2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Strawberries have long been firmly established in our summer cottages, because these amazing fragrant berries are both very tasty and incredibly healthy. It is always a pleasure to eat them fresh, to cook amazing pastries or desserts with them, and also to cook incomparable fragrant jam for the winter. However, in order for strawberries to continue to delight with excellent yields, it is important not to forget that they need proper care even after the cherished berries have been harvested! What should be this withdrawal, and what exactly does it include?
Why do you need to care for strawberries, even if the crop is harvested?
It is in the middle of the summer of the current year that the foundations are laid for an abundant harvest of delicious berries in the next season, so that after harvesting the berries, one should not neglect the most important agrotechnical measures. It is from the care of strawberry bushes in July, August and September that the quality of the next year's harvest and the size of the berries will depend! If the fruiting strawberry bushes regularly suffer from a lack of moisture or nutrition, from various pests or diseases, as well as from early frosts, the yield next year may significantly decrease, and the quality of the berries will become much worse. So, what should you do after the harvest of mouth-watering berries has been harvested?
Get rid of weeds, unnecessary tendrils and excess leaves
After harvest, strawberry bushes need a high-quality update, which is why it is so important to timely trim unnecessary antennae and remove all excess leaves - all leaves that have aged and have begun to die off must be carefully separated from the bushes so that the valuable culture does not also spend its energy on their nutrition. And if traces of various diseases appeared on the leaves, then not removing them would be a real crime at all! By freeing the berry bushes from the dying leaf mass, a person thereby not only destroys a certain part of the pests, but also reduces the influence of various infections. By the way, some summer residents for this purpose completely mow all the strawberry tops at the root, only the opinions of experts regarding the complete mowing of the tops differ noticeably.
Loosening, hilling and mulching
Another important agricultural technique is loosening the soil between the rows, since it is extremely important for strawberries that the soil has good air permeability, and this is especially important at the end of the harvest or in the spring! Ideally, the soil between the rows should be loosened until the very end of summer - experts recommend doing this about once every two weeks, and also after rains or watering.
As for hilling, it is quite permissible to combine it with loosening. When the old leaves are removed, additional soil is added to the bushes, ideally humus. This approach allows you to protect strawberries from possible freezing in winter.
Mulching is no less important for strawberries - the soil on well-mulched beds always remains loose, weeds develop much worse, less watering is required, and the berries do not get dirty. As a rule, straw most often plays the role of mulch in this case, however, materials such as film, agrofibre, husk, pine needles or sawdust will also be quite suitable for these purposes.
Top dressing and watering
Yes, the fruit-bearing strawberry bushes also need to be watered and fed! The fact is that after harvesting, strawberries begin to grow new leaves, rosettes, mustaches, horns, roots and future flower stalks, and, of course, they always need proper nutrition for full development. Nitrogen is especially necessary for strawberries after harvesting and removing excess leaves - this is an indispensable assistant for the regrowth of new leaves! Some summer residents feed strawberries during this period with a solution of chicken manure, while others give the bushes mineral fertilizers (urea, for example) - both options are equally acceptable. The most important thing in this matter is not to overdo it, therefore, for fertilizing fertile bushes, the dosages recommended by manufacturers are recommended to be halved. If you overdo it with nitrogen, the strawberry bushes will turn out to be very lush and even luxurious, but very few flower buds will be laid on them.
In the second half of August, it will be necessary to feed the strawberries with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers - this is necessary so that the bushes can winter better and so that the formation of flower buds is more effective. And, of course, in no case should you forget about watering - in the second half of summer, strawberries need them no less than during the period of berry formation!
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