Spring care for planting garden strawberries

Strawberries (wild strawberries) - the berry is tasty, healthy and loved by many. At the same time, it is a rather capricious plant and requires compliance with a set of agrotechnical measures that should be started in early spring, otherwise the gardener should not see a plentiful harvest, and the plants themselves should look unattractive without care and will become easy prey for pests and diseases.

Wake up, strawberries: first care measures

In order for the strawberry bushes to “wake up” from winter sleep and set off in growth, of course, warmth is necessary. If the spring is early, then the plants will begin to vegetate earlier. But natural factors alone are not enough for the successful development of garden strawberries. The gardener will have to work hard.

To get such a wonderful harvest of garden strawberries, you need to start caring for it, as soon as the snow falls

As soon as the snow melts and the earth dries just enough so that you can get to the strawberry beds, such work begins:

1. Spring-cleaning. In most regions, except for the south, strawberries are sheltered for the winter to protect them from freezing. With a covering (mulching) material, they do this:
   • If stalks of corn, foliage, straw were used, that is, parts of plants, they are collected and burned. Neither in compost heaps, nor as mulch, they are no longer suitable: they probably found refuge or spores of pathogenic fungi, or insects - lovers of feasting on strawberries. It is permissible not to “rip off” the rotting mulch to bare ground if the owner of the site is sure that there were very few pests on strawberries last year and they were successfully fought with. At the first loosening, this mulch is slightly sprinkled with earth, using as fertilizer.
   • If strawberries were covered with a film, then it needs to be disinfected. Small pieces of material are washed and kept in a solution of copper sulfate, copper chloroxide, and large shelters are spread out, washed thoroughly with soap and water and then sprayed with the same fungicides. A clean, dried film can cover the beds when they are ready.
2. Plant cleaning. From under the snow, the bushes of strawberries appear untidy, with dry leaves, the remnants of a mustache, perhaps in some places there were unbroken peduncles. All these parts of the plants are also removed, but not torn off, but cut off with garden shears and destroyed. This can be done not only by burning, but also by digging, preferably away from the strawberry beds. The motto of some gardeners and gardeners “Everything in compost” for strawberries is inappropriate and can have the most sad consequences, since this berry is very delicate and compost for it should contain only harmless elements.
   

   Dry leaves and mustache residues must be carefully cut with secateurs and destroyed

3. When the beds are cleaned and the bushes become neat, care should be taken to ensure their rational arrangement. Thickness negatively affects the development of plants, in addition, if the strawberry bushes are not well ventilated, they may be threatened with gray and white rot of the fruit. Therefore, all plants with signs of illness, degeneration, dwarfism are removed, and young shoots bought or bred last year from mustaches are planted in a free place. Optimal landing patterns:
   • single-line (50-60 cm row from row and 20-30 cm in a row between plants);
   • two-line (20 cm between the bushes, 30 cm between the rows, 70 between the beds).
     

     Planting after 15 cm in a row is used less and less, since many varieties of strawberries, constantly appearing on the market, have a powerful leaf rosette and give two crops a year, therefore, they need a large feeding area.

4. Updating and enrichment of the soil. Some gardeners advise removing the topsoil so that the roots get better. But garden strawberries have a peculiarity: over time, they begin to "bulge" out of the ground, so it probably needs to be added to fresh fertile soil than to remove the old one. Therefore, the soil is loosened and added rotted manure, humus (per bucket per square meter).
   

   If the roots of the plant are bare, you need to fill them with fertile soil or humus

5. If the soil has managed to dry, before loosening the bed is watered abundantly.
   

   In spring, it is better to irrigate strawberries - this contributes to the growth of leaves

Fertilizing and mulching

When fertilizing plantings, the main thing is not to overdo it, otherwise the harm will be more tangible than good. If the bed is planted in the fall, then there is no need to feed the plants - the fertilizers laid during planting will be enough to feed during flowering.

