Processing strawberries before winter. How to prepare garden strawberries for winter
After harvesting the berries, strawberries in the garden cannot be left without attention - they require care in the form of weeding, fertilizing, watering and loosening. It is at this time that plants lay fruit buds for the future harvest. Preparing strawberries for winter is the key to a good berry harvest next year. Agricultural technology includes several types of work: from pruning in early autumn to sheltering from frost in October.
What needs to be done in the garden in autumn?
When preparing strawberries for winter, the following types of work are carried out:
- caring for the berry plantation after harvesting (weeding, applying universal fertilizers for berries, watering and loosening the soil);
- pruning and cleaning of old foliage;
- feeding;
- shelter for the winter, mulching.
The agricultural technology for preparing garden strawberries (or Victoria) for winter is no different from that for strawberry varieties. Remontant strawberries do not tolerate frosts as well, so they require additional insulation.
Trimming
Dense strawberry bushes must be thinned out before winter, and the tendrils that actively form after fruiting must be removed. The healthiest and strongest shoots can be used as planting material. The tendrils are removed because they absorb moisture and nutrients to the detriment of the mother plant. They are cut with a knife or scissors as close to the ground as possible.
Thinning and pruning of the mustache is done in August - September. Excess bushes are removed so that the distance between plants is at least 20-25 cm, while it is advisable to create rows of strawberries to facilitate subsequent care and collection of berries.
Some gardeners believe that there is no need to trim strawberry leaves for the winter; just removing old, diseased and damaged leaves is sufficient. In areas with heavy snow cover, this measure is justified, since the snow that falls in late autumn presses the strawberry leaves to the ground, creating a natural insulating layer to protect the roots from frost. Where winters have little snow and snow cover forms late, additional measures to protect the berries are required. Alternating warm and cold weather in the fall, heavy rains increase the likelihood of rotting of strawberry leaves left before winter. This can lead to damage to the berry plant by mold, rot and other diseases.
When pruning plants, you need to take into account this factor: removing leaves stimulates the beginning of a new vegetative cycle. If the weather is warm in the fall, then after pruning all the plants’ forces will be directed to the formation of new foliage. As a result, the strawberries will be weakened and will survive the winter worse.
But even if all the foliage remains before winter, it is necessary to check each plant bush and be sure to remove and destroy diseased leaves.
Complete mowing of the leaves allows you to improve the health of the berry garden, since many diseases and pests of strawberries and wild strawberries damage the leaf part of the plants. When pruning leaves, you need to ensure that the lower parts of the plant rosettes are not damaged and the roots are not pulled out. This is best done with sharp scissors or pruners.
Fertilizing berries
Feeding plants is especially necessary if they are pruned before winter. It is carried out after pruning and removing old, diseased leaves and strawberry tendrils. In the fall, phosphorus-potassium fertilizers must be applied to almost all garden crops, including strawberries. There are 3 reasons why this type of fertilizer is used:
- 1. Phosphorus and potassium help plants gain strength after fruiting and better prepare strawberries for winter.
- 2. Phosphorus-potassium fertilizers have a long decomposition period in the ground. Their complete dissolution will occur only in the spring, when the vegetative development of strawberries and strawberries begins. Therefore, the best time to introduce them is autumn.
- 3. These fertilizers have a beneficial effect on the size and safety of the future berry harvest.
Fertilizers are applied at the rate of 20 g/sq.m. m., after which you need to lightly loosen the soil. Loosening the soil helps to embed granules of phosphorus-potassium fertilizers to a depth of 8-10 cm. In gardening stores you can find specialized fertilizers for autumn feeding of plants: “Autumn”, “OMU autumnal”, “Fertika autumnal”, “Giant autumnal” and others. In dry weather, after applying fertilizer, the beds need to be watered.
You can use the following mixture of fertilizers, the amount of ingredients of which is given per 1 square meter. m. of land:
- Superphosphate – 30 g;
- potassium sulfate – 10 g;
- wood ash (instead of potassium sulfate) – 60-75 g.
Adherents of natural farming use wood ash as an autumn fertilizer for wild strawberries. Deciduous ash contains on average 3.5% phosphorus and 10% potassium, so it can successfully replace synthetic mineral fertilizers. In addition, the increased potassium content in the ash stops the development of rot in the berry garden. Ash is added to the soil at the rate of 2 kg per 1 sq. m.
It is not recommended to apply nitrogen fertilizers to berries in the fall, as they contribute to the continuation of plant vegetation and rapid growth of green mass. Strawberries and strawberries must enter a dormant state before the onset of stable frosts.
Shelter for the winter
Non-repairing strawberry varieties tolerate cold well and have sufficient winter hardiness. Winters with little snow pose the greatest danger to berries. If the snow cover is insufficiently thick and there are alternating frosts and thaws, damage to plants occurs. Therefore, strawberries need to be covered for the winter, especially in those areas where cold weather sets in early.
In the southern regions, strawberries do not need to be covered. To better retain snow, stalks of corn, branches of healthy trees and shrubs, or spruce branches are placed on the berry patch. Snow is one of the best natural insulators. With a thickness of 30 cm and an outside air temperature of -30 degrees, the soil temperature remains within the range of -5 - -10 degrees.
As the strawberry grows, a rosette rises above the ground. High rosettes indicate that it is time to renew the berry plantation, as the plants begin to bear fruit worse. In the winter season, this structural feature of garden strawberries leads to an increased risk of bushes freezing. To prevent this from happening, in the fall the strawberry rosettes must be well mulched with a layer of at least 5 cm. When mulching, the center of the rosette is slightly opened. As mulch, you can use waste generated after trimming plants in the garden: chopped stems of flowers and shrubs. This mulch must be prepared in advance so that the cut green mass has time to dry well.
Well-rotted manure and compost are also used as mulch, which also serve as plant nutrition. If there are no such mulching materials, then you can collect fallen pine needles from the forest. It is not recommended to use leaves of garden trees (apple, pear, plum, cherry), as they can accumulate harmful microorganisms that will lead to the spread of diseases in strawberries. Mulching with straw is also not recommended, as mice can breed under it and damage strawberries.
Autumn hilling of bare rhizomes of remontant strawberries creates favorable conditions for the formation of new adventitious roots.
Autumn processing of strawberries is a guarantee of a rich and high-quality harvest in the coming season. Cutting and removing old leaves, loosening and feeding the soil, covering the plants for the winter - this is the basic care of strawberries after harvest. Autumn work with this crop begins after the fruiting phase.
Weeding and loosening
The basic rule of pruning is: don't overdo it. For each bush, you need to cut off the leaf blade itself, preserving the protruding stems. Thus, the growing point remains intact, and the bushes soon begin to sprout new leaves. All tendrils of berry bushes also need to be removed.
Top dressing
Fertilizer application is another important step in the question of how to care for strawberries in the fall. The plant responds well to organic nutrients: bird (chicken) droppings, horse manure, mullein or humus. Gardeners also often add wood ash (it replaces mineral fertilizers well).
As for mineral fertilizers, you can use superphosphate or potassium salt. 
Important!It is extremely undesirable to apply chlorine-containing substances as fertilizer, since the strawberry plant reacts poorly to chlorine.
First, humus, mullein or horse manure are spread in small pieces over all the beds. Rains and scheduled watering will gradually dilute fertilizers, evaporating useful substances from them and delivering them deep into the soil, to the strawberry root system.
However, the method of feeding the beds with chicken manure works much faster. For this purpose, fresh droppings are dissolved in water in a ratio of 1:20 and thoroughly mixed. Then the resulting liquid is poured under the berry bushes. Consumption for 7–10 bushes is approximately 1 bucket of the composition. If mineral fertilizers are used, they are scattered over the area, embedded in the ground with a hoe. Immediately it is necessary to water the beds. To prevent a crust from forming on its surface after moistening the soil, the area is mulched with peat or pine needles. In the future, it will be possible to loosen the soil and water the plants through a layer of mulch.
Soil renewal
If you have a small plot of land and you have to grow the same plant crop in one place year after year, it is natural that the soil needs renewal (improvement). In old soil, pathogens of fungal diseases accumulate, and the number of nutrients decreases.
