The first thing to do with strawberries after harvesting is to weed the bed if it is not mulched with film. Most experienced gardeners know that it is not recommended to weed strawberries during fruiting. Therefore, by the time the harvest is harvested, the beds are usually overgrown with weeds. Organic mulch should be removed from the beds after or before weeding. Next you need to loosen the soil.

It is quite natural that strawberries are greatly weakened after picking. Therefore, the main task of the gardener during this period is to try to restore the strength of the plants as fully as possible.

Caring for strawberries after harvest: basic activities

To support weakened plants, the gardener at the end of the season should:

• water them correctly;


• carry out autumn feeding;


• trim the bushes.

Also, in some cases, preventive maintenance against pests and diseases is carried out on the site in August - September.

How to water

The soil under strawberries should be moistened correctly during this period. In order for the plants to quickly regain their strength, watering should be infrequent, but plentiful. The soil in the garden should be moistened approximately once every 1-2 weeks. At the same time, you need to pour the strawberries as thoroughly as possible. Surface watering will not give any results during this period.

What and when to feed

After harvest, weakened strawberries are in great need of nutrients. Therefore, plants should definitely be fed at the end of the season. This crop is usually fertilized in August or September with organic matter. As at any other time, strawberries respond best to chicken droppings or horse manure during this period. In extreme cases, you can, of course, use mullein.

Mineral supplements can also be useful at this time. Instead of organic matter, for example, it is allowed to use ammophoska.

It is not necessary to make an infusion of horse or cow manure to feed strawberries after picking the berries. Pieces of such fertilizer can simply be spread over the garden bed between the rows and under the bushes. Subsequently, autumn rains will wash away and dissolve the organic matter.

Chicken manure is a great answer to the question of how to care for strawberries after harvest in terms of replenishing nutrients. However, this fertilizer is very strong. Therefore, to facilitate dosing, it is still worth preparing a solution from it. To feed strawberries, this type of organic matter should, as usual, be diluted with water in a ratio of 1:20. Consumption after picking berries should be approximately one bucket per 8-10 bushes.

Mineral fertilizers are applied to the beds by spreading them over the surface of the ground, followed by embedding them into the soil with a hoe and abundant watering. To prevent a crust from forming on the soil, after this procedure the strawberries should be mulched with pine needles or peat.

Strawberries really do need nutrients after harvest. However, vegetative processes in plants begin to gradually slow down by autumn. Therefore, strawberries are usually fed only once during this period.

You can apply fertilizer to the beds at any time after picking the berries. However, it should be borne in mind that the last liquid feeding of the season with chicken manure should be carried out until mid-September at the latest. Dry mullein, horse manure and mineral fertilizers can be applied later.

How to care for strawberries after harvest: pruning

Immediately after the strawberries stop bearing fruit, all dried and damaged leaves must be removed from the plants. The main pruning of this crop is usually done in late summer - early autumn. Wherein:

• mustaches are removed from bushes;


• cut off the leaves.

Strawberry whiskers should be removed in the fall. The fact is that they greatly weaken the plants. It is worth leaving mustaches on strawberries before winter only when there is a need to expand the planting. And even in this case, most of the shoots should be removed. For propagation on strawberries, only very strong whiskers are left in not too large quantities.

Such shoots from strawberries should be cut as low to the ground as possible using sharp pruning shears. There is no point in cutting off your mustache. Otherwise, you can easily damage the roots of the plant. After all, it will definitely, albeit a little, “pull out” from the ground following the shoot.

The strawberries themselves are pruned in such a way that a part of the bush about 5 cm high remains above the ground surface. Such pruning should be done for strawberries starting from the second year after planting. First year plants are left unpruned for the winter.

Disease Prevention

Both viral and fungal diseases can affect strawberries. Victoria is weakened after the harvest. And therefore, it is very easy to catch some kind of infection. Therefore, after picking berries, complex plant prevention is usually carried out using universal preparations. This could be, for example, Nitrofen. In areas where strawberries are often infected with powdery mildew, it is additionally advisable to use Topaz.

Also at the end of the season, you can carry out preventive treatment of plants against pests. For this, it is best to use karbofos or Actellik.

