Caring for strawberries after harvest in July. What care do strawberries need after the harvest is complete? How to process strawberries in July

You probably won’t find a gardener who doesn’t grow strawberries in his garden. After all, both children and adults love her. 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 to achieve this, you need to care for strawberries not only when they bloom and bear fruit. Caring for 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 have been picked - why do we need care now?

Some people believe that regular autumn harvesting is sufficient for strawberries. But the thing is that strawberries stop bearing fruit very early, and there is still a lot of time left until autumn. Over the summer, the beds can become so overgrown with weeds that autumn harvesting will be very difficult, which is why caring for strawberries after harvest is required.

In addition, bushes that have finished bearing fruit 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 form flower buds again. Numerous mustaches appear, which also weaken the mother bush if they are not trimmed 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 caring for strawberries after harvest is necessary. But that's not all.

Various pests and pathogens that have accumulated on old leaves over the season try to move to new young leaves. And they may be quite enough. After all, everyone knows that during fruiting it is not recommended to weed strawberries, much less treat them with chemicals.

So, in addition to the accumulated dying old leaves, it is also necessary to loosen the row spaces. Since 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 really need extra nutrition.

In fact, it turns out that fertilizing carried out in the fall is still far away, 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 collected next year. Here are other reasons why strawberries need to be processed after harvest.

What measures should be taken with strawberries after harvesting?

Based on the above, there is a need to carry out comprehensive measures, which will consist of proper plant care.

It is as follows:

• trimming old leaves and removing whiskers;
• destroying weeds and loosening the soil;
• timely watering;
• treatment against pests and diseases;
• feeding

Trimming old leaves or mowing?

Many people ask whether strawberries are mowed after harvest. In most cases, yes. Because thanks to this, strawberries can be freed from old leaves and the way can be opened for new ones, which begin to grow just during this period. You just have to do this very carefully.

This procedure should begin when at least a week has passed after picking the 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.

Within 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 prune strawberries after harvesting, then you can also do this after 7-10 days.

Old leaves are cut to the same height without affecting the growth point. Each bush is treated this way. This method is suitable when you need to trim strawberries after harvesting in a small area.

In addition to young leaves in the summer, strawberries begin to throw out mustaches. If you want to propagate it, then you can dig in some whiskers. The rest should be gotten rid of, since they take a lot of energy from the plants.

How to tidy up your garden beds?

After you have renewed your strawberries after harvesting, what to do next? Of course, tidy up the beds.

Destroy all the weeds that managed to occupy it during ripening, go through the rake again, removing the remaining leaves, and you can start hilling each plant with a hoe. During this period, the roots of some bushes begin to protrude, which leads to their drying out, and the plants cannot grow normally. This is why hilling is necessary. Just be careful not to cover the heart with soil.

After this, all that remains is to loosen the row spacing well.

Watering strawberries

Caring for strawberries after harvesting requires mandatory watering. Because the soil in the beds must be well moistened. It should be watered abundantly, but infrequently, taking into account weather conditions. To retain moisture, the soil must be mulched, for which peat is suitable. Do not allow a crust to form after watering. Therefore, you need to loosen the soil around each bush and between the rows.

Spraying strawberries

Summer, when the berries are picked, is the best time to start improving the health of plants. Treatment of strawberries after harvest against diseases is carried out with various preparations.

Which of them to use depends on different plant diseases, determined by their appearance:

• If damage to young leaves appears, then the earthen mite is to blame. Spraying with colloidal sulfur diluted with water or preparations such as Fitoverm, Actellik and Titovit Jet can help get rid of it;
• the presence of brown spots on the leaves indicates viral diseases. In this case, they are treated with Bordeaux mixture;
• if rotting of the berries was observed, then the plants were affected 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 harvest also involves prevention.

Firstly, the affected leaves must be removed immediately, carefully inspecting 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 bed.

Fertilizing strawberries

Don’t know what to feed your strawberries after harvesting, and why do it? First of all, so that next year it bears fruit well. After all, as mentioned above, it is at this time that flower buds are formed, which determine the next harvest.

Complex fertilizers produced specifically for strawberries, such as Rubin, Ryazanochka or Agricola, are perfect for summer feeding. They must be added according to the instructions, combining this procedure with watering and loosening the soil.

If you are interested in 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 difficult task, but it is mandatory, since next year’s harvest will depend on this stage.

You have already figured out how much attention strawberries require after harvest, and what to do with them throughout the summer. It remains to figure out how to prepare it for winter.

Don't be surprised, but you've already done some of this preparation. After all, the best protection against winter cold is healthy, overgrown leaves and the absence of pests. So it’s not in vain that you tried all summer, putting the bushes in order, feeding them and treating them with remedies for diseases, and also removing weeds and loosening the beds.

Now all you have to do is mulch the plantings with sawdust or peat in October, making a layer no more than 5 cm, and in November cover them with spruce branches or raspberry branches so that snow will linger on them later. This will be the best shelter for strawberries.

Beginning gardeners often wonder: do they need to trim the leaves of strawberries? At what time and how to do this? Experienced experts advise not to neglect such an important agricultural technique.

Strawberries are an intensive berry crop, widespread in our gardens. It is susceptible to various diseases that reduce the yield and quality of berries.

In very wet weather, strawberries can be affected by powdery mildew.

But if we intensively fight diseases with the help of chemicals, the environmental purity and healing power of the products will suffer. Removing the leaf apparatus with infections sitting on it allows significantly improve the plantation. This operation must be carried out at a time when the trauma to plants will be minimal.

Mid summer

In mid-summer, with an abundance of heat and moisture, diseases become more active.

Timely pruning of diseased leaves can save other bushes from infection.

