a recirculating NFT system or flood-drain gravel channels, periodicals;
• It is advisable to grow tall crops or crops that are too demanding to care for in non-recirculating systems based on the use of a substrate.

It should be remembered that the use of recirculation systems does not involve the use of water with a high level of dissolved salts. Water of insufficiently high quality must be purified using fairly expensive filters operating on the principle of reverse osmosis.

As a rule, it is necessary to prepare the area for placement in advance, in accordance with the business plan and developed schemes. An important role is given to the preparation of a high-quality substrate, which can be represented by: perlite, vermiculite, expanded clay, mineral wool, coconut fiber, chemically neutral fibers in the form of nylon, polypropylene, nylon or foam rubber.

Self-production of the system is based on the use of the following necessary components:

• pump or pump and compressor;
• trays or pallets;
• planting pots;
• lamps for additional lighting in winter.

To install a hydroponic system, it is advisable to use a special metal cabinet or make shelving. When purchasing a ready-made system, you must carefully study the attached instructions. The main structure and production growing system includes a heating and cooling system, special panels, a water treatment system in the form of a collector and storage. It may also be necessary to purchase backup systems, such as electric generators, for continuous operation of the recirculation system.

The drip irrigation system delivers a nutrient solution to the base of the plants at preset intervals. Such systems are optimal for growing cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. Flow-through hydroponic systems are characterized by the movement of a nutrient solution through channels with the located root system of plants. This system has proven itself well with basil, parsley, fennel, dill and other green crops. Drip-flow irrigation in hydroponics is most often used when cultivating strawberries and garden strawberries.

Expected profit

How much money to invest and what kind of profit can be expected are the main questions of plant growers who are starting to master hydroponic growing technology. To calculate profit, it should be remembered that most crops grown in such conditions have maximum yields that can be obtained from each square meter, regardless of the number of plants planted. As practice shows, there are no significant differences in planting density between hydroponics and classic soil. As planting densities increase, crop loss and a decrease in overall yield may occur.

DIY hydroponics (video)

It is also important to remember that cultivating early maturing varieties requires consideration of rotation time. Therefore, when cultivating year-round in hydroponics, it is necessary to first calculate the profit for the entire year based on average yields. We should not forget that an important aspect of crop production is the quality of the product, labor costs and packaging costs for further sale.

Personal farming is becoming more and more popular and is increasingly reaching the market level. Such a business brings in good money, and it is also full of options for running it. Today we will look at growing strawberries as a business: profitability, self-sufficiency, reviews from successful entrepreneurs and their recommendations on how to avoid various troubles. Let's begin.

What is this business?

The strawberry business has a low barrier to entry and we will dwell on this point in more detail later. In addition, growing produce at home is quite easy and does not require too much equipment. But there are also disadvantages.

The organization requires quite high costs for heating and water consumption, especially in winter. If you can’t set up enough heating in the winter, you won’t be able to grow berries suitable for sale. In addition, you will constantly have to care for the plants.

It is unlikely that the owner of such a production will allow strangers to be in his own home, so your time will be spent on caring for strawberries, and although growing strawberries is not difficult, it is time-consuming. Remember that the self-sufficiency of this business is really high; a season is enough to recoup the opening costs.

Where should you grow berries?

You can grow strawberries in a greenhouse or in open ground, and the choice here is quite easy.

The open ground option is quite constraining for the entrepreneur, since the berries will bear fruit only from May to June, while winter production is completely impossible. A greenhouse is more suitable, and here’s why:

1. Allows you to establish year-round production of berries.
2. Eliminates the influence of weather on yield.
3. Costs far less land.
4. Has a great interest in shops and supermarkets.
5. Provides the opportunity to receive huge profitability in the autumn-winter season.
6. Excellent payback in just one season.
7. Makes the fruit more aesthetically pleasing.

Undoubtedly, the advantages are good, but it would be wrong not to note the disadvantages of the greenhouse. The disadvantages are the following:

• The costs of opening a greenhouse nursery are really high compared to the costs of an open field nursery.
• The need to organize artificial pollination.
• The berries begin to acquire a less natural taste, reducing the natural aroma.
• Constant lighting of the earth is necessary, close to natural, which will cost money.

