The main work on strawberry beds is usually carried out in autumn. But spring strawberry care is also very important. In the first warm days, all summer residents, gardeners, gardeners rush to their summer house, plot, garden to see how we wintered trees, bushes, our beds. I am sure that the first attention in this round of the site we pay to strawberries. How did she winter? What should be done first things first before the sleep mode is disturbed by the weather? We outline an action plan.
As soon as the snow melts, you must carefully clear the berry plantation. If you did not cut strawberries in the fall, then, for sure, the appearance of the beds is not very attractive: leaves that dried over the winter do not decorate them.
Strawberries in the spring after winter, photo:
But we should not think that the berry bushes are frozen and we can’t see the harvest. Nothing terrible happened. It is necessary to remove (cut or collect with a light frequent fan rake) all dried leaves, old peduncles, antennae, which remained from last year. Do not be afraid if after pruning you have only the central heart with green leaves left on the bush. It should be so. Try not to hurt him - this is the future bush with the beginnings of buds, flowers, berries.
Cut foliage should be removed, be sure to burn, so that they do not become a source of disease, pests.
In early spring, preventive treatment of strawberries from diseases and pests should be carried out.
For treatment against diseases, biologics, such as Phytosporin, Phytocide, can be used. From pests (ticks, aphids, thrips), early spring spraying with Aktofit or Aktellik insecticides helps well.
After harvesting dry, diseased leaves, strawberries can be sprayed with Bordeaux liquid or other copper-containing preparations. This treatment in the spring can be repeated 2-3 times. They will protect our berry from fungal diseases.
In spring, strawberries need top dressing with nitrogen fertilizers. By the way, for the entire growing season she uses a lot of nitrogen fertilizers.
Strawberries are fed in the spring in different ways: by watering or by spreading dry fertilizer.
Dissolve 1 matchbox of ammonium nitrate in a bucket of water, pour with this solution of the bed.
But I usually do not water in the spring, but scatter dry ammonium nitrate throughout the berry clearing. There will still be rains - the dry granules will have time to dissolve, will reach the roots in a digestible form. The dosage is: 1 matchbox of saltpeter per 1 square meter of plantation. But I try to scatter granules not into bushes, but next to them, in the aisles. Rains will do their job - nutrients will get where they need to.
But nitrogen in fertilizers has such a feature - it easily evaporates. Therefore, after you have scattered ammonium nitrate, you should loosen the aisles, trying to sprinkle dry granules with earth.
Loosening the soil on a strawberry bed should be very careful, since near the bushes the roots are very close to the surface. Loosening, in addition, will help to retain moisture longer on the strawberry plantation that has accumulated over the winter. To loosen the earth follows, at the same time slightly hilling bushes from all directions. Just be careful not to cover the heart of the strawberry bush with earth.
To "seal" nitrogen in the ground, it is recommended to lightly water the aisles. A lot of water is not needed - the earth is still quite wet.
But organics should not be rejected. You will get the greatest effect from organic fertilizers on a strawberry plantation, if about six months before the seedlings are planted, you make rotted manure at the rate of half a ton per 1 hundred square meters of land. We plant strawberry seedlings usually in the fall, and in the spring we prepare this site: after spreading the organics, the site is plowed or dug. That is, spring is the time of year when we are preparing a plot for the future plantation of garden strawberries.
So to summarize. What, in the first place, is strawberry care in the spring?
- Removing or pruning dried leaves.
- Treatment of beds with copper-containing or biological products from fungal diseases.
- Treatment of bushes with insecticides from pests overwintered on leaves and stems.
- Fertilizing strawberries with garden nitrogen fertilizers.
Video: how to care for strawberries after winter: