How to process strawberries after harvest: tips and tricks from experienced gardeners. Features of caring for strawberries in the fall: top dressing, pruning, shelter

Almost everyone makes these mistakes and useless actions. Caring for strawberries in the fall - unexpected nuances and subtleties. How to abandon meaningless work in the beds and in the field, how to prepare a generous harvest in the fall - simple tips agronomists and experienced farmers.

1. Care for strawberries in the fall: don't cut them!

This is a fact: experienced gardeners do not cut strawberries in the fall. And farmers do not cut - and uncut strawberries winter on industrial areas, and the harvest gives an early, plentiful one. Why?

Strawberries of one-time fruiting, short daylight hours (KSD), and NSD, varieties of neutral daylight hours, do not need pruning. They need only sanitary cleaning: they cut off only diseased leaves and damaged ones.

Old, reddened, yellowed strawberries are useful: they are still involved in the life of the plant and protect young foliage.

The death of chloroplasts, with cooling, the cessation of the synthesis of chorophyll does not mean the cessation of leaf respiration, does not cancel their need.

The lack of cellular respiration, by the way, is one of the reasons for the decrease in yield. Pruning also slows growth. new outlet- protection from the cold and the basis of the future harvest.

Fruit buds of the KSD strawberry variety are laid in August-September, in the axils of the upper leaves, vegetative - in the axils of the lower ones.

Pruning at the end of summer or at the beginning of autumn, we destroy both the buds and part of the crop in the bud. And we do it from generation to generation!

Remontant strawberries bear fruit until frost: cutting it is not an autumn care, but wrecking.

Varieties of NSD (and remontants) lay buds regardless of the length of daylight hours, but they also do not need an autumn haircut.

The reasons are the same: the weakening of the bush due to the loss of leaves, a decrease in winter hardiness.
If something needs to be cut off on NSD varieties, it is better to do it before the end of July - and the conscience is clear, and the plant will prepare for winter.

Important! Strawberries are not pruned 20-25 days after harvesting: the leaves transfer plastic substances to the plant, exhausted by fruiting.

Pruning in September-October is too late, this is not a departure, a crime: for the frail bushes remaining after the “haircut”, this winter may be the last.

Pruning diseased strawberry leaves in the fall is not care, but the spread of infection.

In addition, fruiting due to late laying fruit buds shifts, productivity decreases due to a decrease in their number.

- And the diseased leaves, - the gardeners will be indignant? How not to cut? You can object like this: the flu cannot be cured with a haircut.

If there is a fungal spot or other ailment on the leaves, you need to treat it with fungicides or get rid of diseased plants.

Shearing is pointless: in the spring, strawberries will “bloom” again with a rainbow of diseases, and new plants will be infected.

This is not autumn strawberry care - this is a waste of time and the spread of infection.

Important! Pruning in damp cold weather – the cause of fungal diseases: fungal spores, bacterial infection enter the damaged tissues.

2. Caring for strawberries in the fall is not planting or transplanting.

Nonsense? Not at all: strawberries should be planted at the end of August, maximum at the beginning of September. Further landing- seedlings to the wind. And another useless job.

Why? Again, the laying of generative buds. In seedlings planted in autumn, they will be planted in small quantities. And the risk of freezing in winter is great.

Transplantation is recommended before the first or second decade of September: even in warm regions, the October resettlement is fraught with attacks and a decrease in productivity. And if you replant, then your own seedlings with a large clod of earth: this way, autumn chores are the least traumatic, and, perhaps, they will not reduce next year's harvest in this way.

Advice! Frigo seedlings planted in autumn are money down the drain. And seedlings. Alas, only unscrupulous sellers sell frigo seedlings in autumn.

The life time of frigo seedlings is short, a few months - a little more than the natural dormant period, and instead of intensive growth, “expired” seedlings show slow development.

There will be a mother liquor, don't wait for the harvest!

Laying the beds of Dutch, Italian frigo seedlings know: the next year's mother plant will be good, but fruiting next year can not be expected.

3. Nitrogen: when autumn strawberry care is dangerous

The most blasphemous for the gardener's ear: after all, caring for strawberries in the fall is always nitrogen! And organics - manure, compost, humus, and nitrogen-mineral complex.

From biology lessons: at the end of August, all plants, including strawberries, stop growing green mass - the growth phase of the root system begins.

During this period, nitrogen is almost not absorbed. The plant needs phosphorus to form roots, potassium to build tissues and increase frost resistance, and potassium. And - in the trace elements of iron, manganese, molybdenum and others, allowing the absorption of macroelements.

