Why are strawberries cracking and what to do?

The strawberry harvest is eagerly awaited by the whole family, as it is a tasty sweet berry. Appetizing it also makes the appearance - rich red berries attract attention, and the smooth surface is pleasant to the touch.But sometimes even the most experienced gardeners may encounter the fact that the strawberries during cracking period crack and become unsightly and tasteless. The reasons for this trouble may be several. The main thing is to identify and take action in time.

Having found a poor-quality strawberry crop associated with the cracking of fruits, their abundant reddening, or, conversely, unnatural pallor, it is worthwhile to immediately pay attention to finding possible causes of these manifestations. These include the following common cases.

• Insufficient or excessive watering. Many gardeners do not pay special attention to this aspect, but when the weather is too hot, it is necessary to irrigate the crop regularly, since the fruits are cracked very often due to lack of moisture. However, the opposite happens - with excessive watering, the strawberry becomes watery and begins to rot, acquiring a light or unnaturally dark shade of the fruit.

• Watering temperature. This reason is considered to be the most common, and inexperienced gardeners are most often confronted with its consequences. Strawberries are a heat-loving plant, therefore watering should accordingly be carried out with warm water - a few degrees above room temperature. Irrigation with cold water is unacceptable, since the root system of a plant can overcool and the process of feeding nutrients to the fruit is broken. As a result, the berries will be dry and pale.
• Unsuccessful growing place. It often happens that the strawberries do not receive the necessary amount of solar heat, because the gardener planted it in the shade or decided to use the free space under a tree. Because of this, the strawberry develops slowly and at the time when it neighbors in the sun, it actively bears fruit, in the dark area it remains unripe.
• Thermal burn Another common problem. An excessively hot climate can lead to it, when the sun actively burns and takes away the moisture of the plant, or else the watering during this period is incorrect. On particularly hot days, strawberries should be watered in the early morning when dew is still visible on the leaves, or late in the evening. If watering is carried out at a time when the sun is high in the sky, it can burn the berries. Then the fruits will get unappetizing purple shade and covered with cracks.

• Disease. Disease cracking can also occur, such as gray mold. This is due to the absence or insufficiency of preventive measures. A summer resident who seeks to obtain a quality crop needs to be especially attentive to the bushes in order to prevent the development of the disease in time with the help of special preparations or by removing the affected bush from the site.
• Lack of dressings. Strawberries, like other plants that are grown on not very fertile soil, need additional feedings and vitamins for their full development and good harvest. They need to be carried out regularly and with the right dosages in order for the fruits to get an adequate complex of nutrients.

All of these reasons, individually or in combination, can lead to the fact that the strawberry fruits are cracked, and will also become too scarlet or pale.

First, you need to carefully analyze your actions with strawberry bushes, and then decide which of the problems most likely resulted from a poor-quality crop. And based on this, make one of the following decisions:

• increase / suspend watering;
• transplant bushes in a more sunny place;
• process strawberries with special preparations for diseases or pests;
• remove affected bushes from the site;
• to carry out complex feedings.

This will help return nutrients to the plant, as well as restore the crop for the next year.

In the next video you can see what to do with running strawberries on the plot: throw it away or leave it?