How to care for strawberries: tips and tricks

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Strawberry is a berry loved by many, grown in almost every summer cottage. In care, this popular garden culture is relatively unpretentious. However, the technology of growing this plant has some of its own characteristics. How to care for strawberries correctly, and we'll talk later in the article.

Growing Technology

Care for strawberries at their summer cottage usually consists of:

• in removing extra mustaches;
• periodic soil loosening or mulching;
• treatment from pests and diseases.

In addition to getting a good harvest of strawberries, of course, you need to plant them correctly, as well as weed, fertilize and water them in a timely manner.

How to choose a place for a garden bed

We will talk in detail below about how to properly care for strawberries. To begin with, let's figure out what is the technology for planting this plant, popular with summer residents. It is best to choose a well-lit and ventilated area for this crop in the garden. In the shade of large crops, strawberries will not give. In the lowland at stagnationair plants, most likely, will begin to hurt and wither at all. It is believed that it is best to plant strawberries in the northeastern part of the garden, on a slight slope.

The best predecessors for this crop are radishes, dill, peas and lettuce. At the same time, strawberries do not like neighborhoods with potatoes, tomatoes and other nightshade.

Plot for this plant, experts advise to prepare in advance. The bed must be dug up on a spade bayonet at least 15 days before planting. In this case, the soil should be improved by adding well-rotted bird or cow manure or compost.

Selecting planting material

Strawberries are propagated in suburban areas with rosettes usually grown on the tendrils of mother plants. Planting material for this crop is best purchased from a trusted nursery. Subsequently, it will be possible to propagate strawberries on the site on their own. Growing her mustache seedlings is no problem.

In the nursery, it is best to buy strawberries with closed roots. That is, they acquire seedlings of this culture, usually along with pots. In this case, the plants subsequently take root much faster and without loss in the garden.

When choosing planting material, you should also, of course, carefully examine the bushes. Each plant purchased for planting in the garden should have at least 2-3 he althy leaves. Seedlings with flowers are not worth buying. The buds in the future will still have to be cut off. Planting strawberries with flowers results in a significant reduction in yields in future years.

When to plant

It is allowed to transfer seedlings of strawberries to the garden both in autumn and in spring. Most often, this crop is planted in open ground in late April or early May - before the onset of heat. In this case, strawberries take root as well as possible. However, sometimes this plant is planted in late August or early September. But using this technology, the first strawberry harvest, of course, can only be obtained next summer.

Basic landing methods

How to plant strawberries? And it will be easier to care for this plant and harvest later with the correct placement of the bushes in the garden. There are several ways to plant strawberries:

• free standing bushes;
• nests;
• carpet;
• in rows.

When using the nesting method, one bush is planted in the center, and another 6 are placed around it in a hexagon at a distance of 8 cm from each other. This technique allows you to subsequently obtain abundant strawberry crops. However, berries that are too large with this arrangement of bushes usually do not grow.

The first planting technique on the list allows you to grow very large fruits. However, when using this technology, it will be relatively difficult to care for strawberries in the future. How to plant this crop in separate bushes? In this case, the plants are simply placed on the bed in a checkerboard pattern at a distance of about 60 cm from each other.

Carpet technique involves planting strawberries in rows with a smallstep. When using this method, the bed subsequently overgrows completely. At the same time, it creates its own special microclimate. Watering, weeding and loosening such a bed is less common. The disadvantage of this method of planting is that the berries in this case shrink rather quickly.

Planting strawberries in rows makes it easier to care for. Weeding and watering plants using this technique in the future will be much easier. Strawberry rows can also be harvested quite large.

How to plant correctly: some useful tips

Before transferring strawberry seedlings to open ground, it is advisable to place it in a cool, dark place for 1-2 days. When planting strawberries in the garden, be sure to ensure that its root system does not wrap.

At the bottom of the hole dug under the bush, a small earthen mound should be poured. Next, you need to install the plant itself strictly vertically and in the center. The roots should be carefully spread on the sides of the mound. Next, they need to be covered with earth and lightly tamped.

The root neck of strawberries after planting should be at ground level. You can’t fill it with soil.

How to feed

So, we figured out how to plant strawberries. Now let's see how to care for this crop. In order to get large yields, this plant, of course, should be periodically fed. Fertilizers on the beds with this crop are usually applied three times per season. The first time strawberries are fedin the spring, when the plants have not yet released new leaves. At this time, it is necessary to stimulate the growth of the green mass of strawberries. Therefore, nitrogen fertilizers are usually used as top dressing in spring. It can be, for example, an infusion of chicken manure. It will be very good to fertilize strawberries and iodine in the spring.

The second time the bushes are fed in the summer. At this time, potash fertilizers will be especially useful for them. During the period of tying berries, strawberries are usually fed with ashes. During flowering, a bed with this plant will also be useful to spray with a solution of boric acid or zinc sulfate.

The third feeding of strawberries is done in early September. At this time, potash and phosphate fertilizers are applied under the bushes. Such compositions will help plants better prepare for winter. Most often in the fall, strawberries are fertilized with purchased mineral mixtures. It can be, for example, "Fertik", "Autumn", etc.

