Emma Miller
Experienced gardeners know that strawberries need to be fertilized three times during the growing season – in spring, summer, and fall. This berry can grow in the same place for several years, and in order for you to get a rich harvest, it must be properly cared for.
How to feed strawberries – options
Not all types of fertilizers are suitable for ripe summer berries. The most successful are considered:
- Mineral – nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus;
- organic – biohumus, compost, humus;
- complex – nitrophoska, nitroammophoska, ammophoska;
- organometal or humic acid-based fertilizers;
- micro-fertilizers with the main element – copper, boron, iron, manganese, and iodine.
You can prepare the fertilizer yourself or buy a ready-made compound in the store. If you use a purchased product, then strictly adhere to the manufacturer’s recommendations, indicated on the package.
Feeding strawberries by months – three stages
There are three main components that should be used as fertilizer for strawberries. Each of them is relevant at different times of the year and is differently effective in the process of ripening the berries.
Phosphorus and nitrogen
Phosphorus is used as a fertilizer after planting the crop in the spring. If you see that the new strawberry leaves take on a rich green hue, and the old ones are colored purple – the plant is not feeling well and it lacks this element.
Nitrogen fertilizers are also needed in the spring before flowering, and calcium nitrate is considered the most effective for strawberries. It should be applied at the rate of 20-25 g per 10 liters of water in liquid form along with watering the plant.
Potassium
This element is used in the summer and autumn after the phase of active fruiting has passed. It is during this period the buds for the next year’s harvest are laid. Most often pure potassium sulfate (25-35 grams per 1 square meter) and potassium nitrate (20 g per 10 liters of water) are used.
Feeding strawberries in the spring by folk means
Some gardeners prefer only “grandmother’s” methods in the process of caring for their seedbeds.
Yeast
Mix 12g of dry or 25g of freshly pressed yeast and 2-3 tbsp of sugar with 3 liters of warm water. Leave in a warm, dark place for an hour, and wait for the mixture to foam. Then add warm water so that the result is 10 liters of solution and mix. Pour 500 ml of liquid under each strawberry bush.
Iodine and ammonia alcohol
Iodine dissolves in water in the proportion of 10 drops per 10 liters of liquid. Stir thoroughly and spray the strawberries with a sprayer. If you want to use ammonia alcohol, you need to dissolve 2-3 tbsp of ammonia in 10 liters of water. Stir the solution and water the plant from a watering can so that the liquid also gets on the leaves.
Wood ash
There are two ways to use ashes in strawberries:
- moisten the bushes with water and sprinkle the ash over the top through a sieve;
- Dissolve a glass of ash in 10 liters of water and pour 500 ml of the product under each bush.
- Experienced gardeners say that ash is more effective together with nitrogen fertilizers, but such fertilizer should be applied a week after them.