The whole secret of renewing the land lies in enhanced agricultural cultivation technology. For example, you can create sunken or raised beds by filling them with humus or compost. In such conditions, the soil is partially replaced, microorganisms are intensively functioning, processing organic matter into new soil. In addition, the berries are abundantly supplied with nutrients. 
Plants can be protected from pests and diseases by treating the soil under strawberries in autumn. Do not forget also that the beds need to be mulched from time to time. Mulch will serve as a barrier to the penetration of infections into the above-ground parts of strawberry plants.
Autumn transplant
For replanting, take one- or two-year-old bushes, previously divided into parts. You can also use the growth formed on the antennae. Transplantation is carried out primarily for the purpose of rejuvenating the planting. Over 3–4 years, berry bushes age, the number of flower stalks decreases, and the berries themselves become smaller.
It is carried out in the fall, since during this period the soil is wetter and warmer, and the weather is cool. Start replanting bushes in mid-August and finish in the first weeks of September. This way you give the plant time to take root, take root and grow good green mass. 
Before winter, the strawberries will leave stronger and dressed in lush foliage. Most of the seedlings transplanted during this period easily survive the winter, and
We all look forward to summer so we can enjoy two delicious berries - strawberries and wild strawberries. Only in order to get a rich harvest from these plants, you need to pay attention to them and properly care for them.
In autumn, strawberries and wild strawberries need care and attention. Care consists of preparing plants for hibernation and giving them the opportunity to safely survive cold and frost. Proper autumn care will also contribute to a good harvest next year.
The main care for strawberries and wild strawberries consists of weeding, loosening the soil near the bushes, as well as proper fertilizing.
If everything is clear with the first two actions, then with fertilizing the situation is more complicated. It is important to know some nuances that will protect the bushes from damage.
Fertilizing strawberries and wild strawberries
You can feed berry bushes both in spring and autumn. But the best time for this is the period after fruiting.
How to feed berry bushes?
Berry bushes must be fed with both organic and mineral fertilizers. Many summer residents have a negative attitude towards mineral fertilizers, citing the fact that it is a “chemistry” that is deposited in the fruits. With a reasonable approach and the correct dosage, nothing bad will happen - all substances will be used by the plant for growth. The main thing is not to overdo it. Both types of fertilizers are necessary for the plant to the same extent.
1. From organic fertilizers, bushes can be fed with infusion of chicken droppings, mullein or slurry. Do not use pig manure for fertilizing. It is important to ensure that the solution does not get on the leaves or stems of plants - in this case, the bushes may “burn.”
2. Wood ash can be considered an alternative to mineral fertilizers in powders. It is an analogue of superphosphate and potassium salt. It is usually brought into the ground, but sometimes sprinkled on top to repel pests. If there is no wood ash, then you can use the above-mentioned fertilizers - superphosphate and potassium salt.
If you fertilize correctly, then next spring you won’t have to feed the plants. However, if the bushes develop poorly, fertilizing should be repeated in early spring.
In the fall, it is important to prepare strawberry bushes for wintering. The greatest danger for them is frosts on “bare” ground, that is, without snow. This doesn't happen often, but sometimes it happens. To avoid this situation, it is necessary to cover the bushes.
Covering options for strawberries and wild strawberries
1. The ideal material for shelter is straw. It performs three functions: it insulates, retains snow and serves as an organic fertilizer. You need to put straw in a dense layer between the rows of bushes.
2. If there is no straw, then a mixture of peat and compost will do. Before adding it, each berry bush needs to be lightly hilled. After this, you can safely pour the mixture under the bushes.
3. Another alternative to straw that is available to any summer resident is fallen leaves. Corn stalks and spruce branches are also suitable for shelter; you can use shelters that are sold in specialized stores - lutrasil, spunbond.
Before leaving the strawberry bushes for the winter, it is necessary to hill them up, since the rhizomes (adventitious roots) can come out and be exposed. In this case, they will freeze, which means that fruiting will decrease. At the same time, it is important not to cover the growing point with soil or fertilizers - the place from which the leaves grow.