How to water properly

Many summer residents are, of course, interested in how to care for strawberries in the spring. Of course, at this time of the year, the plants must be watered. Summer residents usually begin to moisten the beds under strawberries from the end of April. From this time until the beginning of August, this crop is supposed to be watered at least 3 times a month. The root system of this plant, as many people know, is superficial. And therefore, without regular watering, strawberry bushes will not develop well.

Starting from August until the end of September, strawberries are watered twice a month. In October, a bed with this crop is desirablemoisturize one more time.

In spring, strawberries are allowed to be watered by sprinkling. Starting from the time of flowering, the beds with this crop are moistened only under the root. Water during this period can wash the pollen off the pestles, resulting in lower yields.

During fruiting, it is best to water strawberries along the grooves. This will prevent the berries from rotting. After the bushes bear fruit, you can again return to watering by sprinkling. At this time, this method cannot harm plants in any way.

How to grow and care for strawberries: mulching

This procedure allows you to get large yields and at the same time make the care of strawberries easier. Mulch beds with this crop, usually two weeks after planting. In this case, fallen needles or sawdust are used as a covering material.

You can also mulch strawberry beds at the planting stage. In this case, the area prepared for this crop is preliminarily covered with roofing material with cross-shaped incisions made in it. Next, they plant, in fact, the strawberries themselves.

Plants mulched in this way are watered in the usual way. Water from the hose flows easily into the cross-shaped incisions, and the plants do not remain dry.

How to care for strawberries: whisker removal

This operation must be done during the season. Otherwise, strawberries will lose varietal qualities and significantly reduce yields. This culture begins to produce mustaches in the spring. At this time, there are not too many of them. However, pruning in the event that the site owners do not plan to propagate strawberries is still worth doing in the spring.

Mandatory whisker removal is one of the answers to the question of how to care for strawberries in the spring. But in the future, such shoots will have to be removed at least two more times: in summer, after fruiting, and in autumn. Mustache trimming should only be done on dry and warm days. It is best to remove them in the morning or evening. Use only a good sharp pruner. Otherwise, in the future, those bushes from which the whiskers were removed may get sick.

During trimming, in no case should you pull the mustache. Otherwise, you can easily pull the plant out of the ground. The roots of strawberries, as already mentioned, are superficial.

How to propagate: useful tips

How to care for strawberries in autumn, spring and summer, of course. But how to properly propagate this culture? For the first time, gardeners usually buy strawberry seedlings in a nursery or take them from familiar gardeners. But in the future, the planting material of this culture can easily be grown independently.

The easiest way to get seedlings for a new bed, of course, is from a mustache. Most often, gardeners propagate strawberries as follows:

• during strawberry fruiting, the strongest and most productive bushes are marked with sticks or rags;
• whiskers are not removed from them next spring;
• cut off part of the mustache only after one rosette appears on them;
• after 2-4 leaves grow on young bushes, they are carefully dug up andmoved to a new location.

Strawberries bear fruit well in one place, unfortunately, only during the first few years. After that, it must be transferred to a new location. The specific timing of changing the beds depends on the variety of strawberries. Usually this culture is moved to a new place 5-8 years after planting. At the same time, they use the standard technology of reproduction with rosettes from a mustache.

Diseases and pests

So, we hope the reader understands how to care for strawberries. Growing this crop is relatively easy. However, the yield of this plant can be greatly reduced due to various kinds of pests and diseases. Most often strawberries are affected:

• white and gray rot;
• white and brown spotting;
• late blight rot.

With gray and white rot, a coating of the corresponding color appears on the berries. These two diseases can destroy 2/3 of the strawberry crop in a season. With white and brown spotting in plants, the leaves are primarily affected. Lesions appear on them, after which they die.

Phytophthora rot can destroy an entire strawberry crop. Symptoms of this disease are dark purple spots on the berries and rotting of the green mass of the plant. Over time, infected strawberries become mummified.

Combating the diseases of this culture, summer residents usually use Bordeaux liquid. It is this tool that is the answer to the question of how best to care for strawberries in terms of preventing infections. Sprayed plantsBordeaux liquid usually in early spring, before flowering, and after harvest.

The most dangerous strawberry pests are:

• strawberry mite;
• raspberry-strawberry weevil.

Symptoms of the presence of a mite in the plantings are, first of all, twisting and slowing down the growth of strawberry leaves. They usually fight this pest with a mustard solution prepared in the proportion of 100 g of dry powder per 10 liters of water.

Raspberry-strawberry weevil attacks strawberry buds. This gray beetle 2-3 cm long is capable of causing significant damage to the bushes. They fight the weevil by treating the plants with a solution of baking soda, prepared in a proportion of 2 tbsp. l. per 10 liters of water.

What to do in winter

How to care for strawberries correctly in spring, summer and autumn, we have thus found out. But what should be done when planting this plant in the cold season?

In most cases, frost-resistant strawberry varieties are grown in Russia today. Therefore, during the cold season, the summer resident on the plantations of this crop usually does not have to perform any work. The only answer to the question of how to care for strawberries in winter is to lightly warm them. In the event that the summer resident from time to time throws a little snow on the beds with strawberries, the plants are guaranteed not to freeze in the cold.