Analyze the disadvantages and advantages of different options and choose what your industrial strawberry cultivation will be like.

Choosing a variety

In the case of home production, entrepreneurship depends solely on how successfully you purchase seeds and how tasty your berries turn out. In addition, the variety of strawberry affects the success of its cultivation in certain conditions.

Due to the fact that the berry reproduces with “whiskers”, remember that for business it is worth purchasing plants that have grown from “whiskers” of the first and second order. It is important to monitor the development of the rosette, the strength of the roots and directly find out about the yield indicator.

Here are the best varieties of strawberries according to many entrepreneurs:

1. Alba - fairly small bushes give high yields. It is considered an early variety, has excellent disease resistance, has bright red cone-shaped berries, and this species does not lose color for a long time. Excellent transportability.
2. Darenka is a domestic variety that resists fungal diseases and is not afraid of pests. Reviews speak of the excellent taste of the fruits, and they are also very large and elastic.
3. Octave is perhaps the earliest variety among those presented, ideal for growing in greenhouses, but also suitable for open ground. Extremely productive and quite resistant to mechanical stress during transportation. It has the most pleasant aroma.
4. Sonata - this variety is distinguished by extremely juicy and tender fruits, sweet taste and pleasant aroma, therefore it is one of the best for sales in stores. It boasts good resistance to pests and tolerance to temperature changes.
5. Rusanovskaya is another greenhouse variety that allows you to harvest several times a year. It has a fairly pleasant round shape of the fruit, a red juicy color, and is perfectly stored for a long time.
6. Honey is one of the best options for making money, as it begins to ripen extremely early. It has fairly large bright berries in the shape of a cone, but the taste is sweet and sour for everyone. The berries have a delicate aroma, tolerate temperature fluctuations well, but are sensitive to soil nutrition.

In addition to these representatives, professionals note decent characteristics and predisposition to growing in nurseries in the following varieties:

• Elsanta;
• Will;
• Kama;
• Cambridge;
• Red Capulet.

Looking for a greenhouse

We continue to search for the necessary premises for breeding. Of course, you can buy a separate plot where the greenhouse will be maintained, but the necessary acres are now difficult and expensive to find, so it’s worth asking yourself the question of finding land at the very beginning. If the search for a site is completed, then it’s time to find out what kind of greenhouses should be installed for industrial cultivation.

They are sold in the following types:

1. Glass.
2. Polycarbonate.
3. Film-frame.

Greenhouses of the latter type are the most budget-friendly and affordable, therefore they are more often bought up by novice entrepreneurs, but this is wrong. The diaper usually does not help protect plants from banal frosts, not to mention really low temperatures.

A glass nursery is better suited in this case; besides, the walls allow for excellent heating of the area inside. But the downside is the need for a special foundation, for which some people have neither money nor enough space.

Polycarbonate greenhouses are the most expensive, but the most effective in this business. They do not require a special foundation, are durable and really do their job honestly. Strawberries grown in a polycarbonate greenhouse all year round will recoup the costs of the business within a season, so it is better not to skimp if possible.

Once you download it, you can use it to create your own.

How to grow fruits?

Your future business is based on growing strawberries, so you need to be sure that you will be able to grow the crop correctly. For cultivation in a greenhouse nursery, avid gardeners have established two main types of strawberry cultivation.

The first one is really simple and understandable even for a novice entrepreneur: you need to strew the soil with strawberries in special separate containers. It is the area of ​​the nursery that influences the number of containers and their arrangement: in a row, in a cascade, vertically. You just need to prepare the most convenient layout and not worry about the soil under the greenhouse.

There is also a second option, the most popular among people already experienced in this field, which helps grow strawberries on an industrial scale. It is called Dutch and it is assumed that strawberry or wild strawberry seedlings must be planted in special bags with soil two meters long.

The seedlings themselves are planted through separate holes eight centimeters in diameter. This method wins over the first in that it allows you to fill much more space with plants. You can hang the bags, lay them out on the balcony, place them in the garage - it is important that the plants receive a sufficient amount of lighting and nutrition, as well as protection from external influences.

