How to feed strawberries?

The cultivation of horticultural crops involves a whole range of activities for the care of plants.Among the list of compulsory work is to provide work on the introduction of fertilizers. Strawberries are no exception, so they also need to organize a competent and timely feeding for productive growth and fruiting.

The peculiarity of such a berry crop as strawberry is the tendency to deplete to a large extent the soil on which it is grown. As a result, a large number of important organic components of micro- and macroelements leaves the soil. In light of this, the cultivation of strawberries in the garden area needs to observe proper crop rotation, in addition, it is rather difficult to achieve good yield from the plant without regular use of the compounds for feeding strawberries and fertilizing the soil.

The plant is able to develop on different types of soil, but it can only bear fruit with large berries when it is balanced and fortified with the composition of the soil in the beds.

As practice shows, taking into account the variety of the culture of the ridge with strawberries retain their viability and the ability to fruiting for 3-5 years. On this basis, it can be noted that the plant grows at the same place for quite a long period, forming a large amount of green mass and berries. This necessitates the enrichment of the soil with nutrients both at the time of the rooting of young saplings at the site, and in subsequent seasons, when the culture goes through its life cycle. It would be erroneous to underestimate the benefits of fertilizing the soil both at the time of laying the main qualities of the plant at the development stage in the first year, and later during the fruiting of strawberries.

In the course of long-term cultivation of strawberries in private gardens or on an industrial scale, the most effective scheme for the introduction of important substances has been formed, where the work is divided by time, taking into account one phase or another in which the plant enters during development.

The recommended schedule for the introduction of fertilizing includes four times the work during the growing season of plants.

• Priority activities are held in the spring at the time preceding the blooming of the leaves. With sufficient introduction of nutrients in the first fruit-bearing season of the strawberry culture, root dressings will no longer be needed. In subsequent seasons — in the second and third year of the berry crop’s life, the spring fertilizer is held in the leaf formation phase, when its length is about 5 centimeters.
• The second wave of work on the fertilizer strawberries is carried out after the phase of setting berries. Despite the fact that during the flowering and fruit formation the plant spends a huge amount of energy and needs support, it is not advisable to feed during the growth and ripening of fruits. The temporary abstention from the use of any additives is explained by the fact that the berries have the ability to absorb all the elements and substances that feed the strawberry bush. Therefore, before feeding the culture in the period of tying and pouring berries, you should carefully select the most harmless to the human body composition.

• The third in turn feeding of culture is carried out in the last summer months after picking berries from the bushes. At this point, the plant moves from the phase of active growth to the resting stage. This stage is necessary for strawberries to relax, but at the same time the culture will need somewhere to draw strength in order to form a bookmark buds for flowering next year and the formation of whiskers, with which you can propagate strawberries. That is why it is necessary to continue to care for strawberries even after harvesting from the bushes. The main task, which is part of the complex of care work, is fertilizer and fertilizing of the crop to get a good harvest in the next season.
• The final dressing of the bushes is carried out at the end of the season - in the autumn. Do not neglect the autumn fertilizers, because for young plants additional nutrition in the form of balanced complexes will help to successfully survive the cold and not lose the ability to bear fruit. For plants that have been growing on the site for more than a year, the autumn introduction of fertilizers will become an indispensable source of vitamins before the dormant phase during the winter months. The result of feeding in the fall will be a better and more abundant flowering next spring, which, in turn, will serve as a guarantor of the formation of larger and more tasty strawberry fruit. It is worth considering that the time of feeding in the fall may vary in one direction or another, depending on the affiliation of the crop to a particular variety.

An important step concerning the fertilization of garden strawberries is the use of nutrient compositions during planting of young bushes. Usually, the complex of necessary substances is introduced into the soil a month before the rooting of the plants. For several weeks, the soil will soften the resulting concentration of substances, which will eliminate the risk of burns of the root system of weak plants at the time of their rooting into the ground.

Special attention should be paid to the repair of strawberry varieties. in light of their unique ability to produce harvests several times during the season, which is reflected in the level of loss of vitality by the plant and eventually leads to premature aging. The scheme for the use of nutrient compositions for such crops involves the use of fertilizers in each phase of the formation of the ovaries of future berries. In addition, a similar pattern of using dressings increases the frequency of irrigation of strawberry remontant varieties.

