Growing strawberries - how to get the maximum harvest?

Growing strawberries is considered the easiest in comparison with harvesting blueberries, blueberries and other berries. It comparatively quickly ripens, gives a large number of large fruits and does not need daily watering. It requires only the correct planting and care of the bushes before the ripening of the fruit.

Planting strawberries

Planting of berries is carried out through pre-prepared seedlings. Before burying roots in the open ground, plants are tempered: keep in a cool place for at least 5-10 days. After that, other rules for planting strawberries in spring are fulfilled:

1. So that the seedlings do not wither and become easier to take root, the roots of the seedlings are dipped in the garden chatterbox from the clay and mullein infusion before instillation.
2. For strawberries choose a garden plot, which is not saturated with excessively groundwater. The ideal option assumes that their level is below 1 m.
3. The bed is cleaned of large clods of earth and weeds.
4. In order for the seedlings to immediately grow, the layer of the earth above the point of growth (the top part of the root) should not be more than 2 cm.
5. When the bush is installed in the pit, it is sprinkled with earth, slightly tamped and gradually replenishes the water so as not to wash the soil from under the roots.

How to prepare the soil for planting strawberries?

Given that the strawberry bushes are sensitive to the quality of the soil, it should pay special attention to it before planting. The best predecessors for berries are cereals, dill or basil, the worst are all representatives of the Solanaceae family. Growing strawberries in the open ground will be quick and fruitful if the soil is prepared taking into account the recommendations of experienced gardeners:

1. Scanty land should be mixed with loam or sandy loam in a proportion of 1: 1.
2. 10 days before planting, the soil is decontaminated and prevented from fungal diseases. For 10 liters of water, 500 g of lime and 50 g of copper sulfate are used. For spraying 1 square meter apply 1 liter of the mixture.
3. The beds are covered with a mixture of organic fertilizers. The top 10 cm of the soil should consist of a mixture of turf, white sand, peat and humus in equal proportions.

Planting strawberries in autumn

At this time of year, bushes are planted for two reasons: either in order to accelerate the fruiting with special fertilizing and harvest in the greenhouse in winter, or collect the first fruits in early June. The correct planting of strawberries in autumn contributes to good rooting and hibernation without damage. There are three possible planting periods in autumn for this berry:

1. Early autumn planting - from the third week of August to the middle of September.
2. Mid-autumn landing - from September 15 to October 15.
3. Late planting - bushes buried in the ground a month before the first frost.

Planting strawberries in spring

In the spring berry bushes are planted in the open ground when the cold weather recedes. The exact date of planting differs depending on the region. To learn how to properly plant strawberries in the spring, you should start with the timely burial in the soil of bushes and fertilizing them with humus or compost. Optimum terms for spring planting are:

1. For southern regions - from 1 to 15 March.
2. For northern areas with late melting of ice - from 1 to 15 May.
3. For the middle band - from 10 to 30 April.

Ways to plant strawberries

Since berry crops do not get along with all neighbors in the garden, they can not be planted chaotically. The rules for planting strawberries are forbidden to place bushes next to tomatoes, parsley, eggplants, gooseberries and black currants. Seedlings are placed on a separate perimeter by one of the following schemes:

1. Carpet landing. The bushes are next to each other, and when the leaves appear begin to resemble a continuous carpet of stems. The minus of this type of planting is a small crop due to the interwoven roots.
2. Landing in a row. Straight long rows of bushes, among which you can easily go through watering or collecting fruits.
3. Growing strawberries separately standing shrubs. Spread varieties are planted taking into account the separation of root systems and mulching.
4. Planting the nests. The center of the garden is one plant, around it, plant 6 more bushes.

The distance between the strawberry bushes when planting

The most convenient and used is the scheme of planting strawberries in rows. Following it, for the aisle leave a strip of width of 40 cm, and the distance between the strawberries when planting for bushes is 15-20 cm. The remaining methods of planting are designed for:

• 45-60 cm distance between individual bushes;
• 35-40 cm distance when nested type of landing;
• 5-10 cm - for a continuous carpet planting.

Features of growing strawberries

Strawberries are one of the most photophilic berries. She does not tolerate penumbra, so the tall bushes growing next to her, are cut in time in the course of the summer, just to not slow the maturation. The ways of growing strawberries determine the further care of shoots. Among them:

1. Vertical method. Scourge of ampel varieties hang from a pot or box, or curl over a grid or pipes.
2. Horizontal. Low-growing or curly varieties spread along the ground or take root in sacks, tubs or barrels.

Growing strawberries all year round

If a few decades ago the berries were grown exclusively in the warm season, then today the harvest from the bushes get at least in March, even in December. There are three ways that make the year-round cultivation of strawberries real and productive:

1. Film shelter . Low-growth varieties can grow under a dense film in southern regions with sparing winter.
2. Window sill. Shrubs in pots of sufficient volume on the window are capable of yielding 2 crops when pruning the mustache and harvesting at a time.
3. Heated greenhouse. Even in cold regions, it is possible to create the desired humidity and air temperature.