This preparation of strawberries will help the plants survive the winter safely and produce a good harvest next year. And in order for the harvest to be even richer, sweeter and better, fertilizers must be applied immediately after fruiting. Until autumn, the bushes will grow and acquire new leaves, which means the amount of harvest will increase.
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To ensure a good strawberry harvest next year, you need to monitor it throughout the entire summer season. Caring for strawberries in the fall requires special attention, since it is at this time that the plant begins to actively prepare for winter. How strawberries survive the cold determines their condition and yield next year.
Features of caring for strawberries
Autumn care for strawberries must be carried out according to a special algorithm. It contains several stages, by following which you can get an excellent harvest of berries next year:
Individual stages should be studied in more detail in order to avoid mistakes when performing them that could ruin the entire strawberry planting.
What to do after fruiting
After harvesting, when the bushes have flowered and there are no fruits left on them, you can begin processing the plants. Proper care of strawberries in the fall, as well as strawberries, has several stages:
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Feeding in autumn
Caring for strawberries in the fall includes fertilizing the soil. This must be done when the beds have been loosened and hilled. Manure is best suited as a fertilizer: for every 1 sq. m of soil is enough 2-4 kg.
You can also use chicken manure, which must be diluted before applying to the soil. One kilogram of fertilizer must be thoroughly dissolved in 10 liters of water, and the resulting mixture is evenly watered over the strawberry bed.
Wood ash is great as an autumn fertilizer. Use it at the rate of 100 g per 1 sq. m. If you add more ash than necessary, you can change the chemical composition of the soil and make it unsuitable for growing this crop. Ash is sprayed not only on the ground, but also on the leaves of the plant. Such actions will help protect plantings from pests., and when watering, trace elements are absorbed into the foliage through the stomata. When applying manure and bird droppings, you should ensure that they do not come into contact with the green mass.
It is allowed to apply mineral fertilizers, this will allow for comprehensive feeding of plants. To obtain a nutrient mixture, you need to take a few tablespoons of nitroammophoska and dissolve it in 10 liters of water.
Preparing for winter
It is very important to know how to properly care for strawberries in the fall and to be able to prepare the beds for winter. The survival of plantings and productivity in the next season depend on the correct actions at this stage. A sufficient layer of snow will be the best natural protection of bushes from frost, but there are winters that are characterized by severe frosts and lack of snow. In this case, it is important to take care of artificial cover of the beds. There are several options for covering material:
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It is necessary to cover the beds for the winter at the correct time, since violation of the time frame can lead to irreparable consequences. Early preparation of strawberries for wintering can lead to rotting of the bushes due to possible warming. If you do this procedure late, there is a chance that the plants will freeze and the yield will decrease in the next season.
Light frosts are unable to cause much harm to strawberry plantings., but will only harden it and allow it to quickly adapt to the climatic conditions of the region. Experienced gardeners prefer to wait for a period when mild cold snaps persist for several days in a row. This means that there will be no significant warming until spring, and the beds can be insulated.
Possible mistakes
Inexperienced gardeners often, due to not knowing what to do with strawberries in the fall, make mistakes when preparing their beds for winter. By studying them, you can avoid similar misunderstandings in the future, which could lead to the death of your plantings.
The most common mistake is that only the strawberry bushes are covered, and the row spaces are left unprotected. This should especially not be allowed in regions where winters are particularly long and cold. This contributes to cracking of the soil. Sheltering plants in the southern regions due to the lack of severe frosts is not relevant. This procedure can lead to overheating of the plantings and steaming of the bushes.
Autumn feeding should not be neglected, even if the plant looks healthy. Applying fertilizers before wintering will provide the plantings with all the necessary elements. They will strengthen the strawberry bushes and guarantee an excellent harvest next year.
In any garden or house plot, regardless of its size and layout, there is always a place for growing strawberries. Therefore, almost every owner of several hundred acres a priori considers himself an expert in the cultivation of one or another variety of strawberry. And, nevertheless, its yield in adjacent territories is sometimes quite different.
Consequently, the reason is not in weather conditions, soil composition and a number of other factors, but in the proper care of this perennial. One of its enemies is the low temperatures that characterize most of our country. In order to enjoy the abundance of large berries next year, we need to prepare strawberries for winter not “like everyone else,” but competently, taking into account local specifics.
