If you think that after fruiting strawberries can be left alone, then you are deeply mistaken. Many people wonder when to cut strawberries. Just after the harvest, garden strawberries should be given maximum attention, since it depends on your actions in this period how juicy, tasty and sweet the berries will be next year. The main thing is to thoroughly and thoroughly process strawberry plants. And if you do everything right, then the yield increase in the next season is provided to you (it can be from 35% to 40%, which is not bad at all). And it is necessary to start taking care of the future harvest when it is already necessary to cut strawberries after harvesting immediately.
Caring for strawberries after harvest
In July, you harvested a beautiful crop of berries, thoroughly enjoyed their taste and made preparations for the winter: now you need to think about how to “thank” the strawberries so that they regain their strength and stock up on new ones. To make this happen, we do this:
- remove dry leaves and old mulching mass from the beds: after all, it contains those pests and pathogens of various diseases that are so detrimental to plants;
- weed out;
- cut off the mustache and old leaves;
- We dig out bushes with a nematode and mercilessly destroy (so that the disease does not spread further);
- we loosen the soil not only in the beds, but also between the rows;
- water (as necessary, that is, only when there is no rain for a long time);
- we carry out treatment from diseases and pests;
- fully feed the plants;
- mulch the soil (for example, peat).
On a note! It is not necessary to pick or mow all foliage from strawberry bushes: you can overdo it. Only unnecessary (that is, yellowed and flawed) foliage is subject to removal.
And now let's dwell on each stage in more detail.
Harvested: pruning strawberries
Some people doubt whether to cut strawberries, maybe, "and so it goes." There can only be one answer: of course you need. After the crop is harvested, without fail we produce weeding of beds, removing dead leaves and all weeds. We immediately burn the cut leaves and in no case send them to compost. To arrange a layer of mulch from them is also not worth it. The thing is that pests can remain on the leaves, and they themselves can be infected with diseases. When to prune strawberry leaves? In July, immediately after the final harvest of berries.
Important! We do not recommend complete (total) pruning of leaves from the bushes (we only produce it when the strawberry plantation has undergone fungal infection or a pest attack). It is necessary to cut off selectively (only old and drying leaf blades).
Young bushes, which are only one year old, should not be touched at all: let them grow and gain strength.
As for the mustache, they must be removed, because if this is not done, then all the forces of the bush will be directed to the growth of new mustaches and flower buds: we don’t need this, because then we won’t wait for the berries. And cut the mustache as close to the center of the outlet. But if you have plans to propagate strawberries, then you can easily do this by digging a certain amount of mustache.
On a note! When to cut strawberries (that is, remove its leaves and mustache)? The procedure must be repeated several times during the season.
Cut strawberries right
The fertility in the next season depends on how well you prune the bushes and select the right moment for this (that is, when pruning strawberries after picking berries will be most effective). Removing old leaves is as follows:
- cut them or mow them at a height of 8-9 cm (to avoid damage to growth points and healthy leaf mass) using a garden knife, pruner or shears;
- comb out the cut leaves with a rake.
Advice! In no case do not break off the leaves with your hands: pulling the leaf, you can pull out either the whole bush or part of it, thereby violating the root system. Such actions will lead to the fact that the damaged plant, the disease, will recover for a long time and is unlikely to give a large number of berries.
When to harvest strawberries after harvesting is more preferable? Most likely, it is in 8-11 days (no less) after the completion of fruiting.
The reasons why pruning leaves from strawberries is imperative
At the end of the fruiting of the strawberry bushes, the second wave of the formation of new leaves sets in, when it is simply necessary to prune the leaves from the strawberries. Otherwise, all the forces of the plant will be spent only on their growth, and not on the laying of new flower buds. As a result, next summer you will have a lot of green leaves and very few berries.
In addition, pests try to quickly crawl from old (“tasteless”) leaves to new (“tasty”) and settle there. Why not? In general, we repeat once again that the most suitable moment when to cut strawberries should start is July days (immediately after fruiting).
Loosen the soil
In the process of loosening the soil, we do not recommend approaching close to the bushes, in order to avoid damage to the root system. We only loosen aisle, immersing the tip of the shovel to a depth of 60-70 mm.
Advice! At the end of cultivation, you can please your “favorites” and spud them with fresh soil (about 20 mm high). Moreover, special attention should be paid to bushes in which the root system is exposed (most often this applies to plants whose age is 2-3 years). But be careful: the soil should not fall into the center of the bush.
Strawberry processing won't hurt
Chemical treatment of plants during this period does not hurt, since during the collection of berries it was completely excluded (by the way, weeding was not recommended either). Especially if, when processing strawberries, you notice that some leaves look like corrugated paper: this is a sure sign that the strawberry tick does not sleep, but does its dirty work. In this case, we treat plants with anti-mite apparatus (Tiovit Jetom, Fitoverm, Aktellik or colloidal sulfur diluted with water), strictly following the instructions on the packaging.
If brown spots were found on the leaves, then most likely the plants picked up viral diseases. We process them with a bordeaux solution.
If the berries rot, then the plants are affected by gray rot: we spray the bushes with copper chloride (a popular fungicide).
Advice! Before chemical treatment of bushes, we recommend removing all diseased, old and pest-affected leaves from the garden.
If yellowish leaves (located in the central part of the plant) are found, the thickness of the petioles of which has increased significantly, we conclude that the bushes are affected by a nematode. It is useless to take any measures in this case, sometimes even spraying does not help. It’s easier to get rid of diseased plants.
Advice! After removing the affected bushes from the beds, we strongly recommend shedding the soil with very steep boiling water.
But it is better, as you know, to prevent a disease than to treat it. Therefore, as preventive measures, the following can be proposed:
- constantly inspect the bushes and in case of detection of patients immediately remove them;
- spray bushes and soil on the bed with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
Strawberry dressing after harvest
To feed strawberry bushes, a well-rotted compost (or vermicompost), which is added to the beds directly to the roots, is excellent. A good top dressing can also be ash, which is scattered between the bushes (guided by the calculation: a 2-liter jar per 1 m² of plantings).
Important! Due to the fact that wood ash does not mix well with fresh manure, do not use them together.
Mineral top dressing, consisting of a mixture of ammonium nitrate, superphosphate and potassium sulfate (in a ratio of 1: 3: 1), diluted in water, is also not forbidden.
Getting ready for winter
After all the work has been done, when you no longer need to trim the strawberries, you can think about winter preparations. And they consist, first of all, in October to introduce mulch (sawdust or peat) under the plants with a layer of at least 50 mm. Then in November cover them with spruce branches or raspberry branches so that the snow cover does not exert much pressure on the plants.
Finally
We hope that by reading our recommendations, you completely get rid of the doubt whether to cut strawberries after fruiting. Having completed all the recommendations and taking the advice into account, you will undoubtedly be happy about the new crop.