Preventive treatment of strawberries after harvest is usually carried out only in areas that are quite problematic in terms of disease and pests. For wealthy people, these procedures are not considered mandatory. However, it is, of course, worthwhile to remove all debris from the beds and burn them, as well as deep loosening, of course, in such a garden.

Any gardener simply must know how to care for strawberries after harvesting, otherwise you can’t even dream of large, juicy berries. Strawberries respond favorably to care and care, giving an abundance of tasty and tender fruits.

Strawberry harvest time

Remontant strawberries begin to bloom in May, continuing until October. The first fruiting occurs in early June, depending on the growing region, the second harvest occurs in July, and the third in August. Disposable early varieties can bear fruit as early as May. There are a lot of varieties, and each of them has its own fruiting period, for example, the Flamenco variety begins to bear fruit only in August and ends in December. Therefore, everything is quite arbitrary.

Care after first fruiting

In order for strawberries (garden strawberries) to bear fruit well, almost all-season care is necessary. It is a mistake to think that after harvesting strawberries do not need anything, here it is quite the opposite - the bushes need special manipulations for restoration. Proper care of strawberries after fruiting helps to increase yield by at least 15-40%. Thanks to correctly performed preventive work, the fruits become larger, juicier and tastier.

Care after the first fruiting of strawberries

Care after harvest in July

The strawberries have borne fruit; what to do next is one of the most common questions in gardening. Everything is actually quite simple. After harvesting strawberries in the summer, the following manipulations are carried out:

• weeding;
• mustache trimming;
• removing dried, dry leaves;
• feeding;
• hilling.

First of all, the beds are weeded to remove weeds, then the dry leaves are disposed of and the tendrils begin to be cut off. Red leaves must be removed.

Attention! Under no circumstances should they tear off the leaves or tendrils - the bush will be damaged and begin to get sick; special garden scissors and pruning shears are used for manipulation.

If there are young curling leaves or their wavy configuration, the crop must be treated with anti-mite drugs, since these signs indicate the presence of Tarsonemus fragariae.

After you have finished trimming the mustache, remove the old mulch, loosen the soil, fertilize it, and water it. Near the plants, loosening is done to a depth of 5 cm, and between rows - up to 10 cm.

Then they hill up the bushes, the roots of which must be completely covered, and the tops must be above the ground. In particular, this applies to older plants, in which over time the root system tends to protrude above the ground.

Feeding and watering

The bushes need to be fed with mineral fertilizers with the addition of microelements. For one sq. m - on average 30 g of fertilizers. Fertilizers intended for strawberries are suitable for this purpose: ammophoska, fertika. They are embedded to a depth of 6 cm. It is forbidden to use fertilizer that contains potassium chloride, as it slows growth and impairs fruiting.

They also use well-rotted humus, scattering it on top of the soil - it improves the structural parameters of the soil and fertility. Chicken droppings diluted in water (in a ratio of 1:15) are used with caution, avoid getting on the leaves to avoid burns. High concentrations are detrimental to bushes.

Watering is carried out until the end of the summer season, at least once a week (1 bucket per sq. m.). The best effect is achieved by drip irrigation - the soil does not become waterlogged, the plants do not rot, receiving the required amount of moisture.

Watering strawberries

Berry care in August

Proper care of strawberries after harvest will help ensure a bountiful harvest in the future. August fits best in this regard.

Care in the last month of summer consists of:

• pruning leaves;
• mustache transplantation;
• protection from diseases and pests;
• preparing strawberries for winter.

All old leaves are cut off (early, middle and late varieties are processed in turn). By overgrowing, bushes increase the chances of diseases and pests. When trimming the tendrils, leave at least 10 cm at the base of the plant. For planting, only healthy, strong antennae are used. To improve the fertility of strawberries, the strongest tendril is left on the bushes, from which a new mother bush will grow to replace the old one. This manipulation is carried out every 3 years.

