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Growing delicious and fragrant strawberries in your garden is not so easy. Some varieties require special care. Without it, strawberries will grow small, and the bushes themselves will not grow well. Such a capricious berry requires careful and proper care, which includes regular watering, loosening the soil, removing weeds and top dressing. In this article, we will talk specifically about top dressing. And more precisely, about how strawberries are fed in the spring.
Care for strawberries
Strawberry care begins immediately after the snow melts. The first step is to remove shelters from closed beds. The strawberry bed should be completely cleared of last year’s plants. The bushes themselves should also be cleaned, removing all dried leaves, mustaches and peduncles. It is necessary to remove dead plants from the garden, if any. In place of such bushes, you can plant young seedlings. This should be done in early spring, so that the seedlings have time to take root before the onset of heat. In addition, light loosening of the soil around the bushes is carried out. It should be remembered that the delicate roots of strawberries are very easy to hurt. You need to loosen only the top layer of soil. Then the soil is mulched or the old mulch is renewed.
At this stage, plants are treated from pests and various diseases. Tools for this can be purchased in specialized stores. Bordeaux liquid is perfect, as well as various copper-based preparations. If necessary, the procedure should be repeated.
You can clearly see how to properly process the bushes and care for strawberries in the spring in the video below.
The importance of spring feeding
Spring top dressing of strawberries is very important for a good harvest. Nutrients help strawberries grow and bud. It is very important not to overdo it when applying top dressing, this can adversely affect the development of the bush. An excess of fertilizer will stimulate too active growth of the bush itself, but will prevent the plant from forming ovaries and fruits.
Foliar top dressing
Fertilizing strawberries in early spring means not only fertilizing the root system of the plant, but also the bush itself. It is customary to spray strawberries with solutions of nitrogen fertilizers, as well as organic substances. Foliar top dressing promotes good growth and formation of ovaries. Thanks to spraying, nutrients are absorbed directly into the leaves. It is necessary to make such top dressing in the evening. It is important that the weather is dry and calm.
For these purposes, you can also use special combined fertilizers. They include the following elements:
- phosphorus;
- nitrogen;
- potassium;
- magnesium;
- copper;
- iron;
- manganese;
- boron.
The first four elements act and are absorbed by plants much faster, while the rest are a little slower. Because of this, you need to spray the bushes very carefully so that the fertilizer is distributed throughout the bush. Often in the spring, to increase the yield of strawberries, they are fed with urea, which has another name – urea. The high content of nitrogen in this fertilizer allows you to grow strong and healthy bushes.
How to feed strawberries in spring
Many gardeners and gardeners are wondering how to feed strawberries in the spring to get a good harvest. Some say that there is nothing better than organic fertilizers, others prefer mineral mixtures. It is necessary to figure out what effect both of them have in order to determine the best way to feed your strawberries.
Mineral fertilizers have good efficiency. However, they are chemicals and misuse can have bad consequences. Mineral complexes should be used with great care. During feeding, you must follow the instructions exactly. Overdose of mineral fertilizers will not give the best results, but, on the contrary, can harm the plants.
Organic fertilizers also have their pros and cons. They may not have such a strong effect on the size of the fruit, but they are completely natural and will not harm human health. Organic matter such as cow dung and bird droppings can be applied to the soil in large quantities. Plants will not absorb more nutrients from them than they need. It is also good to use wood ash to fertilize strawberries. She carries out both root and foliar top dressing. Extracts are prepared from it, which have a positive effect on the development of bushes.
Iodine as fertilizer for strawberries
To feed strawberries with iodine, you will need 2 drugs:
- potassium iodide;
- potassium permanganate.
Top dressing with a solution based on these substances helps to get rid of pests and some diseases. Iodine actively fights against gray rot and the appearance of spots on the leaves of plants. In addition, such a solution is able to saturate strawberries in early spring with essential trace elements. To prepare a nutrient mixture based on iodine, you need to mix one tablespoon of iodine, potassium permanganate on the tip of a knife and 10 liters of water in one container. Use the prepared mixture for watering strawberries.
