How to treat strawberries after harvesting. Proper care of strawberries after harvest. Caring for the plantation in the last year of cultivation

Next year's strawberry harvest directly depends on whether the strawberries were transplanted in August, whether strawberry fertilizer was applied in the fall when planting seedlings (or during transplanting bushes), and whether other necessary procedures were completed. The basic rule is that you should begin the final work of this season after the bushes have fully bear fruit.

Caring for garden strawberries after harvest

How to care for strawberries after harvest? In principle, there are no particular difficulties here. There are several mandatory stages for caring for strawberries in August-September, which are not recommended to be ignored:

Removing tendrils and old/diseased leaves;
Spraying against pests and diseases;
Fertilizing strawberries in the fall (when planting) and in the summer (after pruning);
Caring for strawberries for the winter - providing shelter during frosts.

For information, strawberry is the popular name or pineapple, belonging to the Strawberry genus, Rosaceae family.

What to do with strawberries in August

Mustache trimming

Caring for garden strawberries in August begins with trimming the mustaches along with the rosettes formed on them. To increase crop productivity, it is better to perform the procedure in three steps:

immediately after the completion of fruiting of the bushes;
20 days after the first procedure;
in another 20 days.

The tendrils are cut at a distance of 10 cm from the base of the plant. As a cutting tool, you can use a knife, pruning shears or garden shears. You should carefully hold the mustache with your other hand so as not to accidentally cut off the excess part of the bush.

ON THE PICTURE: The mustaches with new rosettes formed, which have had time to form full-fledged roots, can be left after pruning for propagation of strawberries.

Also, caring for strawberries after picking the berries involves removing old and diseased leaves from the bush, leaving only the hearts and young leaves. The “heart” of a strawberry is the apical bud of the main shoot (horn), which contains the rudiments of a peduncle with flowers. The hearts should always be above the soil surface, otherwise they may dry out under the soil (or leaf litter).

ON THE PICTURE: All old strawberry leaves and leaves with spots must be ruthlessly removed.

Do you want to harvest a bountiful harvest of berries? Remove strawberry tendrils both during flowering and when fruiting. And when caring for strawberries (garden strawberries) after harvesting, do not cut off the thickest tendril. It will grow into a beautiful young bush to renew an old plant. This operation is recommended to be carried out every three years.

Spraying against pests and diseases

It should be remembered that garden strawberries after harvesting need care and protection from all kinds of diseases no less than in the spring. Preventive and therapeutic spraying of strawberries is an important component of care in August, designed to protect the berries from various fungi (gray and black rot), stains, and a number of pests.

ON THE PICTURE: Strawberries affected by powdery mildew are unsuitable for consumption.

What should you spray strawberries with after harvesting? Depending on the nature of the lesion, the following drugs can be used:

" ", " " will destroy the strawberry mite and weevil;
" ", "Azotsen" will save you from powdery mildew;
A 1% solution of Bordeaux mixture is used for spotting and rot.

How to feed strawberries in August

Fertilizing strawberries for the winter provides the plant with increased frost resistance and promotes the formation of new flower buds.

How to fertilize strawberries in August? The use of fertilizers containing nitrogen is strictly prohibited, with the exception of a strong urea solution. The purpose of urea is to destroy fungal diseases in their buds and have a minimal stimulating effect on strawberries. For feeding purposes, it is permissible to use:

mineral complex fertilizers NPK in proportions 1:1.5:2 or 1:2:4 (that is, always only one part of nitrogen, one and a half to two parts of phosphorus and two to four parts of potassium). Among the ready-made fertilizers, the following are quite suitable: fertilizer "Autumn" from "Fasco" with an NPK ratio of 5:15:35 (similar in composition, but under a different TerraSol brand). Has very good reviews fertilizer "Autumn" from "Buyskiye Fertilizers" in a plastic bag 3 kg, which does not contain nitrogen (which is a definite plus), but contains calcium, boron and magnesium for healthy growth of seedlings in the spring;
organic fertilizers: humus, peat, granulated horse manure, bone meal. You cannot use bird droppings, even rotted ones, because it contains too much nitrogen.

How to care for strawberries in August: nuances of fertilizing

Fertilizers should be applied along the rows, not forgetting to first grind their components well and mix the substrate. Any summer or autumn feeding of strawberries in winter, in case of dry weather, requires subsequent watering. For every square meter of land, up to two buckets of water are needed.

