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Every self-respecting gardener and gardener grows strawberries on his plot. This is the most favorite berry not only among children, but also among adults. To grow a rich harvest of fragrant and healthy fruits, you will have to make efforts. First of all, this concerns high-quality fertilizing of garden strawberries. But people more often call it strawberry. Often, fertilizing is also a preventive means of protection against diseases and pests.
Chemicals can be used. But most gardeners recently want to receive environmentally friendly products, including strawberries, so they refuse chemicals. They prefer safe drugs. For example, ammonia for strawberries is a fertilizer that supplies plants with easily digestible nitrogen and a kind of protection against diseases and pests.
The benefits of ammonia
No matter how strange it may sound, ammonia (ammonia, ammonia) is one of the important pharmaceutical preparations used by gardeners. Beginners who start growing strawberries are skeptical about this fertilizer. We will try to dispel their doubts by talking about the benefits of ammonia.Strawberry ammonia is essentially a concentrated nitrogen fertilizer. You can buy the drug at any pharmacy.
Nitrogen is one of the important microelements necessary for the growth of strawberries, especially at the beginning of vegetative development. This element is contained in the soil, but plants cannot fully use it due to the difficulty of assimilation. And without it, the green mass of strawberries grows weakly.
Fertilizing with nitrogen-containing mineral fertilizers is often not an option. Since gardeners do not conduct laboratory soil tests, fertilizing can lead to excess nitrogen. This is fraught with the accumulation of nitrates in the finished crop, which, in turn, is harmful to human health.
Nitrogen is indispensable for strawberries and other garden plants. Fertilizing with ammonia does not lead to the accumulation of nitrates either in the soil or in the fruits of plants. Agricultural products are safe.
What is ammonia for strawberries?
- Firstly, ammonia is not just a useful nitrogen-containing fertilizer, but also a means of protection against pests. In beds watered with ammonia, the larvae of the cockchafer, the most important and harmful pest of strawberries, die. Such people are disappearing pestslike garden ants. Wasps do not fly up to the strawberries and do not spoil them.
- Secondly, thanks to ammonia, strawberries do not show signs of nematodes and other fungal diseases.
- Thirdly, watering strawberries with ammonia allows you to quickly increase green mass.
Ammonia for pests:
Features of solution preparation
Since ammonia is a volatile compound, the prepared solution must be enriched with fatty acids. In this case, it lingers longer on the green mass of plants, which increases the effect several times processing. You can use any liquid soap for these purposes, but it is best to use laundry soap (72 percent) dissolved in water as a base. It will not only create a durable film on strawberry leaves, but will also serve as protection against diseases. In fact, this soap is an excellent safe antiseptic.
Preparation of soap solution:
- Grate one signet of soap and add a small amount of hot water. Stir the soap solution until completely dissolved.
- Pour into the water in a thin stream with constant stirring. There should be no gray flakes left in the finished solution, and rainbow bubbles should form on the surface.
- After this, ammonia is poured in strictly according to the recommendations.
As a rule, strawberries are watered with ammonia solution no more than three times. This is enough for normal plant growth and abundant fruiting. On garden strawberries for growing season no rot or spotting is observed. Pests walk around the beds watered with ammonia.
Fertilizing and processing strawberries in spring ammonia:
Stages of watering strawberries and dosage
Fertilizing strawberries with ammonia is one of the important points when growing strawberries.Experienced gardeners most often do not use any mineral fertilizers after such processing of strawberries.
First watering
First time strawberries are processed ammonia early in the spring. Before this, the beds are first cleaned of old leaves. This feeding is very important for overwintered strawberries. It is during this period that the plant needs nitrogen to grow green mass. The solution is prepared as follows: pour a full bottle of ammonia (40 ml) into a ten-liter bucket of water.
For watering, use a watering can with large holes. Look at the photo below. The watering can has the correct nozzle, allowing the solution to pour out quickly. The ammonia does not have time to evaporate and completely settles on the leaves and soil.
Second treatment
For the second time, strawberry beds are treated with ammonia immediately after flowering. At this time, the solution should have a lower concentration. As a rule, gardeners add 2 or 3 large spoons of the drug to the watering can. This is not just nitrogen fertilization, but also protection from pests.
Second treatment with ammonia:
Third feeding
As for the third processing of strawberries, it is carried out after the last berry has been collected. During the fruiting period, the plants have exhausted all their resources, and in winter the strawberry bushes should leave full of strength, ready to successfully bear fruit the next year. The norm of ammonia is the same as in the spring - a bottle per 10 liters of water.
Instead of a conclusion
Since ammonia is a toxic substance, when working with the solution, you need to think about your safety.
- You need to wear a respirator or mask when watering the beds. You should wear rubber gloves on your hands.
- It is prohibited to add other drugs to the ammonia solution.
- If ammonia solution gets on exposed areas of the body, wash thoroughly with soap and water.
- In case of poisoning, drink a glass of milk and consult a doctor.
A solution of ammonia is prepared only outside. When processing plants in a greenhouse, it is necessary to open windows and doors.
