June-July is the time when strawberries thank us for their care. We are reaping the fruits of our labors, but do not think that after the harvest, you can forget about the berry beds. In August and September, plants need even more help and protection than in spring. It is at the end of summer - autumn that the laying of the next year's crop takes place.

What to do with strawberries after harvest

You need to start leaving at the end of July - August, the earliest - when the last berries are still hanging on the bushes, and at the latest - 2 weeks after harvesting:

1. Cut off the old coarsened leaves, leaving 5-7 of the topmost young ones in the bush. Do this even if there are no signs of illness. So you thin out the plants, improve their ventilation and help the strawberries renew their leaves. Indeed, in August, the second wave of growth of green mass begins.
   

   Cutting entire leaves is a last resort. The bush will direct all its forces to the restoration of the tops, and not to the laying of flower buds. Cardinal pruning to stumps is justified only in two cases: all strawberries are severely affected by diseases and pests, or the plantation is too large, overgrown, it is impossible to cut each bush.

2. If you left your mustache to root in July, in August it's time to dress them from the mother plant and plant them in a separate bed. All other mustaches must be removed as they grow.
3. After trimming the leaves and mustaches, feed with nitrogen fertilizer, but in a lower concentration than in spring, for example, instead of 1 tbsp. l. ammonium nitrate, take 0.5 tbsp. l. for 10 liters of water. Many gardeners use weed infusion at this time. Combine top dressing with watering.
4. Keep the soil under the strawberries constantly moist and loose until the first frost. This is also important for laying flower buds. To make the job easier, use mulch or grow strawberries on a spunbond. Install a drip irrigation system.
5. Treat for pests and diseases. Use proven tools. Each gardener has their own. Many people prefer folk recipes, for example, from Khrushchev - ammonia (40–50 g per 10 liters under the root), from diseases - brilliant green (40 drops per bucket). But it is more reliable to use fungicides (Scor, HOM, Arcerid, etc.) and insecticides (Aktara, Karbofos, Fufanon, etc.). Perform two treatments 10-14 days apart.
6. In September, when the bushes recover and become lush again, apply phosphorus-potassium fertilizers: 1 tbsp. l. superphosphate and potassium sulfate per square meter of beds. You can use ash - 1-2 tbsp. l. under the bush Distribute the fertilizer evenly, loosen and water. Phosphorus and potassium also have a positive effect on the yield of the next year, and in addition, they help strawberries to winter better.
   

   Do not apply fertilizers containing nitrogen in the fall, they will provoke another growth of greenery. Bushes with tender young leaves will freeze.

7. With the advent of stable cold weather, when frosts begin to shackle the surface of the earth, cover the strawberries with straw, dry tops of vegetables, dill stalks, agrofibre and other warming materials.

This year, after harvesting, I plan to start transplanting young bushes to another place. Last summer I planted seedlings in the sunniest area near the house. I wanted the best, but early in the spring the snow melted there first of all. Strawberries stood in puddles during the day, and in ice at night. Several bushes died, I want to transplant the rest to the middle of the site. There is also a row that fell into the shadow of the fence, where the situation is reversed - the snow melts for a long time, the earth warms up slowly, strawberries bloom and bear fruit later, get sick. I will be transplanting it too.

After harvesting, there comes a period when the bushes, if necessary, can be transplanted to another place.

It is best to transplant adult bushes immediately after trimming excess leaves and mustaches. Plants become compact, evaporate less moisture, take root faster in a new place. Do not forget the rule: every 4 years you need to move the entire strawberry plantation to another place. But for this, take not old bushes, but rosettes obtained by rooting mustaches in July.