In August, preventive and therapeutic measures are carried out against fungi, pests and powdery mildew. It is necessary to treat the bushes with preparations of your choice: “Aktellik”, “Karbofos” (protects against strawberry mite, weevil), “Azotsen”, “Topaz” (fights powdery mildew). The use of a one percent solution of lime and copper sulfate is effective against rot.

Preparing for winter

Fertilizing in August increases the frost-resistant qualities of the plant and promotes the formation of flower buds. At this stage, the plant needs nitrogen-containing fertilizers. Complex mineral fertilizers should include: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, in a ratio of 1:2:4. Ready-made ones will do: “Fasco”, “Autumn”, “Autumn”. The latter, in turn, does not contain nitrogen and can be used in later periods. Among organic products, preference is given to peat, horse manure in granules, bone meal and humus.

The “fed” strawberries are mulched. Leaves, pine needles, straw, and potato tops are used for winter shelter. The insulation procedure is carried out in warm, dry weather, otherwise the layer will cake and contribute to the development of diseases inside or rotting of the root system. The layer covering the plant for autumn and winter should be at least seven centimeters. In addition to mulch, non-woven material (spunbond, for example) is used.

Important! Bird droppings are contraindicated, otherwise an excess of nitrogen may occur.

Preparing strawberries for winter

Features of caring for reusable strawberries

A permissive attitude towards strawberries after the first harvest is extremely unacceptable, otherwise the future harvest will be in great doubt. The very first harvest, even if insignificant, deprives the plant of many nutrients and strength, and by the end of fruiting it is in a fairly noticeable depleted state.

After harvest:

• the area is well loosened;
• get rid of weeds;
• feed;
• remove the mustache.

You need to start these procedures as early as possible, before the strawberries have grown too much. The roots should not look out; be sure to cover them with soil.

Top dressing

Strawberries respond favorably to herbal infusions and yeast nutrition. A good effect is obtained from nettle extract, which is prepared as follows: 2/3 of the container is filled with finely chopped nettles, dandelion leaves, and common grass (the flowers are removed to prevent the appearance of weeds), then filled with water, sealed and left in the open sun. The result is a mixture that is disgusting in smell and appearance, but at the same time very useful for the crop. The resulting consistency is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10 and applied to the beds. Yeast is added to the herbal infusion.

Watering is carried out until the end of the summer season.

Yellowed and dying leaves of bushes are removed. A controversial issue arises regarding young, intensively growing greenery: gardeners are divided into half, one of which believes that removing foliage contributes to better formation of flower stalks, while the other, on the contrary, argues that bushes after such procedures noticeably weaken, since photosynthesis is greatly reduced when removing greenery .

Fertilizing strawberries

Removing a mustache

After the first harvest, the mustache grows with excellent speed and strength, while taking a lot of strength from the strawberries. Rooted tendrils contribute to the formation of new bushes, which contribute to additional harvest. It is for this reason that the second harvest stands out with a large number of berries. At the same time, summer residents emphasize that offspring should be expected only from the first shoots, which can be determined by size; subsequent shoots will not produce a harvest this year. Therefore, only the first tendrils are left, and the rest are cut off to save the plant’s energy for the formation of berries.

Removing bushes

Reusable strawberries have two divisions: DSD (long daylight hours) and NSD (neutral daylight hours). The first bears fruit for 2-3 years, the last - only one season, after which the bushes are changed.

Preparing for the winter season

DSD plants are covered with insulating materials (straw, grass, pine needles) for the winter.

The NSD strawberry will need to be transplanted to a new place of residence. The procedure includes the following nuances:

1. old bushes are removed from the garden beds before the first frost arrives;
2. The seedlings are transferred to the new territory no later than August–September, so that by the time sub-zero temperatures arrive, the young bushes are well rooted;
3. The planting material is mustaches cut from the mother bushes;
4. flowers that appear on the bushes are removed;
5. after the second frost, the strawberry bushes are cleared of all foliage, and the beds are covered with insulation (straw, fallen leaves, sawdust).

Spring care of remontant varieties

Caring for remontant strawberries in the spring does not have any special features; the berries, like at any other time of the year, require: watering, regular loosening, timely disposal of weeds, fertilizing and treatment against diseases and pests.

