Everyone knows the red, sweet, juicy berries called strawberries. To get a good full harvest, she needs to provide quality care not only during the active growing season, but also during flowering. Strawberry care It consists in the proper irrigation, feeding, cleaning of weeds, excess whiskers, and tilling the soil around the bushes.
Did you know? The weight of the largest strawberry in the world was 231 grams.
Features feeding strawberries during flowering, how to fertilize sweet berry
Many gardeners are of the opinion that during the budding period strawberries do not need fertilizer, but this is not so. The bush spends almost all of its vital forces on the formation of inflorescences and the ripening of berries. Below in the text will be considered feeding strawberries during flowering, fertilizers are applied only under planted and already fruiting bushes. Strawberries need to be fed thrice a year: at the beginning of the growing season of the bush, during flowering and at the end of fruiting. The most important for strawberries is the fertilizer of the bushes during flowering and the formation of berries. To feed strawberries during flowering can be what recommended gardeners recommend: complex mineral fertilizers. For the fertilizer to penetrate into the soil and to absorb strawberry roots, the soil around the bushes must be loosened.
Important! Mineral fertilizers during the budding of strawberries are applied once.
Simple agrochemicals do not use strawberries during flowering. During the formation of the ovary bushes require potassium in large quantities. To meet the need for potassium, apply the infusion of chicken manure, mullein + ash or potassium nitrate. When the buds begin to appear, a teaspoon of saltpeter is diluted with ten liters of water and watered every bush. Consumption rate under a bush about 0.5 liters. When the inflorescences appear, strawberries are poured with a solution of chicken manure or mullein with ash per half-liter jar per ten liters of water.
Foliar nutrition of strawberries with boric acid during flowering contributes to the growth of inflorescences, which in turn affects the amount of yield. For spraying the bushes, 1 g of boric acid is diluted with ten liters of water. Also spraying spend 0.02% zinc sulphate. Such a spraying not only saturates the strawberry with microelements, but also contributes to the formation of the ovary and increasing the yield to thirty percent.
Yeast dressing for strawberries became known not so long ago, but managed to earn a popularity among gardeners. Feed plants yeast twice per season. One kilogram of yeast is dissolved in five liters of water and allowed to brew for two hours. From this solution, a half-liter jar is taken and diluted in ten liters of water. At least 0.5 liters of the finished fertilizer is poured under each bush. The effect of the use of yeast in the garden will surprise you.
Based on the foregoing, each will choose for himself what it is better for him to feed strawberries during flowering. Most importantly, remember that the fertilization of bushes has a great influence not only on the growth of bushes, but also on the timely ripening of berries.
Did you know? Tearing strawberries with a stem, you prolong the shelf life of the torn berries.
Caring for the soil during flowering and removing unnecessary whiskers
When strawberries bloom (end of April - beginning of May), it requires increased attention and care. Promotes good flowering timely removal of weeds and loosening the soil around the bushes, which improves air exchange. In order for flowering bushes to gain strength for fruiting, early cutting of whiskers and leaves in strawberries must be made. Dried leaves are carefully removed with a secateur. During flowering, remove all mustache without exception, as they take moisture and nutrients from the plant. In addition to the whiskers and dried leaves, the first strawberry blossoms are subject to removal. It is believed that subsequent flower stalks are larger than the previous ones, and this affects the size of the berry. Removal of peduncles is not necessary. During flowering under the bushes must necessarily pour straw or sawdust, so that the berries were clean and not rot from contact with moist soil.
How to water strawberries during flowering
Watering strawberries during flowering plays a big role. Due to the superficial root system, strawberries are not able to get moisture from the bowels of the earth, we, gardeners, should help her in this. To get juicy large berries, you need to water the land around the bush so that the water got to the roots. Stick in watering need a golden middle.
Both underfilling and overflow of water have a negative effect on berries and root system. In the first case, the root dries up, the berry does not pour out, in the second case both the root and the berry begin to rot. How often to water strawberries during flowering, depends on precipitation. If the weather is rainy and the humidity is high, watering is stopped. In dry hot weather, abundant irrigation is carried out every three days, so that the bushes do not fall apart and the berry poured evenly. Watering is carried out in the morning or in the evening, when the sun does not bake, the water should not be cold. Water the plants with drip irrigation or under a bush. Watering under a bush, make sure that the roots are not exposed.
Important! Watering strawberries blooming only at the root, the water in no case should not fall on the flowers.
Strawberry Pollination Rules
The consequence of defective strawberry pollination are distorted small berries. The reason for poor pollination can be a sharp decrease in ambient temperature, fog, frequent precipitation. To avoid such undesirable consequences, you need to help strawberries with pollination. If your strawberry bed is small, you can resort to pollination using a soft little brush on flowers in the afternoon. In dry, windless weather on large plantations and in greenhouses use a fan. Pollen caught by the air flow spreads throughout the bed.
If you are thinking whether you can and how to process strawberries during flowering for pollination, the answer will surprise you. The only harmless tool that is used for pollination of strawberries is honey. One tablespoon of honey is diluted with a liter of warm water and sprayed with bushes. Honey attracts bees, and the best pollinators for strawberries are not found. You can achieve good pollination by growing different varieties. Self-pollinating varieties will serve as pollinators for poorly pollinated.