Content
Among the garden leaders are fragrant and juicy strawberries. Both adults and children enjoy its taste. Thanks to the breeding of remontant varieties by breeders, it is possible to harvest several harvests of this useful berry in one season. However, stable fruiting depends on how to care for the bushes not only in spring and summer, but also in autumn.
Fruit bud formation and preparing the plant for winter takes place in the fall, after the harvest. Because how correct care for strawberries in the fall, the spring harvest of berries will depend. Autumn work on caring for strawberry bushes includes pruning and removing old leaves, fertilizing, loosening and covering for the winter. In this article we will look at each stage in detail, and you can also watch a video accompanying the topic.
Pros and cons of pruning
After the autumn harvest, it is time to trim off old leaves. However, there is a lot of debate among summer residents and gardeners about whether it is necessary to prune strawberry bushes.
Opponents of pruning argue that this action deprives the bush of the process of photosynthesis. As a result, the plant is deprived of the proper nutrition it receives from sunlight.
Supporters strawberry trimmings claim that carrying out these manipulations brings only benefits, since the likelihood of the appearance of pathogenic bacteria and fungi in rusty leaves is minimized. If you prune at the end of August, the bushes will have time to grow before the first frost and will successfully survive the winter.
If you are in doubt about whether you need to trim the leaves or not, then try trimming one bed and compare the strawberry yield for the next year. This way, you will know for sure whether you need to cut off diseased leaves or not.
How to trim
Some gardeners simply mow down the strawberries with a scythe, but such activities can really lead to the death of all the bushes. A more scrupulous approach needs to be taken to this matter.
Only old and rusty leaves need to be trimmed. This is done using sharp scissors, a knife or pruning shears. In this case, you only need to cut off the leaf blade, leaving the entire stem.
Cut leaves can be left near the bushes and used as mulch. However, since these leaves are diseased, it would be more appropriate to remove and burn them. Depending on the region, pruning can be carried out at the end of August - in cold climates, or in the first half of September - in warm climates. The main thing is that before frost the strawberry bushes have time to recover and acquire new foliage.
Loosening the soil
Care strawberries in autumn includes loosening the soil. You just need to do this in the first half of September, since digging up can lead to slight damage to the root system, and it will need time to recover before the first frost.
All manipulations must be carried out carefully and carefully.The row spacing can be dug with a shovel, and the soil near the bushes can be loosened with a rake with wide teeth. Then the bushes should be hilled up. This way, you will cover the root system of the bushes, which will protect them from damage. During the process of loosening and hilling, they remove from the beds weeds.
Fertilizer application
After fruiting, strawberry bushes are depleted, so in order to get the next abundant harvest, you need to fertilize them in the fall. This stage is included in preparing strawberries for winter.
Organic matter is used as fertilizing. It can be diluted mullein, fresh or granulated chicken droppings, or humus. Organic fertilizers are diluted with water and added to the bushes. Fertilize Plants need to be grown in the evening, otherwise all the beneficial substances will simply evaporate in the sun.
Organic matter is diluted in a ratio of 1:10, which prevents burns on strawberry bushes. In addition to organic matter, wood ash, potassium and nitrogen-containing fertilizers, superphosphates can serve as fertilizers.
Planting strawberries
Although it is preferable replant strawberry bushes in the spring, this can be done in late summer or early autumn. Why during this particular period of time? Before the first frost, strawberries planted in early autumn will have time to take root, making it easier to survive the winter.
However, when transplanting in autumn, the plant’s yield decreases by 2–3 times, due to the fact that a sufficient number of fruit buds do not have time to form. On average, at least 40 days must pass from the moment of transplantation to frost. During this period, the bushes have time to take root and grow secondary roots.
Before replanting the bush, shorten the roots and remove the bulk of the leaves from it, leaving only a few pieces. It is better to transplant in the afternoon or evening. This way, you can protect established strawberry bushes from the sun, which can simply burn them. When replanting, do not bury the core of the strawberry bush, as this leads to its rotting.
Features of caring for strawberries in the northern regions
Remontant strawberries bear fruit several times during the warm season, so you should write separately about how to care for them. Most often, varieties of remontant strawberries are grown in the North of Russia, including Siberia. True, they do this indoors, since due to the early onset of cold weather in open ground, the bushes will not produce a second harvest.
If you have an unheated greenhouse, then at the first frost you should install additional greenhouses in the beds, after mulching the bushes with pine needles or hay. Since the weather in the northern regions is harsh, it would be good to also cover the additional greenhouse with straw. In April, the covering material can be removed.
Preparing for wintering bushes in open ground
In milder climates, there is no need to cover strawberries so carefully before wintering. The best heat insulator for strawberries is snow. But we cannot always experience snowy winters. And it happens that a strong wind, even in the presence of a large amount of snow, exposes the ground, as a result of which it freezes heavily.
To create comfortable conditions for the dormant period of strawberries, you need to cover the entire plantation or each bush separately with covering material. This could be hay, fallen leaves or pine needles. Among other things, this will help stop weed growth in early spring.
Now you know how to properly care for strawberries in order to get a good harvest next season. In addition, we invite you to watch a video about the features of caring for strawberry bushes:
