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The second half of June is colored with the scarlet color of ripening strawberries. Summer residents provide her with care in their areas, everything would be fine if it were not for strawberry pests. They cause a lot of trouble, and can even spoil the crop if you do not fight them in time.
Berry features
Strawberries are a perennial berry crop that grows in small bushes on almost any fertilized soil with proper care. It is propagated most often by rooting a mustache, and then transplanted to the right place.
This delicious pulp, which we call a berry, is really just an incredibly overgrown stalk, and the real fruits are the little seeds that have grown on it. Strawberries contain a lot of sugars, organic acids, salts of various metals, vitamins and microelements not only in the “berry” itself, but in the leaves, stems – the entire aerial part. Maybe that’s why so many pests want to eat it. Although growing strawberries does not require special care, you need to be very careful not to miss the appearance of pests or diseases that can negate all the work.
We are fighting pests
Centipedes, slugs, snails, ants, nematodes love to eat sweet berries so that in shady areas, despite care, they can ruin the entire crop. Ticks, aphids, weevils, thrips prefer leaves and stems, because of them there may not be berries at all if you do not fight them.
Already in the spring on young bushes you can often see leaves curled up, covered with spots, dark or white spots, fluffy growths appear on the leaves and fruits. All this is evidence that pests have bred in strawberries, urgent action needs to be taken.
pliers
Ticks often live on bushes. During the summer, the strawberry mite replaces five generations that feed on plant sap. It can bring healthy bushes to complete drying. The female strawberry mite winters at the base of the leaf and lays its eggs on it in the spring. Larvae, and later adult animals (up to 3 mm in size) suck the juice from the leaves. Then they move to growing mustaches, they travel throughout the site, leaving behind exhausted dried plants. They do best in densely planted beds. They get to the garden, as a rule, even with seedlings.
To protect your strawberries from this dirty trick, you need to carefully examine the purchased planting material, at the slightest suspicion of infestation with strawberry mites, heat treat each plant. To do this, the bush must be held for at least 15 minutes in hot (up to 45 degrees) water, then cooled and dried. You can apply the disinfection of seedlings with Karbofos: lower the plant into the emulsion for a few seconds to the root collar, leaving the root dry.
In order for the tick not to take root, restrained watering is needed. And in the spring it would be nice to water the plants with hot water a couple of times. Such is the mandatory care of strawberries. Even if you don’t know for sure that the strawberry mite is on the bushes, in the spring you can spray the entire area with an infusion of garlic or onion peel.
The spider mite does not feed on either berries or strawberry greens; moreover, it preys on other insects that wander into it, but it does no less harm. The fact is that he braids the plant with a thick cobweb and lives in this cocoon, preventing the sun’s rays from reaching him – photosynthesis becomes impossible and the plant dies, usually this happens immediately after the fruit ripens. Karbofos helps to get rid of it. If you want to defeat ticks without chemistry, you need to carefully consider the bushes, starting in spring, cut off the affected leaves, wash with onion broth, which is their care.
Video “Protection of strawberries from diseases”
aphid
It is difficult to find a plant in the garden that could not be harmed by aphids. She attacks vegetables, berries, fruits, she likes to settle on small strawberry bushes, large tomato bushes, cabbage leaves, trees. In spring, and especially in summer, it can be seen on young strawberry leaves, it comes in different colors: yellow, green, red, black. Aphids harm strawberries all the time of their growth, secrete an astringent, which prevents the development of fruits, and carries all kinds of diseases.
Other insects support the fight against aphids: golden eyes, ladybugs, but chemicals, such as Lirimor or Decis, will help to completely get rid of it. Insecticides destroy not only pests, so it is better to turn to folk methods of dealing with aphids. The most common are a solution of laundry soap and an aqueous tincture of garlic with onions. Repeated spraying, inspection of plants, destruction of infected leaves will certainly lead to victory.
Black and gray rot
Fungal diseases are dangerous for strawberries, they are carried by wind, rain, it is difficult to protect themselves from them. Gray and black rot lives on plant remains and can thrive and spread in damp, cool weather. This is facilitated by dense thickets, too abundant watering, leaves or fruits lying on the ground. It looks like a soft gray (black) coating, affects all parts of the plant, leads to the fact that the berry becomes inedible, the whole plant dies. If you touch this plaque, fine dust will fly – these are spores that easily spread throughout the area.
To protect strawberries from rot, the soil is shed in the spring before planting with infusion of ash, the bushes themselves are sprayed with nitrofen in the spring. During the period of leaf growth, flowering, strawberries need to be treated with boric acid, manganese. These are very useful plant care measures – rot control plus top dressing.
Prevention of infection
Proper care, timely feeding, and compliance with crop rotation rules will help prevent strawberry diseases. Starting in spring, it is necessary to monitor the plants, remove damaged leaves, prevent plant remains, and mulch the soil under the leaves. Caring care involves thinning the bushes, moderate watering, spraying with infusions of onions and garlic. The same onion or garlic, planted between strawberries, repels pests well. Top dressing should be strictly thought out, because too much organic matter, for example, also contributes to plant diseases.
Video “Biological preparations for pest control”
To understand how to protect your garden from pests, we recommend watching the following video. Feeding and care is a secondary topic of the video.