Growing strawberries - top dressing

Top dressing of newly planted shrubs is not carried out at all - they are fertilized by those that were planted last year or earlier. The conditions for growing strawberries, if they are not infected with rot or do not suffer from pests, are designed for three times fertilization - after planting, during the peak of the appearance of the ovaries and after the harvest is completed. Sometimes for safety, the feeding procedure is repeated to prepare for wintering. The best fertilizers are:

• ammonium sulfate;
• chicken droppings;
• a mixture of iodine and boric acid;
• mullein;
• rye biscuits soaked in water.

Care for strawberries

After planting the crop requires regular loosening of the bed, watering, treatment against pests and feeding with organic substances and microelements. Depending on the variety, flowering begins in the second half of May or early June. Proper care for strawberries in order to obtain a healthy harvest should be based on several principles:

• observance of irrigation frequency at different stages of cultivation;
• sheltering beds for protection from cooling, heat or bad weather;
• frequent careful examination of the bush to remove rotten berries and fallen leaves.

Care of strawberries after planting

Immediately after instillation of the root collar into the ground, the bushes of the seedlings are watered. Gardeners telling how often to water strawberries after planting are advised to do it in the early morning no more often than 1 time in 2-3 weeks. After this, it is necessary to mulch the soil - the surface covering of the soil useful for garden crops. This method of agrotechnics helps enrich the soil with vitamins, prevents penetration of pests to the roots and retains moisture in the upper layers of the soil. Conduct mulching according to the technique:

1. Preparation of the material. They can be sawdust, humus, hay, crushed cardboard, film, newspapers, bark or needles.
2. Covering beds. Sites between the bushes are hidden under a reliable layer of mulch, trying not to damage the plant, so as not to disrupt the cultivation of strawberries.
3. Care for mulch. Watering the protective layer is not recommended, but it can be added to the plant if the plants are bare of the wind.

Caring for strawberries during flowering

After the appearance of colors, the watering scheme changes. Pouring water from the top down is no longer safe: if the liquid hits the ovary, it can provoke the appearance of powdery mildew or gray rot . Among other rules that provides for the care of strawberries in spring and summer, you can name the following:

1. The irrigation interval is 7-12 days. One square meter of landings is spent at least 20 liters of water. Its temperature should be 18-20 ° C.
2. Shelter shelter in bad weather. Downpours and wind can harm the tender leaves, so the harvest during the rain and hurricane cover with a dense polyethylene film.
3. Softening the crust. On the soil with the beds of berries, solid crusty clumps often appear, which interfere with the access of oxygen to the roots. They are sprayed with water from a spray gun and shoveled.

Strawberry - grooming during fruiting

When the ovary appears on the plant, care for it should be radically changed in order to prevent toxins from entering the ripening berries. It is not necessary to refuse cardinally from top dressing, as it is possible to choose organic harmless substances for these purposes. Care for garden strawberries during the formation of fruits is as follows:

1. Top dressing with nettle decoction once every 2-3 weeks. It is useful for increasing the mass of fruits and increasing their juiciness. 20 g of dry nettle leaves are brewed 1 liter of boiling water, then add another 10 liters of warm water and use the composition for irrigation.
2. Fertilizer wood ash. It contains all the microelements necessary for growing strawberries. The ashes are laid out around the bush immediately after the appearance of the first leaves.
3. Timely removal of spoiled berries. If on the ovary, consisting of several fruits, at least one of them is struck, it is gently torn off to protect the others from damage.

Growing Strawberries - Diseases

This culture is subject to the same diseases that affect blueberries, raspberries and other berries. Infection by any of them can be determined by external signs: a change in the color of the leaves, their shape, a decrease in yield or deformation of the fruit. In the process of caring for the beds you can encounter such diseases of strawberries:

1. Spider mite. A small insect wraps the leaves with a cobweb, which causes them to shrivel and turn yellow. The mite can be defeated by spraying with a solution of carbophos after harvesting.
2. Strawberry mite. Incredibly dangerous, because it damages the roots and petioles of the leaves. The parasite lays eggs on the shoots when they just begin to form. On the cultivation of garden strawberry infection affects greatly: the leaves shrivel, and the berries become small. It will be prevented by the appearance of treatment with colloidal sulfur before planting.
3. Nematode. Worms with a length of no more than 1 cm give the culture a brittle stalk and affect the length of the cuttings, but live in the ground, rather than on the plant. The pest reproduces too quickly to prevent the development of a colony of worms. Preventive effects will have small pits with lime, located between the bushes.
4. Fusarium and late blight wilt. Key signs of the disease are necrosis along the border of leaves, drilling of shoots with their subsequent dying off. Growing strawberries is broken: the axial cylinder of the plant blushes and it begins to lag behind in development, its friable roots die. The disease does not appear if the bushes are transplanted every 3-4 years.