They don't need nitrogen. It is needed after the collection, in the summer - to fruiting bushes.

Meanwhile, nitrogen fertilizers introduced in the fall - the cause of attacks, freezing. Why?

Firstly, nitrogen simulates the growth of green mass, the root system - it delays the dormant phase. The plant enters the winter in the vegetative phase, when sap flow is in full swing. And he dies from the cold.
Secondly, neither organic matter nor other nitrogen nutrition will be absorbed by the plant in autumn - only in spring.
Thirdly, in the spring a good part of the fertilizer will become inaccessible.

This is especially true for manure. Bringing it in is not an autumn care, again, but a useless tribute to traditions.

Looking ahead: caring for strawberries in the fall, the last step is mulching.

Nitrogen in "agrarian gold" is presented in the nitrate form - 50%, and in the ammonium form - 50%. The conversion of ammonium nitrogen to the nitrate form occurs both in the process of oxidation and due to nitrifying bacteria.

The introduction of nitrogen in the form of organic matter does not make sense in the fall: nitrate forms of nitrogen are quickly washed out, they are very mobile in the soil.

Thus, in spring, nitrogen will go into the underlying layers of the soil, and strawberries will not get. As well as ammonium, which passed over the winter into the nitrate form.

In addition, manure in the fall is a breeding ground for pests in the spring: from the wireworm, Maybug and others.

If you already make organic matter, then in the form of pergnoy-sypts. And not in the fall - the real care of strawberries begins in the spring.

4. When mulch is evil

Care for strawberries in the fall includes shelter - mulching with a plant layer (straw, spruce branches, etc.), agrofiber. How often do they advise and use mulch themselves, which is harmful in autumn. Sawdust and shavings, sunflower and buckwheat husks, peat - and this is pointless and not useful.

Do not cover for the winter with straw mulch: in comparison with nonwovens it is a "cold" shelter, and can delay fruiting for up to two weeks due to prolonged warming of the soil.

Do not mulch in the fall and peat: it protects from the cold, but does not allow the soil to warm up in the spring.

Peat is mulched in the fall if the harvest time is not critical, and also in the spring - to nourish and retain moisture, and protect against overheating.

Autumn on strawberries - time to set the arcs.

As for sawdust, shavings, husks, these are moisture-intensive materials, and the plants are not waiting for protection from the cold, but for icing or warming of the roots during the thaw.

5. Don't cover strawberries...

Do not cover with foil for the winter without vegetable mulch: the leaves “freeze”, touching the film, the agrofiber.

If freezing is the only drawback of agrofibre, the best of the options, then an air-tight film will destroy plants during a thaw due to condensation, the greenhouse effect and airless space.

And don’t cover it if you want to install arcs for an early berry in the spring or just cover it with a spunbond.

Autumn is the time to install arcs for a greenhouse, a mini-tunnel and send strawberries for the winter. This is the only way to get an early berry.

Unexpectedly for many experienced gardeners, but a fact: the installation of a greenhouse, a tunnel shelter in the spring will accelerate ripening by only 10-12 days. Just covering with spunbond in the spring will give practically nothing - in best case 5-7 days. And in a winter greenhouse, a tunnel - under them the dormant phase will begin later, the buds will have time to form and differentiate, the vegetation will begin earlier.

Most often, plantings are attacked by strawberry mites. Small insects actively breed when there is too much moisture in the berry beds or it is wet weather outside. The tick lives on the mustache and rosettes of berry culture.

In the spring, a spider mite often appears, which sucks the juice from, and the pest entangles the inside of the leaves with cobwebs. All this leads to the death of plants, at best - to a decrease in yield.

Raspberry-strawberry weevil spoils not only strawberries. The insect feeds on leaves and buds. In addition, females lay eggs in buds.

If the weevil wound up in the country or in the garden, the harvest of berries can not be expected. This pest can harm all flowering berry crops.

Snails, slugs, ants and centipedes are also not averse to eating juicy strawberries. They feed mainly on fruits, causing significant damage to the crop. If you deal with them in time, you can do without much loss.

Strawberry nematode is an equally dangerous enemy of strawberries. Small worms, whose length reaches about 1 mm, live in the green part of plants. You can identify the pest by the characteristic reddish spots on the leaves.

