Strawberries Enter the Flowering and Fruiting Stage: Here Are the Latest Management Tips

During the flowering and fruiting stage, strawberries require a field water-holding capacity of 80%, a temperature of 18°C to 26°C, and 12 to 15 hours of daily sunlight. The management tips are as follows:

Topdressing

In early to mid-April, apply 10 to 15 kg of urea or compound fertilizer per mu to accelerate plant growth, promote the unfolding of new leaves, and encourage flowering and fruiting. In addition, spray the leaves with a 0.3% to 0.5% potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution 2 to 3 times.

Removing Runners

Removing strawberry runners can increase yield by 40% to 50%. For propagation purposes, an appropriate number of runners can be retained; excessive runners consume a large amount of nutrients and affect subsequent flower bud differentiation. Generally, runners are removed as soon as they emerge, and this should be done 3 to 4 times each year.

Thinning Flower Buds

The later-opening flowers on a strawberry inflorescence often fail to form fruit, have no economic value and consume nutrients, so they should be thinned when the flower buds are separated from one another, preferably by removing about 20% of the inflorescence; weak inflorescences need not be retained.

Mulching Under the Fruit

Strawberry plants are short, and the fruit easily droops and touches the ground, becoming contaminated by soil and damaged by pests and diseases, which can also cause uneven coloring of the fruit. Chopped straw or wheat straw can be spread around the plants as a mulch.

Timely Harvesting

Ripe strawberries are soft and juicy and must be harvested in time to avoid rotting.