After harvesting strawberries, further work. How to care for strawberries after harvest
All gardeners and gardeners begin the development of their plots with the planting of garden strawberries (colloquially called strawberries). Strawberries open up fruit season they are tasty and fragrant. They are loved by adults, but especially by children. Growing strawberries seems to be a simple, but troublesome business.. The plant needs constant care, especially attention should be paid to strawberries after harvesting.
With the harvest of the last berries, the time for preparing strawberry bushes for the next year's harvest immediately begins, since with the advent of spring, strawberries take strength for the growth of young foliage, flowering and fruiting from the accumulated stocks of last year's season.
So the struggle for the future harvest must begin immediately after the harvest of the current and it consists in the fact that before winter the strawberry bushes have time to build up a good root system and stock up on nutrients.
To do this, immediately after harvesting, you must:
- if the beds with strawberries were covered with mulching material(straw, sawdust) it is better to remove it now, as diseases and pests could accumulate in it;
- to weed the beds with strawberries to remove weeds, because they take food from the soil;
- soil loosening under the bushes and between the rows, it is necessary to perform for better air exchange of the roots, this must be done carefully, trying not to damage the root system, and at the same time, it is necessary to spud the strawberry bushes, sprinkling the growing roots with earth (the main thing is not to fill up the heart);
- remove old leaves and extra mustache;
- make timely watering beds of strawberries;
- carry out top dressing plants;
- do some processing strawberries to avoid plant diseases and pest control.
Autumn top dressing of garden strawberries
Foliage and mustache removal, pruning scheme
At the strawberries garden update leaves occurs three times per season: spring, summer and autumn. On average, the life span of strawberry leaves is 60-70 days, after which they age and die.
Spring regrowth of foliage plays a major role in fruiting. In the period after fruiting, the second stage of the formation of new foliage begins - this is the period of laying flower buds and accumulation nutrients future harvest. Autumn foliage is important for a good wintering bushes.
Signs of leaf aging are the appearance of whitish, red or red spots on them. While the leaves are dying naturally, they take additional nutrients from the plant and deplete the plants. So it is desirable to remove old leaves from the fruiting bushes 2-3 days after the end of fruiting without damaging the growing young leaves and hearts.
At the same time as the leaves, we also remove the extra whiskers. If needed planting material to increase the strawberry plantation or replace old bushes with new ones, you need to leave the first outlet from the mother bush. She is the strongest and most productive. We remove all other regrown mustaches so that they do not deplete the mother bush, already weakened by fruiting.
As a result of mowing foliage, we partially get rid of diseases and pests., which are populated by aging foliage.
All cut foliage should be removed from strawberry beds. You can’t use it as a mulch, so lay it in compost heaps can.
Pruning is done with secateurs if the strawberry beds are not large. If the size of berry plantations exceeds the ability to process them manually, the trimming process will help to complete electric trimmer or lawn mower.
The cutting height should be 5-7 cm, the growth point (hearts) should not be removed. Pruning of old foliage is performed on bushes older than 2 years; on one-year-olds, only dried and diseased leaves are removed. After trimming berry plantings must be loosened and watered.
Do I need to water in the fall?
Land on strawberry beds should be wet, because after fruiting and pruning the foliage, the plants should recover as soon as possible, lay fruit buds, and grow the root system. Watering should be plentiful, at least once a week during dry periods.. To avoid sunburn leaves should be watered in the morning or evening hours. After watering, it is necessary to loosen the beds in order to prevent the formation of a crust on the soil surface. To keep the soil under berry bushes in a wet and loose state, it is best to mulch the beds.
Mulching is the best way to retain moisture
The mulched soil becomes looser. In the process of mulch decomposition in the soil, nutrients are accumulated and enriched with beneficial microorganisms. Mulching inhibits the growth of weeds, which makes it easier to care for plantings.. Berry beds look more aesthetically pleasing.
Garden strawberries under black covering material
As mulch, you can use sawdust, straw, chopped dry grass(if there is a lawn, then after mowing it, dry the grass in the sun and spread it between the bushes and in the aisle), compost or leaf humus, needles. You can cover the ground under the bushes with spandbond(preferably black, weeds practically do not grow under it) or lay new plantings of strawberries immediately on high ridges covered with black covering material.
