How Many Times Does a Strawberry Bear Fruit in a Year? Fruit-Period Management Techniques to Help You Get a High Yield
The strawberry is a fairly common perennial herbaceous plant in daily life, known as the queen of fruits. It is very popular because it is rich in vitamins, and eating it regularly can have diuretic and thirst-quenching effects. So how many times does a strawberry bear fruit in a year? How should it be managed during the fruit period to achieve a high yield?
How many times does a strawberry bear fruit in a year?
Strictly speaking, a strawberry bears fruit once a year, but because greenhouses are now available, strawberries can be planted twice a year. Please note, this means planted twice, not bearing fruit twice, because after one batch of strawberries has been completely picked, the second batch of strawberries needs to be replanted entirely with new seedlings, and then they will bloom and bear fruit again. However, not many places have mastered this technique. For example, on the 1,000 mu of land we plant, we still only plant once a year and get one fruit set. The difference is that the timing is correspondingly earlier. From November 2008 we could keep picking until April to May 2009.
Fruit-period management techniques:
1. Flower thinning and fruit setting
The inflorescence of the strawberry is a compound cyme. Generally each plant has multiple inflorescences, and each inflorescence has 5-30 flowers. The smallest high-order flowers cannot open and are called ineffective flowers; or they open late and the fruit is too small and has no economic value, and these are called ineffective fruits.
Therefore, during the bud separation stage, at the latest no later than the opening of the first flower, thin out the weak inflorescences emerging from the lower part of the plant cluster and the small high-order flower buds, keeping only 2-3 robust inflorescences per plant, so as to increase fruit size, promote ripening, concentrate the harvest period, and also prevent premature aging of the plant. When the young fruits are green, promptly thin out deformed fruits and diseased or insect-damaged fruits, which can make the fruit shape uniform and increase the rate of marketable fruit.
After fruit thinning, it is generally appropriate to retain 7-12 fruits per inflorescence. Robust plants can retain more, while weak-growing ones should have more thinned out. In addition, inflorescences should be removed promptly after the fruit is picked, to promote the emergence of new inflorescences.
2. Topdressing
When strawberries enter the budding and early flowering stages, timely topdressing helps improve the fruit-setting rate and fruit quality and increases yield. This topdressing should be mainly phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, with an appropriate amount of nitrogen fertilizer as well. Generally, apply 8-10 kg of nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium compound fertilizer per mu, or spray the leaves 2-3 times with 0.3% urea, 0.3% monopotassium phosphate, 0.2% calcium sulfate or 0.05% manganese sulfate, etc.
During the fruit enlargement period, apply a root fertilizer once, applying 8-10 kg of urea mixed with 6 kg of potassium sulfate per mu. Leaf topdressing can also be done, spraying 400 times dilution of Gaomeishi or 300 times dilution of monopotassium phosphate, and some fruit enlargement agent can also be mixed in at the same time, sprayed 3 times in a row, with an interval of 10-15 days each time.
In combination with topdressing, irrigate during important periods such as vigorous plant growth and fruit enlargement. Pay attention to drainage during the rainy season.
3. Fruit padding
After strawberries set fruit, as the fruits enlarge, the fruit clusters gradually droop to the ground. To prevent the fruits from contacting the soil, causing contamination of the fruit surface and reducing pests and diseases, and to improve fruit quality, for strawberry fields that have not used plastic film mulching, 2-3 weeks after flowering use rice straw or wheat straw to make grass rings of about 15 cm and place them between the plant clusters for fruit padding, placing the fruits on 2-3 inflorescences onto one grass ring. About 100-150 kg of chopped rice straw or wheat straw is used per mu, and the rice straw or wheat straw should be removed promptly after fruit picking.
4. Removing runners, lateral buds and old leaves
Runners are the vegetative propagation organs of the strawberry. Usually one mother plant can produce 5-6 runners, and each runner can produce 2-3 seedlings. The production of runners and the growth of seedlings depend on the nutrient supply from the mother plant.
In production fields, if a large number of runners are produced and not removed in time, it will cause excessive nutrient consumption in the mother plant, resulting in reduced yield that year and poorer flower bud differentiation quality in autumn strawberry planting. At the same time, because the stored nutrients of the mother plant are reduced, this further affects the plant's winter hardiness.
Therefore, as the temperature gradually rises and the daylight gradually lengthens during the harvest period, when strawberries begin to produce large numbers of runners, the runners should be broken off frequently. At the same time, pay attention to removing old leaves, diseased leaves and weak axillary buds, etc., to save nutrients, improve ventilation and light transmission conditions, and reduce the occurrence of pests and diseases.
5. Fruit harvesting
Strawberry fruits are soft and juicy and do not store or transport well, so determining the appropriate harvest period is very important. Determining the suitable ripeness for harvesting strawberries should be considered comprehensively according to the variety, use, and distance from the sales market. The harvest period for open-field cultivated strawberries in North China is generally from early May to early June.
The harvesting standard for strawberries is that the surface colouring of the fruit reaches more than 70%; for fresh eating, harvesting at 80% ripe is appropriate; for varieties used for processing jam and beverages, the fruit is required to be harvested when fully ripe, to improve the sugar content and aroma of the fruit; for long-distance sales, harvesting at 70-80% ripe is appropriate, while for nearby sales, harvest when fully ripe, but not overripe. The container must not be too deep, to prevent squeezing against each other and causing damage to the berries. Fruit harvesting is best carried out at the time of day when the temperature is lower.
Strawberries bloom and bear fruit successively, and harvesting can last 20-40 days. Within the same fruit cluster, the ripening periods of fruits at different order levels also differ, so harvesting must be done in stages. At the beginning of harvest, pick once every 1-2 days; at the peak of fruit picking, harvest once a day.
When harvesting, pinch off the fruit stalk with the thumb and index finger. Never grasp the fruit with your hand and pull hard. Gently place the fruits in the harvesting container, arranging them in 2-3 layers.
The picked fruits are required to have short fruit stalks, without damaging the calyx, without mechanical damage, and without pest or disease damage. Generally, the harvesting container should be shallow, with a flat bottom and smooth inner walls, such as plastic trays, enamel trays, etc., lined with sponge or other soft padding. Usually the container is about 10 cm high. If it is deeper, it should not be filled too full when harvesting.