Should organic fertilizers be mixed with mineral ones? For example, complex NPK fertilizer with humus? This should not be done, except in cases where you have a whole strawberry plantation. A regular complex fertilizer is enough to enrich the soil with macroelements. However, if you grow strawberries on heavy loamy or clay soils (and also if the soil is close to depletion, has become gray and turns to dust when drying out), it is worth adding both organic matter and minerals. The first will improve the soil structure, making the soil lighter and more “digestible” for the roots. And fertilizers will enrich it with nutrients.

How to care for strawberries in the fall for a good harvest

The main work on caring for strawberries for the winter should be completed in August. So what to do with strawberries in the fall? Before providing her with reliable shelter for the winter, there is practically nothing. Caring for strawberries in the fall involves keeping the soil loose in the rows and between rows and removing emerging weeds.

If you did not have time to feed strawberries in August, you can do this in September. How to feed strawberries in the fall? Yes, in general, the same as in the last summer month.

How to care for strawberries after harvest: cover for the winter

What to do if you found information about how to fertilize strawberries in the fall during planting or a recipe for summer fertilizers too late, and the berries did not receive the necessary nutrition? Such weakened bushes need additional shelter, for example, spruce branches, leaves or potato tops. To ensure that the layer of covering material remains loose and does not cake, it must be added in dry weather and light frost - about –2–3°C. This is especially important if straw is used, which attracts diseases and pests at elevated temperatures.

ON THE PICTURE: The covering material, in this case straw, is waiting in the wings. If you wrap strawberries earlier than expected for the winter, root rot may develop.

ON THE PICTURE:The layer of mulch that can protect strawberry bushes from frost should be 7–15 cm.

For good fruiting of strawberries, year-round care for this crop is required. After harvesting, strawberry bushes require special care to restore. With proper preventive maintenance, strawberries increase fruiting by at least 15-30 percent.

The fruits become larger, juicier and sweeter. Any variety of simple or remontant strawberry is grateful for care, and berries grown with your own hands are strikingly different from store-bought ones.

How to properly care for strawberries after fruiting

Care after picking berries in July

In July, after fruiting of strawberries, care corresponding to this period is carried out, these are:

mustache trimming,
dried leaves,
weeding,
feeding,
hilling strawberries.

In July, after picking berries, the plants begin to grow new leaves, form new horns, the growth of tendrils with lateral rosettes intensifies, and new flower buds are laid.

First, the beds are weeded. Excess tendrils and dried leaves are removed. Reddened leaves are removed first. You cannot tear off the foliage and mustache, you can only cut it, otherwise the bush will be damaged and will hurt.

For pruning, use sharp scissors or pruning shears. It is better to burn old leaves to prevent the proliferation of pests. If young leaves curl or take on a corrugated shape, this is an indicator of strawberry mite infestation and the plants should be treated with acaricidal preparations.

If the central leaves turn yellow and the petioles are thickened and short, this is a sign of a nematode. At the same time, the plant is dug up, treated with boiling water and removed from the site.

After pruning, old mulch is removed from the beds. The soil around the strawberries is loosened, fertilized, and watered.

The row spacing is loosened to a depth of 10 centimeters. Around the plants, loosening is carried out to a depth of 5 centimeters. The bushes are sprucing up.

In this case, the roots should be completely covered, and the upper part of the bush should remain above the ground. This is especially true for plants that have been growing for several years, since their root system begins to protrude above the ground.

For feeding, mineral fertilizers with an admixture of microelements are taken. There are about 30 grams of fertilizer per square meter. A special fertilizer for garden strawberries, Fertika, ammophoska, is suitable for this.

Fertilizers containing potassium chloride cannot be used, as it slows down growth and impairs fruiting. Fertilizers are embedded in the soil to a depth of about 6 centimeters.

In addition to these fertilizers, you can use last year's humus. It crumbles on top. It will improve the soil structure and make it more fertile.

You can also fertilize the beds with diluted chicken manure (15 parts water and 1 part manure). When feeding, we must not forget that this solution should not get on the foliage, otherwise burns will appear on the plants, which provokes the development of diseases. A high concentration of the solution can completely destroy the bush. Therefore, this type of feeding is not used so often.

In dry weather, the beds are watered. Soil moisture should be maintained until the end of the season. Watering is done once a week with a bucket per square meter.

For better results, you can use drip irrigation. This type of watering will allow you to receive the right amount of moisture and at the same time the plants will not rot, since the soil will not become waterlogged.

The soil around the bushes is mulched with chopped grass, peat, and straw.

Caring for strawberries in August

To get a bountiful strawberry harvest next year, proper care is required. The last month of summer is best suited for this.

Care includes:

pruning leaves,
mustache transplant,
preparing plants for winter.

Old leaves are cut off. If varieties are grown in groups, the early varieties are processed first. Then come the middle and late varieties, this will allow you to evenly care for the plants and will not allow them to outgrow, which leads to the threat of infection with diseases and pests.

The mustache is cut off at a distance of 10 centimeters from the base of the bush. After pruning, young foliage and the core (horns) remain on the bush.

The mustaches with new rosettes and young roots are planted to form young bushes. For this purpose, the strongest specimens are selected, and the weak ones are removed.

For better yield, after harvesting, the strongest tendril remains on the bush. A new mother bush will grow from it to replace the old one. This operation is performed every three years.

And the spots are treated with therapeutic and preventive spraying of strawberries.

For spraying the following preparations are used: Karbofos or Actellik, this is protection against weevils and strawberry mites; Azocene and Topaz are used for the prevention and control of powdery mildew; a one percent solution of lime and copper sulfate saves bushes and berries from rot and spotting.

Feeding the bushes during this period increases the degree of frost resistance of the plant and promotes the formation of flower buds.

Feeding with fertilizers

For fertilizers, fertilizers with nitrogen are used (a strong urea solution is not suitable).
Complex mineral fertilizers should include: 1 part nitrogen, 2 parts phosphorus, 4 parts potassium. In the finished version, it can be: Fusco, Autumn, Autumn. All these preparations contain other beneficial substances in addition to the base.

The Autumn fertilizer does not contain nitrogen, which allows it to be used even at a later period, but this preparation contains all the elements that are necessary for the growth and good fruiting of strawberries.

Suitable organic fertilizers include: peat, horse manure in granules, humus, bone meal.

Bird droppings are not used to avoid excess nitrogen.

Mineral and organic fertilizers should not be mixed. In rare cases, when the soil is depleted, mineral and organic fertilizers are applied over the entire area of the beds. If the strawberry planting area is quite large, this mixture can also be used.

After feeding, the plants are covered with mulch, and for wintering the bushes are covered with leaves, pine needles, potato tops, and straw. Dry weather is chosen for shelter, otherwise the layer may cake and cause the formation of pests and diseases inside the layer or lead to root rot.

The layer of mulch protecting plants from frost should be at least 7 centimeters. In addition to mulch, non-woven material, such as spunbond, is used.

Caring for remontant strawberries after picking berries

Remontant strawberries differ from standard varieties in that they produce several harvests per year. Proper care guarantees not only abundant harvests, but also the formation of new bushes, which allows you to quickly grow this variety on the site.

To obtain the second and third good results, the flower stalks must be thinned out.

After each fruiting, reddened and diseased leaves are removed from the bushes. The first order whiskers remain on the mother bush. It is best to root them in prepared cups for further planting. After the end of the season, the cups are collected, the tendrils are cut off from the main bush and they can be planted in prepared beds.

When caring for remontant strawberries, watering should be done more often than when watering standard varieties, but less abundantly. For irrigation, it is better to use heated water. The soil should be moist, but not waterlogged, otherwise the strawberry root system may begin to rot.

Remontant varieties of strawberries are demanding of fertilizers and must be constantly supplied with potassium and nitrogen. When preparing the soil for planting new plants, phosphorus fertilizers are added.

You should not leave bushes with berries under the snow

After harvesting the last autumn harvest from the plants, it is necessary to cut off all the foliage and flower stalks and cover the bushes with a special non-woven material that will protect the plants from frost.

Remontant strawberries, in comparison with simple varieties, have a short life span and after two years the plants must be replaced with new ones. Some varieties do not produce whiskers and are easier to care for, but they use seeds to propagate them, which complicates the breeding process.

July and August are suitable for renewing strawberry plantations. By autumn the bushes take root and easily endure the winter.

In preparation for winter, flower stalks and leaves are torn off from the mother bushes. The bushes are earthed up so that the roots are covered with soil. But the core must remain open, otherwise it will begin to rot. The prepared beds are covered with leaves and grass.

In addition to the standard growing method, remontant strawberries can grow on trellises, columns, and in tunnels.

To protect plants, protective plants, such as corn, are planted on trellises on both sides of the strawberries, which remain overwinter and additionally save the strawberries from freezing.

After the last fruiting, the strawberries are covered with breathable non-woven material, which saves the plantings from freezing. When grown in tunnels, fruiting lasts until the first frost.

During the warm period of Indian summer, the covering material is raised on one side for air circulation. Even when temperatures drop under the material, strawberries fully ripen and do not lose their taste.

And remontant, and this especially applies to the period after fruiting, as the plants become depleted, grow and may begin to hurt.

With careful and careful care, the yield increases, the size of the berries of even small varieties becomes larger, the fruits are saturated with moisture and sweetness.

And in every region, even quite cool ones, you can choose a suitable option that will delight you with a tasty and aromatic harvest.

Pruning strawberries after fruiting and harvesting is one of the mandatory activities, the implementation of which not only provides an impressive (from 30 to 40%) increase in the yield of this crop next year, but also improves the appearance and taste of the berries.

Competent and high-quality processing of plantings guarantees the production of especially large, juicy and sweet fruits.

Pruning strawberries helps:

Without resorting to the use of chemicals, prevent the occurrence of dangerous infectious diseases (gray rot, blight, powdery mildew) to which this crop is susceptible.
Significantly facilitate weeding of plantings.
Create optimal conditions for the natural release of the surface of the ridges from pathogenic fungi by improving air circulation in bushes with bare bases. Removing diseased and old leaves helps disinfect the soil due to its good ventilation and warming by sunlight.
Create obstacles for the successful development of the strawberry mite - a microscopic pest that loves dampness and lives at the base of leaf petioles.

Trimming methods

Pruning strawberry bushes after harvest can be:

complete (total);
partial (selective).

It is better to avoid completely removing leaves from strawberry bushes, since total pruning contributes to the rapid depletion of plants, which spend all their energy not on laying fruit buds for the future harvest and storing nutrients, but on increasing green mass.

It is advisable to completely mow the leaves only if the strawberry plantings have been severely damaged by insect pests or fungal infections.

During partial pruning after harvesting, you must first remove all (including healthy) leaves lying on the ground. After this, having carefully examined the bush, remove old, dried and diseased (speckled with spots, specks and dots) leaves of the upper tiers.

It is better to leave young and healthy leaves. You shouldn’t touch this year’s bushes either: they need to get stronger and gain strength.

Cut leaves that are infected with disease and are likely to contain insect pests should be burned immediately. They are not suitable for composting or using as mulching material.

If the gardener does not plan to start propagating strawberries, throughout the entire growing season he must remove its creeping shoots (whiskers), cutting them as close to the middle of the leaf rosette as possible.

Basic rules for pruning

Pruning strawberries after harvest requires conscious action, since thoughtless removal of leaves can harm the plants:

Despite the fact that some gardeners call it mowing, the use of a scythe, lawn mower or sickle in this case is completely unacceptable. This is an exclusively manual job that requires the use of sharpened garden tools: pruners, scissors or a knife.
To avoid mechanical damage to the root system of plants, manually plucking leaves is strictly prohibited. Damaged bushes will hurt, take a long time to recover and probably will not bear much fruit.
In order to prevent pathogens of dangerous infections from penetrating into the base of the bushes, you cannot cut the leaves right down to the root. The length of the petioles left must be at least 5 centimeters.
Pruning should only be done in dry weather. Treated bushes are watered exclusively at the root. Watering by sprinkling can be used only after the wounds remaining after pruning have completely healed.
Treatment should begin with beds where healthy and young plants grow, gradually moving to older and problematic plantings. The beds in which some bushes show signs of wilting or infection by viral diseases should be treated last, disinfecting the tools used as often as possible, using a strong solution of potassium permanganate or copper sulfate.
Since the main purpose of pruning is to clean the plantings from insect pests and pathogens of dangerous infections, the cut leaves must be carefully collected and burned immediately. It is not recommended to put them in a compost bin (except when they fall into the deepest layers, which will not be used within the next five years).