In early spring, dry, yellow and diseased leaves are removed from last year's remontant strawberries. Feed the soil with ammonium nitrate.

The first fruiting is characterized by lower quality berries, so gardeners recommend removing flowers during the first flowering, saving the plant's strength, then the second fruiting will be very productive.

Spring care for remontant strawberry varieties

Correct manipulations can increase the yield of berries significantly. Simple, but very effective tips from experienced summer residents:

• Maintain crop rotation: strawberry bushes quickly age and lose productivity; it is not advisable to grow them in the same area for more than 4 years. The best option is to change the bed every year.
• Rotation of varieties: systematic updating of the assortment with new species prevents pathogens from adapting to the immune profile of varieties;
• Weedy strawberries are mercilessly removed: these varieties may have barren flowers, small unattractive berries or not bloom at all, are distinguished by powerful growth of greenery and tendrils, and muffle the “good” bushes.
• Proper propagation: a new bed is made from part of your own bushes and part of purchased ones.

The kind of care you provide to strawberries will result in the same harvest, since it is an important component for the formation of juicy, large and healthy berries.

Strawberries, or garden strawberries, are significantly ahead of other plants in terms of ripening, opening the fruit season. In just a few spring months, the plant manages to grow young leaves, bloom and produce fragrant, sweet berries, drawing strength from last year’s reserves. Therefore, processing strawberries after harvest is the basis for future fruiting.

After harvesting, strawberry bushes must be treated for the next season.

You can enjoy the sweet berries of early varieties already at the end of May, and June allows you not only to eat plenty of strawberries, but also to stock up for the winter. During the ripening of strawberries, processing and care of plants is minimal, but from July to September it is necessary to create the basis for future fruiting using various agrotechnical measures:

• Watering;
• Feeding;
• Treatments against diseases and pests;
• Rooting mustaches and transplanting daughter plants.

Pruning, disease and pest control

During the period of flowering and ripening of berries, it is unsafe to process plants, because the resulting harvest will be unsuitable for food and processing, so all pesticides are postponed until the harvest is fully harvested. It is advisable to plant varieties with different fruiting periods in different beds, so that immediately after harvesting the bushes can be processed without waiting for later varieties to ripen.

In order to process strawberries after fruiting with minimal labor and time, it is recommended to completely remove old leaves on which pests and pathogens accumulate. The only exceptions are remontant varieties, from which it is recommended to remove only damaged and weak leaves. If the rows and beds were covered with mulch, it is better to remove it and burn it along with the old leaves, especially if pest damage is noticed.

To prevent fungal diseases, bushes and the soil surface can be treated with Nitrafen or Bordeaux mixture. If bushes are affected by strawberry mite, or to prevent its appearance, you can treat with Actellik, Fitoverm, Karbofos, Fufanon or other acaricides and broad-spectrum insecticides.

What to do with the resulting ones depends on the needs for planting material. It is recommended to remove most of the tendrils so that the plant does not waste energy on growing daughter rosettes. It is worth leaving only a small number of young rosettes on 1-3 year old bushes to replace dead or old plants.

Bordeaux mixture is used to prevent fungal diseases of plants.

Watering and fertilizing

Abundant fruiting takes away a huge amount of nutrients from the plant, which must be added with fertilizing so that the bushes can lay flower buds and prepare for wintering. Organic and mineral fertilizers are used as fertilizing, but before applying them it is recommended to thoroughly clear the rows of weeds and loosen the soil.

Horse manure is considered the best organic fertilizer. It is enough to simply spread pieces of horse manure between the rows and the nutrients, together with the rain, will gradually pass into the ground. You can also use cow manure, humus, chicken manure solution or compost.

When choosing a mineral fertilizer for strawberries, it is better to give preference to complex preparations without chlorine. Ammophoska, which contains almost all the necessary substances (phosphorus, potassium, nitrogen, magnesium, sulfur, calcium), has proven itself well. Mineral fertilizers are scattered around the bushes at the rate of 20 g per 1 m2, and then incorporated into the soil with a rake and watered abundantly.

