Strawberry is a whimsical berry that requires constant and proper care. Many gardeners notice that over time, the fruits become smaller, quickly deteriorate and lose their taste. If you do not know how to understand that it is time to change the old strawberry bush for a new one, study the main reasons for the decrease in the yield of this plant.
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Cultivation period
Depending on the variety, the lifespan of strawberries varies from 3 to 5 years. When planted in autumn, the first berries will appear in the next summer season. The harvest will be poor, because at first, the bushes build up mainly leaf mass. The peak fruiting of strawberries occurs in the second year after planting. During this period, the maximum yield of large ripe berries can be harvested from the beds.
If you notice that with a similar care for the third season, the crop yield has dropped, feel free to dig up and discard the old bushes. Otherwise, next year you will pick even fewer berries and, most likely, they will be small, dry or watery.
Landing place
To cultivate strawberries, you must choose the right place. This plant does not tolerate shade well, therefore, the bushes should be placed on the southern open sunny areas of the garden, going at an angle. Strawberry beds should not be set up in lowlands or swampy areas.
The yield is greatly influenced by the predecessor crops that previously grew in the garden. It is forbidden to plant strawberry whiskers after nightshade plants, such as potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants. It is necessary to give preference to places where cereals grew.
Particular attention should be paid to soil preparation. For strawberries to bear fruit abundantly, choose black soil, loamy or sandy loam soil. Woodland dark gray ground is also good. It is forbidden to plant strawberry bushes in sod-podzolic soil, they will not take root and will quickly die. Due to the structural characteristics of the plant's root system, choose an area with shallow groundwater.
Experienced gardeners know that the strawberry planting site should be changed every 3-4 years. If this is not possible, the soil is disinfected in advance and fertilized with compost.
Diseases
If you have planted fresh young mustaches, chose the right place and regularly care for the plant, but there is still no rich harvest, you must carefully examine the bushes for defects. The main signs of strawberry diseases:
- rotten or dried berries;
- white bloom on fruits;
- brown or white spots on the leaves;
- yellowing of the bush.
Common causes of diseases of strawberry bushes:
- negative weather conditions (prolonged rains, lack of sunny warm days, high air humidity);
- infected plants growing nearby;
- improper care (excessive fertilizing, inappropriate fertilizers, rare thinning of the beds).
It should be remembered that with diseases of the bush, the mustache with rosettes also becomes infected, therefore, subsequently they cannot be used as seedlings. If you find the initial signs of infestation, you should immediately start treating the plants. When it is not possible to prevent the spread of disease, infected bushes should be dug up and burned or thrown away from the garden area, for example, in a forest zone. Contaminated tops should not be placed in compost or left to grow next to healthy crops.
The area where the diseased strawberry bushes were located should be disinfected. New plants can be planted after several years.
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