Feeding after fruiting
In the period after the harvest, the strawberry bushes are weakened, all the forces are spent on fruiting. To restore plants, stimulate growth processes and lay flower buds during this period, top dressing is especially necessary.
Experienced gardeners recommend feeding three times. Immediately after pruning leaves in August, fertilizing with nitrogen fertilizers should be given to stimulate the growth of young foliage. Two weeks after the first fertilizing with organic matter with the addition of phosphorus and potassium, it will contribute to the laying of flower buds. In mid-September, the third top dressing is performed with a solution of mullein.
There are many options for top dressing, the choice is yours. E then there may be mineral supplements or organic.
mineral
- Ammophoska- contains in its composition nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, as well as magnesium, calcium, sulfur. Consumption of 20-30 grams per 1 m 2 in dry form is scattered on the beds, then covered with a chopper in the soil and watering is carried out. You can water the bushes with a watering can by preparing a solution at the rate of 20 grams ( Matchbox) fertilizer per 10 liters of water.
- Nitrophoska and nitroammophoska at the rate of 1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water.
- There are also special mineral fertilizers for strawberries, containing all the fertilizers necessary for it.
It is impossible to apply fertilizers containing chlorine under strawberries, it is contraindicated for it.
Water-soluble fertilizer Crystalon for strawberries and wild strawberries
organic
- Mullein.
It can be worn both dry, used for mulching between rows, and in the form of an infused solution.
To prepare the solution, one part of the mullein is poured with 10 parts of water., insist the mixture for a day, after which the solution can be applied under the plants. In this infusion, to enrich it with trace elements, you can add one part of the ash.
- bird droppings.
In dry form, it is better not to apply it under growing bushes, as you can burn the roots and destroy the plantings. To prepare the infusion 1 part bird droppings diluted in 10 parts of water and insist at least two days. Then 1 liter of the solution is diluted in 10 liters of water and the plants are watered.
- herbal infusion.
Up to half the volume of grass (weeds from weeding, nettles cut from the lawn) is placed in a barrel or other large container, ash is added, everything is filled with water to the full volume and left to wander in the sun for 10 days. You can add 200 grams of yeast to the barrel, they will speed up the fermentation process and enrich the infusion with microorganisms. The finished infusion is diluted in a 1: 1 ratio with water and strawberry bushes are watered.. The infusion not only fertilizes the plants, but also contributes to the deoxidation of the soil.
It is useful to make strawberry beds wood ash, which is rich in potassium-phosphorus fertilizers and trace elements, helps to reduce soil acidity. Ash is added after pruning the leaves, watering and loosening the soil.
The main thing is not to overfeed the strawberries so that they do not begin to fatten (to increase the green mass of the leaves, and not to lay flower buds). Better to underfeed than to overfeed.
Disease and pest control
After harvesting, it's time to start fighting diseases and pests, because this cannot be done during fruiting. After pruning the leaves, strawberries are treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate in order to disinfect the remaining petioles and treat the soil under the bushes from fungal diseases.
If a weevil wound up on strawberries, then berry plantings are treated with Intavir twice with an interval of two weeks. You can prepare an iodine solution: 10 drops of iodine per 10 liters of water and process the plants.
To avoid damage to strawberry plantations by strawberry mites, plantings are treated with broad-spectrum insecticides ("Fitoverm", "Fufanon", "Aktellik", "Kemifos") immediately after harvest and in the fall.
When processing strawberries, it is desirable to add fertilizers to tank mixtures, thus combining foliar top dressing with the fight against diseases and pests.
Autumn care for garden strawberries, preparation for winter
Caring for strawberries in the fall consists in removing weeds and loosening the soil, mulching bushes and row-spacings with humus and foliage. Single diseased and old leaves are removed from the bushes.. It is impossible to drastically cut the foliage, the bush will not have time to grow foliage, it will go into the winter weakened, it may not endure the cold and freeze.
The exposed roots of plants need to be covered with earth or well spud, but the heart (growth point) cannot be covered.
From frost, the beds are covered with branches, dry foliage, spruce branches. It is not worth covering with hay or straw - mice can get under them and gnaw on the roots.