After fertilizing, watering and loosening, it is advisable to mulch the soil to make it easier to maintain a constant level of moisture. During the period of growing leaf mass, laying future flower stalks and preparing for winter, it is very important to maintain constant soil moisture and not allow the plantings to dry out.

It is important to remember that it is the period after picking the berries that is most important for the establishment of flower stalks. When carrying out the recommended agrotechnical measures, strawberries will certainly please you with a bountiful harvest of sweet, aromatic berries next year.

The wonderful strawberry (garden strawberry) is both very tasty and very healthy. That is why, in addition to food, it is actively used for medicinal and cosmetic purposes. However, its nature is capricious and requires careful and patient care, which is not always compensated by a generous harvest. In order to have a good harvest of garden strawberries next season, you need to lay its foundation this year. It is especially important to carry out a number of measures to care for strawberries after fruiting and harvesting, in particular, to properly prune strawberry bushes.

Caring for strawberries after fruiting and harvesting in July: main activities

After fruiting and harvesting, in mid-summer (July), strawberries need proper care.

Perhaps the most important thing at this time, which, in fact, is what this material is devoted to, is to prune the strawberry bushes after they bear fruit.

Positive experience shows that after the summer pruning of strawberries has been completed, optimally well weed the beds from weeds and loosen the soil. Moreover, you need to loosen near the bushes shallowly, so as not to touch the root system, which is located very close to the surface. Next, you should water abundantly, and then apply light nitrogen fertilizing. A little later (maybe in a day or two, or closer to autumn) feed with potassium and phosphorus fertilizers, and then treat the bushes against diseases and pests (or do this at the end of summer).

Thus, the algorithm for caring for strawberries in the summer, after harvest, consists of the following stages:

1. trim leaves, peduncles and tendrils;
2. perform weeding and loosening of the soil;
3. water generously;
4. feed with nitrogen, and a little later with potassium and phosphorus (or immediately after pruning with complex mineral fertilizer);
5. carry out treatment against diseases and pests (you can immediately after pruning, or a little later - in August).

By the way! To avoid tedious weeding and loosening every year, simply mulch the strawberries or plant them under black film. Read about how to do this

Video: caring for strawberries after harvest: pruning, removing tendrils, weeding and loosening, fertilizing

Pruning strawberries after harvest

When to prune

After fruiting is completely over and you have harvested the entire crop, it is recommended to cut off some of the strawberry leaves, its flower stalks and the resulting rosettes.

As for the timing, as a rule, it falls in the second half of July.

How to trim correctly: which leaves to remove and which to leave

Recommendation ! It is recommended to carry out pruning of strawberries exclusively with gardening gloves and only with the help ofacute scissors or pruning shears. Only no need to cut off leaves and mustache hands, since they are quite strong and sit firmly in the ground, and you simply you can pull out part of the bush.

Next, look at the condition of the bush: if there is leaves with signs of disease(dotted or speckled, all spotted), old and withered, then they are also needed trim, A healthy and young - leave.

Most often, strawberries, namely their leaf apparatus, are affected.

By the way! Don't forget to remove the fruiting ones too. flower stalks.

Video: pruning strawberries after fruiting

It would be quite logical to note that due to such pruning, the strawberry bush will get rid of some of the spores of pathogens and pests, and will also be better ventilated and will not sour during the autumn rains.

Advice! All cut strawberry leaves are better burn (or take outside the site) to avoid the spread of various diseases, especially if they show obvious signs of disease and the presence of pests.

And in no case are they such leaves cannot be composted!

There is a lot of controversy about whether it is possible to remove all strawberry leaves after fruiting, because this is the easiest way to do it.

Worth knowing! The fact is that if you cut off the entire bush, it will quickly become depleted and strawberries will spend all their energy restoring green mass instead of laying flower (fruit) buds for next year and storing nutrients before wintering.

However, you must understand that in any case you will have to remove part of the green mass, which means that in the future you will have to help the plant recover, that is, feed it - give it the whole complex of macro- and microelements.

Note! But it makes sense to completely remove garden strawberries, which are very damaged by diseases and pests, in order to plant a new strawberry plantation next year.