Video: strawberry care in the second half of summer - autumn

Features of caring for remontant strawberries

Remontant strawberries bear fruit all summer. After the first harvest, a dormant period begins for 2-3 weeks and the next wave begins. The berries grow and ripen until frost, so intensive care is required:

1. Immediately after harvest, cut off old flower stalks and leaves with damage and spots. It is impossible to mow all the foliage and radically thin out the bushes. Strawberries need strength to lay the next crop, so it needs to be injured to a minimum.
2. Be careful with mustaches: some varieties do not produce new ones after pruning. Therefore, read about the characteristics of your variety and decide how much mustache you need to leave. There are strawberries, which, on the contrary, grow mustaches all season and even give an additional crop on them. In this case, there will be a lot of berries, but small ones. In addition, it will be difficult for you to clear the bed later, it will be all overgrown.
3. Keep the soil moist and always under mulch to keep the ever-growing berries from touching the damp soil.
4. Feed every 10-14 days with a complex fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and trace elements, such as Fertika, Agricola, etc.
5. From diseases and pests, use only biological products: Trichodermin, Planriz, Gaupsin, etc.
6. In early September, cut off diseased leaves, as well as all flower stalks along with growing and ripening berries. Bushes should go into the winter stronger, so they need rest before the onset of cold weather.
7. After trimming, feed with phosphorus-potassium fertilizer.
8. Before the onset of frost, make charging watering, and with their arrival, cover the strawberry beds for the winter.

Video: caring for remontant strawberries

Be sure to handle strawberries after harvest. Do not leave it to grow weeds and stained with diseases. Without proper care, the bushes are quickly depleted, may freeze in the winter or be of low yield next summer.

It is natural that there is no such gardener who would not have at least a few strawberry bushes in his garden plot. There are also those who occupy whole "hundred square meters" with strawberry plantations and get good yields, but they sometimes do not know what to do with the plants after the entire crop, that is, up to a single strawberry, is harvested. It turns out that during this period nothing should be left to chance and strawberry plants should not be left to their fate. The end of fruiting is the most important period when the next year's harvest begins to be actively laid, and if the plant has enough of everything - warmth, moisture, nutrition and care, then next year the harvest can be even higher than this year.

Care of strawberries after harvest. © James A. Guilliam

Pineapple or garden strawberries (Fragaria × ananassa) and its berries are often called strawberries, which is incorrect from the point of view of botanical nomenclature, but is universally accepted in everyday life. Using the word "strawberry" in this material, we mean garden strawberries.

Rules for the care of strawberries after harvest

So, we will tell you about what needs to be done immediately after harvesting the entire crop from strawberry plantations, and then we will analyze each stage in as much detail as possible so that no black (obscure) spots remain.

loosening

The first stage is, of course, loosening the soil. It is necessary to loosen the soil carefully, both in the aisles and under the bushes, trying not to damage the fragile root system of the strawberry and not to take its roots to the surface. Loosening will ensure soil ventilation, get rid of the soil crust, increase air and water exchanges, respectively, plants will begin to receive more nutrition and moisture from the same area unit, grow normally, develop and lay a sufficient number of generative buds to ensure a high yield of strawberries.

When loosening the soil around the strawberry bushes, try to at the same time slightly pile them up with fresh and nutritious soil, especially if you notice that one or more roots are bare.

Weeding

The second important event that can be carried out literally according to the list is weeding the beds, that is, removing all weeds, especially wheatgrass. Wheatgrass is extremely tenacious and consumes a lot of moisture and nutrients from the soil. It is better not to weed it out of the ground, but literally pull it out with your hands, then, perhaps, its further growth will be greatly slowed down.

Do not lose sight of other weeds, because they are the same competitors, and therefore must be removed. It is best to remove the weeds after watering or good rain, then the roots of the weeds are mostly and much more easily pulled out of the soil.

Watering

The beds need to be kept moist, just try to pour moisture under the bushes in the evening. It is better not to pour water on the leaves at noon - sunburn may occur. Naturally, you need to water strawberries based on the weather outside the window, for example, if it is raining and the soil is already saturated with moisture, then additional watering is not needed at all, it is much more appropriate to loosen the soil, and perhaps tear off a couple of lower leaves from those , which are literally nailed to the ground to enhance the evaporation of moisture and prevent rot from forming.

If the weather is dry, and there is not even a hint of rain, then watering is a must. When watering, it is best to use settled water or rainwater, it should soak the soil to a depth of at least 5-6 cm so that the roots are saturated with moisture. Waterlogging the soil is also impossible, but overdried soil will be detrimental to plants.

