Caring for strawberries in the spring - simple rules for obtaining a rich harvest

Proper care of strawberries in the spring will provide a rich harvest of this delicious berries for the entire summer season. After winter, plants only begin to recover and wake up, they need to help form and plant floral buds - future fruit.

Strawberry - spring care, tips of seasoned gardeners

A complete care of garden strawberries in the spring includes the preparation of beds, planting, watering and fertilizing plants. Old bushes also need to be brought in order. How to care for strawberries in spring:

  1. The plantation must be cleared of rotten weeds, bark, last year's foliage, old protective mulch. The top layer of soil between bushes is advised to remove and so get rid of many pests and provide roots warming up from the spring sun.
  2. Since spring, a thick layer of soil on the site is not needed, otherwise the root system will grow for a long time in growth.
  3. Professionals are advised to leave the soil after loosening the soil to a depth of 6-8 cm to fill it with oxygen. Do this carefully so as not to damage the roots. When loosening, add wood ash to prevent gray rot and slugs - 2 cups per 1 m 2 .

Planting strawberries in spring in the open ground

In the spring time on the strawberry plantation can appear attacks - the plants do not all tolerate the winter well. To fill new bushes, you need to prepare beds 20-25 cm high. The rules for planting strawberries in spring:

  1. The earth is fertilized: 1 m 2 - 1 bucket of peat and 1 bucket of humus, 2 tbsp. spoons of nitrophosphate. The soil is abundantly spilled with a solution of copper sulfate - 2 tbsp. spoons for 10 liters of water
  2. The bushes are placed at a distance of 40 cm from each other so that they can grow well.
  3. After planting, the plants are watered with Biohumus.

Transplanting strawberries in spring to another place

The ideal time for the procedure is the beginning or middle of May. To grow a large berry and get a plentiful harvest, the strawberry transplantation in spring in a new place is carried out every 3-4 years. This procedure is subjected to shrubs that are on the same site for at least 2 years. Instances with signs of damage (lack of young leaves, weak foliage) are not suitable.

Suitable for transplantation are strong and healthy plants, able to take root in a new place. On the plantation, where cucumbers grew, cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, strawberries are not transplanted. Good predecessors for her are beans. Transplant process:

  1. In March, the site is digested, humped by humus. A month later, potassium fertilizers are introduced into the soil. The day before the procedure, the soil is watered abundantly.
  2. At the seedlings, yellow leaves and antennae are removed, the ground is shaken off from the roots and planted in new holes from each other with a distance of 40 cm.

What should you do in the spring with strawberries?

Working with strawberries in the spring begins with bringing order to the site:

  1. Strawberries are removed leaves, yellowed in rosettes, unnecessary antennae, rotten stolons. The frozen plants are immediately removed.
  2. Then the bushes need to be bored from all sides. The central axis of growth does not need to be pressed down by the earth.

Further care work consists in pruning strawberry bushes to get rid of missing leaves, carrying out spring feedings, loosening the soil. The bushes are mulched with special dry material, they are treated from ailments and pests. Watering is produced by sprinkling, especially at the time from the beginning of the growth of the leaves to flowering. At the time of ripening berries moisten only the soil.

Pruning strawberries in the spring

One of the important measures for caring for strawberries is pruning. It helps plants to develop roots, allows to destroy pests that have settled on dried leaves. In March, remove all dead sprouts, partially damaged stalks that could not survive the winter, which will take away useful substances from healthy sprouts. How to properly cut strawberries in spring:

  1. Each bush is carefully cleaned from dead, damaged branches, yellow leaves, with spots or on which pests are visible. Remove and creeping on the ground foliage - it will not be of use.
  2. Pruning is done with a garden pruner or manually - the branches are brittle and easily detached.
  3. If the reproduction of strawberries is not planned, then the rosettes formed before the winter, too, are removed.
  4. After work, remove all plant residues from the site.

What to feed strawberries in the spring?

To the root system gave the plant more nutrients, it needs to be fed. Plants of the first year of planting can not be fed, they have enough fertilizer for planting. In the future, the soil is depleted and additional fertilizing is necessary. Feeding strawberries in spring:

  1. When caring for strawberries spend the first water after the snow, when the leaves have not yet blossomed. During this period, you need to take care of the growth of foliage, so the compounds must contain nitrogen. Popular mineral mixtures: 10 liters of water - 2 cups of Mullein, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of ammonium sulphate, mix everything and pour 1 liter mixture under each bush. For 10 liters of water 1 tbsp. spoonful of nitroammophoski, calculation - 0.5 liters per bush. You can use the infusion of nettle - fill the bucket with grass, pour over to the top with warm water and stand for 3-4 days. To make up the root infusion, dilute in a ratio of 1:10, for sprinkling - 1:20.
  2. In the middle of May - early June, when the first flower-bearing flowers appear, they conduct potassium make-up to improve the taste and safety of berries. In 10 liters of water, dissolve 1 teaspoon of potassium saltpeter, the plant is watered at a rate of 0.5 liters per bush.
  3. During the formation of the ovaries, a third feeding is carried out. To do this, we recommend infusion of weeds - after weeding they are crushed, poured with water, insist for a week and water the strawberries. This makeup will help increase the number of fruits.

How to mulch strawberries in spring?

Mulching strawberries in the spring will help protect the crop from pests, ailments, weeds and dirt. Plants cover, when there are ovaries on the bushes, thanks to this, the peduncles do not contact the soil. As a mulch, you can use different materials: straw, leaves, agrovolokno, needles, paper, sawdust, bark of trees, overgrown compost, chamfered lawn grass.

Before the procedure, the soil near the bushes is weeded and loosened. A well-dried material is laid around the bushes with a uniform layer of 15 cm (soon it will settle). Mulching with agrofiber is carried out at the stage of landing of young strawberry rosettes. He is laid out on a bed, having made cross-shaped apertures through each 40 sm - through them plant bushes of culture.

Treatment of strawberries in spring from diseases and pests

Care for strawberries in the spring requires the introduction of drugs from pests. To combat fungi used biopreparations "Phytosporin", "Phytocide" or Bordeaux fluid - a mixture of copper sulfate and lime. They irrigate the plant after sanitary pruning. Early spring spraying of strawberries in spring from pests and diseases by means such as "Actovit" or " Actellik " will help to cope with plant insects and plant mites on the site. At the time of flowering, strawberries are not sprayed.