Deadlines

Any pruning of green mass greatly injures and weakens the strawberry, but there is a period during which its bushes are able to quickly recover, painlessly enduring the removal of almost the entire above-ground part.

This period begins 7-10 days after the cessation of fruiting (usually at the end of July). The optimal timing for pruning strawberries in regions where snow cover occurs in early or mid-November expires by mid-August.

It is by this time that gardeners in the Moscow region, the Urals, the northwestern and central parts of Russia, Siberia, the Far East and Altai need to complete the work of processing strawberry ridges. Pruning of strawberries is somewhat delayed (until high-quality planting material is obtained) only if the mustache for its propagation is supposed to be taken from a fruit-bearing plantation.

Such strict deadlines are explained by the fact that strawberries need at least 2-3 months of active growing season to grow new leaf apparatus and prepare for winter, since it is the leaves that provide the process of photosynthesis, which affects the development of the root system, annual horns and the formation of fruit buds.

If for some reason the optimal timing for pruning the berry tree has been missed, it is carried out in a gentle manner, which involves removing only the lower and affected (covered with white coating, spots and uncharacteristic redness) leaves.

Step-by-step instruction

The method of pruning strawberries after harvesting is extremely simple: grasping the bush with one hand, with a sharply sharpened tool, cut off its entire above-ground part (including leaves, unnecessary tendrils and dead peduncles).

As a result, cuttings of leaf petioles sticking out above the ground remain on the ridge (their height - in order to avoid damage to the growth buds in the center of annual horns and hearts of strawberry bushes - should be at least 8 cm) and young leaves that have barely appeared.

Drastic pruning of all foliage is unacceptable, since the bushes that have not had time to grow green mass will go into winter weakened and, unable to withstand the cold, will simply freeze out.

The cut leaves are carefully combed out using a rake.

The fertility of the strawberry plantation in the next season depends on the quality of processing of the bushes and compliance with the optimal timing of their pruning.

Caring for strawberries after fruiting and harvesting

Caring for Victoria during the period after fruiting includes:

Removing dry and diseased leaves from the ridges, as well as a layer of old mulch containing pathogens of dangerous infections and insect pests.
Thorough weeding of weeds that take away nutrients from plants.
Trimming old foliage and mustache.
Ruthless destruction of bushes infected with strawberry nematode (to prevent the spread of this pest).
Thorough loosening of the soil between rows.
Watering plantings (during drought).
Preventive treatment of bushes against infections and pests.
Periodic application of fertilizers.
Mulching the soil.

Loosening the soil

In order not to damage the strawberry roots, loosen the soil in the beds only in the rows, immersing the tool to a depth of 70 mm.
Having finished loosening the beds, it is advisable to hill up the strawberries, paying special attention to plants with bare root systems (as a rule, this is typical for 2-3-year-old bushes) and making sure that the soil does not cover the growth point (the so-called “heart”) located in the very center of the bush.

Watering rules

In order for the treated bushes to quickly recover, growing the root system, green mass and laying fruit buds, the soil on the strawberry plantation must be moist.
In dry weather, strawberry beds should be watered at least once a week (watering should be plentiful). Immediately after pruning, it is necessary to water the treated bushes not by sprinkling, but by pouring.
To prevent the growing leaves from being damaged by sunburn, it is necessary to water the strawberries either in the morning or in the evening.
After watering, the soil in the beds must be loosened, preventing the formation of a hard crust on its surface.
To ensure that the soil under the bushes always remains loose and moist, it is advisable to mulch the plantation.

Mulching strawberry beds

Mulching the soil is an extremely useful manipulation that promotes:

loosening the soil in the beds;
accumulation of nutrients and enrichment of the soil with many beneficial microorganisms (due to the decomposition of mulching material);
inhibiting the growth of weeds, which greatly facilitates plant care;
a more aesthetic appearance of berry beds.

Suitable mulch material for planting strawberries is:

needles;
sawdust;
leaf humus;
straw;
chopped dry grass left over from mowing the lawn and previously dried in the sun.

Spunbond (preferably black, which prevents the growth of weeds) can be used as a mulching material, covering high beds intended for new plantings of strawberries.

Pest and disease control

It is advisable to subject the fruiting strawberry bushes to chemical treatment designed to destroy pests and combat all kinds of diseases, since during the fruiting period the possibility of its implementation was absolutely excluded.

