In autumn, gardeners are rightfully enjoying the fruits of their labors. Although most varieties of strawberry were aplodontia in the first half of the summer, fans of the everbearing varieties and are harvested in September, aromatic, ripe berry that has absorbed the heat of August.
The main seasonal work in the garden by the end of September is already done, but the time of rest has not yet come. Your concern for the strawberry patch will now turn into a good harvest next year.
Cleanliness and order in the garden
First of all, it is important to remove the old leaves. Of course, their first pruning should be carried out after harvest. As you know, the life of the strawberry leaf is about 3 months, so by the time of ripening berries, a significant part of the green mass of the Bush is already aging. But in the autumn you need to pay attention to pruning.
So, we remove the old foliage, as well as the newly formed mustache. You can leave only 3-4 fresh leaves, but all the green mass should not be removed. To tear with your hands is highly undesirable, as it is damaged hive as a whole, even if it is not noticeable. It is good to use a pruner or garden scissors. At the same time we conduct weeding.
Cut leaves and moustache remove from the garden and burn. Thus, we get rid of a large number of pests that are arranged or have already settled for the winter.
At the same time we conduct an audit of the bushes. If with some instances something went wrong, they look bad or completely gone, now is the time to replace them. To do this, remove the old roots and plant pre-prepared well-rooted seedlings.
You can grow young plants yourself from seeds, mustaches or by dividing an adult Bush.
Protection against pests and diseases
So, the bed is cleared: weeds and old foliage are cleaned, fallen or sick plants are replaced. Now you need to process the bushes from pests and diseases.
It is no secret that one of the most powerful enemies of garden strawberry is a strawberry tick. Despite its microscopic size, its effect is very destructive. In autumn it is necessary to treat the bed twice with a period of 10 days.
Spray should be very carefully, as the female strawberry mite winter at the base of the plant, in the stipules, as well as between the folded plates of young leaves. It is necessary to process the soil around the bushes.
From other pests will help processing universal or specialized insecticides, but more effectively their pursue immediately after collection crop. The situation is different from everbearing varieties. Since they can not be treated for diseases and pests during the summer, it must be done in the autumn in preparation for winter.
For autumn treatment of spotting, rot, scab and other fungal diseases, copper chloroxide is used. It is enough to dissolve 1 tablespoon of the active substance in 10 liters of water (warm) and spray the bed.
Fertilizer and irrigation
Fertilization of garden strawberries in autumn does not make much sense, since the fruit buds are already laid by this time — this happens in the summer. But a certain amount of humus will not hurt, especially if you have not carried out feeding after fruiting. However, you should not leave the litter on the surface, you need to repair it at a shallow depth (2 cm). Fresh manure or not completely decomposed compost is not suitable.
And again, it should be borne in mind especially everbearing varieties, especially of large-fruited. The soil under these plants is declining faster, so they require a power supply. In autumn, it is desirable to feed the repaired garden strawberries with potassium mineral fertilizer or natural — from wood ash.
Watering is necessary for garden strawberries almost until the end of the growing season. Of course, it does not require regular and abundant soil moisture as it is done in the hot period, as well as during the pouring of berries. But if the autumn is warm and dry weather, then from time to time to water the garden is necessary. Special attention is paid to the newly planted bushes: if there is no rain, then they need to be watered so that the soil around them is always moderately moist.
Cold protection
With the onset of cold weather, garden strawberries should be protected from frost, and it is necessary to attend to this before snow falls. It is necessary to cover with such materials which pass air. It can be a special covering material (lutrasil, spunbond), firewood (it is desirable to take from non-garden trees), pure straw.
Especially important quality shelter for the winter for remontant varieties. It often happens that their fruiting is stretched to the coldest and weakened plants do not have time to prepare for the winter. In addition, the repairing strawberry root system is even closer to the surface of the soil than the usual. Therefore, it is desirable to fill the well with straw and bushes to sketch on top of spruce branches to avoid being blown by the wind.
Very useful installation of special shields for snow retention. Snow well protects plants and their root system from freezing.
What will be the harvest of garden strawberries next year to a large extent depends on what we do now, in the autumn. Many believe that the cultivation of this berry-one of the most labor-intensive processes. But no one will argue that its own strawberries incomparably tastier and more fragrant than the one in the supermarket. Therefore, it is necessary to pay a little more attention to the strawberry garden, and next year it will reward it with a good harvest.
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