Whatever option you choose to grow strawberries all year round, it is important to properly approach the care of the plant and timely procedures. Here are some main rules and recommendations:

• Seedlings must be planted strictly in prepared soil. The soil can be taken from the garden; purchased soil is only suitable mixed with garden soil.
• Also, before planting, it is worth treating the soil with a solution of potassium permanganate. It doesn’t hurt to add fertilizer to the food.
• The tubers themselves must be planted low at an average depth, so as not to expose the root system and give the plant full light.
• Even when watering plants with a watering can, you can flood the leaves and the fruits themselves, so watch this.
• For a real business, it is preferable to acquire a real irrigation system that supplies moisture directly to the roots of the bushes. It is quite rare that a nursery is sold with the support of such a system.
• Water for strawberries specifically must be warm, and it is important to water at least once a day.
• It is necessary to maintain the plant at a temperature no higher than 25 and no lower than 18 degrees Celsius all year round.

Your business idea is to independently grow strawberries for sale, because you are solely interested in the fact that the grown strawberries can be sold in stores or in the hands of other people. Be sure to follow the implementation of each point.

We are trying to sell the goods

Enough money was spent on the opening, so I want to recoup the costs as quickly as possible. Having grown your own strawberries, it is important to make them look marketable and pleasing to the eye.

Home business allows you to treat the fruits more carefully, so be sure to try not to overfill or unnecessarily rearrange the strawberries. The truly correct solution is to collect the berries in plastic one-kilogram containers and transport them to the place where the goods are sold.

Where to start selling your own products? There is a dependence on the season. During the summer, it is quite effective to sell homemade berries at the market. In some cities, you may even be able to find a free corner or space near other vendors, but it is important to make arrangements to trade at your chosen location.

Winter time opens up more chances to earn money by selling berries yourself and selling them in supermarkets. Your project has the right to enter into an agreement for the supply of products, fulfilling the requirements of the store. It is also possible to build connections with strawberry processors for the production of juices, yoghurts and other products.

Video: growing strawberries - how to get large berries?

How profitable is the strawberry business?

To begin with, it is worth making a mini-table with an approximate list of expenses and amounts that will be spent on opening and starting this business.

Remember that you will have to spend some money monthly on purchases, utilities and transport services, as well as other costs. It’s even easier to figure out income: getting 5 kilos of berries from one square meter, a total of 1,500 kilos is collected from three acres. On average, you can earn 500 rubles per kilo of strawberries. In a month, a sale can bring in about 750 thousand rubles!

Well, in winter, the price of berries increases significantly, so from paying monthly expenses on average for the year you will receive 240 thousand, which makes the strawberry business a leader in profitability. In addition, in the future it will be possible to expand plantations and recruit workers.

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Strawberry. Who doesn't know this berry? Everyone knows her and everyone loves her, even those who are allergic to her. To be honest, recently strawberries in stores have become somewhat tasteless and even sour, so everyone is waiting for summer to come and strawberries from grandma’s or farmer’s beds to appear on sale. Despite the decent price of this berry, everyone is happy to buy and eat it. Therefore, looking at the business of different grandmothers and farmers, you wonder how to make money selling strawberries yourself. What to do and where to start? Why do you need a strawberry business? What are the prospects for the strawberry business?

The business of growing strawberries on farms is successfully used and brings considerable income. There are a lot of videos on the Internet about this activity, and they even sell courses where they talk about bumper harvests. Is this so? After all, many entrepreneurs believed in these stories and invested. The climate of the Urals and Siberia cannot be compared with the climate of the Volga region and especially the Krasnodar region. The climate of Israel, where most of the strawberries sold here are grown, is generally difficult to compare with the climate in Russia.

But meanwhile, you can make money growing strawberries.

Ways to grow strawberries

There are three ways to grow strawberries:

Growing berries in open ground;

Growing berries in protected ground, using covering materials, in a greenhouse;

Growing berries indoors (in containers, bags, pots or hydroponically). This method is often called the Dutch method.