Before you begin chemical treatment of strawberry bushes, you need to rid them of diseased, old, dry and pest-damaged leaves:

After removing the damaged foliage, the petioles remaining from it, as well as the soil under the strawberry bushes, are treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. This measure prevents the occurrence of fungal infections.
The infestation of plantings with strawberry mites can be guessed by the presence of leaves, the surface of which resembles corrugated paper. To combat it, you can use anti-tick drugs "Aktellik", "Tiovit Jet", "Fitoverm", "Fufanon", "Kemifos" and an aqueous solution of colloidal sulfur, acting in strict accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.
Active rotting of berries indicates damage to the bushes by gray rot. In this case, the bed must be treated with a solution of copper oxychloride.
The presence of yellowish leaves localized in the center of strawberry bushes, distinguished by unusually thick petioles, is evidence of their damage by a nematode. As experience shows, in this case, any attempts (including spraying with chemicals) to save the plants are completely useless, so they must be destroyed. The beds on which the affected bushes grew must be spilled with a large amount of boiling water.
To combat the raspberry-strawberry weevil, strawberry plantings should be treated twice with a solution of the drug "Intavir". The interval between treatments should be at least 14 days. Good results are obtained by spraying the beds with a solution prepared from ten drops of iodine and 10 liters of water.
The presence of brown spots on strawberry leaves can be a consequence of viral infections. You can cope with them by spraying the leaves with a solution of Bordeaux mixture.
The fight against pests and diseases of strawberries can be combined with foliar feeding of the bushes if you add fertilizers to the tank mixture used.

In order to prevent the development of diseases, strawberry plantings must be regularly inspected, immediately removing diseased leaves and getting rid of diseased plants, using a weak solution of potassium permanganate to water the soil in the garden bed.

Feeding fertilized strawberries

Towards the end of the fruiting period, weakened strawberry bushes, which have devoted all their strength to the fruits of the new harvest, are especially in need of fertilizing. Only with their help will plants be able to fully recover and lay a sufficient number of flower buds.

After harvesting, experienced gardeners feed strawberries at least three times:

Immediately after pruning the affected leaves (at the end of July or at the beginning of August), the strawberries are fed with nitrogen fertilizers. This measure will accelerate the growth of young leaves.
After two weeks, a second feeding is carried out, consisting of adding organic matter enriched with potassium and phosphorus. This feeding stimulates the formation of flower (or fruit) buds.
About a month later (in mid-September), the strawberries are fed a third time, using a mullein solution.

Fertilizers can be organic or mineral.

The most popular mineral supplements:

“Ammofoska” is a complex fertilizer containing four main components: potassium, phosphorus, sulfur and nitrogen. It can be embedded in the soil using a hoe, scattering dry granules over the surface of the strawberry bed (at the rate of 20-30 g per square meter), and then watered. Ammofoska can be dissolved in water (a matchbox in a bucket of water) and watered with a watering can.
“Nitroammofoska” and “Nitrophoska” are used in the form of an aqueous solution prepared from one tablespoon of fertilizer per 10 liters of water.
Specialized fertilizers for garden strawberries: “Ogorodnik”, “Kristalon”, “Fertika”.
An aqueous solution of a mixture prepared from potassium sulfate, superphosphate and ammonium nitrate (in a ratio of 1:3:1).

Gardeners should be aware that to feed strawberries they cannot use fertilizers that contain chlorine, which is harmful to this crop.

The most popular organic fertilizers used for feeding strawberries include:

Vermicompost. It is poured directly to the roots of strawberry bushes.
A solution of mullein, prepared from one part of manure and ten parts of water and infused for 24 hours, after which it is used to apply it under strawberry bushes. To enrich the infusion with additional microelements, experienced gardeners add one part of wood ash to it.
Infusion of bird droppings. It is not recommended to apply bird droppings under growing bushes in dry form: this can cause burns to the roots and death of the plants. To prepare the infusion, bird droppings are diluted with water (in a ratio of 1 to 10) and infused for at least 48 hours. After this, diluting one liter of the finished infusion with ten liters of water, use it to water the strawberries.
An herbal infusion made from nettles and other weeds left over from weeding. Having placed the herb in a large barrel (approximately up to the middle of its volume), add a little wood ash to it, add water to the very edges and leave it in a sunny place for fermentation for ten days. To speed up fermentation and enrich the infusion with beneficial microorganisms, you can add 200 g of yeast to the barrel. The finished herbal infusion is diluted with water (in a ratio of 1 to 1) and used for watering strawberry beds. It not only feeds the strawberries, but also helps deoxidize the garden soil.
Wood ash, rich in microelements and used to reduce soil acidity in garden beds. After trimming the strawberries, sprinkle the soil with wood ash (at the rate of a two-liter jar for each square meter), after which it is watered and loosened. Since wood ash is incompatible with fresh manure, the simultaneous use of these fertilizers is unacceptable.

