Content
Strawberries are small and underdeveloped—many gardeners face this problem. The quality of the crop suffers for several reasons, most of which can be eliminated without much difficulty.
Why are strawberries gnarled, small, and underdeveloped?
Strawberries can produce low-quality and small harvests due to improper agricultural practices, unfavorable climatic conditions, diseases or pests. It is customary to identify several main reasons for chopping berries.
Features of the variety
When choosing a strawberry variety to plant in your summer cottage, you need to carefully study its description. Some varieties of crops are, in principle, not capable of producing large berries. If the strawberry fruits are juicy and neat, without obvious defects, but too small, it is likely that this is a varietal peculiarity.
Before planting a crop, you also need to study its requirements for growing conditions.For example, heat-loving varieties may bear fruit much worse in regions with temperate and cold climates. Even with the right agricultural technology, a gardener will not be able to get large berries if the weather does not meet the requirements.
Large-fruited hybrid strawberries often become smaller when the variety is propagated by seeds
Degeneration of landings
Often strawberries begin to shrink a few years after planting. Usually the crop degenerates in 4-5 years, in which case it is necessary to update the plantation.
It is recommended to plant new strawberries at the end of summer, partially replacing the old bushes in the garden. If the crop takes root well, then next year it will be possible to harvest a bountiful, juicy harvest. If the new seedlings do not have time to lay flower buds before the fall, next season the berries will still form on the remains of the old bushes.
Frosts during flowering
Small ovaries on strawberries often form due to late return frosts. The receptacles of the opened buds are damaged by cold, darken and become deformed, and the quality of pollination decreases. As a result, the plant still forms ovaries, but they develop poorly, and the berries turn out crooked and small.
Poor pollination
If strawberries have many flowers but the berries are small, the reason may be poor pollination. Insects fly less well in rainy, cold and windy weather and collect less pollen. Against this background, the set fruits are not fertilized properly and cannot fully build tissue.
To improve pollination, it is recommended to spray strawberry beds with a honey solution prepared at the rate of 20 g of sweetener per 1 liter of water. Treatment of bushes is carried out during sunny and warm hours. It is recommended to plant honey plants near the strawberry beds; they will additionally attract bees to the site even in bad weather.
Diseases and pests
Small and deformed strawberries may be the result of pests such as aphids, root nematodes, slugs and snails. The horsefly bug especially often damages berry plantings on the site. You can recognize its presence both by small crooked fruits and by spots and holes on the surface of the leaves.
You can get rid of the horse fly bug by hand picking or spraying with a soap solution
If young strawberries are small due to the presence of pests in the beds, you can repel insects with the help of other plants. For example, it is recommended to plant alfalfa between rows; it is of greater interest to parasites than berries. To repel the horse fly bug, it is useful to place black cohosh next to the beds; it has a pungent and unpleasant odor for the pest.
The quality of fruiting is affected by fungal diseases of strawberries. Bushes stop developing and form small deformed berries due to verticillium, viral infections, rust and powdery mildew. The presence of diseases is indicated by spots and plaque on the leaf blades. You can get rid of diseases in the first stages by spraying with copper preparations or fungicides.
Fungal diseases especially often affect strawberry beds when they are overwatered. If the summer is damp and rainy, additional watering for the plantation is stopped.
Planting density
If the strawberries are blooming but the berries are small, it is possible that the problem is caused by the planting being too dense. According to the rules of agricultural technology, bushes must be placed at a distance of at least 30 cm from each other. Leave about 70 cm between rows.
When planted closer together, the bushes will rob each other of moisture and nutrients and suppress the development of their neighbors. In this case, the berries will form, but will be small and sparse. If the planting was initially done incorrectly, you do not have to resign yourself to meager harvests. You can simply thin out the bed and remove some of the bushes so that the remaining ones begin to receive more sunlight, oxygen and nutrients.
Boron deficiency
The crop yield is greatly influenced by the amount of boron in the soil. If the element is not enough, it is necessary to feed the small fruit-bearing strawberries. It is enough to spill the soil once with a solution of boric acid. To do this, dilute only 5 g of powder in a bucket of water, stir and evenly treat the beds with the resulting product.