If you properly care for strawberry plantations after harvesting, do not leave them to their fate, then next year you will definitely be with bountiful harvest sweet, fragrant berries. This will bring joy and pleasure not only to you, but also to your children and grandchildren.
After fruiting, strawberry plants remain active for a long time - it is during this period that the next year's harvest is laid. If the care of strawberries after harvesting is thorough and complete, then next year you can feel an increase in yield up to 30%. Rested bushes that have received additional nutrition will give more tasty, juicy, sweet berries. Care for garden strawberries (strawberries) after fruiting continues all summer in July and August.
Caring for strawberries in July after harvest
In July, after fruiting, it is imperative to trim the mustache, remove dry foliage, weed the beds, feed the plants, water and hill up. It is not necessary to cut or mow all strawberry foliage in July. It is required to remove only unnecessary leaves and mustaches. But if a nematode is found on strawberries, the bushes should be dug up and destroyed without regret. Spraying will save you from strawberry mites. Timely top dressing and watering will help the plants both restore strength and stock up on new ones.
For information on how to properly care for strawberries during harvest, read the articles:
Pruning strawberries after harvest
I advise you to burn the cut leaves as soon as possible. You do not need to lay them in, and you should not make a layer or covering material out of them. Leaves may contain diseases or pests.
Immediately after you remove all the more unnecessary leaves, you need to get rid of the old layer of mulch if it was. Then you can start loosening the soil, watering and fertilizing.
How to properly cut strawberries
You can remove the leaves by combing them with a rake, beveling or cutting with a garden knife or scissors. I strongly do not advise cutting off the leaves: by pulling on the leaf, you can pull out the bush or part of it, violating the root system. A damaged bush will recover for a long time, get sick, and the crop for the next season will decrease.
Most best option for those who have small plots, it is to remove unnecessary leaf blades with sharp garden shears or secateurs. You can mow the leaves, but try not to damage the sockets and healthy leaf mass.
Handling strawberries after harvest
When working with garden strawberries, I advise you to pay more attention to the leaves. If you notice that some have become corrugated, then most likely they were attacked strawberry mite . If it is found, the plants must be treated with any approved acaricidal (anti-mite) preparations, strictly following the instructions on the package.
Sometimes the central leaves of a strawberry plant suddenly begin to turn yellow, their petioles noticeably thicken, become shorter. It means only one thing - the bushes struck nematode . It is difficult to get rid of it, it is much easier to remove the bushes from the site, and shed the soil where they grew with boiling water.
For more information on how to deal with diseases and pests of strawberries, read the articles:
Loosening strawberries after harvest
Try to loosen only the aisles, I do not advise you to climb close to the bushes so as not to damage the root system. In the aisles, you can deepen the tip of the hoe by 7-8 cm, this is quite enough. After loosening the row spacing, you can spud the bushes with fresh soil by 2 cm.
First of all, try to hill up those bushes in which the root system is bare for some reason (usually in plants of 2-3 years of age), while the soil should not fall into the center of the bush.
Feeding strawberries after harvest
In July, it is a good idea to use a mixture of complex and mineral fertilizers for top dressing. Consumption rate: 20-25 g per 1 m². When using nitroammophoska, it is scattered on the surface of the soil, both in dry and in dissolved form.
How to fertilize strawberries
Dry mineral fertilizers for strawberries must be applied in a certain order:
- loosen the soil
- pour - a bucket of water per 1 m²,
- sprinkle fertilizer on the surface,
- sprinkle dry soil on top.
Also, dry mineral fertilizers can be dissolved in water (0.5 tablespoons per 1 liter of water) and poured over the soil under the compatriot bushes, spending 2-3 liters per 1 m² of soil.
Attention!
It is impossible to apply fertilizers containing chlorine, such as potassium chloride, under garden strawberries. Strawberries react very badly to chlorine: growth retardation or deterioration in fruiting may be observed.
Feeding strawberries after harvesting with chicken manure
In July, you can enrich strawberries and. Toward the end of the month, it is permissible to feed strawberries chicken manure diluted 15 times with water. Chicken droppings dissolved in water can only be applied under plants, you can’t get on the foliage - this can cause severe burns.