If you are a resident of a summer cottage, where you visit only on weekends, then you can design a simple drip irrigation system. To do this, you need to take a barrel of 200 liters, install it on a slight elevation, under the stream of rain from the roof, make a couple of holes in the base of the barrel (according to the number of rows in the garden) for special tubes - droppers and spread out along the beds with strawberries. Moisture, acting on droppers, will moisten the soil in your absence, where it is needed.

Mulching

If you don’t want to “bother” with the installation of droppers, then you can simply mulch the soil after each watering, with a layer of a couple of centimeters. As a mulch for strawberries, you can use straw, sawdust, humus, or just dry soil. For several days, such mulch will be quite enough to save moisture in the soil.

In the event that, after harvesting the garden strawberry, a layer of old mulch, say, straw, remains on the site, which you laid out to keep the berry clean and save it from fruit rot, you need to remove such mulch as carefully as possible and burn it, reuse it not necessary, as harmful microorganisms can accumulate in it.

Removing old leaves

The next stage: as you know, leaf blades of garden strawberries, having served their two years, begin to age, so they can be safely removed. They do it in different ways: they comb it with a rake, mow it and even cut it out by hand. There is no clear guide to such actions, however, do not forget that when removing old strawberry leaf blades that have changed their color, it is important not to damage the growth points. Given this, two methods are considered the most sparing - raking old leaves with a rake (they are easily separated) and removing them manually.

Top dressing strawberries

This stage can be combined: the removal of old leaf blades can be combined with plant nutrition. Having reproduced offspring, strawberry plants are quite depleted, and there is a long winter ahead and a short period during which you need to have time to re-lay flower buds in order to give a good harvest next year.

If there is little nutrition in the soil, then this can also negatively affect immunity: it will weaken and plants can freeze in winter and at the stage of growth activity, so the bushes will lay a minimum number of flower buds.

What to feed garden strawberries after harvesting?

The introduction of one element to maintain the optimal balance of nutrients in the soil will not be enough. Moreover, we strongly recommend that all elements be introduced in a form dissolved in water so that they reach the roots as quickly as possible and, accordingly, into the plant.

It is best to use potassium sulfate (not chloride), ammonium nitrate and superphosphate dissolved in water during this period. Potassium sulfate, in terms of a square meter of soil, previously diluted in a bucket of water, you need 15-18 grams (this is one liter per square meter), ammonium nitrate - the same amount for the same area, but superphosphate needs 45-50 grams, also dissolved in a bucket of water, and in the same amount per square meter of beds with garden strawberries.

In addition to applying liquid mineral fertilizers, after about a week, 50-70 g of wood ash can be poured under each bush into the soil previously loosened and watered with water, although there is not much potassium in the wood ash, only 5-6%, but there are many other mineral substances (microelements).

In the absence of wood ash, you can sprinkle a handful of compost under the garden strawberry bushes, nothing bad will come of it. Somehow the advice came to me that a handful of dried manure was poured under the garden strawberries at that time, I tried it on a couple of plants, they dried up after that, so this advice is at your own peril and risk.

As for wood ash, it can be poured not only under each bush, but also scattered in the aisles, previously loosened and weeded, spending two kilograms per square meter. Some write that it helps from the bear, I doubt it, but it’s a fact that ash enriches the soil with potassium and microelements.

It would probably be superfluous to say that when doing all these operations, you leave plant residues and old foliage on the plantation, of course, you shouldn’t do this, absolutely all garbage from the site must be removed and burned: diseases, pests and various diseases can accumulate in it. pathogens.

Protection of strawberries from diseases and pests

The next important stage, which for some reason is neglected by many, is the preventive and eradicating treatment of garden strawberry plantations after the end of fruiting, both from pests and diseases. Once all the berries have been removed, carefully inspect the plants for pests or signs of various diseases.

Diseases, contrary to popular belief, there are quite a lot of garden strawberries. Take at least powdery mildew. Its first signs of manifestation are observed in the form of a grayish coating on the leaf blades of strawberries, later these leaves begin to rot, and of course, fall off, pre-twisting.