Other reasons
If the strawberries are small and dry, this can be caused not only by poor soil, diseases and recurrent frosts. The yield is negatively affected by:
- insufficient watering - with a lack of moisture, strawberries dry out and wrinkle;
- lack of sunlight - for full ripening, the crop needs more heat and ultraviolet radiation;
- abundance of tendrils - extra shoots take away strength and resources from berry bushes, as a result, plants cannot form large fruits.
You can encounter small and dry strawberries when purchasing low-quality seedlings.Before planting plants in the garden, you need to make sure that the roots and shoots of the bushes do not have defects or signs of disease.
Before planting strawberries on the site, the roots of the seedlings should be treated with a fungicidal solution.
Why are strawberries small and the leaves large?
Large strawberry bushes and small berries appear if the crop as a whole has enough nutrients, but resources are spent on the development of green mass, and not on the formation of fruits. This happens under the influence of several factors.
Plantation clogging
If the strawberry leaves are large and the berries are small, the reason may be that the beds are clogged. Low-quality fruits left lying on the plantation often germinate and form new bushes - abundant, but weak and low-yielding.
In this case, the main plantings suffer from a lack of moisture and nutrients; the strawberries become gnarled and hard. To prevent the situation, it is necessary to regularly inspect the plantation and promptly remove all debris and fallen small fruits.
Clogging of beds can occur due to common weeds. They appear especially often next to strawberries if the latter are grown in open soil without the use of film, spunbond or agrofibre. Self-sowing grasses take away water and nutrients from the fruit crop and can impair the access of sunlight and oxygen to the bushes. It is recommended to weed the plantation at least twice a month.
Old bushes
Even high-quality varietal strawberries cannot bear large, juicy berries for a long time. The fruits usually begin to shrink at 4-5 years of age. The bushes remain large and spreading, bloom luxuriantly, but there are very few berries, and they are crooked.
The problem can be solved by updating the beds. Instead of old strawberry bushes, young plants are planted and cared for in accordance with agricultural technology for the next 3-5 years.
Frost damage
Gnarled strawberry fruits can be caused by the crop freezing in winter. Bushes in open ground often suffer from poor or complete lack of cover during the winter months, especially if there is little snow and frosts are quite severe.
You can prevent crop crushing if you adhere to the rules of agricultural technology. Even frost-resistant varieties of strawberries must be carefully covered with the onset of autumn with a mulch layer and non-woven material.
The cover of strawberries is removed immediately with the onset of a thaw, so that the crop does not rot due to waterlogging.
What to do if there are a lot of small strawberries
If the strawberries grow small, the reasons can often be eliminated during the current season. To do this, you need to carefully examine the bushes and determine the source of the problem. You can save the harvest by:
- abundant watering in dry and hot weather - at least twice a week;
- additional fertilizing with potassium and phosphorus;
- thinning of thickened plantings;
- emergency elimination of pests or fungal diseases.
To ensure that the strawberries are large and juicy, at the beginning of the harvest it is useful to treat the bushes with homemade nutrient solutions. In particular, you can use:
- Pressed yeast. 1 kg of raw material is diluted in 5 liters of water, a little sugar is added and mixed. The solution is infused in a warm place until the yeast is activated, and then 2.5 liters of the product are added to a bucket of water and 500 ml of the mixture is added to each strawberry bush.
- Mullein infusion.Dry manure is poured with liquid in a ratio of 1:10 and left for several days under a lid in a dark place. After time, 1 liter of the product is diluted in a bucket of water, mixed and watered over the strawberries, 1 liter for each bush.
- Chicken manure solution. As in the previous case, it is necessary to pour dry fertilizer with liquid in a ratio of 1:10 and keep it covered for 3-4 days. Use the prepared product to water the berry bushes at the roots, without touching the above-ground part.
As part of the fight against small crooked strawberries, it is recommended to pay attention to loosening the soil. If a hard crust of earth forms on the surface of the soil, the roots begin to receive less oxygen. Even with regular watering and timely fertilizing, in this case the strawberries may become crushed or get sick. Each time after moistening the beds, it is recommended to turn the soil to a shallow depth.
Growing strawberries under film or spunbond allows you to avoid mulching and loosening
Conclusion
Strawberries are small, dry and clumsy - this situation can be encountered due to a lack of watering and fertilizing, against the background of freezing of the crop, after an invasion of pests. The reasons for the deformation of berries can be eliminated, but most often it is possible to get good fruits only in the next season.
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