Strawberry Pest Control Methods

Irrigation of the ground part of the plants with tincture from the tops will help get rid of the strawberry mite. Pour 1 kg of last year's tops with 10 liters of warm, but not hot water. Let it brew for at least 4 hours, put on a slow fire and boil. Strain the resulting broth, dilute with water 1: 1 and add 40 g laundry soap. Spray strawberries - processing should be carried out twice with an interval of 7 days.

In the fight against spider mites, strawberries can be sprayed with infusions of tobacco or wormwood, but this is not always effective. After flowering, it is best to treat with Fitoverm, and in the fall with Karbofos.

Specify the dosage in the instructions that are available on the package or on the enclosed piece of paper.

Getting rid of weevil is easy. Take 1 kg of wormwood, add 4 liters of water and boil for 10 minutes. Strain and add 50 g of laundry soap - it prevents the decoction from immediately draining from the leaves. Spray plantings.

For snails, slugs, ants, and other crawling pests that live on strawberries, use blue vitriol. Spray a thin layer of powder on the soil between rows. If there are too many pests, pollinate the leaves themselves with copper sulphate, water the plantings after a few hours.

Getting rid of the strawberry nematode is difficult. If the plants are already damaged, they can only be dug up and burned, and the area treated with bleach. After buying seedlings, be sure to wash off the remnants of the earth from the roots with salt water - 5 tablespoons of salt per 5 liters of water. It doesn't hurt to wash the leaves.

Sources:

How is Victoria processed?

Plants can wilt from lack of moisture. And if there is enough of it, but the bushes still turn yellow, turn brown, spread on the ground, stop growing? The reason may be in the disease of strawberries with verticillium wilt.

Rosettes obtained from such berry bushes are not suitable for planting. The fungus in the soil is to blame (it can persist in it for up to 13 years), which, filling the vessels of the roots, clogs them, and they no longer conduct either water or water. nutrients.

The initial signs of verticillium wilt can be recognized at the end of May - June. The secondary outbreak of the disease occurs at the end of August - September. The varieties "Festivalnaya", "Zarya", "Beauty Zagorya", "Komsomolskaya Pravda", and less - "Zenga - zengana", "Talisman", "Purple" are most affected by it. Sometimes late blight wilt is also found on strawberries. Its signs are as follows: the appearance of ringing brown spots at the base of the petioles of the leaves, shedding and death of leaves, flower stalks with green berries, browning, and then blackening of the core of the rhizomes, dying off of fibrous roots, complete death of the plant after 1-2 years.

As soon as you notice plants affected by verticillium or late blight wilt, immediately remove them, compost or burn them. Disinfect the hole with bleach (100 g per bush). New strawberry plants in this place can not be from 6 to 13 years. Remember that it is risky to lay strawberries in the area where potatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, zucchini, pumpkins grew before - foci of infection may remain after them. It is better to plant seedlings on a clean fallow or after carrots, dill, legumes.

Other precursors are also good - calendula, marigolds, onions, garlic. Some gardeners, using the volatile properties of these plants, grow them together with strawberries. Noticing that any plants are suffering on your site, before laying strawberries in the fall (under spring planting) (under autumn planting) add 85% thiazon powder (10-15 kg per hundred square meters) to the soil, and when planting or 5-7 days after it, pour 0.2% benlat solution (150-200 g for each plant).

Unpleasant conditions from which strawberries will save

Enjoying strawberries, a person makes a tangible contribution to his health. Regular use can cure a number of unpleasant diseases and conditions, such as:
- intestinal dysbacteriosis;
- smell from the mouth;
- low hemoglobin;
- hair loss;
- stool disorder;
- beriberi;
- high blood pressure;
- frequent infections of the nasopharynx;
- extended "goiter";
- pain in the joints.

The use of strawberries is also the prevention of diseases of the kidneys and the gastrointestinal tract. If you eat desserts from berries and dairy products regularly, you can insure yourself against the flu virus. The berry contains many minerals in an easily digestible form, and a small amount of sugar allows even diabetics to use strawberries.

Strawberries accumulate iodine, so the berry helps out patients with impaired thyroid function.

Even in ancient times, the juicy berry was used as a diaphoretic and diuretic, which accelerated metabolic processes, while quenching thirst.

The tender berry does not injure the intestines with its acid, like other fruits, but gently affects it, therefore it is useful for children and debilitated patients.

Due to the high content of zinc, strawberries are a natural potency enhancer.

How to use the miraculous power of strawberries?

To achieve a therapeutic effect, you need to consume at least 350-400 grams of berries per day throughout the season. Preference should be given to soil strawberries, not greenhouse ones, if possible, eat freshly picked ones.