At the first sign of the presence of the disease, when the entire strawberry crop has already been harvested, the plants should be generously treated from above and below with a solution of colloidal sulfur, for which it is necessary to dilute 100 grams of colloidal sulfur in a bucket of water at room temperature, stir well, refill the spray bottle and treat the plants, wetting the entire surface.

Gray rot also harms garden strawberries. Usually, clearly visible gray spots are visible on the berries, and in some places such berries are still hanging, pickers simply ignore them. You can't do that. First you need to collect all the affected strawberries and destroy them by burning: after all, these are foci of infection; and then - treat all plants and especially carefully those where diseased berries were found, with a solution of copper oxychloride, in an amount of 45 g per bucket of water. It is necessary to moisten the entire aerial part of diseased plants with a solution.

Another rot that few people distinguish from gray rot is black rot, it can be distinguished by spots on the berries, they are exactly black, although the action itself and the treatment methods are exactly the same as for gray rot.

We go further: spotting, usually spotting, affects the leaf blades of garden strawberries, and brown-red spots appear on them. It is impossible to delay, the disease can quickly spread to still healthy plants and capture most of the plantation. Outwardly, it seems that this is nonsense, well, just think - spots, in fact, these spots lead to disruptions in the photosynthetic apparatus and, against this background, inhibit the overall development of the plant.

Of course, to a large extent this will not be able to affect the laying of the next year's strawberry crop, but spotting must still be fought. In this case, treatment with a solution of copper oxychloride effectively helps, it must be diluted at a concentration of 50 g per bucket of water and diseased strawberry plants should be treated with this solution.

By the way, beginners quite often confuse outdated foliage with a reddish tint with affected spotting. Firmly remember that the old foliage just needs to be removed, it no longer needs any additional processing.

From diseases, we smoothly move on to pests - during the period when the garden strawberry gave the entire crop, it also needs protection from pests. At this time, strawberries are attacked by strawberry weevil, strawberry mites and spider mites.

Strawberry weevil usually eats leaf blades, in earlier stages of plant development it can also affect buds. In order to get rid of the strawberry weevil, the plants must be treated with permitted insecticides such as karbofos, spending 70-80 g of the drug per bucket of water. When processing, you need to carefully moisten the top and bottom of the strawberry leaves and also process the soil.

An even smaller insect is the strawberry mite. It is possible to understand that it was he who struck the strawberry plantations by the slightly deformed foliage, which changed its color to yellow. The control measures here are the same as in the case of the weevil.

Finding a spider mite on strawberry plants is quite simple: if you turn the leaf over, you will see a cobweb from below, this is the trace of the life of the spider mite.

After you notice a spider mite on strawberries, which sucks the juice from the leaf blades and greatly inhibits the development of the plant, reducing its immunity, it is necessary to treat the plants with any permitted acaricide, and if strawberry plants are severely affected, it is better to remove them and burn them outside the site.

Replacing old strawberry bushes

So, we have already said a lot about what needs to be done after the strawberries have fruited, but far from everything, there are still secrets left, and we will definitely tell about them now.

For example, do you know that the full-fledged fruiting of strawberries lasts only four years, but on sufficiently moist, nutritious soil it can last even five years, after which, alas, it fades away without a trace, and it is better to renew the plantation? Now know!

Therefore, as soon as you have collected the fifth, full-fledged crop, the strawberry plantation will need to be replaced with a new one. Around the end of July, all old and drying strawberry leaves should be cut, removed, only the very base of the bush about 2-3 cm high should be left from the shoots and shoots.

All that is cut off must be removed from the site and burned. This procedure is cruel, however, this fall it will allow the plants to form a new leaf mass and lay flowering buds, that is, a guarantee of next year's harvest.

What to do with strawberry whiskers?

When the processes are removed, there are a lot of them and it can be really a pity to destroy them. Given this, if you have enough free space, then the remaining shoots, choosing the strongest and most well-developed and healthy of them, should be transplanted into newly laid beds. All other whiskers must be removed, otherwise they will simply draw moisture and additional substances onto themselves to the detriment of the formation of the generative sphere of plants.