What to do after strawberries bear fruit
Inexperienced summer residents do not even suspect that how well strawberries are cared for in the summer largely determines how they will survive the winter. Therefore, activities such as watering (albeit much less frequently), weeding and weed and pest control should be carried out even after the last berry has been removed from the plot. But this is a general list of recommended work, the need for which is determined individually. For example, if precipitation alone is sufficient, then artificial irrigation of the beds may not be necessary. The reasoning is simple - with insufficient care, the strawberries will be weakened and are unlikely to withstand low temperatures well.
Depending on local conditions and the plant variety, bushes are replanted on average every 4 to 5 years. If there is a need for this, then when thinning the plot, you need to select the strongest specimens. Experienced gardeners immediately put everything that remains into the firebox. Since leaves and roots can harbor pests, storing vegetation does not make sense. All the “enemies” of the strawberries will again spread throughout the area. In parallel with this work, all weeds are removed.
You need to understand that optimizing the vegetation in the garden bed, firstly, promotes more intensive development of the remaining bushes, and secondly, it reduces the likelihood of the proliferation of any rot (fungal, bacterial, etc.). You should be careful with the strawberries themselves. If you overdo it in the matter of thinning it, then young bushes, which are covered with large leaves of adult neighbors, can simply burn out in the sun. You need to focus on local specifics and take this point into account.
Strawberries should be transplanted with the expectation that the young shoots will have time to come into force before the onset of the first cold weather. Then you can be sure that she will survive the winter. The conclusion is simple - you need to choose the time of transplant yourself. The author starts doing this around mid-August. But his region is the Southern Urals. You, reader, make allowances for the climate in your place of residence. And don't forget that it is gradually changing. Therefore, everything needs to be done with an eye on the forecast, and not on the advice of experienced people like “we have always done it this way.”
In some cases, it is a good idea to feed the strawberries after fruiting. Here, a lot depends on the composition of the soil, the frequency of fertilization, and the like. If this is necessary, you can add superphosphate at approximately 25 g/m².
With the coming of autumn
Trimming
This also applies to old, withered strawberry leaves, and to those on which dark spots are visible, even barely noticeable. They will rot quite quickly, so they should not be left over the winter. And if you cut them, new leaves will form in their place.
It’s easier with antennae, since you don’t have to sample them - they must be removed, every single one. The fact is that if they manage to give out sockets before winter, then they will be of no use - they simply will not survive. In addition, the mustache takes some of the nutrients for itself, thereby weakening the mother strawberry bush.
What to consider:
- The tendrils are stronger than the plant, so you can’t just tear them off - only pruning (with pruning shears or a knife).
- If the old leaves have already been removed in the summer, then the ones that grew in their place cannot be touched - only in case of pest damage.
Many people question the advisability of cutting leaves, explaining that photosynthesis will worsen, since they are “light” plants. But, firstly, in winter the life activity of strawberries practically stops, and secondly, it is on the leaves that garden pests like to settle. The author believes that pruning still needs to be done. In fact, this is what he does from year to year.
Top dressing
For strawberries, organic fertilizers are the best. There are no problems with them in the private sector - ash, manure, humus. The peculiarity of autumn feeding is that it is foliar. The difficulty is that the culture is very sensitive to dosage. Excess nutrients, at best, lead to a slowdown in the development of strawberries, and at worst, to their death.
Experienced summer residents prepare nutritional compositions themselves. Here is one of the simple recipes (in g per bucket of water): potassium permanganate (50) + ammonium molybdate (2) + boric acid (15).
A simpler option is to dilute mullein or bird droppings (1 to 10) in a bucket of water and let it sit for about 1.5 days. You can simply scatter crushed fertilizer over the strawberry beds. Its approximate consumption is 150 g/m².
The feasibility of introducing certain additives can be determined by analyzing the results of fruiting. For example, if the berries in the garden are small, it means there is a lack of magnesium, potassium and phosphorus in the soil. It is these chemical elements that are “responsible” for their quantity on the bush and size.