When fertilizing strawberry beds, you should remember not to overfeed it. Otherwise, it will begin to “fatten”, actively increasing the green mass and refusing to lay flower buds. Experienced gardeners say that underfeeding strawberries is better than overfeeding them.

Preparing plantings for winter

Preparing strawberry beds for winter consists of adding mulching material (peat or sawdust) under the bushes. The thickness of the mulch layer should be at least 5 cm. The use of straw or hay as mulch should be avoided, as they can attract mice that can chew the roots.
In order to reduce the pressure of snow cover on plants, at the end of November they are covered with raspberry branches or spruce branches.
You can protect strawberries from severe frosts by covering them with a thick layer of dry foliage.

Berry crops need care after fruiting, Victoria is no exception. What measures need to be taken to ensure next year's harvest? Let's figure it out.

After harvest

The last berries have been picked. Now you need to remove the weeds and loosen the soil around the bushes. The loosened soil is covered with mullein or horse manure for fertilizer. The first tendrils, even if not grown in, are placed on top of the manure. Do not touch the rest, since adult mustaches can take root if they grow cork roots. If they do not take root before winter, they are removed in the spring.

Summer residents ask: “How to process Victoria in the fall?” It is necessary to clear the passages between the beds of weeds. Fill the resulting paths with wood chips, sawdust, and branches. Such mulching will retain moisture in the soil and prevent weeds from multiplying, which interfere with the strengthening of young bushes. The sooner you weed the beds, the better the new bushes will be able to strengthen and grow. Manure will not only fertilize the soil, but also maintain the necessary moisture.

Cultivation care in October

How to process Victoria in the fall, namely in October? At this time, apply a layer of 5 cm. Sawdust or peat are best suited for these purposes. Subsequently, the beds are covered with spruce branches. In the fall, the soil is also prepared for planting Victoria in the spring. To do this, in the middle of the season, the ground is plowed to a depth of 30 cm, but not loosened. They are left in this form for the winter.

How to treat Victoria in the fall if the weather is warm, dry? In this case, it is recommended to water the crop well: the soil should be wet by 30 cm or more. If flowers appear on the plant during warm days, they need to be removed. The row spacing is dug, and the beds are sprinkled with manure, Kemira fertilizer and a layer of ash.

Victoria can be fed with humus. To do this, in a deciduous forest, the top layer with dry, unrotted leaves is removed and discarded, after which leaf humus is taken and applied for cultivation. The result is always stunning.

How to treat Victoria after fruiting against pests and diseases? To prevent the development of diseases and the proliferation of pests, Victoria is sprayed with Fitosporin. A solution of water with copper oxychloride helps prevent the appearance of gray rot; water with potassium permanganate or colloidal sulfur prevents powdery mildew. There are ready-made preparations for treating Victoria after harvesting - “Aktara”, “Intavir”, “Zeon”, “Karate”.

In November

How to treat Victoria for the winter? This is the most pressing question at the end of the autumn season. Remontant varieties are covered with film. In November, snow guards are installed, as well as traps for small rodents. At the end of autumn, the beds can be filled with pine needles, and in the spring they can be raked away from the base of the bushes to quickly warm up the earth. When snow falls, it is thrown onto the area where Victoria grows and compacted.

If the berries are grown in open ground, then their roots are sensitive to frost, as they are located shallow. In the northern regions and those places where severe frosts are observed, the beds should be covered with straw or brushwood. The “insulation” is not pressed down so as not to impede the access of air. Lack of oxygen leads to the development of fungal diseases. You can also use burlap, matting or cotton canvas for covering. You can’t use a tarpaulin for insulation, as Victoria rots and rots under it.

Simple care, prevention of pests, and covering the beds for the winter will ensure a good harvest next summer. The more we take care of plants, the tastier and better the berries grow.