However, if you really feel sorry for her, then without fail it will be enough remove all mulch(of course, if it has been mulched), and then carefully treated against diseases and pests.

Mustache trimming

Necessity trim your mustache strawberries don't just happen. She directly depends, do you plan to replant them? to expand your strawberry beds.

Advice! It is in the first year after fruiting (in the second year of life of the rosette after overwintering) that the mustache should be taken for propagation, since such a dependence manifests itself - the older the bush, the less potential it has for reproduction and the weaker the mustache it will produce.

More often mustaches are regularly removed as they grow. But it is optimal to do this before flowering, after fruiting and harvesting, as well as at the end of the summer season. In fact, they are very convenient to remove when you once again loosen or weed the beds.

Note! Removing the whiskers also further stimulates the formation of future strawberry flower buds.

Video: how and when to remove mustaches from strawberry bushes

Fertilizing strawberries after fruiting

After pruning the strawberry bush, it is advisable to carry out intensive feeding of the weakened plant, since during this period the garden strawberry is under quite a lot of stress and you need to help form its new leaf apparatus.

As a rule, immediately after trimming the leaves, it is recommended to give nitrogen fertilizer, and after a few days (7-10) or closer to autumn - potassium-phosphorus fertilizer.

By the way! More information about autumn feeding of strawberries after fruiting you can find .

Strawberry bushes can be watered as nitrogen fertilizermullein solution, diluted in a ratio of 1 to 10, orpoultry (chicken) droppings, which should be infused for 24 hours, and the concentration should be half as much - 1 to 20. It’s also perfectgreen manure(3-4 days herbal infusion, the best thing nettle).

Video: feeding strawberries after harvest

After this (best after a few 7-10 days, although it is possible at the end of summer), you definitely need to give the plant potassium, for example, dust the beds (or make an infusion or solution) or use “ Potassium humate" with trace elements, the most common potassium sulfate (potassium sulfate).

It is also very advisable to use phosphorus (for example,).

Note! You need to fertilize only on damp soil and under the bush (without getting on the leaves), so before fertilizing, be sure to water the strawberries with plain water, or fertilize after rain.

However, as an option, you can immediately after trimming the strawberry bushes (and then again after 7-10 days), feed the plant instant complex fertilizer with microelements(such as Kristalon, Master, Plantafol, Kemira), in which equal amount of macronutrients(for example, 15:15:15 or 18:18:18).

Important! If, after heavy feeding, small flowers begin to appear on the bushes, they need to be promptly removed, because they will only weaken the plant, and they will no longer be of any use.

Treatment of strawberries after harvest from diseases and pests

Or immediately after feeding, or already in second half of August worth doing treatment of strawberries from diseases and pests.

• For pests, especially against ticks, it is best to use Fitoverm (Actofit), Bitoxibacillin, Vertimek, Masai.
• For strawberry diseases, especially against brown spot - Horus (for all spots), Topaz (for powdery mildew), .

By the way! In general, you can make a tank mixture (from 2-3 selected products) by first dissolving each drug separately in water (according to the instructions), and then pour the resulting solutions into a common container (sprayer).

Remember! If after mixing the preparations no sediment forms, they can be used in a tank mixture.

Samu processing it is advisable to carry out in calm weather, while carefully You need to spray not only the bushes themselves, but also mulch(if your bushes are mulched). After 2 weeks it is advisable to repeat.

However, if strawberry in this season was very heavily affected by diseases and pests, then it is recommended remove all old mulch, and then carefully treat against diseases and pests.

A folk remedy for treating strawberry bushes against diseases is to use brilliant green, diluted in water in a proportion of 4-5 drops per 1 liter of water. According to some summer residents, brilliant green is an excellent antiseptic that helps in the fight against gray mold, powdery mildew and other diseases.

Features of caring for remontant strawberries

Remontant strawberries are able to bear fruit all summer (hence its name), so traditional summer pruning for remontant bushes is not done. Complete or even partial pruning of leaves also noticeably weakens the plant, even if you feed it well afterwards.

Another thing is that it is necessary periodically inspect the bushes for diseased and dry leaves, in other words, you need do selective pruning, including after each fruiting and harvesting of strawberries.