Cutting strawberry whiskers should be done in any way, for this a garden knife is usually taken and the whiskers are removed as close to the soil surface as possible. In no case do not pull out the process, so you almost always pull out part of the root, and it can dry out, and therefore the whole plant will die.

Rejuvenation of strawberry plantings with mustache layering. © Chloe

Preparing strawberries for winter

Preparing strawberries for winter should not be ignored, this is a significant part of the guarantee of a good harvest for next year. If there is enough moisture in the soil, then it is not necessary to water the plants in late autumn, if it is not enough, then around the end of October, you can pour a couple of buckets of water per square meter of soil.

Once again, carefully inspect the plants, especially after watering, if you notice that the root system is sticking out in some places, then be sure to dig it in with moist and nutritious soil. At the onset of the first stable frosts, in order to retain snow in the garden with strawberries, it is necessary to cover it with spruce branches, it is not such a reliable protection from the cold, but it retains snow on the site just perfectly.

But many do not recommend using straw for the winter as a covering material for strawberries, mice usually start there, so if you already have a lot of straw and nowhere to put it, then at the same time lay out poisoned baits to protect yourself from mice.

Well, that's all we wanted to tell you. If you have questions or tips, then write about them in the comments, we will be happy to answer questions and use the tips!

The term "leaf mowing" refers to a whole range of activities in the first-year strawberry bed.

There is no definite answer to the questions - why and when to cut strawberries. Opinions of gardeners on this matter are different.

Some are for it, some are vehemently against it. Why do this if it seems to be known that the foliage feeds the root, they say, the more foliage, the stronger the bush? Yes, this is certainly correct.

But ... Harvested - prepare for the next! Sounds like a slogan for a gardener.

So, caring for strawberries after harvesting is preparing the plantation for next year's harvest. And pruning strawberry leaves is one of the stages of this care.

We all love this berry. In the spring, a lot of time and effort is spent on care before flowering, during it, during the formation, ripening of berries. We want more strawberries, they were larger, juicier, tastier.

So, just after the harvest, you need to make every effort to improve, increase it next year. Strawberries need special care just after harvesting. This is the most important time for her and for us.

Why trim your mustache

Surely, you already noticed during the harvest that strawberries (strawberries) give a lot of whiskers. Of course, it depends on the variety. Some cultivars have a lot of whiskers, some have little, and some may be completely hairless.

We collected all the berries - carefully inspect the entire plantation. It is necessary to loosen the beds of garden strawberries, weed them from weeds, remove the mustache.

Mustaches are required for strawberries to reproduce. If you do not want to get new rosettes, new plants for propagation, then you need to cut them off immediately after they appear.

Usually there are several mustaches on one bush, we collect them in one bunch and cut them as close as possible to the base of the bush. By the way, this mustache trimming procedure will have to be repeated more than once per season. If we start, we don’t do it on time, then the plant will spend all its energy on growing mustaches, rosettes - the future crop will get less, there will be fewer flower buds, which means there will be fewer berries, they will be smaller.

Everything superfluous for the future harvest must be cut off.

In addition, this is necessary so that the strawberries do not thicken, since thickened plantings are more difficult to care for.

When to feed, fertilize

Some gardeners do the wrong thing by overfeeding strawberries before harvest. This leads to the fact that it is strongly affected by gray rot, this is, firstly. Secondly, although the berries become large, they are watery, less sweet, and have a shorter harvest period.

Early in the spring before flowering, we fertilize with nitrogen fertilizers. But, remember, the main fertilization should be after harvest. This is top dressing with complete mineral fertilizer and organic matter. Many bring manure under strawberries. This, of course, is good - manure not only nourishes the plants, but also takes care of the strawberry root system.

Hilling strawberries

The fact is that strawberries are a perennial berry plant. Over time, it builds up an aerial root system and begins, as it were, to bulge out of the ground. Every year, especially after 3-4 years of growing in one place, we are forced to add mulch, earth, compost, rotted manure into the aisles, thus covering the roots of strawberries. Mulching, hilling helps the roots develop well.