Strawberry decoctions are also useful, for which every day you need to brew 6-7 berries in a thermos. Drink infusion before meals for half a cup.
After a course of such treatment, which just lasts one season, the following changes are observed:
- blood sugar drops;
- pressure normalizes;
- the level of hemoglobin increases;
- improves the work of the digestive tract;
- skin, hair and nails look much healthier than before treatment;
- immunity is strengthened;
- looseness and bleeding of gums disappears.

Regular consumption of strawberries gives a lot of strength - exactly what you need in the summer, in the season of troubles and holidays!

Autumn processing is a guarantee of a rich and high-quality harvest next season. Cut and remove old leaves, loosen and feed, cover plants on winter period- this is the basic care for strawberries. Autumn work with this culture, they begin after the fruiting phase.

Weeding and loosening

Rule of thumb for pruning: don't overdo it. For each bush, you need to cut off the leaf blade itself, keeping the protruding stems. Thus, the growing point remains intact, and the bushes soon begin to let out new leaves. All tendrils from berry bushes also need to be removed.

top dressing

Fertilization is another milestone on the question of how to care for strawberries in the fall. The plant responds well to organic nutrients: bird (chicken) droppings, horse manure, mullein or humus. Gardeners also often contribute (it replaces top dressing well).

As for mineral fertilizers, you can use superphosphate or potassium salt.

Important!It is highly undesirable to apply chlorine-containing substances as a fertilizer, since the strawberry plant reacts poorly to chlorine.

First, humus, or mullein are laid out in small pieces in all the beds. Rains and planned waterings will gradually dilute fertilizers, evaporating from them useful material and delivering them deep into the strawberry root system.

However, the bed method works much faster. For this purpose, fresh litter is dissolved in water in a ratio of 1:20 and thoroughly mixed. Then the resulting liquid is poured under the berry bushes. Consumption for 7-10 bushes is approximately 1 bucket of composition. In case of use mineral dressings they are scattered around the site, closing up with a chopper in the ground. Immediately it is necessary to water. So that after moistening the soil a crust does not form on its surface, the site is mulched or with needles. In the future, it will be possible to loosen the soil and water the plants through the layer.

Soil renewal

If you have a small land plot and from year to year you have to grow the same plant crop in one place, it is natural that the soil needs renewal (health). The causative agents of fungal diseases accumulate in the old earth, and the number of nutrients also decreases.

The whole secret of the renewal of the earth lies in the enhanced cultivation techniques. For example, you can form deep or raised beds by filling them with manure or compost. In such conditions, there is a partial replacement of the soil, microorganisms are intensively functioning, processing organic matter into new soil. In addition, berries are abundantly supplied with nutrients.
Plants can be protected from and thanks to a wellness treatment in autumn of the soil under strawberries. Do not forget also that the beds need to be mulched from time to time. The mulch will serve as a barrier to the penetration of infections on the aerial parts of strawberry plants.

Autumn transplant

For transplanting, take one- or two-year-old bushes, previously divided into parts. You can also use the shoots formed on the antennae. Transplantation is carried out, first of all, with the aim of rejuvenating the landing. For 3–4 years, berry bushes grow old, the number of flower stalks decreases, and the berries themselves become smaller.

It is carried out in the fall, since during this period the soil is more humid and warm, and the weather is cool. Start transplanting bushes in mid-August and finish in the first weeks of September. So you give the plant time to take root, take root and grow a good green mass.
Before winter, strawberries will leave strengthened and dressed in lush foliage. Most of the seedlings transplanted during this period easily endure the winter, and begin to bloom. In this way, autumn transplant is the best answer to the question of how to winterize strawberries.

Capricious and whimsical strawberries are prone to various fungal diseases and are often affected by harmful insects. Timely and competently carried out autumn preventive measures will help to avoid unpleasant problems in the next season.

Insect repellents

For preventive spraying of strawberries in the fall from insect pests, the following preparations are used:

Chemical:
- Karbofos (30 g per 10 l) - from strawberry and spider mite;
  Many gardeners still prefer the time-tested karbofos
- Alatar (5 ml per 4 l) - against raspberry-strawberry weevil;
  Alatar can be used to destroy whites and leafworms, ticks and weevils, aphids and the Colorado potato beetle
- Actellik (20 ml per 2 liters of water) - from ticks;
  Actellik is an insecticide that helps get rid of pests such as codling moth, tick, aphid, sawfly, moth, thrips, false shield, whitefly, scale insect
- Fufanon-Nova (6.5 ml per 5.5 l) - from whitefly, thrips, weevil, scale insects, sawfly, etc .;
  Insecticide Fufanon-nova - contact-intestinal drug for pest control of fruit, berry, vegetable and ornamental crops
- Agrovertin (1 tablet per 10 l), Inta-Vir (1 mg per 1 l) - against strawberry mites, whiteflies, weevil, etc.;
  The use of Inta-Vir makes it possible to quickly and effectively destroy almost any pest
- Aktara (4 g per 1 liter, further diluted according to the instructions) - against more than 200 different insects.
  The insecticidal drug Aktara is popular among plant growers due to its speed, strength of action and a wide range of elimination objects.
Biological:
Folk:
- decoction of tomato tops (from spider mites) - 1 kg of tops per 10 liters of hot water, hold for 5-6 hours, then boil for 2 hours;
  To prepare a decoction, you can use the leaves and stepchildren
- garlic infusion (from aphids) - 0.2–0.3 kg of chopped garlic is poured with a bucket of water, insisted for a week;
  The smell of garlic repels aphids
- dandelion infusion (against strawberry mites) - 800 g per 10 liters of boiling water, insist 4-5 hours.
  Dandelion infusion inhibits the vital activity of pathogenic microorganisms, in particular, a fungus that causes gray rot, and repels many pests, including aphids, ants, suckers and various mites

Bioinsecticides are most effective at air temperatures not lower than +16…+18 °C. These drugs have a directed effect on insects, therefore they are considered practically safe for humans and pets.

Video: fighting strawberry mite after pruning strawberries

Remedies for diseases

For preventive autumn spraying against diseases, the following means are used:

Chemical:
- Bordeaux liquid: 1% - from spotting, 2–4% - from gray rot;
  Bordeaux liquid is one of the most powerful remedies in the fight against fungal or bacterial diseases.
- Topaz (ampoule on a bucket) - from fruit rot, rust, etc .;
  The drug Topaz instantly affects the spores of the fungus and prevents it from developing further.
- Fundazol (5g per 5 l) - from gray rot and powdery mildew;
  Fundazol - fungicide (antifungal agent) of a wide spectrum of action for plant protection
- copper oxychloride (1 tablespoon per 10 liters) - from rot and spotting.
  Against rot and spotting, strawberry beds are sprayed with copper oxychloride
Biological:
Folk:

Solution blue vitriol(30 g per 10 liters of water) protects strawberry bushes from attack by pests and fungal pathologies. Ordinary iodine (5 drops per bucket) will repel weevils and mites, as well as prevent the appearance of gray rot.

At the end of the growing season, it is imperative to process strawberries from pests and diseases.

A neighbor shared with me a universal recipe for processing garden strawberries, which is effective both against pests and against most diseases. The working emulsion is prepared from:

wood ash - 2 tbsp. l.;
boiled vegetable oil- 3 tbsp. l.;
table vinegar - 2 tbsp. l.;
liquid soap - 2 tbsp. l.; warm water- 10 l.

Video: hot shower for strawberries

Video: autumn processing of strawberry beds from pests and diseases

It is necessary to process strawberry plantations from pests and diseases not only in spring. According to most gardeners, autumn preventive measures have a much greater effect compared to spring treatments and can significantly reduce the damage from damage by fungal pathologies, as well as from attacks of harmful insects during the next growing season.

Preparing strawberries for winter is an indispensable condition for rich harvests. Without autumn care strawberries can partially or completely die from cold, dampness and infections. How to prepare strawberries for winter with the maximum benefit for plants - we will consider further.

When to Winterize Strawberries

Preparation of the plantation for the winter season begins immediately after the last berries are picked. Most summer residents on this lose interest in strawberries until next year. This is a huge mistake. You need to continue to look after the bushes: weed, water, feed. In addition, at the end of summer, in some regions, it is necessary to completely mow strawberry leaves in order to reduce the spread of infections.

Preparing strawberries for wintering consists of:

mulching;
top dressing;
mowing;
maintaining the soil in optimal condition - moist, loose, fertile.

Experienced gardeners devote a lot of time to fertile strawberries. Care at this time is aimed at creating favorable conditions for overwintering and abundant fruiting for the next year.

What to do in August

Fruiting of ordinary strawberries, not remontant. ends in July, and from early and medium varieties, the last berries are harvested even earlier - in July.

August is the time on which the size of the next year's harvest depends. At this time, basically, you have to remove the growing mustache. Some of them can be used for seedlings to create a new plantation.

The best seedlings come from the first mother plant rosettes - they are the most prolific.