The work of microscopic harmful organisms becomes clearly visible even to the naked eye: rotten berries, spotted leaves, wilted bushes... Viral diseases and damage to the root system cannot be cured - infected plants must be destroyed. But fungal infections living in the aboveground part are not so difficult to remove from a strawberry plantation. This is what pruning is used for. It helps fight without chemicals:

• powdery mildew,

Efficiency

After pruning the leaves, the soil around the bushes quickly warms up and is ventilated, which reduces the spread of diseases and pests.

In addition to the direct destruction of the infectious principle, there are other beneficial effects:

1. The bare bases of the bushes and the surface of the ridges are well ventilated and warmed by the sun's rays . Additional natural disinfection from fungal pathogens occurs.
2. The development of microscopic harmful insects is inhibited - (which lives at the foot of leaf petioles and loves dampness).
3. Makes weeding easier .

Timing for removing foliage from strawberries

The first pruning of leaves in the season is done in early spring along with cleaning the beds and loosening the soil.

Experienced gardeners carry out the following work on their strawberries:

1. Spring cleaning of the plantation from dry wood.
2. Trimming the leaves after picking the last berries.
3. On remontant varieties, partial removal of the lower leaves during the summer rest periods of the bushes.

Basic rules for pruning

You need to act consciously, delving into the meaning of agricultural techniques.

When to prune strawberries after harvest

Complete removal of foliage after harvest will be a good disease prevention.

Any operations on green tissues injure and weaken the plant. But there is a time when the berry plant is capable of rapid recovery. The optimal period when almost the entire above-ground part of the strawberry bush can be removed almost painlessly is - immediately after fruiting.

It should be recognized that not all gardeners approve of this procedure. But abandoning total mowing is permissible only on very healthy plantations. This is usually possible in industrial farming, where chemicals are used and manual labor is not profitable.

Strawberry varieties that are completely resistant to fungal infections do not yet exist.

Which bushes cannot have their leaves trimmed?

On young bushes, every leaf should be protected.

If strawberry plants were planted in late spring and have already produced some fruit, they have not yet developed to their full potential. Shrubs of delicate varieties that have had a hard time withstanding the past winter may also be weak.

Time factor

• It is very important to carry out the pruning procedure as early as possible. It’s best in the first days after fruiting ends (usually in July). In regions where snow falls already in the first or second ten days of November (and sometimes earlier), the work must be completed before mid-August. This applies to the North-West, Moscow region and all of Central Russia, the Far East, Altai and Siberia. In the case when mowing the foliage is postponed a little - until planting material is received.
• Plants need two to three months of active development to grow new leaves and. It is in the leaves that photosynthesis processes occur, affecting the growth of roots and horns, and the formation of future flower buds.
• If the owner has missed the optimal timing, pruning is carried out in a gentle manner. Only the lower and diseased leaves with signs of disease (spots, white coating, atypical redness, etc.) are removed.

Trimming process

Trimming strawberry leaves should be done with a sharp tool.

How to mow strawberry leaves correctly?

With one hand they grab the bush, and with the second (working) hand with a tool they cut off the entire above-ground part (leaves, dead peduncles and unnecessary tendrils).

We must act carefully so as not to damage the heart of the bush, the growth buds in the center of the horns. As a result, protruding pieces of petioles 4–5 cm high, as well as small young leaves, remain above the ground.

This is what a “cleaned” strawberry bed looks like.

Related Events

After pruning, strawberry plants need in additional support. It is advisable to perform the following work on the plantation:

1. Weeding.
2. Treatment with drugs for diseases and (if necessary).
3. Light loosening, updating the mulch (if the ridges are not covered with agrofibre).
4. Moisturizing the Root Zone (to a depth of 20–30 cm). If the weather is dry, abundant watering is needed - first by flooding, without sprinkling. Re-water as needed. A few days after pruning, the wounds will heal, and water can be supplied by sprinkling.
5. Immune stimulation . In a small area, for the most valuable varieties, it is possible to irrigate using the natural preparation Zircon. Unlike Epin Extra, which affects the plant through the leaf, Zircon is able to penetrate through the root system, activating the work of roots and stems.
6. Top dressing. Additional nutrition is necessary for the full growth of young leaves. The greatest need is for nitrogen, moderate – for potassium and microelements. You can feed it with organic matter - a solution of manure, herbal infusion (1:10), bird droppings (1:20). After a few days, wood ash is given out - in dry form (by sprinkling and loosening) or in water infusion (1:20). Store-bought complex fertilizers are also used.
7. Regular removal of growing mustaches (otherwise the bush’s strength is wasted on them).

Spring cleaning of the plantation

• At the beginning of the season, dry leaves are raked from the strawberry beds using a light rake (such as a fan).
• Additionally, the leaves that have died over the winter are trimmed.

All this garbage is burned.

Video about autumn pruning of strawberries

After the harvest is harvested, it is time to prepare the garden strawberry bushes for the next season. Proper care of Victoria berries after fruiting will ensure a bountiful harvest next season.

Victoria - what to do after the harvest?

So, the last berries have been collected and you can begin to lay the foundation for a bountiful harvest for the next season. The Victoria strawberry variety requires careful weeding and removal of all weeds after harvesting. Your task is to completely clear the area and thoroughly loosen the soil.

The first stage is completed. Now let's look at step by step how to care for Victoria berries after harvest.

If you start weeding and fertilizing Victoria after harvesting, all the young bushes formed during this season will be fully strengthened. If the adult tendrils manage to grow side shoots, they will be able to take root and you will get young growth for the new season. But you should work with bushes that are two to three years old, since pathogens and pests accumulate in older ones.

In June, berries begin to ripen in the garden beds of any experienced gardener. Strawberries are one of the first to please their owner with juicy, ripe and aromatic fruits.

