Key Technical Points for Strawberry Runner Plant Management and Pest and Disease Control

Strawberry is a perennial herbaceous plant, flowering from April to May and fruiting from June to July. Strawberries have high nutritional value, contain a variety of nutrients, and offer health benefits. So how should runner plants of the perennial herbaceous strawberry be managed? How should pests and diseases be controlled?

I. Management measures for strawberry runner plant fields

1. Strengthen fertilizer and water management. After planting, water thoroughly to settle the roots, water 2—3 times in a row, and keep the soil moist to help survival; when the rainy season arrives, pay attention to drainage. After the plants are established, apply 5 kg of urea per mu to promote seedling growth; when they enter the vigorous growth period (the runner production period), apply 1—2 topdressings of NPK compound fertilizer, with each application controlled at 5—8 kg per mu, and strictly avoid high nitrogen.

2. Remove flower clusters, old leaves, and diseased leaves. After the strawberry seedlings are planted, regularly remove the flower buds and flower clusters from the mother plants so that nutrients are concentrated, promoting vegetative growth of the mother plants and the production of runners. Also regularly remove old leaves and diseased leaves to help ventilation and light penetration and promote vigorous growth of the mother plants and daughter seedlings.

3. Arrange the runners. After the mother plants are planted, check the field frequently, and keep the runners at a certain spacing. When runners are produced in large numbers, pull apart runners that are close to each other so they are evenly distributed and prevent them from crossing or overlapping; at the same time, so that the adventitious roots produced at the runner nodes can enter the soil in time, press the node segments of the runners where adventitious roots form firmly into the soil with soil.

4. Cultivation and weeding. Strawberries are relatively sensitive to herbicides, so herbicides should be used with caution. Under normal circumstances, manual weeding is safe; after the mother plants are planted and before runners appear, because of frequent irrigation, the soil tends to become compacted, so shallow cultivation and loosening of the soil should be adopted to make it easier for the small seedlings to take root. The runner production period is exactly the season with a lot of rain and overgrown weeds, so weeds should be pulled out frequently.

II. Pest and disease control

The common pests of strawberry propagation seedlings are mainly white grubs, aphids, and beet armyworms, etc. The main diseases are snake-eye disease, anthracnose, etc.

For white grubs, drench with 90% trichlorfon crystal at 1000 times dilution or 50% phoxim emulsifiable concentrate at 1000 times dilution to kill them.

For aphids and beet armyworms, spray with 10% imidacloprid at 1000-1500 times dilution or 1.8% abamectin emulsifiable concentrate at 3000 times dilution, etc.

For anthracnose and snake-eye disease, use 70% thiophanate-methyl wettable powder at 1000 times dilution or 75% chlorothalonil wettable powder at 800 times dilution alternately, spraying once every 5—7 days, for 3—4 sprays.