Rules for the care of strawberries after harvest

Garden strawberries pleases with their harvest in the first half of summer. This garden culture, one might say, opens the berry season.Most strawberry varieties finish fruiting in the second half of July; some varieties may produce crops until the first days of August. In any case, after picking berries garden strawberry care should not stop. The article will describe what to do with berry bushes after harvesting.

After the ripening of the fruits and their collection, and this happens already in the first half of summer, the garden strawberries continue their livelihoods. Therefore, in no case should not throw care for plants until the next spring-summer season. The quality and quantity of the harvest of the next year directly depends on the condition of the berry bushes for wintering.

The main goals and objectives of agricultural engineering in July-August are:

• strengthening plant immunity, preventing exhaustion and drying out;
• protection from pests and diseases;
• exclusion of root competition with weeds;
• maintaining the nutritional value of the soil;
• "Unloading" strawberry bush by removing excess sprouts.

The quality of the soil in the area with strawberry plantings plays a very large role in maintaining the normal life of the plants. In the period when fruiting ends, the roots begin to actively replenish nutrient reserves. Until the fall, plants gain strength for wintering. At this time, appropriate agrotechnical measures should be carried out on the beds with strawberries.

• It is important not to stop soil loosening in the root zone. Lack of oxygen and nutrients to the roots is not the best way affect the condition of the plants.
• Regular weeding remains a mandatory procedure in the second half of the summer. Root competition will greatly hurt strawberries.
• Fertilizing with complex mineral fertilizers continues. The most important elements for garden strawberries during this period are sulfur, nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and calcium.

You must be familiar with the composition of the drug to feed before using it. There are nutritional complexes specifically for garden strawberries: “Ruby”, “Agricola”, “Ryazanochka”.

Organic matter can be added to the soil solution of chicken manure. This is a very strong fertilizer, so it must be taken in relation to water in the amount of 1:20. Approximate consumption is 10 liters for 8-10 bushes.

• Do not allow the soil to dry out. The second half of summer is often arid, and at the end of August winds are long. Because of this, the topsoil, where most of the strawberry root system is located, drains very quickly. The lack of moisture affects the plant is much worse than the lack of feeding. Watering garden strawberries after fruiting should be carried out infrequently, but it is abundant.
• Sometimes the ground washed by watering exposes the upper roots of the berry bushes. Yes, and the root system, actively developing, can give processes of roots too close to the soil surface. Therefore, strawberries must also earthen at least 2 times before the onset of autumn cold.

In the summer season, garden crops are attacked by harmful insects. No exception is garden strawberries. Pests can settle on the plant during any growing season, including after harvest. Moreover, fruiting significantly weakens the protective forces of the berry bush.

• To prevent the attack of pests immediately after picking berries, you can treat strawberries with acaricides. These are quite effective complex drugs. Spraying is carried out once.
• Often plantations of berry crops affects the strawberry mite. Its vital activity on the plant is manifested by the formation of dark spots on the leaf plates with the subsequent drying of individual leaves. If such signs appear on plants, it is necessary to spray with insecticides. It is best of all if the preparations will have a wide spectrum, since pests often develop immunity to the individual components of therapeutic solutions.

Repeated preventive spraying should be done in the fall before the plants lose their foliage.

• Snails and slugs sometimes regale on the juicy berries of garden crops. Often they linger on the leaves of the plant after the harvest is gathered. To scare away such uninvited guests can be a gentle folk remedy. Foliage needs to be powdered with cornmeal.
• The weevil insect eats foliage and fruits of strawberry. Adults can be seen on different parts of the plant with the naked eye. To get rid of the pest, you can use the drug "Intavir." A good folk remedy in the fight against this and other insect pests is a solution of pharmacy iodine. It is prepared in the proportion of 10 drops of the drug per 10-12 liters of water.

The second very negative and undesirable factor that weakens berry crops are pathogens. They may not particularly manifest themselves in the first half of summer, when garden strawberries are actively developing. But here on the bushes weakened by fruiting, whole “bouquets” of diseases can bloom.

It is worth saying that in many respects the activity of the pathogens depends on how favorable the conditions for growing strawberries were in the spring and in the first half of summer.

The complex of measures for the prevention of diseases and the treatment of strawberry bushes includes a number of measures.

• A weak solution of light pink manganese can be used for spraying the leaves and watering the soil.
• Bordeaux liquid is a good tool for the prevention of many diseases of garden plants. With a solution of this substance the leaves of garden strawberries can be sprayed in the spring and at the end of July. It is especially desirable to use Bordeaux liquids, if in previous seasons the plants showed signs of disease.
• From the defeat of powdery mildew, a symptom of which is the appearance of a light coating on the leaves and berries, the drug "Topaz" is well helpful.
• From fungal pathogens, including gray rot, often affecting strawberries, fungicides are used. Especially effective in the fight against fungal spores copper oxychloride.
• In the middle of summer, the mulch layer (straw, humus, sawdust, etc.) should be removed from the beds and replaced with a new one. It serves as an effective preventive measure against the development of pathogens. Spores of a fungus, bacteria, mold microorganisms often settle on the soil between plants of a mulch that lay for one and a half to two months.

Caring for strawberries after harvesting also includes the removal of whiskers and excess sprouts. A large number of leaves and numerous tendrils are no longer particularly needed by the resting plant. They take a lot of nutrients, preventing their accumulation for the future. Moreover, insects and harmful microorganisms settle in the dense crown of a bush much more often.

Circumcision can be complete or partial.

• Complete pruning or mowing of leaves is advisable when a shrub is affected by a disease or badly damaged by pests.In this case, such a measure in combination with other therapeutic measures will help to stop the development of the disease and get rid of parasitic insects. The cut of the stems with leaves can be done with scythe or scissors. After 5-7 days, young leaves will start to grow from the root, but in smaller quantities.
• Partial pruning involves the removal of dry, lethargic, yellowing and affected leaves. And also should be cut the stems lying on the ground, and all the leaves of the upper tiers.

Tips for caring for strawberries in the fall, see the following video.