In fact, in the specialized literature there is no name “strawberry”, because this berry is called “musk strawberry”. Yes, strawberries really belong to the strawberry genus, and they got their name “strawberry” from the word “club,” which means “round.”

There is probably not a single person indifferent to this berry. Unless allergy sufferers avoid it. The cost of strawberries in stores is often very high, so many people decide to grow this beauty in their summer cottage. True, not many people know about the features of planting, growing and feeding it.

Basic Rules

Strawberries love black soil and grow and bear fruit rather poorly on sandy soil. Accordingly, caring for strawberries that grow in sandy soils will be more painstaking.

This berry is quite finicky, so improper care of it is fraught with sad consequences in the form of a decrease in yield or its complete absence. The groundwater level in the area where the berries are planted must be at least 60 cm.

Strawberries are planted in early spring, early April, or late August and early September.

Before planting, the ground is inspected for the presence of larvae, all last year’s foliage is removed and the soil is dug to a depth of 30 cm. If necessary, treated with an ammonia solution.

Before purchasing seedlings, you need to pay attention to the root system. Correctly selected seedlings increase the likelihood of obtaining a large and tasty harvest of berries.

Basic Rules

After picking the berries, novice amateur gardeners do not know how to care for strawberries in the fall, and therefore do not particularly care about the plant that brought the harvest, leaving worries about it until the spring. Experts advise that in the next 3 months after fruiting, especially in August, you take time to care for strawberries, because it is in August that strawberries begin to lay buds for the next season’s harvest.

The second half of July, August and the end of September are the times when strawberries require additional work from the gardener, namely:

• cleaning the site and planting beds;
• feeding;
• removing old mulch;
• weeding;
• loosening and hilling;
• mowing dried leaves and mustaches;
• systematic watering.

After the crop has borne fruit, it is necessary to clear the soil under the strawberries from plant debris, as well as mulch. Insects and disease carriers can accumulate in it. After fruiting, the soil becomes significantly compacted, so in order for air to flow to the roots, you need to make the soil looser with the help of garden tools, but carefully, without touching the roots of the plant. Hilling is also performed by covering the growing new roots with soil.

Trimming

Mowing is not a mandatory procedure, but if there is a suspicion that the plant is sick, mowing such a specimen is simply necessary so that the rest of the bushes do not become infected.

Leaves need to be cut only in dry weather, no later than the beginning of August, otherwise the buds on the plant will not have time to develop. Cutting is done in the morning or evening. Do not pick off unusable leaves with your hands. The petioles are left up to 6 cm long.

When pruning old bushes, you should always start with young shoots, gradually moving to older ones. This method will not allow diseases to be transferred from old plants to young and healthy ones.

If you need to trim most of the plants, then the speed of processing the bushes can be increased by using a garden trimmer.

Feeding after removing the leaves is necessary so that new shoots have time to grow before the cold weather. The procedure is performed with sharp scissors and pruners. The soil is cultivated and mulched. If the gardener’s plans include the process of complete rejuvenation of the bushes, then they carry out complete pruning to the ground.

Young bushes are never pruned. Seedlings that are 1-2 years old are partially pruned to remove only dry leaves.

Watering

It is necessary to water strawberries according to the rules, otherwise you can’t count on the appearance of tasty berries on the branches of the plant.

Strawberry seedlings do not tolerate dry soil. Before the flowers appear, you need to water the strawberries using the sprinkling method. When color appears, water directly at the roots of the plant, without affecting the flowers and leaves. The drip irrigation system is the most popular among gardeners.

After winter, an adult plant begins to be watered as soon as the snow melts, at the end of April. Watering is carried out once every 5-6 days, the water temperature should not be lower than +15 degrees. Water the strawberries early in the morning so that the soil dries out before evening.

Weeds take water from the crop, so you should carefully weed the beds with berries.

In dry weather, it is necessary to provide strawberries with additional water at the rate of 2 buckets per 1 square meter. m beds. In rainy weather, strawberries are not watered.

Soil care

Weeds are the main reason why strawberries lack minerals and beneficial microelements. Therefore, you need to weed strawberries at least 7 times during the summer.

In autumn, it is better not to weed the beds. By accidentally damaging the root system in the fall, you can ruin an entire bush, since the root system will not have time to recover before the cold weather. It is recommended to loosen the soil to a depth of 10 cm after weeding.

Experts advise using herbicides to control weeds. The beds should be treated 10-14 days before planting the crop. To enrich the soil, it is sometimes planted with buckwheat. It also works against plant debris.

How to plant?

This finicky berry cannot grow for more than 4 years in one place. It needs to be replanted.

Strawberries are most often planted in a row manner. There are several variations. There are ridges:

• one-liners;
• two-line;
• three-line.

In a single-row ridge, the distance between seedlings is 15-20 cm, between ridges – 70 cm. In a double-row ridge, 30 cm between plants and 60 cm between ridges. The distance between three-line ridges is 90 cm, between seedlings – 15-20 cm.

More often than others, double-line ridges are used. Mark the ground using a tape measure and pegs. Having outlined the planting sites, make holes about 15 cm deep. Water is poured into them, and then strawberries are planted. Seedlings are strengthened with dry soil. It is important that the growing point of the strawberry is at ground level. If you plant it lower, the plant may rot, and if you plant it higher, it will freeze. The seedling needs to be watered for the first 10 days until it takes root.

Top dressing

After picking the berries, strawberries need nitrogen to produce new leaves, so at this time they need to be fed with mineral nitrogen fertilizers, such as nitroammofoska and ammophoska.