In general, try to water and fertilize in the evening or early in the morning.
For more information on what else you can feed strawberries, read the article:
Watering strawberries after harvest
Watering is combined with top dressing. 2-3 days after top dressing, if there is no rain, you can water the strawberries again, pouring 2 buckets per 1 m² and mulch the surface with humus with a layer of 2-3 cm. Humus affects the soil very well: it prevents the formation of a crust, does not allow evaporation moisture, slows down the growth of weeds and improves the structure of the soil substrate.
How often to water strawberries
Throughout the season and until its completion, on a strawberry plantation, the soil must be kept slightly moist, preventing the earthen coma from drying out. Watering should be carried out in accordance with the weather outside the window. If it is cool, it is raining, then there is no need to water the plants. If it is dry and hot, then watering is necessary and at least 1 time per week.
For 1 m² of strawberry beds, 2 buckets of water are consumed. When watering, it is advisable to use the water that has settled during the day, which the sun has warmed to room temperature.
Do-it-yourself drip irrigation of strawberries
Ideal irrigation option drip irrigation: and water is saved, and precious time. The optimal solution for giving with your own hands is to install a tank under the roof of the roof. Put it on a small elevation and take a few droppers from it directly to the beds. To prevent leaves or large debris from the roof from getting inside, which can clog the dropper holes, the surface of the tank must be covered plastic mesh with the smallest holes. Water will pass through the holes, but debris and leaves will not.
For more information on how to properly water plants in the garden, read the articles:
Caring for strawberries after harvesting in August
For more information on what to do on strawberries in August after fruiting, read the article:
Pruning strawberries in August
In August, you need to cut off all dried and reddening leaves on strawberries. Pay attention first early varieties, then switch to mid-season and, finally, cut the leaves from late varieties.
To fight the infection, you can use a more gentle for environment 1% solution of lime and blue vitriol. It will prevent the appearance of rot and spots on the plants.
Fertilizing strawberries in August
To increase the immunity and winter hardiness of plants in August, you can repeat some top dressing. Do not recommend to use in August nitrogen fertilizers, excessive growth activity in autumn is useless for strawberries.
You can use a solution of potassium salt (1 tsp per 1 m²) and a solution of superphosphate in the same volume. Superphosphate in cold water does not dissolve very well, so it is better to use water heated to 35-40 ° C.
Watering strawberries in August
Around the middle of the month, you can loosen the soil on a strawberry bed, water it at the rate of 1.5 buckets per 1 m² and mulch the surface with humus with a layer of 2-3 cm. During the month, you should also remember about additional watering, you should not allow long and strong drying of the soil .
Covering strawberries for the winter
At the end of the month, I advise you to start preparing for winter period. For these purposes, you need to stock up on covering material, such as straw, or buy non-woven covering material such as spunbond.
For more information on what materials and structures can be used to shelter strawberries, read the articles:
Olga Zavidova
Since childhood, he spends more time in the greenhouse than at home.
Articles written
Successful strawberry harvest depends not only on care during active growth and plant development. Important role in the process of fruiting plays the care of strawberries after harvest. The gardener must properly and competently prepare the bushes for the next season. If a preparatory work carried out correctly, next season the harvest increases by fifteen to thirty percent. The quality of the berries improves: they grow larger, become juicier and more palatable.
Care for strawberries after fruiting includes watering, weeding, pruning, top dressing, preventive measures pest control, proper training to wintering. Remontant strawberry, fruiting all year round, requires special attention.
It is impossible to name a clear time frame when strawberries bear fruit. Each variety forms berries at its own time. In varieties that produce only once, the active period passes very quickly. Varieties early term bear fruit in May, others in June and July. Repair varieties, bearing fruit almost continuously throughout the season, bring the first harvest in the summer. The end of the season also depends on the variety, for example, the Portopa variety is harvested until mid-November, and Albion sets berries until December.
It is difficult to name a certain time frame for fruiting: the harvest time depends on the variety
Why care is needed after fruiting
Some gardeners think strawberries are enough autumn care. However, after the harvest, there is too much time until autumn. During this period, the bushes can become so overgrown with weeds that in the fall it will not be possible to reanimate the plantings. Plants that have ceased to bear fruit must gain strength and health for fruiting in the next season. It will be very difficult for them to recover if neighboring weeds take all the nutrients from the soil and interfere with active growth.
