Strawberry fruit offers the home gardener a delicious way to go from garden to table. To ensure the success of your strawberry fruit production, however, means you need to pay attention to the plant's watering requirements as well as how and when to apply strawberry fertilizer.
Strawberry Fruit Water Requirements
Three main varieties of strawberry plants are Junebearers, Everbearing, and Day neutral. There are early, mid-season, and late-harvest varieties. In order to produce a good harvest of strawberry fruit, whatever variety you select for your garden, your plants need irrigation on a regular basis. Gardening experts recommend about 1 to 2 inches of water per plant per week. This is especially important when the strawberry fruit is beginning to ripen, from early bloom to the end of harvest. Never allow the plants to go into a water stress situation. If there is no rain, water regularly through sprinklers, hand watering or drip irrigation. Continue watering through September.
Irrigation
Drip irrigation works best for strawberry plants once the plants are established and growing well, and have formed several leaves. When used in combination with mulch around the strawberry plants, drip irrigation helps keep strawberry fruit foliage and fruit disease to a minimum. Drip irrigation also helps to protect against root and crown rot, and problems with snails, slugs and sawbugs.
Place your drip line (or drip tape) between rows of plants, or alongside a single row of strawberry plants. Run the drip system twice during the week, long enough to thoroughly wet the strawberry beds.
You can also use furrow irrigation if you have raised bed strawberry fruit plants in your garden.
If you’ve noticed a salt accumulation in your strawberry garden, use sprinklers to rinse away the salts.
Strawberry Fertilizer Recommendations
Strawberry plants need phosphorus during their early growth period. This encourages good root system development and will result in greater production of strawberry fruit. The strawberry plants also require the addition of nitrogen fertilizer during the season in order to maintain healthy and productive plants.
You will need to apply fertilizer carefully, as you don’t want to injure the strawberry plants. You may also choose to use organic fertilizers, substituting fish meal or a mixture of blood and bone meal.
How To Apply Strawberry Fertilizer
Begin with rich organic soil. Apply fertilizer that is balanced (such as 10-10-10) at a rate of 1 pound per 100 square feet of row. Fertilize after Junebearers or the second harvest of Everbearing and Day neutral varieties. Some experts recommend adding a slow-release fertilizer in February (get this at the garden store or nursery). Add fertilizer again in summer if you want strawberry fruit for the following year. Use 3 pounds of 12-12-12 or equivalent nitrogen per 100 feet of row. This helps in strawberry fruit bud formation.
Be careful not to over fertilize. This will result in excessive leaf growth and poor flowering strawberry plants.
Also, don't do late-season fertilizing in colder climates. You want to prevent new growth that frost would damage.
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