Reasons, timing of pruning leaves

The laying of fruit buds in strawberries (strawberries) occurs in June (Krasnodar Territory) - July (middle lane) after harvest. By this time, it is necessary to coincide with the first trimming of the mustache, leaves.

The fact is that a strawberry leaf lives only 60-70 days - 2-2.5 months. And after that, various spots appear on the leaves - whitish, rusty, red. These are signs of leaf aging, the development of various diseases on them.

That is, cutting the leaves of strawberries (strawberries) is necessary in order to protect the future crop from diseases.

Trim leaves or whiskers with secateurs or scissors. Tools must be sharp.

Do not tear them off with your hands - this way you can damage the root system. The plant, instead of building up leaf mass, will recover its strength for a long time.

The process of chlorophyll production stops 2-2.5 months after picking the berries - even in healthy plants, the leaves may turn red.

Advice:

reddened leaves should be removed to prevent the pests remaining on them from wintering quietly. Treat the plantation with pesticides.

There is a danger that young leaves will not have time to grow after pruning - bare bushes may not survive the frosty winter.

So, a month and a half after picking the last berries, we inspect the plantation of strawberries (garden strawberries) and remove all the leaves with specks, holes, while not forgetting to remove the flower stalks. We leave only young leaves.

When to do it?

In the middle lane - the first half of August. I will not say the exact date - it is not so important. Most importantly, calculate the timing so that your strawberries leave in the winter with young leaves already grown.

How to prune strawberries if the plants are affected by diseases, pests

In the event that a bush or bushes of strawberries are affected by a strawberry mite, there is severe spotting on the leaves, it is necessary to remove all leaves, even young ones.

Leaves with signs of disease should be cut as close to the base of the bush as possible, since disease spores can also persist on petioles. Try not to touch the heart of the bush when pruning - the plant will be able to recover faster.

By doing such pruning, you will not harm the bush, as strawberries grow green mass very quickly. By cutting off the old leaves, you will immediately see where you can loosen the ground, where you need to remove the weeds.

Of course, by removing all the leaves from strawberries, you will not remove all pests and diseases. They will remain on the stumps of leaves, the ground.

Simply, such a bed is easier to treat with drugs for diseases and pests. This processing is more efficient.

Now you can feed the "rejuvenated" bed.

At this time, as I said, fruit buds are laid - the basis of the future harvest, so do not forget to periodically water your strawberries. BUT

if there is no rain, keep the soil moist.

Top dressing, watering at this time are required. It is at this time that strawberries will increase their leaf mass, which in winter, covered with snow, will protect the root system from freezing.

That is, the more foliage your bushes go into the winter, the better they will winter, the more harvest you will get.

If during the harvest period you notice berries affected by gray rot - after harvesting the last berries, treat the entire plantation with some kind of fungicide - it can be Bordeaux liquid, Topaz or Horus.

Is it possible to mow all strawberry leaves

The term "leaf mowing" refers to a whole range of activities in the first-year strawberry bed. Some gardeners take the word "mowing" so literally that they go out into the garden with a scythe and even with a lawn mower, and not in July, but in August, and ignore all other methods. The results of such leaf mowing are always deplorable.

In fact, this most important stage in the care of strawberries includes not only the removal of leaves, but also loosening, treatment for pests and diseases, removal of mustaches, replanting fallen plants and preparing seedlings for a new garden bed.

Not so long ago, walking along my dacha street, I saw that my acquaintances were mowing strawberry leaves with a scythe. They have a large berry plot - several acres - they cannot do without a scythe, as they believe. At first I thought that they decided to get rid of the old strawberries in this way, they say, it's time to start a new plantation. But it turned out that everything is not so. The owner of the dacha said that they mow the leaves of strawberries every year, three or four weeks after the last harvest. And this year, some circumstances prevented them from doing it on time and they mowed in mid-August. The strawberry harvest, according to them, is good all the time, it gets sick less.

If you have a large plantation and it is more than 3-4 years old, then you can follow the example of my friends.

