Content
Sweet and aromatic strawberries, unfortunately, are susceptible to many diseases and suffer from pests. Most often we fight them in the spring or immediately after fruiting, but in vain. After all, processing strawberries in autumn can be carried out using quite strong pesticides. Most of them will safely decompose into harmless elements by the time the time comes for a new harvest.
So the time allotted to us by nature after strawberries bear fruit before frost should be used with maximum benefit to combat diseases and pests, and not be limited to loosening the soil and watering.
Main pests and diseases of strawberries
Every fruit plant has its own enemies. Some, such as tomatoes or strawberries, have a lot of them, so you have to work hard to get a good harvest. Others, for example, irga, in our conditions they practically do not get sick, and pests bypass them.
Strawberries have plenty of diseases, and there are also insects that are ready to feast on the sweet berry before us. But it’s not difficult to fight them (if you don’t neglect them), and if you follow proper agrotechnical measures, you can generally reduce troubles to a minimum.
Strawberry pests
We will very briefly describe the main pests of garden strawberries, so that if necessary, you can figure out what you are dealing with.
Inconspicuous nematode
These pests are very small worms, almost invisible to the naked eye. They suck the juice from the strawberry cells and introduce various enzymes that cause metabolic disorders. This manifests itself in swelling of leaves and petioles, tissue death. Due to nematode infection, the yield is reduced, and heavily affected bushes die.
The nematode is a quarantine pest; affected plants are burned, the soil is disinfected with lime and kept under black steam. Strawberries are not planted in an infected area for several years.
Strawberry and spider mites
A small pest, it is easiest to examine it with a magnifying glass. The strawberry mite affects only strawberries, while many garden plants, both fruit and ornamental, suffer from the spider mite. Several generations of insects develop during the season.
Pests suck the juice from the leaves and live under a thin web. When strawberries are severely damaged, the leaves turn yellow and die prematurely.
Weevils
Gray root, strawberry-raspberry, flower beetle and other types of weevils are brown-gray bugs up to 6 mm long with a short proboscis. They overwinter in the ground at a depth of 3 cm, under mulch and even inside plants.White legless larvae live near the root system at a depth of 4-10 cm. At the beginning of the growing season, pests begin to eat the edges of leaves, as well as gnaw roots, stems, and flowers.
Caryopsis
These moving black ones beetles about 1 cm in size move onto strawberries with weed, eat its seeds and surrounding pulp, which greatly disfigures the berries.
Strawberry leaf roller
The caterpillars are 0.5 cm in size and entangle the leaves in a transparent web. Pests feed on greens, less often berries.
Aphid
There is no person who does not know this harmful insect. There are many species of aphids that feed on soft plant tissue. But the main danger is that this insect is a carrier of viruses.
Slugs and snails
It is strawberries that suffer the most from these pests - their berries are juicy and, moreover, located close to the ground.
Strawberry diseases
Strawberry bushes are affected by pests and also suffer from diseases.
Gray rot of berries
It affects many crops, including strawberries. It overwinters in the soil and on plant debris; gray rot spores are carried by wind and insects. All organs of the strawberry are affected, dark gray or brown rotting spots form on them. The berries are covered with thick gray fluff, which is the causative agent of the disease.
Powdery mildew
The disease affects leaves, berries, and petioles, on which a white powdery coating appears. The edges of the leaves bend upward and wrinkle. In winter, the fungus persists on diseased greenery; the wind carries its spores throughout the garden bed.
White spot
This is perhaps one of the most common strawberry diseases. The fungus damages leaf blades, tendrils, flowers, petioles, and stalks. The affected areas are covered with rounded reddish-brown spots, which turn white over time, surrounded by a dark red rim.
Brown spot
The disease develops in the second half of summer on old strawberry leaves. It looks like large round spots or spots limited by veins, which are first red-brown and then brown in color. The leaves seem dried out. The disease significantly reduces the next year's harvest.
Black root rot
In summer, the lower leaves first turn brown and then die. The bushes are easily removed from the soil. If you examine the roots, it turns out that the tap root is cracked, and the young roots have long died.
Viruses
This disease is spread by aphids and can also be spread by dirty gardening tools. More often strawberries in spring The virus that causes leaf curl is active, which in the fall is manifested by yellowing of the edges of the leaf blade. From spring to autumn, strawberries are affected by the mosaic virus; it deforms the leaves, on which yellow spots also appear.
Autumn processing of strawberries
Pest and disease control on strawberries begins in the fall.
- After harvesting, if the plantation is heavily infected, we can use chemicals without fear that the treated berries will end up on our table.