But as for mustache, then them still needs to be trimmed, unless, of course, you need them for reproduction.

Video: features of caring for remontant strawberries

Thus, if you properly care for your strawberries in the summer, following all the tips and recommendations, namely, correctly pruning the bushes after fruiting and harvesting, and also give them good fertilizing and treat them against diseases and pests, then next year you will definitely have wait for a bountiful harvest of tasty and ripe berries.

Video: caring for strawberries after fruiting from A to Z

In contact with

The term “leaf mowing” refers to a whole series of activities on the first-year strawberry bed that has produced fruit.

There is no clear answer to the questions - why and when to prune strawberries. Gardeners have different opinions on this matter.

Some are for it, some are categorically against it. Why do this if it seems to be known that the foliage feeds the root, they say, the more foliage, the stronger the bush? Yes, that's certainly correct.

But... You've harvested the harvest - get ready for the next one! Sounds like a slogan for a gardener.

So, caring for strawberries after harvest is preparing the plantation for next year's harvest. And pruning strawberry leaves is one of the stages of this care.

We all love this berry. In spring, a lot of effort and time is spent on care before flowering, during it, during the formation and ripening of berries. We want more strawberries, they are larger, juicier, and tastier.

So, just after the harvest, you need to make every effort to improve and increase it next year. Strawberries need special care after harvesting. This is the most important time for her and for us.

Why trim your mustache?

Surely, you already noticed during the harvest that strawberries (strawberries) produce a lot of mustache. Of course, this depends on the variety. Some varieties produce many whiskers, some few, and some may have no whiskers at all.

Once you have collected all the berries, carefully inspect the entire plantation. It is necessary to loosen the beds of garden strawberries, weed them from weeds, and remove the mustaches.

Strawberries require whiskers for reproduction. If you do not want to get new rosettes or new plants for propagation, then you need to cut them off immediately after they appear.

Usually there are several tendrils on one bush, we collect them in one bunch and cut them as close to the base of the bush as possible. By the way, this mustache trimming procedure will have to be repeated more than once during the season. If we start it up and don’t do it on time, then the plant will spend all its energy on the growth of mustaches and rosettes - the future harvest will get less, there will be fewer flower buds, which means there will be fewer berries, they will be smaller.

Anything unnecessary for the future harvest must be trimmed off.

In addition, this is necessary so that the strawberries do not thicken, since thickened plantings are more difficult to care for.

When to feed and fertilize

Some gardeners do the wrong thing by heavily feeding strawberries before harvesting. This leads to the fact that it is severely affected by gray mold, firstly. Secondly, although the berries become large, they are watery, less sweet, and have a shorter harvest period.

In early spring, before flowering, we fertilize with nitrogen fertilizers. But remember, the main application of fertilizers should be after harvesting. This is feeding with complete mineral fertilizer and organic matter. Many people apply manure to the strawberries. This, of course, is good - manure not only nourishes the plants, but also takes care of the root system of strawberries.

Hilling strawberries

The fact is that strawberries are a perennial berry plant. Over time, it builds up an aerial root system and begins to seem to stick out of the ground. Every year, especially after 3-4 years of growing in one place, we are forced to add mulch, soil, compost, rotted manure into the rows, thus covering the strawberry roots. Mulching and hilling helps roots develop well.

Reasons and timing for pruning leaves

The formation of fruit buds in strawberries (garden strawberries) occurs in June (Krasnodar Territory) - July (middle zone) after harvest. It is at this time that the first trimming of the mustache and leaves should be timed.

The fact is that a strawberry leaf lives only 60-70 days - 2-2.5 months. And after that, various spots appear on the leaves - whitish, rusty, red. These are signs of leaf aging and the development of various diseases on them.

That is, cutting off the leaves of strawberries (strawberries) is necessary in order to protect the future harvest from diseases.

Trim leaves or tendrils with pruners or scissors. Tools must be sharp.

Do not tear them off with your hands - this can damage the root system. Instead of increasing leaf mass, the plant will take a long time to restore its strength.