There is another reason for completely cutting strawberry leaves with a scythe or secateurs (scissors) - this is a strong defeat of plantings by diseases and pests. After complete cutting (mowing) of the leaves, the plantation should be treated with some fungicide or pesticide. Be sure to feed your strawberries - help her quickly build up leaf mass.

It is not necessary to carry out mowing on young healthy plantings of strawberries, this depletes the bushes and you deprive yourself of the harvest.

How to care for strawberry beds after pruning or mowing

I will repeat myself a little, but this is very important.

Loosen the ground around the bushes.

Remove weeds.

Treat the plantation for diseases and pests.

Feed with mineral and organic fertilizers.

Water regularly if there is no rain during this period.

It is very important that the soil in the garden bed is wet all the time - this is very important for the growth of young foliage.

That's all the simple rules. Now you know how and when to prune strawberries (garden strawberries). A good harvest next year is guaranteed!

Leaves by season

The leaves of garden strawberries are updated three times a year: in spring, summer and autumn. They work actively from 40 to 80 days. Regrown in the spring feed the bushes from April to June inclusive, and then, having grown old, gradually die off. After fruiting, spring ones are replaced by summer ones.

The former are important for the fruiting of the current year, the latter for laying flower buds and accumulating nutrients for the future. Then the so-called autumn leaves grow, which go into the winter. With good and stable snow cover, most of them remain until spring. Each gardener must decide for himself whether or not to mow old leaves. Much depends on the condition of the beds and how much time you are willing to devote to caring for strawberries.

I mow because I think they carry a lot of infection. But not at the end of summer, but immediately

after harvest. Timely removal of leaves from the plantation (before the spores fly) significantly reduces the harm from disease, and also prevents re-infestation. And it is also important for me that this technique greatly suppresses the growth of mustaches. I do not mow leaves only on strawberry beds of the first year of use.

The procedure itself does not take much time: we take a benzoko-su and mow a bed at a height of 5-7 cm. At the same time, old leaves are almost completely removed and neither the horns nor the growth points are damaged.

The mowed mass is usually sent to compost. Strawberry beds are well watered and fed with a solution of chicken manure (1:15). strawberries good

reacts to it and immediately begins to actively recover. For top dressing, you can use any complex fertilizers (15-20 g / sq.m), it is better if they are with trace elements.

No bare roots!

A good technique is the hilling of strawberry bushes, especially from the 3rd year of life. I also do it after mowing the leaves, combining it with loosening the soil after watering and liquid top dressing. At the same time, I make sure that the heart is not covered with earth.

At the end of August, I pour a 3-4 cm layer of mulch around each bush. I use leaf humus for this. It serves not only as a fertilizer, but also is a heater for the winter, and in the spring it does not allow the roots to become bare.

Strawberry drones - out!

Weed varieties are often found on strawberry plantings.

They either do not produce a crop at all, or bring low - small and non-marketable berries. Such bushes, not burdened with a harvest, throw all their strength into reproduction. Like weeds, they suppress a large-fruited variety. Therefore, it is important to notice the appearance of these weeds in time and destroy them.

On a note

Removal of strawberry leaves is indicated for early and mid-season varieties. It is undesirable to mow the leaves of the later ones, they may not have time to grow them before frost, which will significantly reduce the yield next year. It is also not used for remontant and day-neutral varieties of strawberries, which will have a second fruiting in the fall, lasting until late autumn.

Practical advice

Do not leave overripe or damaged berries on the beds. Usually they serve as a source of clogging of plantings with seedlings.

How often to renew a strawberry plantation

I have been using fruit-bearing strawberry bushes for no more than three years, not counting the year of planting. I update my plantation usually no later than the second half of August. Young rosettes planted at this time manage to form not only well-developed roots and leaves before winter, but also lay flower buds under short day conditions.

I plant strawberries in the garden in one line. In the first year of growing on the bushes, I remove all the whiskers, except for one or two. In the second year, I repeat the same. I send young sockets to free places. Of these, independently rooted, the most productive bushes grow. The result is long ribbons of strawberries. If I don’t plan to replace varieties, then I use second-year sockets to create new beds. If there is another planting material, I remove all the formed mustaches after harvesting the second crop. On the 3rd and 4th year of cultivation, I remove all the whiskers.

