Before winter, I process strawberries for diseases (with Iodine) once and this is enough for the whole next year
Fiery fireworks, fellow flower growers!
Today on the agenda is the autumn processing of strawberries, which directly affects the yield in the next season. Healthy bushes give a lot of large and sweet berries, while worn out by diseases spend energy on recovery.
The adage “Prepare your sleigh in summer” perfectly illustrates the importance of handling strawberries before winter. In the article you will find a step-by-step algorithm and recipes for compositions, the favorite of which is with iodine.
Preparing a strawberry bed for processing
In order for the processing to bring maximum benefits, you need to devote quite a bit of time to the general preparation of the summer cottage plantation of strawberries:
- Plants should not stand in the weeds in the fall. Some gardeners recklessly think: once the strawberry has fulfilled its donative function, you can safely forget about planting until next season. A dangerous position, comrades. Not only does the garden look casual. Weed thickets are an excess of moisture and stagnant air. In such conditions, fungi and bacteria that destroy bushes are activated.
- For the winter, strawberries are not loosened, but they are spud. Loosening the soil leads to the fact that frosty air rushes to the roots. Light hilling with humus or compost provides additional nutrition and warms the plant. It is necessary to ensure that the slide envelops the bush, without burying the growth point. Otherwise, it may rot.
- Old and diseased leaves are cut off from strawberries. This is unnecessary ballast that does not need to be dragged along with you in the next season. Young and healthy leaves are boldly sent under the snow. If you cut strawberries to zero, in spring the plant will begin to spend energy on restoring green mass. Comrades, we want something completely different - to take a direct course towards amicable flowering and abundant fruiting.
- All strawberry whiskers not removed earlier must be trimmed before winter.
When the strawberries are ready, you can proceed to the main part - treatment for diseases.
How to treat strawberries from disease: the key to health
Autumn is the time of year when fungi and bacteria are rampant due to increased humidity. They will hide for the winter, but they will not disappear by themselves. Plants should not leave untreated for the winter, so that in the spring the problem does not catch the gardener by surprise..
The gardener has 2 tasks. The first is to choose a dry and calm day. Otherwise, most of the preventive solution will be washed away by rain or blown away by the wind. The second is to properly prepare the treatment agent:
- Purchased fungicides from the store. For example, Topaz.
- Solution potassium permanganate bright pink. A versatile substance that works from year to year.
- My favorite recipe is iodine cocktail. For 8-9 liters of water, you need to take 10 drops of iodine, 1 tablespoon of baking soda, a little laundry soap (to stick the composition to the sheet). An excellent additional ingredient - 1 liter of any milk (you can and should take sour - it will replace harmful fungi with neutral ones).
Strawberries are processed with the prepared composition in the morning, generously pouring the prepared bushes from head to toe.