How to properly prepare strawberries for winter, how to process and cover
In the summer, the question arises before thinking summer residents and gardeners - how to properly prepare your favorite strawberries for winter? Yes, you can, relying on "maybe", let everything take its course. It is not a fact that the bushes will necessarily die. But the probability is pretty high. It will be very annoying to dig up dead, frozen plants in the spring, at a time when everything around begins to revive and prepare for fruiting. And I just don't want to, headlong, prepare the beds and urgently look for seedlings for spring planting.
Content
- 1 What are strawberries afraid of in winter? Do you need to mow foliage?
- 2 What should be done in the garden during the fall?
- 3 Treatment with drugs. When and how is it better to process?
- 4 How to shelter strawberries for the winter from frost
- 5 Pre-winter moisture charge, loosening and weeding
- 6 Features of preparing for the winter of different types of strawberries. Properly preparing the bushes for wintering
- 7 When to start preparing for winter by region?
What are strawberries afraid of in winter? Do you need to mow foliage?
In winter, sudden temperature changes are dangerous for garden strawberries, when soft thaws are abruptly replaced by a serious minus. Even if the entire bush does not freeze, then a strong freezing of flower buds is possible. And this will have a negative impact on the future harvest.
Ice winds in winters with little snow are also dangerous. Bare soil is prone to severe freezing and cracking. And, of course, lowering the temperature below -20 C degrees. This can already lead to the complete death of plants, regardless of the variety. One night with such a minus is enough. The first to die are plants with cut-off leaves. In no case should you mow foliage in autumn.
What should be done in the garden during the fall?
In the fall, a number of agrotechnical measures must be carried out in the garden. These are sanitary cleaning, loosening, weeding, feeding and processing of strawberries and shelter.
Pruning
Complete mowing of all leaves in the fall can simply kill the plant. The lush, healthy leaves of strawberries are, above all, protection. Protection of the root system, heart and flower buds located in the axils of the upper leaves from the harmful effects of low temperatures.
But sanitary cleaning is a smart choice to maintain overall plant health and prepare for a successful winter. If the leaves are partially in specks, then it's okay, you can leave it. But twisted, dried, sick, rotten should be removed. As well as old flower stalks, whiskers and remnants of dried fruits.
Top dressing
It is important that garden strawberries receive sufficient nutrition before wintering. It is necessary to feed strawberries at the right time.This will help to gain strength to deal with negative factors in winter and build up a powerful root system. It is worth abandoning drugs with a high nitrogen content, and focusing on phosphorus and potassium. Master, Plantafol (Planter) will do well.
Hilling
Hilling is another technique for protecting the root zone. After shallow loosening, the soil is scooped up directly to the bushes. In frosty and little snowy winters, this technique allows you to protect the root system of plants.
Mulching
To protect the root system and soil from severe freezing in the garden bed, you need to thoroughly mulch the soil surface. Both sawdust and whole peat, the same leaves or well-rotted manure are suitable. The layer thickness should be at least 10 centimeters. Well, agrofibre itself and agrofibre are excellent mulching materials.
Treatment with drugs. When and how is it better to process?
A prerequisite for processing is the complete absence of berries on the bushes. For common varieties, this is September. And the purpose of the treatment is the treatment or prevention of diseases and pests. This gives the strawberries the strength to prepare for a successful wintering and to set flower buds for future harvest. It will be competent to carry out the treatment with chemicals after sanitizing and trimming the leaves (pruning point).
Insectoacaricides Aktellik, Aktofit will help (apply at an air temperature of at least 20 C degrees). They will help get rid of not only ticks, but also a wide range of other pests. Copper-based fungicides (copper oxychloride, Median Extra) and systemic (Ridomil Gold, Horus) will be effective drugs.
How to shelter strawberries for the winter from frost
Shelter is one of the most important elements of protection. In regions with snowy, stably cold winters, you can not worry about the shelter of strawberries. But where there is a danger of temperature "swings" and little snowy winter, it is worth thoroughly approaching the issue of shelter.
Agrofibre is an excellent covering material
Agrofibre (synonyms agrotextile, spunbond, lutrasil, non-woven material) - for regions with mild winters, a density of 30 is suitable, with more severe ones - 40, 50. Spunbond is the name of the technology for making fibers from a polymer material. In general, agrofiber and spunbond are one and the same.
The fiber is spread directly over the bushes, and the edges are buried in the ground. An excellent option would be to install low arcs, and it is already worth rolling out agrofibre on them. A microclimate is created under the spunbond, and the berries ripen early (up to 2 weeks). Moreover, the larger the air layer, the better the wintering. Today agrofibre is the most objective choice among covering materials and the best way to protect against frost. By the way, in summer it can help protect plants from the scorching sun.
Film is absolutely wrong.
Covering strawberries for the winter with a film is completely wrong. Such a covering material will contribute to the complete loss of strawberry harvest. The film can only be used to cover crops that are resistant to damping, for example, blackberries. Without air access, diseases develop quickly, plus strawberries just spray. Especially during the winter thaws.
Leaves
One of the options for shelter for the winter is to use fallen leaves. Not the best option, but in the absence of other options, it will do. It is not advisable to cover with oak leaves, to a lesser extent walnut. First of all, the leaves must be healthy. But there is a danger of damping out the strawberries under them. The main thing is to carefully cover the root zone, and cover the plants themselves with a layer of no more than 10-15 centimeters.
Sawdust
You can, but you will have to use a large fraction to prevent caking, and in the spring it is imperative to rake them from the beds. During the winter, pathogenic bacteria accumulate in them and pests hibernate. And also, when rotting, they draw nitrogen from the topsoil. And coniferous sawdust also acidifies the soil.
Plastic bottles
Shelter with cut-off plastic bottles of 2 liters or more is acceptable. The bottle is, as it were, put on top of the bush with the neck up. The lower (cut off) part is screwed into the ground and compacted. It is important to remove the plug from the neck, otherwise the strawberries will blow out. And this technique is used more often when breeding clematis.
Needles
Only dry pine needles are suitable for shelter, without forest soil, which contains a huge amount of weed seeds. For plants, it is more acceptable and useful to shelter for the winter with needles than with leaves.
Pre-winter moisture charge, loosening and weeding
Important points in preparation for wintering are abundant pre-winter soil moisture, as well as weeding and loosening of the soil.
Features of preparing for the winter of different types of strawberries. Properly preparing the bushes for wintering
The difference between remontant varieties and ordinary ones is their constant fruiting during the season. Therefore, before preparing the remontant strawberry bushes for wintering, this feature must be taken into account.
Regular
Follow standard agricultural techniques, and apply all of the above techniques.
Repaired
The main difference from the usual one is that the bushes often leave in winter with berries and color. And how, then, is it better to prepare remontant strawberries for winter? Before sheltering, it is advisable to carefully cut everything out. And also remontant varieties, due to constant fruiting, require more dressing.
When to start preparing for winter by region?
Depending on the region, preparatory actions for wintering strawberries must be carried out at the correct time.
South
In the south, given the warm autumn, work on preparing strawberries for wintering begins in the first or even in the second half of September. And they finish, depending on the weather, at the end of September, the first decade of October.
Middle Band
In the Middle Strip, it is advisable to start preparing from the end of August, the beginning of September and finish by the middle of the first autumn month.
Ural and Siberia. Better to prepare in August
In Siberia and the Urals, winter comes early, so preparatory work begins in the first decade of August, and ends in the second half.
