There is hardly a suburban area where strawberries would not grow. This culture, which we used to call strawberries, stands out among other berries early ripeness, unique taste and amazing aroma of their fruits.
She would have been good for everyone, if not for her wayward character. Large juicy berries strawberry gives only in the hands of a patient and caring owner. And capricious can be different: either greedy and rewards the gardener with small berries, or even refuses to bloom and bear fruit.
It was on the last whim of strawberries – no flowers — I decided today to focus: tell inexperienced summer residents who are faced with such a problem, the causes of this unpleasant phenomenon and help them get the long-awaited harvest.
1. Late boarding
If you planted strawberries last year, but this season did not find a single flower on the bushes, then the planting procedure was carried out too late, and the plants did not have time to properly take root before winter and gain strength for flowering and fruiting. The ideal time for planting young outlets is the end of July and the first decade of August. Postponing this process in the fall is fraught with the loss of one season – the plants next spring and summer will catch up and continue to build up the root system and leaf outlet.
Be patient: fragile bushes with proper care on your part will lay numerous flower buds for the next season will delight you with a bountiful harvest.
2. Landing in the current season
Count on the flowering and fruiting of strawberries even more so if new outlets were planted in the spring of the current season. Such specimens will begin to bloom and bear fruit only next year.
Help the young plant to gain strength and lay in the second half of the summer a sufficient number of flower buds: provide them with the right regime of fertilizing and regular watering, as well as protect against diseases and pests.
3. Incorrect planting depth
Novice gardeners, lamenting the lack of flowers on the strawberry plantation, should carefully inspect their plants. If hearts on bushes settle down not at the level of the soil, and are completely immersed in the earth, then it is not necessary to be surprised why plants do not blossom. Be glad that they did not have time to rot and die! Nothing good does not need to wait and from those bushes, hearts which are completely bare (such instances very quickly dry up).
In the first case, it is necessary to gently loosen the soil around the sockets and move the unnecessary land to the side, releasing the hearts to freedom. Bare core bushes should be sprinkled with soil (and preferably a mixture of fertile soil and humus) and after watering again to recheck the results of their work.
For full “strawberry kettles” I hasten to explain that the “heart” of strawberries is a compacted base of the Bush 1-2 cm high, from which the roots depart from below, and from above – the rosette of leaves. For this important “body” strawberries need to constantly monitor throughout the life of the plant, protecting it from exposure and excessive immersion in the soil.
4. Excess power
Wanting to please their new garden guests, inexperienced gardeners lovingly treat strawberries “Goodies” and without measure make in the aisles of fertilizer, believing that “porridge oil will not spoil.” When excess food with it happens the same as with a man. Only in this case, instead of folds at the waist, the plants form unnecessarily “obese” leaf rosettes with powerful bright green leaves. On such a hearty allowance (we are talking primarily about an excess of nitrogen), strawberries completely forget about their direct duty – fruiting. Why should she work if everything is fine?
If you planted strawberries on your site not for the sake of landscaping, but to get delicious berries, take the trouble to review its menu. Remove nitrogen preparations from the diet and shoot down the “ambition” of the spoiled bushes with phosphorus and potassium – these macronutrients will redirect the forces of strawberries to the laying of flower buds, which in the new season will be the key to the appearance of inflorescences and ovaries.
5. Malnutrition
Less hospitable hosts, on the contrary, forget that strawberries are a living creature and also wants to eat. On poor soil and in the hands of a summer resident-lazy, who does not bother in such conditions to feed the plants with vital nutrients, this garden culture completely loses interest in life and refuses to bloom and bear fruit.
Since we took, do not forget that you are responsible for those who tamed. Mulch the plantation with strawberries with a mixture of humus and fertile soil (1:1), after a couple of weeks, feed the plants under the root with a solution of complex fertilizer containing macro-and microelements, and in early August, strengthen the bushes with phosphorus-potassium preparations or wood ash. Next year they will surely thank you for care with a generous harvest.