Old strawberry leaves take nutrition from the mother plant, so they are removed in a timely manner
So, how to care for strawberries after fruiting?
General principles of care after fruiting
Preparation for harvesting next season begins immediately after the end of fruiting. Strawberries need strength in order to grow green mass next year, bloom flowers and form berries. The bushes draw forces for development from last year's reserves.
The harvest of strawberries (garden strawberries) directly depends on your diligence and how fully you follow the recommendations when caring for it. Often, gardeners ignore the maintenance of the berry after fruiting, which is a mistake.
Many do not experienced gardeners It is believed that after fruiting, garden strawberries do not need care, and it can be "preserved" until the next season. However, with this approach, one should not be surprised that next year there is no harvest or it is completely scarce. After all, preparation for a new stage of fruiting begins immediately after picking strawberries and continues most season. In this article you will find the most popular tips for how to care for strawberries after harvest.
strawberry care in july
An important component of the July strawberry care is mustache trimming. The fact is that strawberry bushes, which are 3-5 years old, after fruiting actively grow mustaches and spend on it a large number of nutrients. Therefore, they are removed with secateurs to facilitate the development of the plant.
In no case do not cut off the mustache, as this can easily damage the strawberry bush, and the plant will spend a lot of energy on recovery.
Before removing parts of the strawberry bush, it should feed. For 1 sq.m, add a mixture of superphosphate (40-60 g), ammonium nitrate (20-30 g) and potassium chloride (15-20 g). loosen soil between rows to a depth of 10 cm and next to strawberry bushes.
Oxygen for the roots is no less important than water and top dressing, so regularly loosen the soil near the strawberry bushes
Healthy strawberries, which will enter the active growth phase in 5-7 days, should be fed with a mixture of nitrophoska (2 tablespoons per 10 liters of water) and wood ash (1 cup). For young plants of the first year of fruiting, spend 1 liter of the solution, and for those that are older - 1.5-2 liters.
Closer to mid-July, strawberries should be fed fresh chicken manure. It is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:15-20. Plants are watered from a watering can, trying not to fall on the leaves. 10 liters of solution is enough for 6-8 bushes of adult strawberries and 20-25 young bushes. Fertilizer should be applied after rain or a couple of hours after watering.
In a timely manner pull out the weeds removing them after watering and rain. Also regularly loosen the soil to saturate the root system with oxygen.
Caring for strawberries in August
Without knowing, how to care for strawberries in august, you risk losing your crop next year. The last summer month is often dry and hot. Therefore, it is important to carry out watering at least 2 times a week. The plants themselves "signals" the need for watering - the bushes droop, and the foliage dries up.
You can water strawberries both by sprinkling and under the root - the sun is no longer so aggressive, and there will be no burn on the leaves
If the leaves continue to dry out, become stained, weaken, they should be carefully cutting down and leave only 3-4 healthy leaves for the improvement of the "green mass". The same goes for mustache, which are removed if they are still growing, or if you forgot to do it in July.
Plants can feed with a weak solution of mullein(1:10) or bird droppings(1:20) and loosen the soil. One bucket of 10 liters should be enough for 10-12 bushes. Around the beds, you can form earthen "sides" up to 15 cm high and fill them with water to the top.
And it is also in August that it is recommended to plant new strawberry bushes on the site. It is best to do this in the evening or on a cloudy day. Seedlings should have three true leaves and a developed root system. It is planted in a pre-prepared wet hole.
September strawberry care
Autumn strawberry care differs from summer activities slightly. However, they should not be neglected either.
Strawberries of some varieties continue to form flowers even in September. The berries on them will not ripen before the onset of cold weather, therefore such "single" inflorescence follows cut off. The same applies to mustache strawberries.
Removing inflorescences from varietal strawberries in the fall will help protect them from anthracnose and white spot
Even if the forecasts promise mild winter, feed the bushes. Great for this Ammophos(the contents are added at the rate of 30 g per 1 sq.m). For "warming" they also bring in rotted chicken manure, diluted in water in a ratio of 1:15. Under each bush pour 1-1.5 liters of the composition. Sometimes they use cow dung, diluted in water in a ratio of 1:10 with the addition of 1 cup of ash. Strawberries are abundantly watered with the resulting composition at the rate of 1.5-2 liters per bush.
