A magnificent harvest of juicy and large berries, grown and harvested with their own hands - the real pride of the summer resident. If during the spring growth of roots and foliage the most important task is to help the plant become stronger and not get sick, then from June it is necessary to control the condition of the bushes and then collect the fruits. It is very important to know how to care for your strawberries in the summer for a good harvest.
Summer strawberry care: basic work
- In summer, you need to keep the soil in the beds moist, water the strawberries about once every 4-3 days, in the heat - every other day. Before flowering - by sprinkling, during flowering and fruiting - under the roots.
- Mulch the ground with sawdust, pine needles, wheat straw or lay a film under the bushes. This will retain moisture, curb the growth of weeds and prevent the fruit from getting dirty.
- Regularly inspect plants in order to notice pests or signs of disease in time, to remove damaged parts.
- Feed the strawberries before and during flowering.
Timely collect ripe fruits with stalks.
Feeding strawberries
If you want to properly care for strawberries, be sure to learn how to fertilize plants in a timely manner and in the right doses. An excellent natural fertilizer for strawberries that are not yet blooming is an infusion of young nettle, which contains a lot of potassium and nitrogen. It is necessary to brew 200 g of nettle leaves in a bucket of boiling water and leave for two or three days. After that, the liquid should be filtered, sprayed with the bushes and fed the roots.
Before flowering, you can add 0.5 liters of such a solution under each plant: potassium sulfate (5 g) and nitrophoska (25 g), diluted in a bucket of water. To make the strawberries give more ovaries, you can use a 0.02% solution of zinc sulfate to spray them. It can be purchased at the pharmacy and consumed a couple of hours before watering.
Experienced summer residents can give many more recommendations on how to care for strawberries in the summer in order to get a good harvest. You will be able to evaluate which options give the best results in your beds.