When diluting mineral fertilizer, you should follow the proportions - 2 tablespoons (20 g) per bucket of water (10 liters). If nitrophosk fertilizer is used, it is recommended to also add 200 g of wood ash to the solution, since it contains many essential microelements. Nitrophoska is the safest fertilizer, because its use does not provoke the accumulation of nitrates in the soil and plant fruits.

You should always carefully study the instructions and composition of fertilizers, and, if possible, avoid the use of fertilizers containing chlorine.

Ammofoska is diluted at the rate of 15-20 g per bucket of water. It is not forbidden to use fertilizer “dry”, scattering 20 g per 1 square meter. m beds. At the end, you need to water the ground with a bucket of water over this area.

In August, you can feed the berries with organic matter. Bird droppings and mullein are best suited for this. It is important to preserve the roots of the plant, and therefore the fertilizer should be diluted in water. The mullein solution is diluted in a ratio of 1:10; it is recommended to infuse it for 24 hours.

Bird droppings are used with water in a ratio of 1:15, avoiding contact with plant leaves.

In the form of mulch, mullein is laid out between the rows. This way you can enrich the earth with minerals for 2-3 years in advance. To improve the quality, the litter is enriched with minerals, for example, ash.

• "Ruby";
• "Ryazanochka";
• "Agricola";
• "Fasco"

Another organic fertilizer – slurry – can help the plant stock up on nutrients for the cold period.

1.3 liters are diluted with water (10 l), and then left for 48 hours. 1 liter of this solution is enough for 1 bush. They need to be watered without getting on the leaves. You can repeat this feeding at the end of October after pruning and removing dry leaves.

Strawberries are also fed with wood ash. In dry form, they are scattered around the plant, and in liquid form, they are watered with a solution prepared from 100 g of ash per 10 liters of water. The dosage of this fertilizer is 500 ml per bush.

The nitrogen needed by the plant is also provided in fertilizers such as urea and ammonium nitrate. 10 g of urea are diluted in 10 liters of water and each bush is watered in a volume of 0.5 liters. Similarly, 20-30 g of ammonium nitrate is diluted in a bucket of water and watered 1 liter per plant.

The dry version of this fertilizer in a volume of 100 g is spread over an area of ​​10 square meters. m, after loosening the soil a little with a rake.

Gardeners who own remontant strawberries should not forget about feeding the plant during the second flowering.

Feed the strawberries with mineral fertilizers per 1 square meter. m can be in the following composition:

• superphosphate – 25 g;
• ammonium sulfate – 25 g;
• potassium sulfate – 30 g.

If organic fertilizers are available, use a mixture of manure and water in a ratio of 1: 5. This solution in an amount of 10 liters is enough for 1 square meter. m beds. Having collected the second harvest, the strawberries are fed with bird droppings in a proportion of 1:15 with water. 5 liters of this solution are poured onto 1 square meter. m of soil.

Preparing for winter

When planting strawberries in the fall, you need to make sure that the seedlings do not freeze. Many people debate whether there is any point in additional cover. Snow is the best “clothing” for plants. But nowadays, in the middle zone, false thaws can often occur in the middle of winter, followed by bitter frost. The snow begins to melt, revealing the plants, and then sub-zero temperatures set in, and the strawberries have a hard time.

It is necessary to guess the right time for shelter, since by performing this procedure too early, a cultural debate will occur. Accordingly, strawberries are covered when the temperature drops below 0 degrees both day and night during the week. Before doing this, you should thoroughly weed the beds and collect all plant debris. Loosening the soil will not be superfluous, but on the contrary, it will help the strawberries to breathe if the air temperature begins to rise.

It is necessary to remove the mustache if further planting of this crop is not intended. They take on the bulk of the nutrients and take them from the main bush of the plant.

Under no circumstances should you cover strawberries if it rained the day before. You need to wait until the soil dries and then begin the procedure. You can cover strawberries with straw, dry leaves in combination with spruce branches, and sawdust. Spruce branches are also used in combination with hay to prevent it from flying away from gusty winds.

If you don’t want to bother yourself with unnecessary red tape, you can buy special agrofibre for covering the crop at any garden store. It protects strawberries from frost, allows them to breathe and allows the sun's rays to pass through.

Agrofibre, like other covering materials, has many analogues, for example, such as:

• agril;
• lutrasil;
• agrospan;
• spanboard;
• spantex;
• wrap

Choosing the right place to plant strawberries is already half the battle. The crop grows and bears fruit best in chernozem with a soil acidity of 5-6.5 pH. The slope of the beds is expected to be no more than 5%. If there is a slope, then it should not be directed to the south, otherwise in the spring the snow will melt away from the strawberry field too quickly and expose the strawberries too early.

Agricultural technology for growing berries involves thorough soil preparation. Nutrients are introduced into it in advance, which will enrich it and provide all the microelements to the planted crop.

Excess moisture in the area can be reduced by installing drainage. Large stagnation of water can be removed by laying drainage pipes at a depth of up to 40 cm. If the humidity is moderate, it is necessary to dig several drainage grooves up to 30 cm deep, where water will drain from the beds.

When planting, experienced gardeners choose only high-quality varieties with good, healthy leaves. Before planting a seedling in a hole, its roots are dipped in a solution of potassium permanganate. Do not press down the soil of the seedlings too much. The soil should be loose and breathable.

Pests and diseases are the reason why a gardener may lose not only berries, but also plants. Experienced gardeners notice problems in the health of a crop at the first sign and quickly make decisions to combat this or that disease.

Experts consider autumn the best period for controlling strawberry pests. There are not many of them, but they also poison the life of strawberries and deprive gardeners of the opportunity to reap a rich harvest. Treatment of plants begins immediately after fruiting.

Main berry pests:

• slugs and snails– affects the fruits of the plant;
• nematodes– cause darkening of the leaves and cause a lack of harvest;
• transparent tick– causes yellowing of leaves and reduction in harvest volume.