With a mustache!

So that my favorite varieties of strawberries do not degenerate, during fruiting I plan the most fruitful bushes, in the future I take mustaches for laying a future plantation only from these “mothers”. I separate the sockets immediately after rooting and plant them on a separate bed. Those that were aged for 10-12 hours in a solution of zircon (1 ml per 2 liters of water) are very well accepted.

Note

The most powerful rosettes in the garden usually give bushes lightly loaded with berries. In abundantly bearing fruits, they grow more modestly. Therefore, to obtain high-quality seedlings, it is better to plant queen cells on a separate bed and remove flower stalks from them. Or take sockets only from the intended copies.

Who disfigures strawberry bushes

Strawberry transparent mite is the most dangerous pest of strawberries. Most often damages leaves, especially young ones.

As a result, they curl and acquire a yellowish-oily hue, flower stalks become dwarfed, and berries become small. The more pests, the uglier the bushes. Mite breeding is facilitated by warm and humid weather.

It is good to use an infusion of onion peel against strawberry mites: pour 200 g into 10 liters of warm water and insist for 4-5 days, then strain the infusion and use for spraying.

You can also prepare an infusion from the onion itself: chop 100 g of onions, place in a tightly sealed container, pour 10 liters of water and insist for 6-7 hours.

Another method is reliable: weed the affected plantation, removing excess mustaches and diseased leaves (you need to remove them from the plants along with the petioles, it is at the base of the leaf petioles that adult female ticks hibernate), then sprinkle the bushes abundantly with infusion of crushed garlic 0.5 kg pour 3 l of water, use 300 g of extract per watering can.

After harvesting, chemical treatments are also carried out. The plantation is sprayed after mowing the leaves with one of the preparations: Fufanon, Kemifos, Fitoverm.

You can finally get rid of the pest by laying beds in a new place. All seedlings (after washing the roots from the soil and tying them in bunches) are immersed in a container with water heated to 45’C before planting.

It is kept in it for 13-15 minutes, after which the sockets are immediately cooled in cold water.

The first two weeks, strawberry plantings will look ugly, but then they will noticeably cheer up.

N. SOLONOVICH, scientist agronomist

I met different opinions about whether it is necessary to cut off the mustache and leaves of garden strawberries after they have fruited. Please advise how to proceed?

D. Dymova Lipetsk Region

The post-harvest period requires special attention, since it is very important in the life of strawberries. At this time, the growth of leaves, horns, roots resumes, flower buds are laid, i.e. next year's crop is being formed. Therefore, timely and high-quality plant care is now needed (weeding, top dressing, watering, removal of whiskers, loosening the soil, pest and pathogen control).

When the harvest of strawberries is harvested, it is best to remove the mustache from the bushes so that they do not deplete the mother plant and do not interfere with the laying of flower buds. However, the mustache with rosettes with which you are going to propagate the variety must be left, and remember that the first and second rosettes closest to the mother plant are considered the strongest.

Whether to remove leaves along with the mustache is an ambiguous question.

In the southern regions, the removal of leaves immediately after harvesting berries is an agricultural technique that increases yields. This is due to the fact that in the conditions of the south the post-harvest period is long and favorable for the development of plants.

If you cut the leaves before July 15 and feed and water the plants well, then leaves and roots will begin to actively form, and flower buds will be laid. By autumn, such plants will develop a strong aboveground and root system, which will positively affect the next year's harvest.

In the northern regions, mowing strawberry leaves during this period gives negative results, as the plants do not have time to prepare well for the next year's harvest. So in the middle lane this technique should be carried out only if the plants are badly damaged by the strawberry mite.

Then mow and burn the leaves as quickly as possible, right after picking the berries. If the strawberries are not damaged by a tick, then the leaves should not be removed after harvesting in the central regions of the non-chernozem zone, otherwise the plants will not have time to develop a sufficient leaf apparatus and lay flower buds before the onset of cold weather.

30.08.2017 12 317

Care for strawberries after harvest - what not to forget to do ?!