Feeding strawberries: how to fertilize during flowering and fruiting

Feeding strawberries with mineral and organic fertilizers promotes active growth and increases yields. On poor soil, the bushes do not grow well and often get sick. When fertilizing, it is important to observe the measure and not overfeed the plants. On overfed soil, strawberries begin to grow deciduous mass, and yields decrease.

Why fertilize strawberries?

Strawberries are recommended to be fertilized for a number of reasons:

Improving yields.
Increases resistance to diseases.
The berries grow sweeter and bigger.
Profuse flowering.
It's easier for bushes to survive the winter.

Many summer residents are of the opinion that if a culture bears fruit, it has enough of everything. But this is not always the case. Fertilization can increase yields and improve fruit quality. In addition, if you do not apply top dressing for a long time, the soil will be completely depleted, and all crops will grow poorly on it.

Types of fertilizer

There are several types of fertilizer. It is organic and mineral. You can make your own organic ones, but buy mineral ones from gardening stores.

Organic fertilizers

Organic fertilizers include weeds, decayed food debris and foliage, manure and bird droppings. Organics are introduced into the soil throughout the fruiting period. It is combined with mineral supplements.

Slurry

Only rotted manure is used for strawberries. Fresh manure is concentrated, and its use leads to burns of the root system of the garden strawberry.

1 kg of manure pour 6 liters of water. Stir and infuse for several hours. Mix again before watering. You should get a slurry of a homogeneous consistency. Watering strawberry beds after sunset.

Fresh manure

Fresh manure as an organic fertilizer is used in autumn, before preparing the soil for planting seedlings. The soil is dug up and mixed with manure. In the spring, this place will be fertile soil for planting seedlings of strawberries.

Chicken manure

Chicken manure in the amount of 1 kg is diluted in 5 liters of warm water. Leave for 2-3 hours. Before watering, strawberries are mixed until smooth.

Green fertilizer

Green fertilizer is prepared on the basis of weeds that grow on the site. For top dressing use any weeds. Nettles are also added to the infusion.

Green infusion preparation:

Chop weed finely with stems.
1 kg of raw materials pour 5 liters of warm water, cover and put in the sun.
Leave the infusion for 2-3 days.
In warm weather, it will begin to ferment, and to make the fermentation process faster, a bag of yeast is added to the water.
When the infusion is ready, it is filtered.
Before watering, the liquid is diluted in warm water.

It is recommended to water strawberries with green infusion in the evening, after sunset. Fertilizer is applied to the soil 2 times a week. The term for top dressing is 2 weeks.

Yeast

Preparation of yeast top dressing:

Dilute a sachet of yeast in 1 liter of warm water (first, the yeast is diluted in a small amount of warm water, and then poured).
In water with yeast, add 2 tbsp. l. sugar.
Leave to ferment for a day.
Before use, the yeast infusion is diluted in warm water.

Water strawberries once a week for 3 weeks.

Mineral fertilizers

Mineral fertilizers are single-component and complex. In the first half of the season (before fruiting), strawberries are fed with nitrogen. During the formation of ovaries and fruiting - potassium and phosphorus.

Wood ash

Feeding with wood ash is of two types. The ashes are scattered on the ground, and then watered abundantly. Or immediately diluted in water and watered with the resulting mixture of plants.

Nitrogen

Nitrogen contributes to the rapid growth of deciduous mass and root system. With a nitrogen deficiency, the leaves begin to turn red. The component is contained in calcium nitrate, ammonium nitrate, urea.

Potassium

Potassium is found in these top dressings:

Potassium chloride.
Potassium sulfate.
Wood ash.
Potassium nitrate.
Kalimagnesia.

Potassium increases yield and improves the taste of berries.

Ammonia

Ammonia evaporates quickly, so it must be mixed with fatty acids. They are found in laundry soap. The foam settles on the leaves and they absorb nutrients.

1 bottle of ammonia is mixed with 5 liters of water. Then soap chips are added. Stir and pour over strawberries.

Iodine

10-15 drops of iodine diluted in 10 liters of water. The resulting solution is sprayed with strawberry bushes. Iodine is not only a nutritional supplement. The soil is still disinfected with a solution of iodine before planting seedlings. It is also used as a prophylactic against diseases.

When spraying strawberry foliage, a small amount of iodine should be used. High concentrations cause burns.

Boric acid

In 10 liters of warm water, dilute 1-2 g of boric acid and 1 g of potassium permanganate. The water is mixed and immediately watered with garden strawberries.

When berries ripen, 2 g of boric acid is mixed with 20 g of urea, 2 g of potassium permanganate and 100 g of wood ash. All ingredients are diluted in water.

Mixture of organics with minerals

A mixture of organic matter and minerals is used in the fall for application to the soil. Mixed dressings are used to prepare the soil for planting seedlings. Humus is mixed with potassium chloride and superphosphate. Mix with soil. In spring, the soil will be nutritious enough for seedlings.

How to fertilize strawberries in spring?

In the spring, strawberries can be fed with rotted manure and nitrogen. The rotted manure enriches the substrate. Nitrogen has a beneficial effect on the growth of bushes and the formation of ovaries. Bring it before the start of the flowering period. For top dressing, urea is used, it also contains nitrogen. As soon as the first inflorescences began to appear, potassium is used instead of nitrogen. You can not do without wood ash. It is scattered on the soil, and then the beds are watered.

In the southern regions, garden strawberries are fertilized in March. In the central and Volga regions - in the last days of March - early April. In the north - from the beginning of the second decade of April.

What is the best fertilizer to use in summer for a good harvest?

If there was no time to fertilize the ground before planting in the fall, in the summer strawberries are fed with mineral and organic compounds. During the fruiting period, strawberries should be fed with phosphorus and potassium.

Slurry is used in summer. It is insisted for 3 days, and then watered, previously diluted with water, strawberry beds in the evening. Also in the summer, yeast top dressing and weed-based infusions are suitable.

If the bushes do not grow well and give little yield, when loosening the soil, complex minerals are introduced into the soil. For example, potassium s alt, superphosphate.

In the event that the bushes began to grow deciduous mass, the introduction of any kind of top dressing is stopped for a while. Overfeeding reduces yields.

Strawberry fertilizer in autumn

Autumn top dressing is aimed at preparing plants for winter. During this period, nitrogen should not be added to the soil. Autumn dressings are applied after the berries ripen and harvest from the site.

As during flowering and fruiting, the soil is fertilized with phosphorus and potassium. Also add rotted compost. In autumn, strawberry beds can be watered with a decoction of onion peel or a solution of hydrogen peroxide.

100 g of husks are poured into 2 liters of water and boiled. Strawberries are diluted in water and watered before use.

1 bottle of peroxide is diluted in 10 liters of water. Plants are watered with the resulting liquid. All waterings are carried out after sunset.

How to properly feed?

Top dressings are of two types - foliar and root. Foliar top dressing affects the outer part of the bushes. Strawberries are watered like ordinary water.

Root is brought under the root. Unlike the first, root fertilizers are more concentrated. They need to be applied directly under the root, trying not to affect the leaves. Mineral dressings are most often root. And organic - foliar.

Further care of strawberries after top dressing

After top dressing, strawberries are weeded (after 1-2 days). Remove all weeds. Water the beds several times a week. Watering is carried out in the evening. These measures for the growth of the berry will be enough. Regular care of garden strawberries will improve the quality of berries and increase yields several times.