Strawberries are also attacked by weevils, ants, strawberry beetles and whiteflies.

The strawberry or transparent mite develops in a humid environment. It feeds mainly on the juice of strawberry leaves. They look like small yellowish spots. The yield of infected bushes decreases.

Preparations for removing transparent mites, which are used to treat strawberries 2 weeks before flowering, as well as after fruiting, are as follows:

• "Karbofos";
• "Inta-vir";
• "Aktellik";
• "Sherpa".

The affected bushes are generously sprayed with a stream of diluted preparation. If strawberries are severely damaged by pests, they are mowed down. Strawberry beds that have already been attacked by ticks should be well weeded, as ticks can collect in the weeds.

The weevil is a beetle that also preys on strawberry leaves. He lays the larvae in flower buds, where they pupate. Weevils can attack both strawberries and raspberries, so it is advisable not to plant strawberry bushes next to raspberries so that the beetles do not migrate from one crop to another.

Strawberries are sprayed with insecticides (Karbofos, Iskra, Inta-Vir, Kinmiks) in the spring when the buds open, and also 10 days before flowering. Heavy artillery is also thrown into the fight against the beetle in the form of biological preparations, such as:

• "Nemabakt";
• "Antonem."

There are many folk remedies that are also very effective against pests.

• Take 40 g of birch tar into a bucket of water and rub soap into the bucket, mix, and spray the crop with this solution in the morning, preferably when the weather is expected to be dry.
• Ash helps repel beetles, so it is poured into the middle of the bush during the flowering period.
• Baking soda also helps during the flowering period of strawberries. Take 20 g of soda in a bucket of water and treat the leaves with this solution.
• In the evening, newspapers are spread on the ground under the strawberry bushes. Early in the morning, beetles are shaken off the plants just at a time when they are inactive. Newspapers are collected and liquidated. A very original method that really works.

Folk remedies are effective when repeated systematically, since they are quickly washed off with the first rain.

Strawberries, or more precisely, the roots of the plant, are a favorite treat for the larvae of the cockchafer, which live and develop in the soil for several years.

Preparations for protection against larvae are as follows:

• "Zemlin";
• "Vallar";
• "Initiative";
• "Anti-Khrushch."

These medications are dug directly into the soil to a depth of 10 cm.

Folk remedies are also used to help fight larvae.

Slugs are another type of strawberry pest that can be very difficult to control. They reach a length of 150 mm. During the season, 2 generations of slugs are born. They eat through the stems, buds and berries of the crop, leaving a silvery mucus on it. Their activity begins at night. In addition to damaging the plant, they can also carry fungal diseases.

The last remedy is the safest of all those presented.

Folk remedies are also used to exterminate slug colonies:

• Jars of cornmeal, which is poisonous to slugs, are placed between the rows;
• 100 g of mustard powder is diluted in 1 liter of water and watered on the soil under the strawberries;
• 10 ml of brilliant green is diluted in a bucket of water and watered between the rows of the crop;
• wet rags, cabbage leaves and boards are scattered between the beds - in the morning colonies of slugs collect in this garbage, which are successfully destroyed.

Nematodes are cylindrical worms that infect the leaves, fruits and buds of strawberries.

A gardener may notice a lag in the development of some nematode-infected bushes. The berries on such bushes are small, the leaves are eaten, differ in color and are curled. Nematodes attack strawberries at the beginning of summer, so during this period you need to carefully monitor any changes that occur.

The appearance of nematodes can be prevented through prophylaxis. Before planting, strawberry seedlings are disinfected in hot water (50 degrees) for 15 minutes. Do not forget about systematic weeding.

Spraying preparations help resist the pest:

• "Karbofos";
• "Fufan";
• "Kemifos";
• "Bi-58 new";
• "Rogor."

Biological preparations are also used, which are treated twice at weekly intervals:

• "Lepidocide";
• "Bitoxibacillin."

Knowledgeable gardeners catch leaf rollers using jars of kvass or fermented jam, which are placed near the beds.

The plant is also treated with tobacco infusion. 0.5 kg of tobacco dust is poured into a bucket of hot water, adding 50 g of soap as an adhesive. The spraying procedure with this solution is carried out very carefully, since it can cause severe irritation if it comes into contact with the skin.

• Powdery mildew- a common disease when the leaves become covered with a grayish coating, and mold appears on the berries. To avoid this, the crop is sprayed with soda ash before flowering.
• Late blight wilt- a disease that inhibits plant growth. When the first signs appear, such a plant is eliminated.
• Brown spot- a fungal disease that affects strawberries in the form of brown spots on the foliage and fruits of the plant. A fairly persistent fungus that goes dormant in winter, and by spring begins its pest activity again.
• Gray rot– a disease that impairs the taste and appearance of berries. The cause of the disease is the fungi sclerotia and conidia, which appear in moist soil.

Experienced gardeners are very successful in fighting these diseases and pests, because an attentive strawberry owner will immediately notice problems and changes occurring with the plant.

In pest control they use:

• "Karbofos"– against mites after fruiting;
• "Aktar"– against weevils and whiteflies;
• soda- against ants.

Soda ash is used in the fight against powdery mildew. For the solution, take 5 tablespoons of soda, add 5 tablespoons of grated laundry soap and fill everything with a bucket of water. You need to mix everything and spray the affected strawberry bushes with this solution once a week. Strawberries are processed twice - at the beginning and at the end of the summer period.

Experienced gardeners recommend using the excellent product “Switch”. It is very effective in the fight not only against gray rot, but also against brown spot; it also treats powdery mildew and fusarium. Treatment is carried out before and after the appearance of flowers on the crop.