Everyone knows the first and second growing methods. Growing using the third method is also possible, but this requires a warm climate. In our country, you can go broke heating a greenhouse for year-round cultivation of strawberries. Therefore, it is the first two methods (mostly simultaneously) of cultivation that are used in our country due to the seasonality of collecting and selling berries.

The main berry picking in Russia, in open ground, begins in June and ends in July. Therefore, if you buy special varieties of strawberries, you can grow them in May and August-September. Strawberry varieties must be productive and preferably self-pollinating. What varieties of strawberries should I buy? Buy those that may be suitable for your area. Strawberry bushes for business in open ground are used for two years, bushes planted in a greenhouse in protected ground - for one year.

Most strawberry varieties respond to day length. If the daylight hours are 16 hours, then the strawberries will bloom in 10 days and bear fruit in 35 days. If there are 8 hours of daylight, then strawberries will bloom in 14 days and begin to bear fruit in 48 days. Therefore, when grown in greenhouses, balconies, etc. To increase daylight hours to 12 hours, lighting should be used. The lamps are turned on from 8 to 11 o'clock and from 17-00 to 20-00. In cloudy weather, lighting should be present all day. Yellow lamps DNAT400 and DNAT600 are used for lighting. The height of the lamps above the strawberries is 1 meter. For an area of ​​3 m2 you will need one lamp. You can use fluorescent lamps with a plant spectrum.

Growing strawberries the Dutch way

Actually, the Dutch way of growing strawberries is to grow the berries in a greenhouse all year round, using special equipment, controlling humidity, lighting, and temperature. This method is suitable for large businesses, preferably with inexpensive heating. By the way, for those who want to taste their own strawberries in winter and gain some experience in early berry growing, we recommend using your own glazed loggias for this.

The advantages of the Dutch method are a stable harvest all year round and good profits, minimal risk of fruit damage from pests and diseases.

Under natural conditions, strawberries bear fruit and go into a dormant state. In the Dutch method of cultivation, fertilized bushes are replaced with new ones, from which they will receive a harvest within 40-70 days. Thus, with this method, the bushes are changed every 1.5 - 2 months and as a result, a stable harvest is obtained. An important point of this method is the availability of a sufficient number of strawberry seedlings, preferably self-pollinating varieties.

Harvesting seedlings

To do this, planting material is dug up, processed and stored under low temperature conditions (“frigo” technology). The average temperature in the refrigerator is -1C, the seedlings are laid along with the soil on the roots and packaged in a plastic bag. The best, i.e. Seedlings from two-year-old bushes bear fruit abundantly.

Many articles say that with the Dutch method, the yield can be up to 95 tons of strawberries per hectare.

As we noted above, with the Dutch method, strawberries are grown in pots, bags and special containers. Shopping centers sell these special shelves or tall pots with special holes. Such pots and shelves can be used for growing strawberries on balconies or verandas and places with limited space.

Soil preparation

The substrate for growing strawberries using the Dutch method must be moisture-intensive, breathable, and contain nutrients and microelements. Mats for laying are prepared from peat and perlite, mixed in equal proportions. Sometimes coconut fiber or mineral wool is added. Soil from the field is not suitable for substrate due to the presence of various microorganisms that can lead to strawberries being damaged by various infections.

When growing hydroponically, the nutrient mixture must contain all the necessary microelements. When preparing nutrient solutions, the quality of the water used must also be taken into account. The ratio of nutrients may depend on the weather.

Strawberry care

Watering the substrate - drip irrigation. Bushes are also fed using the drip method. The solution is made from: water, ammonium nitrate and potassium chloride. Some people use chicken manure diluted 1:10. The acidity of the substrate should be neutral. The optimal temperature for growing strawberries is from +18 to +25C.

Strawberry growing technology - home business

Buying or independently building a greenhouse

This is a question of questions. Because buying a good greenhouse is expensive, but building it yourself is difficult. But first you need to decide what kind of greenhouse you need.

In this article we will not consider the construction of an ordinary greenhouse such as a greenhouse, since we are going to make money by selling strawberries. Therefore, let's talk about the winter greenhouse. Winter greenhouses differ in functionality, location relative to ground level, architectural design, type of building materials and type of heating.

