Pruning strawberries in spring

Strawberries are a relatively capricious crop that needs to be carefully looked after in order to harvest many large and tasty berries every year. It is especially important to create the most comfortable conditions for the plant in the spring, when the foundation for the future harvest is laid. One of the first spring strawberry care activities is pruning.

Read on to learn about when and how to properly prune strawberries in the spring, as well as what else you need to do to make strawberry bushes delight you this year.

When to prune strawberries in spring, in what month: optimal timing

Sanitary pruning of strawberries is carried out immediately after removing the winter shelter from the bushes, i.e. after all the snow will completely melt and melt.

It is very difficult to give exact dates, but approximate ones are quite possible.

By the way! The best time to work in the garden is in the morning or evening in dry, calm weather, or in the afternoon in cloudy weather.

Depending on the climatic characteristics of the region of cultivation, spring pruning of strawberries begins to be engaged in the following periods:

• In the south - in mid-late March, immediately after the ground dries up a little.
• In the Middle lane (Moscow region), strawberry pruning in the spring is carried out much later - in the second half of April.
• In the North-West (in the Leningrad Region), as well as in the Urals and Siberia, spring pruning of garden strawberries begins towards the end of April-beginning of May.

Video: when to trim strawberries in spring

When is the best time to prune - after fruiting in autumn or spring

To this day, there are heated debates between some gardeners about when it is best to cut strawberries - in the fall or in the spring. However, this can be done both in autumn and spring, and it is even better to do both pruning, so to speak, adjusting the results of the previous one.

Moreover, it is worth understanding that the leaves that we left last year could simply not survive the winter, which means that they will still have to be removed.

Therefore, each gardener must independently decide whether he needs to cut strawberries. after fruiting (in autumn) or it is better to do it in the spring, although in any case you will have to do sanitary pruning in the spring.

Alternative opinion! The author of the next video came to the conclusion that there is no point in removing old strawberry leaves every spring every year, but it is much more effective to spend your energy on other spring chores in the garden.

How to prune strawberries in spring: basic rules and guidelines

So, with the arrival of heat, immediately after the bushes open after winter, strawberries are examined for damage and foci of disease (especially mushroom ones, which you can identify by spots on the leaves). And then they remove any dried, damaged or diseased leaves strawberries, in other words, carry out sanitary pruning.

Basic rules for pruning strawberries in spring:

• The strawberry leaves should be trimmed very carefully to not to hook the heart and healthy young plates... Due to such damage, the plant will be sick for a long time and may even die.
• However, you need to trim the leaves as close to the root as possible, leaving the smallest possible stalks.
• And of course, only pruning is recommended. sharp pruning shears or scissors.

Think! It is believed that you cannot pick off the leaves by hand, as you can damage the root system. However, if you can easily pull the plants out of the ground, then most likely they were already very weak or sick. Healthy bushes are usually well rooted and not easy to pull out.

• As a result, the bush should have only good green last year and fresh young leaf plates.

All dry and diseased leaves collected after spring pruning must be burned.

Next, they move on to trimming the old strawberry mustache. So if you do not plan to propagate strawberries, then all that appeared in Last year mustache also to be removed.

Otherwise, the plant will waste its energy pointlessly, although it could direct all its forces to the establishment of flower buds, in other words, to get you a higher yield in the future.

Alternative opinion! The author of the next video does recommend completely removing all last year's leaves so that new leaves will grow in their place in the new year. Moreover, they do not need to be cut off, but rather to be torn off, so as not to leave the petioles on which it remains gray rot... So you need to do some sort of complete rejuvenation of the bush.

What else is included in spring strawberry care

To get a rich strawberry harvest, then you should continue the spring care of garden strawberries.

By the way! The site also hasgeneral detailed article on spring strawberry care.

After removing your winter shelter (mulch) and opening your strawberry bushes, and then sanitizing them, you should also:

• loosening and weeding from weeds;

To improve oxygen access to plant roots.

• watering;

It is especially important in the spring to monitor the humidity if you have enough old strawberry bushes (2-3 years old), in which, as a rule, the "heart" has risen above the ground, which means that it can become very dry.

Bushes, whose roots are slightly bare after winter, should be slightly earthed (sprinkle with earth, covering the "hearts"). And the strawberry seedlings planted last year, which were slightly sucked into the soil over the winter, and their growing point turned out to be in the ground, on the contrary, should be slightly uncooked (shake off the ground).

• top dressing;

By the way! The site already has detailed materialabout spring feeding strawberries.

• to mulch;

Advice! More details about mulching strawberries in spring and read in autumn in this material.

• and finally treat the strawberry beds with fungicides and insecticides against diseases and pests.

By the way! The site already has an article about spraying strawberries in spring against diseases and pests.

And in the spring you can plant, plant or transplant strawberries to a new location.

It is rightfully believed that strawberry bushes grow well and bear fruit within no more than 3-4 years. Then they need to be multiplied or divided, in other words, transplanted to a new place. It also quite often happens that strawberries may simply not survive the winter, which means that you will need to replace them, i.e. buy and plant a new one.

Advice! And how transplant garden strawberries to a new place in spring, — in this material.

In addition, in the spring you can buy and plant new strawberry seedlings in open ground.

By the way! About, when and how to plant strawberry seedlings in the spring in open ground, readin this article.

By the way!Instead of buying expensive enough seedlings, you cangrow your own at home, planting strawberries with seeds for seedlings.

Video: how to care for strawberries in spring

Thus, due to the correct spring pruning, the strawberries will be better illuminated, blown out, less exposed to diseases and insect attack. Of course, pruning isn't the solution to all problems, but adding it to your spring to-do list increases your chances of harvesting a bountiful harvest. Therefore, in response to the question: "Do I need to cut strawberries in the spring?" - we answer: “Yes, definitely”!

Video: pruning strawberries in spring