Alirin-B tablets must be mixed with water in the proportions indicated in the annotation. Spraying is carried out twice before the flowers appear and twice after flowering.

"Horus" is not a favorite among gardeners, but some praise the product for its lack of phytotoxins and for the length of time it stays on the plant (the product is indelible by rain).

"Teldor" is a drug that forms a film on the crop, preserving strawberry fruits.

Attentiveness should come first for a gardener. You need to be especially vigilant with gray rot:

• during constant rains;
• during active dew fall;
• when air humidity rises;
• when the temperature drops below +15 degrees;
• during a period of rapid planting growth.

Common Mistakes

Beginning gardeners very often when growing this crop make the following mistakes.

• Plant seedlings with a lot of leaves. It is correct to leave two or three healthy leaves on the seedlings so that they do not dry out the seedlings.
• Do not cut off the roots when planting. It is easier to distribute small roots up to 10 cm in the hole. Long roots will bend, which will lead to their death.
• There is no “bath day” before boarding. Before planting, seedlings must be immersed in hot water for 15 minutes to prevent crop diseases.
• Strawberries are not treated with chemicals. Lack of treatment has an adverse effect on the crop, which is quite picky and may encounter a disease or pest at any time. Proper processing of the crop before flowering and after fruiting will not harm humans and will protect the plant from “unexpected guests” and other ailments.

To learn how to care for strawberries after fruiting, see the following video.

Who among the gardeners has not dreamed of harvesting a rich harvest of bright and juicy strawberries on their plot. Strawberries are not only delicious. Red berries are a real source of vitamins and minerals that are so necessary for humans. However, you need to monitor the plant not only when it is covered with regular white flowers. After harvesting, strawberry bushes also need care, which consists of treating the shoots with herbal remedies to prevent the development of diseases, and trimming old leaves that have grown over the summer. If these activities are carried out correctly and competently, they will become the basis for a new abundant harvest next summer.

Why and how to mow strawberries in summer?

How to mow strawberries in the summer and why should you do it? Mowing strawberries is becoming a common thing. Every season, until the end of summer, summer residents mow down overgrown leaves and shoots in strawberry beds, without thinking about how the plant will react to this method and whether it is time to prune. Before picking up a braid, it is better to re-read articles about growing strawberries and look at gardening forums. The owners of strawberry plantations often advise mowing the shoots. Immediately after picking the berries, seasonal processing of strawberries is carried out if the leaves on the strawberries are covered with brown spots. Timely removal of infected shoots reduces the risk of further spread of the disease.

What to do with strawberry bushes in July and August?

Experienced gardeners advise waiting and looking closely at the plant. As soon as the shoot begins to shoot new foliage and produce tendrils, it is time to remove old leaves and unnecessary tendrils. This process is carried out in compliance with certain rules:

• In July, early varieties of strawberries produce shoots with young rosettes. For propagation, layerings with large rosettes are selected. Usually these are the first two on the escape. They should be buried, without cutting the tendrils with which the shoot connects to the mother bush. Unnecessary sockets should be removed. This process must be repeated regularly so that the bush does not become thickened by autumn. If time is missed, then it is better not to touch the plant, otherwise the growth of the plant will be delayed, and this will affect the future harvest.
• Leaves that dry out and are damaged are cut off at a height of 5 cm from the ground, since pest spores can also be found on strawberry cuttings.
• If you remove old leaves on time, then a lot of reproductive organs and flower stalks will form, and this is the key to a good harvest. It should be remembered that you cannot mow leaves on young shoots. Only after the plant has become stronger, that is, in the 3-4th year of fruiting, can you mow down the strawberry shoots.
• Pruning old shoots is a process that cannot be done with a scythe. In order not to damage the bush (strawberry shoots are very strong), you need to work with a sharp and clean pruner so that the tool does not cause infection.

Work on the strawberry beds continues in August:

• It is necessary to water the strawberry bushes well;
• separate the largest rosettes and prepare them for planting;
• the soil between the strawberry beds should be dug up;
• mulch the rows using sawdust or straw, dried moss or leaves fallen from trees; mulching suppresses the growth of weeds, prevents the formation of crust on the soil, in winter the mulch will serve as insulation for plants, in the spring it will need to be raked.

Mowing strawberries is not only cutting off the leaves, it is a whole set of measures that are aimed at increasing the future harvest. If you are late in pruning strawberries, the plant will not be able to provide the required supply of microelements. Young leaves will not have time to appear, the shoots will remain bare. The seedling will not survive winter cold.

When to prune strawberries?

When and how to process strawberries? There is also controversy regarding the timing of pruning strawberries. Two options are being considered:

• the first is pruning in mid-June;
• second – spring pruning

When can strawberries be processed after fruiting? Experienced gardeners wait for July, because July pruning does not disrupt the natural cycle, because it is at this time that fruit-bearing shoots die off, and dry foliage interferes with the further development of seedlings, you just need to choose a dry, windless day. But pruning in the fall harms the plant. After the old shoots are mowed and removed, the soil around the plant should be disinfected with a solution of potassium permanganate, fed, and insulated. Wood ash is suitable for this purpose.

Seasonal tips: what to do with strawberry bushes in July and August

How to care for beds after pruning and mowing? Many gardeners express the opinion that after picking the berries, you can ignore the strawberry plantations until the fall. With this approach, you may not be able to harvest a generous harvest in the next strawberry season. Garden strawberries simply need treatment after harvest. In two months of summer, the strawberry beds will be overgrown with grass, and the plant needs to replenish its strength, produce new leaves, while the old ones still hold on, and lay flower buds. Strawberries will throw out new shoots until the fall. Small rosettes will require nutrients, which they will “pull” from the mother plant. All of the above reasons force the gardener to devote time to caring for the strawberry plantation.

