When and how to prune strawberries correctly, timing and step-by-step instructions

Garden strawberries are considered the most common berry. One aspect of plant care is pruning. To find out when to trim strawberries and leaves, you need to find out what variety the plant is. For example, remontant varieties have almost no tendrils, and only the leaves need to be pruned.

Do I need to cut off the leaves of strawberries?

Whether or not to trim strawberry leaves for the winter is up to each summer resident to decide for himself. There are significant advantages to leaf pruning, but there are also disadvantages. If you cut off the leafy part in the fall, the nutrients will only go to the root. In spring this will have a beneficial effect on the growth of bushes.

When to prune a plant

The timing of pruning depends on what exactly the strawberries are going to be cut off. The mustache is removed in mid-summer. They begin to grow after flowering, but the first few weeks the whiskers are small and it is not advisable to touch them during this period. It is recommended to wait until they are older.

Also, in late autumn, if they are present, you should not touch them. Foliage is trimmed before the onset of frost. In summer, even after harvesting, the foliage is not touched.

When pruning strawberries, it is best to focus not on the calendar, but on the age of the leaves. Prune foliage as it ages. The leaves begin to turn yellow gradually, over about two weeks. When the leaves become completely yellow and covered with red spots, start cutting them. This usually happens towards the end of July. After the procedure, the bushes have time to become covered with new green leaves before autumn.

Pros and cons of autumn pruning

Benefits of pruning strawberry leaves in autumn:

• The main advantage of cutting the leafy part is that nutrients go only to the root. The root system becomes powerful and developed, which helps strawberries survive frosty winters.
• Many gardeners are of the opinion that resistance to frost increases. The statement, of course, is controversial, but suddenly it really becomes easier for strawberries to withstand frost.
• Along with the trimmed foliage, pests are destroyed, which often remain on the foliage until late autumn.

The disadvantages include the following:

• Along with the leaves, buds are cut in the fall, which bear fruit in the spring; strawberry buds are laid in the fall, and begin to grow in the spring. If you cut off all the leaves, there will be problems with yield next year.
• When pruning, pests and fungal spores fall to the ground, spreading diseases throughout the area.
• In spring, strawberries take longer to grow.

Although there are advantages, there are significant disadvantages to cutting leaves in the fall that cannot be ignored. For example, it is not recommended to cut off the mustache of strawberries at all; this has a bad effect on the yield.

Advantages and disadvantages of spring pruning

Some gardeners cut off the above-ground part of strawberries in the spring. The advantages of the procedure in spring are:

• Together with old leaves, they destroy pests that overwintered in the bushes and larvae.
• Nutrients from the soil enter only the root system, it grows powerful and healthy.
• When the tendrils are removed in a timely manner, nutrients and moisture enter only the mother plant and berries. Productivity increases.

The disadvantages include the following factors:

• Spores and pests may enter the soil during the procedure.
• If you don’t know what fruit buds look like, you can cut them off along with the foliage.
• The bushes will take some time to regrow, so the fruiting dates will shift in this case.

The procedure is carried out in the spring in the last days of April.

Advantages and disadvantages of summer pruning

In summer, garden strawberries are pruned at the end of July. Benefits of pruning strawberries in summer:

• In the summer the mustache is cut off and the leaves are left until autumn. This allows nutrients to flow from the soil only to the mother plants.
• Pruning the tendrils in August helps to rejuvenate mature plants.

There are no disadvantages to summer cutting, since during the procedure they only get rid of unnecessary mustaches on strawberries. Summer pruning dates occur at the end of July - beginning of August.

Trimming tools

The procedure does not require many devices. What you need to cut foliage from garden strawberries:

• sharp garden shears or pruning shears;
• rake;
• newspaper or thick cloth.

During the procedure, a newspaper is laid out next to the bush. This will allow fungal spores and insects to fall onto the newspaper, and not onto the soil (if there are any on the strawberries). Then the newspaper is burned, and pests and diseases are not spread throughout the entire area. A rake is needed to quickly collect cut leaves. Dull pruning shears or pruning scissors are not suitable. An unsharpened blade will damage the bushes, which will have a bad effect on the health of the strawberries.

Many gardeners prefer to trim off foliage and tendrils because it is faster than fiddling with garden shears. But you shouldn't do that. When it is torn off, the bush is injured and subsequently grows poorly.