Today there is a huge selection of various fertilizers for berry crops. Therefore, each gardener has the opportunity to choose the compositions based on their experience, recommendations and personal preferences.

Modern complexes have combined two main factors by which fertilizing for berry crops is assessed - environmental friendliness and efficiency. Such products include chelated fertilizers, analysis of which proved their harmlessness and greater productivity during use in comparison with usual sulphates and phosphates.

Chelates are unique compounds based on amino acid complexes and metal ions. The main feature of the product is the reaction between the main components, as a result of which organic and metal are combined, where the latter breaks down into elemental substances. Among the most popular products of this line can be distinguished "Akvarin", "Vuksal" or "Master". Along with many advantages, these fertilizers have some disadvantages, first of all it concerns the high cost, and, unfortunately, the presence on the market of a large number of falsified products.

Despite the rapid introduction of modern technologies in the cultivation of horticultural crops, the time-tested means of feeding for strawberries, which belong to folk agronomy, do not lose their relevance.

Due to the great popularity of strawberries in private gardens and at the dacha plots, available but equally effective nutrients are still used by gardeners. These include liquid formulations based on yeast, fertilizing with iodine-containing solutions, useful formulations and herbal extracts are used, in addition, fertilizers are made from onion peel and black bread. The main advantage of using folk remedies as strawberry fertilizers is the absence of harm to the plant. In addition, the components for the manufacture of top dressing can be found in every home, which saves money.

For the category of gardeners who, for one reason or another, prefer to use ready-made nutritional formulations, It is possible to identify the most effective among the proposed range on the shelves of specialized stores.

• "Baikal EM-1" - gives excellent results when used on beds with strawberries when they are sheltered with agrofibre.
• "Humisol-super" - the composition is implemented in liquid form. Among the features of the drug for strawberry fertilizer is worth noting the content of biogenic trace elements in it.
• Slox-Eco - in its effectiveness the tool is comparable with the introduction of horse manure into the soil. The composition is sold in liquid form, requires dilution in water before use.

Among the home remedies for fertilizer ridges with garden strawberries can be noted several popular substances.

• Wood ash - this dressing can be used both in liquid and dry condition. To prepare a nutrient solution for watering, ash is mixed with water in a proportion of 200 grams of substance per liter of water.
• Bird droppings are used in a diluted state, since the substance is rather concentrated and can cause burns.

In addition to root dressing of strawberries, the use of nutrient compositions for spraying the culture demonstrates good results. Some of them are not only fertilizers, but also means to protect plants from the development of various diseases and attacks of insect pests.

It is established that the necessary nutrients are absorbed by the plant several times better through the green mass, especially the lower foliage. This fact is taken into account by many gardeners in the cultivation of strawberries.

The main means for processing plants are:

• store preparations, among which “Rubin” or “Agros” can be distinguished;
• yeast spraying, which is treated overhead part of the berry culture;
• potassium sulfur;
• zinc sulphate;
• nettle infusions;
• fermented milk products, which not only feed strawberry bushes, but can acidify the soil;
• boric acid.

Before embarking on the introduction of fertilizers for strawberry bushes, you should be familiar with the specifics of the structure of culture. In particular, this concerns the structure and location of the root system. As a rule, the roots of strawberries are located with a small recess in the ground, and in spring they can be located quite close to the surface of the bed. That is why fertilizing the ridges with dry compounds, you just have to sprinkle the soil, and then loosen the soil around the plant. As for the summer months, during this period, the top layer of soil quite quickly loses moisture and dries out, therefore, useful compositions should be embedded in special grooves.

When cultivating varieties of strawberries prone to the abundant formation of tendrils, it is necessary to use nitrogen-containing drugs with particular caution, which stimulate the growth of shoots and the growth of green mass, but have a very mediocre effect on fruiting. In addition, nitrogen will contribute to the fact that abundant greens will evaporate a lot of moisture, which will adversely affect the plant, because strawberries belong to moisture-loving crops.

Strawberry root dressings should be carried out in a moist soil, as for foliar fertilizer, it is better to choose dry weather so that the preparations are absorbed faster. All work on the introduction of fertilizers should be postponed for the evening.

How to feed the strawberries, see the following video.