Every year, the strawberry harvest pleases less and less.

Berries become smaller, their number decreases, even if the plant is additionally fed.

What to do with it?

First of all, it is worth noting that taking care of strawberries is not easy.

These berries require attention and a lot of effort in order to get a good harvest later.

There are even some signs that help you understand that it is time to throw out the old strawberry bushes and replace them with new ones.

Bushes "aged"

Strawberries are a culture that does not like to stay in one place for a long time.

Its cultivation period is approximately 3-4 years.

After the bushes were planted in the fall, they give the first harvest the following summer.

Of course, there won't be many of them at once, because during the first year strawberries build up green mass.

But the second year is considered the period of the beginning of fruiting, so you can get the maximum harvest that these bushes are capable of.

But starting from the third year, you can notice that the number of fruits decreases, although the care does not change.

This indicates that it is time to throw out the old bushes and replace them with new ones.

If this is not done in time, then next year you can get a very small harvest with small and sour berries.

Then you will still have to replace the bushes, but the whole year will be lost.

If there is room on your plot, you can not throw away the bushes, but simply transplant them.

If this is not possible, then before planting new bushes, you need to additionally disinfect the bed.

The fruits are dry and small

If the bushes are healthy, but neither in the second nor in the third year did you get tasty fruits, instead the berries are small and dry, then the strawberries refuse to bear fruit.

You need to understand why.

For example, she may not like the chosen place.

Where is the best place to plant strawberries:

• this plant does not like shaded places, so a sunny place is perfect for it.

  But it is better to avoid the northern side of the site.

  As well as a bed under shrubs or other bushes;

• it is important to choose the right predecessor plant.

  Strawberries are not at all "friends" with nightshades and after them they produce small, dry fruits.

  Even if you feed the bushes well and take care of them.

Strawberry got sick

It happens that the place is chosen correctly, the care is carried out exactly as needed, but the fruits are still small or they begin to rot on the branches or become covered with a white coating.

Strawberry bushes can also dry up for no reason or brown spots appear on the leaves.

All this means that the plant is sick.

The disease can be provoked by many reasons - neighbors with diseases, a poorly selected plot, improper care or weather conditions that are not suitable for strawberries.

For example, this plant does not like wet and cold weather.

If there is a summer with prolonged rains, powdery mildew or gray rot may appear on the bushes.

Another risk factor is considered too dense plantings.

If the bush is already sick, it should be thrown away immediately.

Although you can try to fight the disease in the first stages of its occurrence.

It is forbidden to throw infected bushes into the compost or leave them on the bed - they can become a source of infection for other plants.

Sick bushes must be burned.

Then the area is disinfected.

But even after that, you can't plant strawberries here for another 4-6 years.

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