For the last time before winter, inspect the strawberry bushes and reject diseased and affected specimens, as well as remove excess whiskers and withered leaves. Don't throw away the "bad" plants, but put them in the compost heap.
Now you know, how to care for strawberries in september. Armed with this information, next year you are guaranteed to get a bountiful harvest.
Caring for strawberries after pruning leaves
Care for strawberries open field implies not only the removal of mustaches and inflorescences, but also leaves. However, you do not need to "bare" the plant completely, because by picking healthy leaves, you reduce the likelihood of the formation of peduncles and fruits, reduce yields and doom strawberries to difficulties during the wintering period. First of all, remove dry and withered leaves affected by strawberry mites. If the fruit-bearing plant is affected almost entirely, then it is easier to cut it with a pruner just above the growth point and burn the remains.
If you need seedlings for propagation, then you should not remove the mustache, you need to give them the opportunity to take root and grow a strong outlet
After cutting loosen the ground and water it. Treat the bushes with a weak solution potassium permanganate and sprinkle ash. To provide good growth kidneys, feed the strawberries universal fertilizer at the rate of 10 g per 10 liters of water. Also suitable ammonium nitrate and nitrogen fertilizers(use according to instructions).
Toward the end of September, strawberry bushes can be overlaid straw to protect them from coming frosts. In the aisle, spread the freshly cut grass- it will be the first spring fertilizer.
Caring for remontant strawberries
From mid-September, start caring for the fruiting bushes. Loosen the soil to hide the root system and protect it from the cold. As a rule, at this time, the plants are covered with a "blanket" of cut green manure or mulch the soil with straw, hay, fallen leaves and mowed weeds. Remove the remaining flower stalks so that they do not weaken the plants, but withered cut the leaves after the first frost.
As you can see, take care garden strawberries after fruiting is easy. Just enough to do necessary complex standard events, and grateful plants will give you a bountiful harvest.
Probably, you cannot find such a gardener who would not grow strawberries in his garden. After all, both children and adults love it. Fragrant juicy berries are not only tasty, but also very healthy, as they are rich in vitamins and minerals.
That is why everyone who grows it wants to get a rich harvest. But in order to achieve this, strawberries need to be looked after not only when they bloom and bear fruit. Care of strawberries after harvest is of great importance. This is directly related to the laying of future berries, so experienced gardeners pay special attention to strawberries during this period.
The berries are harvested - why do we need care now?
Some people think that regular autumn harvesting is enough for strawberries. But the thing is that strawberries cease to bear fruit very early, and there is still a lot of time until autumn. Over the summer, the beds can become so overgrown with weeds that autumn harvesting will be very difficult, which is why strawberry care after harvest is required.
In addition, the bushes that have finished fruiting must again replenish their strength, accumulating them for the next season, which will be almost impossible to do in the vicinity of weeds.
Among other things, it is at this time that strawberries begin to form young leaves and lay flower buds again. Numerous mustaches appear, which also weaken the mother bush if they are not cut in time. Against the background of this process, the old foliage slowly dies off, preventing the new one from developing normally.
All these factors already indicate that post-harvest care for strawberries is necessary. But that's not all.
Various pests and pathogens that have accumulated over the season on old leaves try to move to new young leaves. And they may be quite enough. After all, everyone knows that during fruiting, strawberries are not recommended to be weeded, and even more so treated with chemicals.
So, in addition to the accumulated dying old leaves, it is also necessary to loosen the aisles. Since the strawberry roots are already shallow, the resulting adventitious roots may even end up on the surface of dense soil. And this is just at the moment when strawberries need enhanced nutrition so much.
In fact, it turns out that it is still far from feeding in the fall, there are not enough nutrients in the soil, and strawberries remain on a starvation diet. But as already mentioned, the better it gets stronger and lays more flower buds, the more berries can be harvested next year. Here are some more reasons why you need to process strawberries after harvest.
What activities should be carried out with strawberries after harvesting?