In August, the plantation continues to be watered and loosened. It is advisable to carry out one top dressing with manure, humus or mineral fertilizer. Useful wood ash. It will protect the bushes from diseases and saturate with potassium - an element that increases the frost resistance of plants.

Remove the leaves with secateurs, leaving only the bare petioles. Spray the “bald” bed with karbofos so that not a single pest survives.

Table: what diseases will pruning leaves relieve

Pathology	signs	Overwintering method
strawberry mite	The leaves are shriveled, with a yellowish tinge and an oily sheen	females on leaves
White, brown and brown spots	In summer, spots appear on the leaves, in autumn they grow and the plates fall off.	Fungal spores on plant debris lying on the ground
	White coating on the back of the leaf blades, and then on the petioles	Fungal spores on plant debris
Gray rot	Brown spots appear on leaves, buds, flowers, and gray bloom on berries	Fungus spores on plant debris

In October, strawberries are useful potash top dressing. On the square meter you need to add a teaspoon of potassium sulfate. It is more convenient to do this in the form foliar feeding. A spoonful of fertilizer is dissolved in 10 liters of water and the plants are watered from a watering can, wetting the foliage abundantly.

Potassium changes the composition of cell sap. As a result, plants cope with frost more easily. For strawberries, as for any evergreen plant, potassium supplements are especially important, because its leaves need to stay green under snow, in cold and darkness.

Features of training by region

The climatic conditions of our country are so diverse that there is no agricultural technology suitable for all. In each region, summer residents prepare plants for wintering in different ways. When compiling a calendar of work on a strawberry plantation, it is necessary to take into account the climatic features of your area.

South

In the south of Russia - North Caucasus, Stavropol, Krasnodar region, Rostov region, strawberries can be planted even in November-December. That is, here in the fall they not only prepare plantations for wintering, but also break up new ones. late boarding- this is important distinctive feature growing strawberries in a southern climate.

Summer residents of the south plant many varieties of a neutral day. Such plants begin to bear fruit within 5 weeks after planting. They lay flower buds at any time of the year, so fertilizing and watering cannot be stopped even in autumn.

Varieties of a neutral day in September must be freed from old leaves. Otherwise, fungal infections will spread throughout the site. In the summer, 1-3 mowing is also carried out - after each picking of berries. In total, at least 3 cleanings are carried out per season.

At the end of the season, half-rotted mulch is embedded in the soil, and a new portion is poured into the aisles. The approximate time for this operation is November. Mulch protects the roots from extreme temperature fluctuations and freezing. In March, it is again embedded in the soil during the spring digging of row spacing.

Ural and Siberia

In the conditions of the northern climate with short summers, strawberry leaves are usually not cut, as they will not have time to recover before the onset of winter. On mowed strawberries, flower buds are poorly laid, the bushes hibernate hard and lose in productivity.

If pruning is necessary due to a strong damage to the plantation by ticks and spotting, it is carried out a little earlier than in the Moscow region - at the end of July. In August, in Siberia, it is possible to remove only the lower aging leaves, cut off the remains of flower stalks, rake the litter on which gray rot spores have settled down for the winter.

What are strawberries afraid of in winter

Strawberry roots are damaged at a temperature of -8. At -10, the above-ground part freezes. In the winter cold, the bushes can only survive if they are well covered with a snow coat.

Plants unprepared for winter in years when snow falls later than the onset severe frosts, freeze. The degree of frost damage to the plantation:

the first - the leaves are frozen;
the second - the leaves, stems and horns froze, fruit buds were killed;
the third - the ground part and roots died.

In the first case, the plants simply reduce the yield. If the second degree freezes in the current season, the plantation will resume growth, but the berries will be only the next year. After frostbite of the third degree, the plants will not come to life. Such a plantation needs to be uprooted and the site used for growing other crops.

Strawberries will not freeze if there is a snow cushion on it at least 25 cm thick. If there is no snow, and the temperature drops below -8, the beds must be covered with straw, humus, leaves or any other loose material with a layer of at least 6 cm.

It is important to cover the beds when the ground is already frozen. If you put organic matter on wet soil, the bushes will dry out and die.

In the spring, remove the mulch from the garden - you can simply rake it into the aisles using a fan rake.

Experienced gardeners know that a strong strawberry bush can withstand any frost. Therefore, they do not abandon the plantation after harvesting, but continue to water, feed and treat plants from pests and diseases. Poorly developed, depleted bushes will die, and those who receive quality care will overwinter.