How to trim strawberry bushes

Pruning is carried out according to a special scheme. Before the procedure, you need to study which parts of the plant belong to the fruit buds, so as not to accidentally cut them off.

Leaf trimming

In spring, the leaves are removed along with the rosettes. As soon as the outside temperature reaches above zero, remove the mulching material from the garden bed and inspect the bushes. Then the diseased and dry leaves are cut off. You can trim foliage correctly only with a sharp sector, so it needs to be sharpened before the procedure.

Foliage should be trimmed in summer after harvest. If the berries still hang on the strawberry unripe, then the pruning will have to be postponed for several days until they are ripe. When pruning in spring, the foliage is not completely cut off; petioles 5-8 cm long are left.There is no need to be too zealous in this matter, especially in the spring. If you cut off the entire leafy part at the root, the strawberry will spend all its energy on the growth of new foliage, and not on the formation of ovaries.

Sequence of the procedure:

• Cut off damaged, dry and diseased leaves. Frozen stems are torn off by hand, as they are very brittle.
• Then cut off all the deformed leaves. They not only spoil the appearance of the entire bush, but also block the sun's rays from the inflorescences and berries.

At the end of the procedure, loosen the soil and remove weeds. The more oxygen there is in the soil, the sweeter and larger the berries will grow in the summer. When the pruning is completed, the cut leaves are raked from the area and burned. This measure is necessary for preventive purposes if fungal spores or insect eggs and larvae remain on the foliage.

During autumn pruning, most of the strawberry foliage is cut off. Only large healthy leaves are left. Everything else is removed, especially if there are stains, dry leaves or insect marks. The cut leaf part is also burned.

Autumn pruning is considered the most traumatic for strawberries. Many summer residents prefer to cut off the leafy part at the root before winter. And this leads to the fact that strawberries endure the winter more difficult and grow worse in the spring.

Mustache trimming

Pruning is carried out using sharp pruning shears or garden shears. It is not recommended to trim your mustache with your hands. In open ground, pruning is carried out on a dry sunny day. Measure 5-7 cm from the mother bush, then cut off the mustache. Carefully pull it out of the soil. If the soil is dense, loosen the soil near the rosettes to make it easier to pull the mustache out of the ground.

Features of pruning remontant varieties

Pruning remontant varieties of strawberries is practically no different from ordinary varieties. Remontant varieties differ from ordinary ones in that they bear fruit twice a year. You will have to wait until the strawberries finish bearing fruit a second time, and only then start pruning. It is held approximately in mid-August. Also cut off diseased, damaged leaves and all yellowed foliage. Then the mustache is removed. Cut foliage is burned away from the strawberry beds.

In principle, remontant strawberries do not need to be pruned at all, so as not to disrupt the fruiting period. Especially for those varieties that produce crops more than twice a year or grow in a greenhouse. Yellow and damaged leaves of such varieties are removed immediately as they appear.

The only thing that will definitely have to be cut off on remontant varieties is the late flower stalks. The berries won’t grow on them anyway, and the nutrients in them go away without getting into the root system, which needs it more in the fall.

Treatment and feeding after pruning

After pruning the bushes, strawberries are most vulnerable, so during this period the plant needs increased care. After the procedure, the bushes are treated with folk remedies. Store-bought drugs are more aggressive. Chamomile decoctions, a solution of hydrogen peroxide or iodine are suitable for spraying. Mix 2-3 drops of iodine with 3 liters of warm water and water the beds with the resulting solution. Peroxide is diluted in the same way in warm water and irrigated along with the leaves.

The types of fertilizers applied depend on the time of year in which the strawberries were pruned. If garden strawberries were pruned in the spring, then fertilizing is applied several times a month.In this case, they are aimed not only at maintaining the bushes, but also at increasing fruiting.

For example, nitrogen, rotted manure, chicken droppings or wood ash are used.

If the procedure took place in the fall, the bushes are fed less frequently and in smaller quantities. Autumn feeding should be aimed at preparing the bushes for winter. Superphosphate or organic fertilizers are added to the soil. When pruning in summer, it is not necessary to apply fertilizing only if the bush begins to grow poorly after the procedure. In this case, it can additionally be fed with complex mineral fertilizers.