Based on the foregoing, there is a need to carry out comprehensive measures, of which the proper care behind the plants.
It is as follows:
- pruning old leaves and removing mustaches;
- destruction of weeds and loosening of the soil;
- timely watering;
- treatment for pests and diseases;
- top dressing.
Pruning old leaves or mowing?
Many people ask if strawberries are mowed after harvest. In most cases, yes. Since, thanks to this, strawberries can be freed from old leaves and open the way for new ones, which grow just during this period. Just do it very carefully.
This procedure should be started when at least a week has passed after picking strawberries. The leaves are mowed at a height of 7-8 cm, so as not to damage the growing points, after which they are removed with a rake.
In a few days, the strawberry bushes will begin to be covered with young leaves, and soon the bed will take on its original appearance.
If you are not a fan of mowing and are wondering when to trim strawberries after harvest, then you can also do this after 7-10 days.
Old leaves are cut to the same height, without affecting the growth points. This is how each bush is treated. This method is suitable when you need to cut strawberries after harvesting in a small area.
In addition to young leaves in summer, strawberries begin to throw out mustaches. If you want to propagate it, then some mustaches can be dug in. The rest should be disposed of, because they take a lot of strength from plants.
How to tidy up the beds?
Once you've upgraded your strawberries after harvest, what's next? Of course, to put in order the beds.
Destroy all the weeds that managed to occupy it during ripening, once again walk with a rake, removing the remains of the leaves, and you can start hilling each plant with a chopper. During this period, some bushes begin to bulge the roots, which leads to their drying out, and the plants cannot grow normally. That's why hilling is necessary. Just be careful not to sprinkle the heart with earth.
After that, it remains only to loosen the aisles well.
Watering strawberries
Caring for strawberries after harvesting involves mandatory watering. Since the soil in the beds should be well moistened. It should be watered abundantly, but infrequently, given weather. To preserve moisture, the soil must be mulched, for which peat is suitable. Do not allow the formation of a crust after watering. Therefore, you need to loosen the soil around each bush and between rows.
Spraying strawberries
The summer period, when the berries are harvested, is the most the best time to take care of plant health. Treatment of strawberries after harvesting from diseases is carried out with various preparations.
Which one to use depends on various diseases plants, determined by their appearance:
- if damage to young leaves appears, then the earth mite is to blame. Spraying with colloidal sulfur diluted with water or such preparations as Fitoverm, Actellik and Titovit Jet help to get rid of it;
- presence on the leaves brown spots talking about viral diseases. In this case, they are treated with Bordeaux mixture;
- if rotting berries were observed, then the plants were struck by a fungus - gray rot. To eliminate it, you need to spray the bushes with a solution of a popular fungicide - copper oxychloride.
Processing strawberries after harvesting is also a preventive measure.
First, the affected leaves must be removed immediately, carefully examining the bushes.
And secondly, manganese is a reliable assistant in this case. Dilute a weak solution and not only spray the bushes with it, but also water the soil in the garden.
Top dressing strawberries
Do not know how to feed strawberries after harvest, and why do it? First of all, so that next year it bears fruit well. Indeed, as mentioned above, it is at this time that flower buds are formed that determine the next harvest.
For summer top dressing great fit complex fertilizers produced specifically for strawberries, such as Rubin, Ryazanochka or Agricola. They must be applied according to the instructions, combining this procedure with watering and loosening the soil.
If you are wondering what else to feed strawberries after harvesting, then you can also use humus, wood ash or ammophoska for this purpose.
Preparing for winter
This is not a complicated matter, but it is obligatory, since the next year's harvest will also depend on this stage.
You have already figured out how much attention strawberries require after harvest, what to do with them throughout the summer. It remains to figure out how to prepare it for the winter.
Do not be surprised, but you have already done part of this preparation. After all best protection from winter colds - these are healthy, overgrown leaves and the absence of pests. So it was not in vain that you tried all summer, putting the bushes in order, feeding and treating them with remedies for diseases, and also removing weeds and loosening the beds.
Now it remains for you to mulch the plantings with sawdust or peat in October, making a layer of no more than 5 cm, and in November cover them with spruce branches or raspberry branches so that snow lingers on them later. This will be the best hiding place for strawberries.