Seasonal tips may include the following. In July, the gardener needs to take the following steps:

• weed out all the weeds that managed to grow by the end of July;
• if the strawberry has been growing for several years, mow the foliage, not forgetting to leave the required number of rosettes for subsequent propagation of the berry, rake out the foliage;
• loosen the soil under the bush and hill up each bush to prevent the roots of the plant that are on the surface of the ground from drying out; during hilling, it is necessary to ensure that the soil does not fall into the center of the bush;
• loosen the rows and organize watering of the area; after each watering, you need to loosen the soil around the bushes.

You should also start spraying the plantation. The simplest and most affordable way is to treat the bushes and soil on the site with a solution of potassium permanganate or copper sulfate. After 24 hours, the mown plants need to be treated with an infusion of wormwood, garlic, and tobacco dust. Mineral fertilizers can also be used as fertilizer for strawberries. A solution of superphosphate or potassium sulfate is used to water the trimmed strawberry plantations.

Pruning strawberries after harvest

After the strawberry plantation is cleared of fruit, the gardener continues to care for the berries. Strawberry processing is necessary after harvesting strawberries in order to get a rich harvest next summer. Old leaves and weeds must be removed. They cannot be used as mulch because the old leaves contain pests that will begin to multiply when introduced into a new environment.

After fruiting on the plantation, the question arises of how to process the strawberries. There is debate among gardeners about the advisability of pruning strawberries. Two opinions are put forward:

1. Many gardeners doubt the need for pruning and argue that completely removing leaves is stressful for the bush, and interfering with the natural development of the plant can only harm it.
2. Others argue that the stress caused by pruning leaves, on the contrary, stimulates the bush to increase fruiting.
3. Still others advise becoming experimenters: choose two strawberry bushes and cut off the leaves on one of them, leaving the other alone. See which plant will give the largest harvest.

Reasons for pruning leaves: pros and cons

Continuing the conversation about pruning strawberries after fruiting, we need to consider the arguments that convince us of the need for pruning, and the evidence that advises against doing it.

The arguments in favor are as follows:

1. Trimming leaves and stems speeds up the growth of the root system. There is an explanation for this: beneficial substances and microelements rush to the roots, because the above-ground part of the plant is absent.
2. Pests that hide on the leaves of the plant will be destroyed along with the leaves. If you don't remove the old foliage after the harvest is harvested, then spring can bring new troubles. At first, the bush looks quite healthy, but after the first flowers appear on it, the leaves change color and become covered with brown spots. This indicates that the phytodisease affected the entire plantation. How to trim leaves if plants are affected by diseases and pests? Cutting off the leaves now means being left without a harvest. Leaving everything as it is will ruin the strawberry planting completely. So the gardener scolds himself for not trimming the leaves last summer, but the scheme for trimming leaves and tendrils is simple: cut off all the shoots that begin to dry out, leaving stems up to 50 cm high.
3. Some gardeners claim that mowed strawberry beds do not suffer from frost. The argument is somewhat dubious, but it is not without common sense. For the winter: processing strawberries after fruiting consists of fertilizing and insulation.

The arguments against are:

1. In autumn, buds begin to form on strawberry bushes - a harbinger of the future harvest. By pruning shoots, a gardener can damage generative and vegetative buds, because every bush is not inspected during the work process, so it is not worth pruning the plantations.
2. It is believed that the stress caused by the removal of leaves will slow down the further development of the crop, the fruits of which will form much later than other plants.
3. As a rule, before the process of removing leaves, the gardener does not treat the plantation with poisons, considering this unnecessary. It turns out that he simply shakes off the pests to the ground and forgets about them, but as soon as young leaves appear, the insects perk up again and crawl onto the young greenery.
4. Leaves are the plant's respiratory system. Thanks to them, photosynthesis occurs, which provides shoots and stems with oxygen. As leaves are removed, oxygen supply decreases.

Why trim your mustache?

Any variety of strawberry develops mustaches - long shoots without leaves, diverging in all directions from the bush. Why trim your mustache? When is the best time to do this? The discussion of this problem continued for a long time on gardening forums. Finally, some rules about growing garden strawberries were formed; in particular, it is necessary to trim the mustache of garden strawberries after harvesting. You cannot bring the plant to the point where the mustache completely covers the entire mother bush. In this case, you can’t expect a good harvest from the strawberry plantation. A mustache is needed if you plan to increase the plantations. And even in this case, you need to take the time to cut out all the unnecessary shoots, leaving the strongest and largest ones. Gardeners advise leaving a mustache - the first from the bush.

How to trim your mustache correctly? Gardeners' opinions on this issue are again divided. Some believe that it is necessary to trim the mustache as it appears; another group of gardeners relatively calmly observes the development of the plant and performs the pruning at one time. But there is no particular controversy regarding the timing of mustache trimming. It is better to remove unnecessary shoots from mid-July to the end of August. It is important that the plant produces new shoots by winter. You should not pull out the tendrils: this can damage the mother plant. It is better to trim off shoots on the plant that are not needed with sharp pruning shears or garden shears.

A few words about strawberry diseases and pests

Controlling crop pests is a painstaking process. It is difficult to see pests of a strawberry plantation just like that, so every year it is necessary to treat strawberries after harvest for diseases. Their list is quite numerous:

1. If previously the leaves of the plant were covered with brown spots, it means that a fungal disease has settled on the plant. How can you treat strawberries after picking strawberries? Bordeaux mixture, drugs "Ridomil Gold", "Ordan" are effective.
2. Small holes on the leaves indicate that the strawberry plantation is being attacked by the raspberry weevil. In such cases, treatment with insecticides is necessary, which is carried out regularly.
3. If a strawberry mite appears, as evidenced by wrinkled leaves that gradually turn yellow and die, gardeners wonder what treatment can be used? It is easy to spray strawberries with the following preparations that destroy earthen mites:

• “Fitoverm”, “Titovit Jet” - concentrated solutions that need to be used at intervals of 5 days;
• "Aktellik", "Karbofos" - serious compounds;
• colloidal sulfur, Bordeaux mixture.