Attention! Before feeding strawberries with iodine, it is advisable to sprinkle the bushes with ash.
Strawberry care in spring and fertilizing with boric acid
Before you start feeding strawberries with boric acid, you need to prepare the beds. The first step is to loosen the soil with a garden pitchfork to a depth of about 10 cm. In order not to trample the strawberries during the procedure, it is advised to sprinkle the aisles with straw or leaves.
After that, you can water the plants with a special nutrient infusion of herbs. To prepare it, you need to collect nettles and prepare a large container. It should be filled with a third of the nettle, and then pour water around the edge. In this form, the fertilizer should be infused for 2 or 3 days. The container with the infusion can be left right in the yard or placed in a greenhouse. It is not necessary to dilute the mixture. Thoroughly water each bush with a nutritious infusion.
Now you can start feeding strawberries with a solution of boric acid. This mixture is very easy to prepare. 30 grams of boric acid are dissolved in 10 liters of water. Plants are watered with a solution at the rate of 1–1,5 liters per bush.
Boric acid helps strawberries form ovaries, so this fertilizer is a must for a bountiful harvest. Fertilizing with this solution is necessary before flowering. The plants are then sprayed with pest and disease control agents.
Feeding bushes with folk remedies
As a fertilizer for strawberries in the spring, various folk methods are used to increase yields. For example, many gardeners prefer nettle infusion, the preparation of which was mentioned above. This fertilizer contains a sufficient amount of nutrients. They make the plant healthier and stronger.
The infusion recipe described above does not need to be diluted. Now we will learn how to prepare a more concentrated mixture. These methods are equally useful for strawberries, but the second allows you to feed more bushes. To do this, collect young nettles without formed seeds. It fills the prepared container to the very brim. Then the nettle is filled with water.
The infusion is left in a sunny place. It should ferment for 2 weeks. The mixture should be stirred every day. The finished infusion should foam well and emit a pronounced unpleasant odor. Now you can strain it and proceed directly to feeding the plants.
Before this, the infusion must be diluted with water, for 1 liter of fermented mixture you will need 10 liters of settled water. To fertilize one strawberry bush, you should take at least a liter of nutrient mixture.
Fertilizing with yeast to increase yields
This method of feeding strawberries has become popular not so long ago. However, the results of using yeast are simply amazing. It is most useful to apply this fertilizer in the spring to strengthen the plants during the growing season. Further, strawberries are fed with yeast during the fruiting period and in the fall after harvest.
For the preparation of a nutrient mixture, both dry and regular yeast are suitable. It is also necessary to prepare an ordinary plastic two-liter bottle, it is very convenient to prepare yeast sourdough in it. The whole cooking process is as follows:
- 100 grams of dry yeast should be diluted in 2 liters of ordinary warm water with the addition of 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar.
- The bottle is tightly closed with a lid and shaken so that the components are well mixed.
- To prepare a mixture of ordinary yeast, you should take 2,5 liters of water per 0,5 kg of yeast itself.
- After dissolving the yeast, it is necessary to pour the solution into a bucket and add another 8 liters of water. Thus, we get 10 liters of fertilizer. It is left to infuse for 3 hours.
- Then the prepared solution is poured into a barrel of 200 liters and water is added.
- If you do not immediately need such a large amount of fertilizer, you can leave the solution in a bucket, and each time, if necessary, dilute it in parts. In this case, a ten-liter container will need half a liter of infusion.
- For watering 1 strawberry bush, take 0,5 liters of the finished solution.
Conclusion
The above recommendations clearly show how to fertilize strawberries in the spring. Of course, you do not need to apply all the methods described above. Each gardener must choose for himself how best to feed his strawberry bushes. Today, there is a huge range of products against various diseases and pests. So it will be difficult to say specifically how to process strawberries. Plants themselves will tell you which remedy is best for them. Feed your strawberries only with proven means and listen to the advice of experienced gardeners. Thus, you will only increase the yield.