The type of heating for a greenhouse depends on its usable area. If you have a greenhouse of 15-20 m2, then stove heating is suitable. For larger greenhouses, water and electric heating, as well as biofuel heating, are recommended.

Water heating is a water heating boiler, with heating pipes and an expansion tank. Pipes are laid either in the ground or under racks with containers.

Electric heating can be cable or air. Cable heating resembles a “warm floor” system. Air electric heating is produced using special fan heaters.

Biofuel heating is the most economical type of greenhouse heating. The soil in the greenhouse heats up due to the release of heat during the decomposition of organic waste. Such organic waste is horse and cow manure, straw, sawdust and rotted bark. However, when using such heating, you should monitor the acidity of the soil.

The most interesting material for making a greenhouse is cellular polycarbonate. Arched greenhouses and greenhouses with straight walls are made from this material. An arched polycarbonate greenhouse can be assembled quickly, while a greenhouse with straight walls will require less heating costs. It should be noted that this comparison of heating costs applies only to arched greenhouses with a small radius.

We plan to build a polycarbonate greenhouse with an area of ​​100 m2 for our business; the usable area is 85 m2. Location – Ural region. Heating is biofuel and electric cable (from above). Extruded polystyrene foam is dug into the ground along the foundation (constructing a block wall on the north side will also help save on heating costs). We plan to grow strawberries in protected ground using covering material. Drip watering. Conventionally, we believe that 470,000 rubles were spent on equipment and construction of the greenhouse. We plant strawberries in the greenhouse in January, they will bloom in March, the first berries in April.

We also plan to grow strawberries outside, the usable area is 80 m2, we plan to allocate 20 m2 for seedlings in the greenhouse next year.

Strawberry planting patterns may vary. In our calculations we assume that 12 bushes can be planted per 1 m2. The average cost of seedlings is 30 rubles per bush. We have planned 165 m2 of usable area, so we should purchase 165 * 12 = 1980 bushes or in money - 59,400 rubles. We plant new seedlings in the greenhouse in May-June-July, and new berries in July-August-September. 85*12=1020 bushes or 30,600 rubles. Next year we will grow the seedlings ourselves.

Seedlings for planting

We plan to buy seedlings of different varieties. Strawberry varieties will be selected according to fruiting time: early, middle and late. You can get seedlings by planting seeds, but this is planned to be done later to find new varieties of strawberries that are more productive for growing.

Preparing the soil for growing strawberries in a greenhouse

To prepare the soil, we will purchase horse manure and straw. A layer of straw, manure, then fertile soil. Fertile soil is a mixture in equal proportions, consisting of turfy medium-loamy soil mixed with sawdust (take two parts of sawdust for seven parts of land) and peat (a glass of wood ash is added to one bucket of peat). The garden beds on the street contain humus and fertile soil. Spent biofuel from the greenhouse in the fall can be placed on strawberry beds or fertilizer for other plantings. The cost of preparing the soil in the greenhouse and outside is conventionally considered equal to 150,000 rubles.

Other starting expenses will be 15,000 rubles. Total start-up costs amounted to 725,000 rubles. Conventionally, we believe that we will spend 15,000 rubles per month on electricity over five to six months. Other expenses will amount to 10,000 rubles. Total expenses – 825,000 rubles.

We believe that on average we will harvest 0.4 kilograms of berries from each bush. Strawberry varieties will be selected according to fruiting time: early, middle and late. Selling price for 1 kilogram is 800 rubles. Then in the first year we will receive revenue of 960,000 rubles. Net profit for the first year can be about 135,000 rubles. In the second year, net profit may already amount to 960,000 -(150,000+15,000*6+10,000) = 710,000 rubles, and the profitability of the business increases accordingly.

Conclusion. It is profitable to grow strawberries; everyone loves them. Therefore, if you have a passion for farming, then you can open this business; we first advise you to develop a business plan for growing strawberries. If you go on an industrial scale, then to sell berries to stores you will need to register your activities. It is better to register an individual entrepreneur with a simplified reporting system. Also, when selling berries, you will officially need to issue certificates for berries, fertilizers, a phytosanitary certificate and a declaration of conformity. Follow your dreams!