Harvesting strawberries
The moment always comes when you need to start picking strawberries. No matter how generous the strawberries are, harvesting means the end of fruitfulness and the favorite delicacy will cease to please the eye in the beds. But for the subsequent harvest to be no less generous, the strawberries after harvest must undergo special care.
Picking strawberries
The berries are collected in small boxes so that the fruits do not crush each other. Strawberries are stored in a cool dry place.
If you are collecting for sale, then you should do this literally a few hours before implementation, so that the culture does not lose its aesthetic presentation. A slightly overripe strawberry immediately lets out juice, this variety is suitable for jam, compotes, fruit drink.
The summer resident should thank his favorite berry for the pleasure he has received. With the right approach, next season the basket of the number of berries will burst at the seams, and the taste will become even more delicate and refined. So what does strawberry expect from us after harvesting? Responsible steps need to be taken, under which one should be delicate and follow a number of necessary rules to preserve the plant.
Strawberry care all year round
The crop yield period is short, only 2, sometimes 3 months. Of course, we are not talking about strawberries grown using a special technology in an equipped greenhouse. After the end of winter and the melting of the snow, the vulnerable roots of strawberries do not have time to warm up in time, to receive a set of trace elements and minerals from the ground, which would give strength for greater yields. It is not uncommon for culture to get sick. Whimsical and ripe strawberries.
Strawberry care should be in accordance with the rules and recommendations of seasoned gardeners. Like any other plant, strawberry bushes require feeding, careful care, if you want - heating. But measures should be taken to preserve and strengthen the plant much earlier, immediately after the strawberry harvest, in July, August, September. It is during these months that the guarantee for good and large fruits is laid.
Some will ask why in these months. During this period, a new wave of leaves appears on the strawberry bushes, antennae and flower buds appear. All "power", that is minerals and trace elements from the ground begin to accumulate in the antennae, so that in the next season flowers appear on them, then fruits. Thus, the main strawberry bush loses the opportunity to receive full "nutrition", the bush weakens and brings a poor, small crop.
How to prune old leaves
After harvesting strawberries, you should clear the area from old grass, weeds.
The leaves are trimmed carefully so as not to hurt the young leaves and the core of the shrub.
At the same time, if different varieties are located nearby on the beds, early, late, the early ones should be processed first. The bushes are processed after the complete end of the fruiting period.Also, do not miss the right moment, otherwise there will be a lot of overgrowth and more diligence will be required for work. Gardeners recommend removing dried strawberry leaves, as they may contain foci of fungal diseases, which will spread to young leaves. If wrinkled foci appear on the young leaves, it means that the culture is sick with a strawberry mite, which is treated with a special drug acaricide, mite, actellic, a solution of colloidal sulfur.
Working with the soil after picking strawberries
After picking ripe berries, you should loosen the ground at a distance of 10 centimeters from the bush. It is impossible to get closer, otherwise the root system of the culture may be damaged. During this period, the strawberries begin to absorb the subrust necessary for a generous strawberry harvest in the next season. Up to 30 grams of minerals are needed per 1 square meter. Professionals use ammophoska, in which all the necessary nutrients for the culture are balanced. This drug perfectly fertilizes the soil and eliminates various diseases.
Cracks should be avoided after watering; for this, it is best to sprinkle the soil with peat. After feeding, thoroughly water the bushes and keep the soil moist until the end of the season.
At the same time, frequent watering is not recommended, it is better to irrigate rarely, but abundantly, then loosen the ground, remove dry grass, weeds. Mustaches will appear on the bushes every now and then, they need to continue to be cut.
Before winter comes, it's a good idea to cover the crop and protect it from severe frosts. Many use hay and sprinkle it with wood ash in winter. It contains many trace elements. Ash performs two functions at once: it protects from severe frosts and nourishes the soil with nutrients. With the arrival of spring, you need to loosen the ground around the bushes, feed strawberries with fertilizers, and water abundantly on hot days. If you take the strawberry harvest seriously and scrupulously, you will become the owner of a large number of fragrant ripe berries.
Strawberry is a grateful berry. She responds to care with the harvest. Berries are picked with sepals and stumps. This makes it easier to keep the delicate berry from caking and saping during transportation. During fruiting, you need to water the bushes without wetting the leaf blades and berries. Top dressing is all postponed for later. After fruiting, the old leaves are immediately removed, and the processing of the plantation and feeding is carried out using biological products. Of course, if the gray rot has already taken root, then the treatment of the berry with fungicides and the removal of all the foliage is necessary, otherwise there will be no harvest next year. Leaves harvested early have time to grow back. Only you need to feed the plantation well, and fight the weeds until the bushes grow back again. Organic fertilizing at this time can reduce the winter hardiness of the bushes. Then you need to make a shelter for the winter.