1. How to treat strawberries against diseases, if the berries have rotted, it is necessary to treat the existing ones with fungicides - Karate or Inta-vir. If there is no poison for treatment, simply pour hot water over the bushes: the tick will die.
2. If the shoots of the bush are very thick, then the conclusion arises that a nematode has settled on the plantation. You should know that no measures will help. It is better to immediately remove the bush completely and spray the soil on which it grew with boiling water.

Strawberries are treated for pests after harvesting. The named drugs save. The instructions on the packages will tell you how to properly process strawberries.

Further care for the plant?

When should strawberries be processed after fruiting? This question is asked by a gardener who has finished picking sweet berries. When do you need to feed and fertilize, since increased leaf growth has already begun? Now is the time to plant a new plantation of strawberry crops or replant old bushes if they have been bearing fruit for five years. To do this, you should prepare a new area: it’s a good idea to find an area where onions or legumes were grown.

You need to scatter bird droppings or humus on the site, and then dig it up and moisten it. For planting, choose young, strong mustaches, and it is better to throw away old bushes.

If the transplant is not carried out, then you must do the following:

• weed the area;
• cut off all tendrils and yellowed leaves, but young shoots should not be disturbed;
• rake leaves in the strawberry patch;
• treat plants with colloidal sulfur;
• loosen the soil in the area, maintaining a depth of 15 cm (you need to work carefully so as not to damage the root system).

It is important to feed strawberry bushes with mineral preparations (it is better to buy formulations intended for strawberry crops, because they contain phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium, humus, compost). Organic fertilizers are suitable for summer fertilizing (pour any manure with water, wait until the fermentation process takes place). Wood ash has a good effect. The ratio is as follows: 1 kg of sol per square meter of crops. Scattered ash is covered with a layer of soil. After applying fertilizers, you need to water the soil in the area well. Strawberries do not tolerate chlorine. Preparations containing this element can destroy an entire strawberry plantation.

A little about watering a strawberry plantation

Well-known agricultural technicians believe that watering is the main step in caring for strawberries, which will be the key to good fruiting. Before you start preparing the site, you need to think through the irrigation system, otherwise the costs of subsidence will be unnecessary.

There are many waterings per season:

• the first watering is carried out after the melt water has left;
• in the future, it is necessary to ensure that the soil under the strawberry crops does not dry out, otherwise the development of the berries and the ejection of flower stalks stops, otherwise the process of aging of the bushes begins, the leaves dry out and die.

In the age of using new technologies, watering of entire strawberry plantations can be ensured by arranging drip irrigation. Plantations need watering both in early spring and in summer, because plant growth after harvest depends on the amount of nutrients supplied, and they are absorbed only in dissolved form. After watering, it is necessary to hill up the bushes.

Conditions for successfully growing strawberries

There is an opinion that strawberries are an unpretentious plant that bears fruit on its own and does not require any care. But growing garden strawberries in a garden plot is different from strawberries growing in the forest. The bright red berry has been adapting to natural conditions for centuries, and even then, not all young bushes survive, but only the strongest. Garden specimens are usually hybrids that were bred by a breeder, so they require special growing conditions. Without proper care, the crop will not produce a harvest. Therefore, a gardener who decides to grow strawberry plantations will have to put in a lot of effort:

• In order for the berries to fill and the vegetative process to proceed, the crops need to be well watered;
• it should be understood that loosening prevents soil compaction and enriches the soil with oxygen;
• fertilizing increases the yield and quality of berries;
• Mulching protects crops from the hot sun and severe frosts.

Experienced gardeners advise not to confuse strawberry varieties and to set aside separate beds for a new variety, because there are varieties that bear fruit only once and remontant ones that bear fruit two or three times. All varieties of strawberries have a unique aroma, preserves, jams, and compotes are a real storehouse of vitamins.

A few tricks for caring and processing strawberries

Gardeners involved in growing strawberries are gradually accumulating their own rules for growing this specimen, which form practical recommendations. Here are a few of them:

1. When choosing a place for a future strawberry plantation, you need to choose an area that is not plowed and has been sown with onions, carrots, beets, garlic, and herbs. This should be a sunny area, because the plant will not bear fruit in the shade.
2. This variety prefers light soils; if the soil is dense and heavy, then you should scatter peat and sand and then dig it up.
3. The site must be prepared six months in advance. Before planting, you should not scatter manure, as it can burn the root system; It’s better to do this in the spring so that the soil settles, and in the fall to plant new rows of strawberries.
4. Strawberries are a moisture-loving crop. A drip irrigation system will give a good effect.
5. A good feeding for young bushes is a solution of potassium permanganate and boric acid.
6. Interesting options for natural feeding:

• It is necessary to cut the nettle shoots, pour boiling water over it, and leave for several days. The nettle solution will cause shoots to develop and change the color of the leaves.
• The second recipe uses milk products. Pour whey or kefir (1 l) into water (3 l), stir. Water the crops at the root of the plant with the solution. A hardworking gardener is not lazy to water the plants every 14 days.
• In subsequent years, it is necessary to apply compost under the plants, which can be conveniently covered with a flat cutter.
• In order for each bush to bear fruit, you need to pinch the mustache in time. During the period when fruits are set, shoot growth should not be stimulated.

An experienced gardener plans all the activities for processing the crop in winter. Strawberries will definitely reward the gardener for his efforts with bright, juicy berries.