The process of chlorophyll production stops 2-2.5 months after picking the berries - even healthy plants may have leaves that turn red.

Advice:

reddened leaves should be removed to prevent the remaining pests from overwintering peacefully. Treat the plantation with pest repellents.

There is a danger that young leaves will not have time to grow after pruning - bare bushes may not survive the frosty winter.

So, a month and a half after collecting the last berries, we inspect the strawberry plantation (garden strawberries) and remove all the leaves with spots and holes, not forgetting to remove the flower stalks. We leave only young leaves.

When to do this?

In the middle zone - the first half of August. I won’t tell you the exact date - it’s not that important. Most importantly, calculate the timing so that in winter your strawberries leave with young leaves already grown.

How to prune strawberries if the plants are affected by diseases and pests

If the strawberry bush or bushes are affected by the strawberry mite, the leaves are severely spotted, it is necessary to remove all leaves, even young ones.

Leaves with signs of disease should be trimmed as close to the base of the bush as possible, since disease spores can persist on the petioles. Try not to touch the heart of the bush when pruning - the plant will be able to recover faster.

By doing this pruning, you will not harm the bush, since strawberries grow green mass very quickly. By cutting off old leaves, you will immediately see where you can loosen the ground and where you need to remove weeds.

Of course, removing all the leaves from strawberries will not remove all pests and diseases. They will remain on the stumps of leaves and the ground.

Simply, such a bed is easier to treat with drugs against diseases and pests. This treatment is more effective.

Now you can feed the “rejuvenated” bed.

At this time, as I already said, fruit buds are being laid - the basis of the future harvest, so do not forget to periodically water your strawberries. A

If there is no rain, keep the soil moist.

Feeding and watering at this time are required. It is at this time that the strawberries will build up leaf mass, which in winter, covered with snow, will protect the root system from freezing.

That is, the more foliage your bushes go into winter with, the better they will overwinter, the greater the harvest you will get.

If during the harvest period you notice berries affected by gray rot, after harvesting the last berries, treat the entire plantation with some kind of fungicide - it could be Bordeaux mixture, Topaz or Horus.

Is it possible to mow all strawberry leaves?

The term “leaf mowing” refers to a whole series of activities on the first-year strawberry bed that has produced fruit. Some gardeners take the word “mowing” so literally that they go out into the garden with a scythe and even a lawn mower, not in July, but in August, and ignore all other techniques. The results of such leaf mowing are always disastrous.

In fact, this most important stage in caring for strawberries includes not only removing leaves, but also loosening, treating against pests and diseases, removing tendrils, replanting fallen plants and preparing seedlings for a new bed.

Not long ago, walking along my dacha street, I saw that my friends were mowing strawberry leaves with a scythe. They have a large berry plot - several hundred square meters - they believe they cannot do without a scythe. At first I decided that this was their way of deciding to get rid of the old strawberries, saying that it was time to start a new plantation. But it turned out that everything was wrong. The owner of the dacha said that they mow down the strawberry leaves every year three to four weeks after the last harvest. But this year, some circumstances prevented them from doing it on time and they mowed in mid-August. According to them, their strawberry harvest is always good, and they get sick less often.

If you have a large plantation and it is more than 3-4 years old, then you can follow the example of my friends.

There is another reason for completely cutting off strawberry leaves with a scythe or pruning shears (scissors) - this is severe damage to the plantings by diseases and pests. After completely cutting off (mowing) the leaves, the plantation should be treated with some fungicide or pest control drug. Be sure to feed your strawberry - help it grow leaf mass faster.

There is no need to mow young healthy strawberry plantings; this depletes the bushes and you deprive yourself of the harvest.

How to care for strawberry beds after pruning or mowing

I'll repeat myself a bit, but this is very important.

Loosen the soil around the bushes.

Remove weeds.

Treat the plantation against diseases and pests.

Feed with mineral and organic fertilizers.

Water regularly if there is no rain during this period.

It is very important that the soil in the garden bed is kept moist all the time - this is very important for the growth of young foliage.

That's all the simple rules. Now you know how and when to prune strawberries (garden strawberries). You are guaranteed a good harvest next year!