Hilling
The strawberry bush has a “weak spot” – the root collar, on which the buds are located. It is they who will give new shoots at the end of winter. To protect them from the cold and from depletion (the roots develop upward), it is necessary to carry out an earthing procedure. As a rule, the bases of the bushes are covered with earth, but it is better to build a “hill” from a mixture of soil and manure (peat, compost).
Mulching
The soil should first be loosened well. Not everyone understands the meaning of this, so inexperienced gardeners believe that this stage can be skipped. It seems that mulch will still be thrown on top. Without loosening, the earth cracks, and when sub-zero temperatures set in, cold penetrates into these cracks, reaching the root system. In such conditions, strawberries will definitely not survive the winter.
After preparing the soil, it is directly mulched. In this case, it is not recommended to use sawdust, pine needles, etc. Mulch on strawberries in winter performs two main functions - it warms it and at the same time feeds it. It is advisable to focus on peat, compost, humus. But with a condition - they should only fall on the ground, and not bushes. Therefore, the mulching process requires extreme care.
Treatment with drugs
This also should not be neglected. Even if all the affected strawberry leaves and bushes are removed from the garden bed, there is no guarantee that it is completely free from pests. Practice shows that regular spraying with a solution of vitriol (iron or copper) gives a good result.
If there are signs of powdery mildew, the bushes should be treated generously with potassium permanganate.
It is advisable to plant garlic in plots with strawberries (many summer residents do this in winter). Its smell cannot be tolerated by most pests, and you can be sure that it will scare away from the beds no less effectively than various “chemicals” or homemade decoctions that still need to be prepared.
Before frost
By this time, all the main activities to prepare strawberries for winter have already been carried out. The last stage remains - covering the beds. For strawberries in nature, the “blanket” is snow crust. I couldn't think of a warmer blanket for her. But lately the weather has been behaving like a capricious girl, and it’s hardly worth expecting that the snowfall will be on time and as heavy as in the past year. Therefore, beds with strawberries should still be covered with at least something. The question is - which is better? And here it is worth assessing all the features of this or that covering material.
Straw, leaves, grass. Firstly, they gradually accumulate moisture. This means that there is a risk that the strawberries will dry out over the winter. Secondly, small rodents (and not only them) hide from the cold in such shelters. Thirdly, it is not a fact that there are no pest larvae on the same grass (or straw). In such comfortable conditions, next to the strawberries, they will not only survive safely until spring, but will also begin to intensively spread throughout all the beds.
Needles. Not a bad option, if not for one “but”. How to remove multi-membered needles from plots at the end of winter?
Spruce branches or raspberry branches (dried). This is the optimal solution. Such a shelter will protect from frost and is easy to remove.
Agrofibre. The material is excellent from any point of view for organizing the wintering of strawberries. But you will have to buy it. This is probably the only drawback, and if you consider that it also has a certain shelf life, then there are already two drawbacks.
What to consider:
- Frosts are destructive to the root system of strawberries. Leaves tolerate low temperatures much more easily. Therefore, when covering beds, you should not limit yourself to just laying the selected material on top. It is the roots that receive special attention. For example, if agrofibre is used as a “blanket”, then it is a good idea to cover the bases of the bushes with the same peat or humus.
- To prevent the development of rot, it is advisable to trim all the bushes before covering the strawberries. In winter, the leaves are no longer needed, so you shouldn’t leave them.
If you are just going to cultivate strawberries on your plot, talk to your neighbors. Any person likes attention from the outside, so no one will hide their “professional” secrets. Moreover, their experience has already been developed and tested in practice, so listening to knowledgeable people will not be useful. And several. Everyone has their own method, which means their own approach to the issue of preparing strawberries for winter. By analyzing all the information and comparing it with your capabilities, you can make the best decision on “what” and “how”.
Recommendations taken from the Internet are of a general nature, which many people forget. They are a kind of “basic” preparation for a novice gardener. It is necessary to correctly understand that even though conscientious, knowledgeable authors, sharing personal experience, do not take into account the main thing - local specifics. That is, climatic conditions, the composition of the soil in the reader’s region of residence, the variety of strawberries that he planted. But the neighbors’ judgments are already a guide, and having studied the “theory”, it is easier to understand the practical nuances.
Have a great strawberry harvest this coming year!