Fresh manure can not be brought in the spring. Firstly, its excess will cause strawberries to grow leaves, and not bear fruit. Secondly, from excess ammonia bushes can "burn out". And thirdly, excessive nitrogen fertilizer makes garden strawberries more susceptible to disease. But this does not mean that strawberry nitrogen fertilizers are not needed. Nitrogen feeding can be done from mullein by taking a half-liter can of fertilizer in a bucket of water, or from bird droppings (1 part to 15 parts of water, not more). Mullein insist 3-4 hours, litter such preparation is not required. Under the bush, pour up to 0.5 l of solution.

You can feed strawberries with specialized fertilizer, they are mineral and organic-mineral

Important! Do not increase the rate when watering strawberries with liquid nitrogen-containing fertilizer, so as not to stimulate excessive growth of leaf mass to the detriment of fruiting.

Feeding with ash in combination with superphosphate will replace complex fertilizer. Two glasses of ash and a handful of superphosphate in 10 liters of water will saturate the plants with trace elements. Ash is useful in strawberries and in dry form. Sifted, it can be scattered in the aisles, as well as pollinate bushes, thereby protecting them from aphids and other uninvited guests.

Those who prefer environmental remedies should pay attention to yeast feeding (from bread soaked in water), a solution of 1 liter of whey in a bucket of water, or an infusion of nettle and weeds. These wild herbs are kept in water for 4-5 days, causing fermentation, and then watered strawberries, spending up to a liter of infusion under the bush.

After all agrotechnical measures, the soil on the strawberry bed should be mulched with natural or artificial materials:

• film;
• nonwoven fabric;
• sawdust;
• chopped straw;
• dry grass
• compost;
• leaf humus.

Mulch is poured with a layer of 4-7 cm, but not more so as not to interfere with soil heating by the sun

The north the strawberry growing area, the thinner the layer of mulch sprinkled in the spring should be.

We fight against pests and ailments

Since strawberries are both tasty and healthy, not only the owners of the garden plots, but also numerous insects, as well as slugs, want to enjoy its fruits. And fungal diseases are not uncommon for her. As you know, the disease is easier to prevent than to treat, and strawberries are no exception. And the sooner the prevention is carried out, the more successful it will be.

Table: garden strawberry pests and their control

The most common ailments that affect strawberries are:

• gray and white rot;
• verticillosis;
• Fusarium
• powdery mildew.

These are diseases caused by fungi, and the methods for controlling them are similar. Since we are talking about the earliest processing times, when there is a lot of time before flowering, and even more so before fruit sets, chemical means of protection can be used. But the importance of folk remedies cannot be diminished, sometimes they literally save the crop.

Preventive spraying against diseases is carried out by such means:

• Fundazole
• Horus
• Topaz,
• Fitosporin.

Many gardeners advise to water strawberry bushes with hot water with potassium permanganate - this ruins wintering on the bush and a number of pests, cleans the plant from diseases. Water should not be boiling water, but about 70-80 ° C.

Photo gallery: diseases and pests of garden strawberries

Preventative measures

We should not forget about timely weeding, weed removal, watering. It is very useful to mulch plantings both with natural materials (straw, foliage, pea tops, beans), and with film, agrofibre. The latter is more preferable, because it has many small holes that provide heat transfer and air access to the roots. These measures will make the plant strong, strong, and pests will not be afraid of it.

A positive effect in the fight against ailments and harmful insects is given by the joint planting of strawberries and onions. Phytoncides secreted by onions save from many diseases, and ticks and nematodes do not like its smell. Marigolds, lupins, peas also repel strawberry pests.

Joint planting of onions and wild strawberries are becoming increasingly popular

Video: processing strawberries after wintering

Spring bed preparation

For the spring planting of wild strawberries, we prepare the garden in this way:

1. We process a solution of copper sulfate (2 tbsp.spoons per bucket of water).
2. Dig the soil to a depth of 25-30 cm.
3. Fertilize with well-decomposed manure, a solution of mullein, litter, ash.
4. If the land is dry, water it (up to a bucket of water per square meter).
5. After watering, slightly loosen the ground with a pitchfork, a chopper so that a crust does not form.

Video: proper strawberry care

As they say, without difficulty ... there will be no sweet tasty berry. Work on the care of bushes of wild strawberries begins in early spring, and this is justified. The sooner a complex of preventive measures is carried out, the greater the likelihood that the plants will be healthy, strong and give an excellent harvest.