- Many pests and spores of pathogenic fungi overwinter in the soil, on bushes or among plant debris, including mulch.
- Often in the fall we simply have more time to fight diseases than in the spring, when every day is precious.
Why trim strawberry leaves in the fall?
Strawberries are an evergreen plant. During the growing season, new leaves constantly form and grow, and old ones die off. They are the main, and the only, organs of photosynthesis; the harvest depends on them.
The active life of the leaves depends on the phases of development and the age of the strawberry plantation. In spring and autumn, their growth is most active; in summer, under the influence of high temperatures, and in winter, low temperatures decrease. Fungal diseases, usually brown or white spot, powdery mildew, spread on older leaves, and mites or other pests spread on young leaves. Strawberries are most often affected, starting from the age of two.
To stimulate the growth of young leaves, as well as relative freedom from pests and diseases, the leaves need to be mowed after harvesting. Remember that pruning strawberries too early, when the outflow of nutrients from old leaves into the stems has not completed, is unacceptable. Plants weaken, winter poorly, and next year’s harvest decreases. Late pruning leads to poor formation of flower buds, which occurs in the second half of August - September.
After pruning the leaves, it is necessary to carry out comprehensive measures to combat pests, diseases, soil treatment, and fertilizing strawberries.
Pest and disease control with chemicals
Pesticides are used in the form of solutions that are used to treat strawberries using fine-drop sprayers.This is by far the most common method of controlling diseases and pests.
Autumn is precisely the time when the use of pesticides on strawberries is safest. In order to choose the right drug, carefully monitor the berry plantation throughout the season. If necessary, record your observations. We will not tell you how to treat strawberries - there are many preparations, their prices are different, but the effect is approximately the same. Let's give just a few recommendations.
- For ticks, use acaricides - drugs created specifically to combat this tiny insect.
- For larger pests, use insecticides.
- Spray with contact poisons especially carefully.
- Systemic poisons act directly on the plant; the pest dies when it eats its parts. But here you need to carefully read the instructions and ensure that the chemicals used are not too toxic.
- For diseases, you need to spray the plant with an appropriate fungicide.
- Autumn treatment of strawberry bushes and soil on the plantation with any copper-containing preparation gives very good results in the fight against both pests and diseases.
- Carry out treatment against pests and diseases in calm, dry weather.
- In order for the drug to work better, add 2-3 tablespoons of liquid soap to the bottle from which you are going to spray the strawberries.
- Follow the instructions strictly.
- Use personal protective equipment.
Biological preparations for strawberries
A sufficient number of biological and organic preparations are now produced to protect strawberries from pests and diseases.
- Effective microorganisms (“EM”-preparations) that reduce disease incidence by improving soil health.
- Phytosporin, which is a bacterial fungicide and biological pesticide.
- A whole group of drugs that stimulate the plants’ own defenses, for example, Epin and Zircon.
- Other drugs for pests and diseases of biological origin: Bitoxibacillin, Actofit, Fitoverm.
Strawberries are treated against pests and diseases with preparations of biological origin in the same way as with chemicals.
Processing strawberries with folk remedies
Even if you grow strawberries without using chemical fertilizers and preparations, folk remedies for processing in the fall are appropriate only if there is no significant damage to the plantation by pests and diseases. In case of more or less severe infection of plantings in the fall, it is better to use chemical or biological preparations.
As a preventive measure, at the end of September, spray strawberries with the following mixture:
- 10 liters of warm water;
- 3 tablespoons of fried sunflower oil;
- 2 tablespoons of sifted wood ash;
- the same amount of vinegar and liquid soap.
Destruction of strawberries
Of course, this is a last resort. But if there is a severe infection with a nematode or virus, the entire strawberry plantation will have to be destroyed.The dug up plants will have to be burned, and the soil will have to be disinfected with lime or copper preparations. As an additional measure, it is good to leave the area fallow for a year, and then grow green manure on it for several more years.
Of course, if only a few bushes are infected, you can limit yourself to only destroying them. But next year you need to carefully monitor the strawberries planted in this bed and not neglect sanitary measures.
Prevention of strawberry infection
Of course, prevention is better than cure. What measures can we take against pests and diseases in strawberry beds after cutting the leaves?
- The correct choice of planting site, as well as previous plants when planting a strawberry bed.
- Use only healthy planting material.
- Timely, sufficient application of fertilizers.
- Regular weed removal.
- Loosening the soil.
- Growing strawberries in narrow beds (about 50 cm wide) makes caring for them easier.
Conclusion
Strawberries are not easy to care for. But if you follow agricultural technology, it will definitely please you with a good harvest.
