Planting strawberries in autumn in open ground from A to Z

Advantages and disadvantages of planting strawberries in the fall

After a stormy garden summer, there is a lull, so there is more free time. It is during this period that you can calmly and measuredly plant or transplant strawberries. The latter is done in order to increase the crop yield for the next season.

There are a number of advantages to autumn planting:

• It will be possible to pick berries next summer. If you plant strawberries in the spring, you will have to wait a year for the harvest.
• The root system has time to adapt and take root in the garden bed.
• After collecting the rest of the plants, there is a lot of space left; you can choose the most favorable part of the site for the upcoming planting.
• In autumn, the weather is as favorable as possible - solar activity is no longer so high, it is cool and humid outside.
• At the end of the season, the sale of various seedlings begins, so you can purchase the rarest varieties. In the spring, there is a high probability of running into low-quality strawberries from long-standing seasons.
• The price of seedlings is lower than in spring.
• The weather is most favorable for transporting strawberries that have been ordered from other regions.

Of course, there is also a risk from planting berries in the fall. The weather in most regions of the country is unpredictable. Sub-zero temperatures may arrive too early, when the roots are not yet well established in the garden bed. It is important to ensure that the first frosts are predicted to occur no earlier than a month after the strawberries are planted in the soil.

Which strawberry tendrils should I keep for propagation?

Experienced gardeners know that when shoots begin to appear on garden strawberries, several tendrils form on each of them. If you plan to get seedlings, then you need to know which strawberry tendrils are best to take for planting:

1. The mother bush must be well developed and fruit bearing. They do not leave mustaches on sick plants.
2. You need to select the first sockets, that is, those that are closest to the bush. The rest of the shoot is removed. If you leave all the rosettes, they will take food from the first one and the seedling will not turn out good.
3. If your strawberry bed is small, but you want to propagate as many strawberries as possible, leave the second tendril on the shoot.

You might be interested to know: Preparing strawberries in the garden for winter in the fall

Attention! From which bushes to take seedlings for propagating strawberries with mustaches, there are two opinions. Some gardeners claim that if strawberry bushes were planted this season in spring, summer or last year in autumn, all shoots must be removed from them. It is not advisable to root the rosettes, since the young plants themselves have not yet grown strong.

Other summer residents claim that there are many diseases on old bushes, so it is better to use young plants to propagate garden strawberries.

Most often, to propagate garden strawberries, seedlings are taken from two- or three-year-old bushes.

For rooting and development, the roots of the selected rosettes are buried in soil. If there are no roots on the tendrils yet, they are pinned to the soil, having previously loosened it. And if garden strawberries grow on black geotextile, the tendrils are planted in containers (disposable cups, mugs or other suitable containers) for rooting. There is no need to separate them from the mother bush yet.

Note! On the mother bushes, the harvest will be smaller, since they will devote part of their strength and nutrition to the development of the “children”.

Time to plant strawberries in autumn

There is no exact date for autumn planting; it varies depending on the region and weather forecast.

In what month should you plant strawberries in the fall?

Conventionally, planting dates can be divided into three groups:

• early - until the second half of September;
• average - until the second half of October;
• late - must be completed 30 days before the first frost, individual for each region.

Most often, gardeners prefer early and medium planting; it is quite difficult to guess with late planting. If you calculate the timing incorrectly, you can lose the entire harvest and the plant will die.

Experienced gardeners are able to accurately determine the right moment for planting strawberries, focusing on the growing season cycle. Most varieties begin to grow mustache in June, in July they continue to take root in the soil, and already in late summer and early autumn the first buds form.

Weather

The most suitable conditions for planting and replanting strawberries are:

• weather with minimal solar activity;
• air temperature not lower than +10 °C;
• afternoon part of the day.

In autumn there are often hot days; it is better not to plant strawberries at this time.

By region

When planting strawberries in the fall, it is important to focus on the weather conditions characteristic of different regions. The table below shows the optimal time frame for carrying out the work.

According to the Lunar calendar for 2022

Planting in the fall according to the Lunar calendar will allow strawberries to take root better and produce a good harvest next year.

Quantity and types of fertilizing

Their type depends on what soil is chosen for planting:

1. Loamy. You can add a mixture of humus and compost or replace such fertilizers with nitroammophos.
2. Sandy. For 1 sq.m., 2.5 buckets of humus or manure are enough.
3. Turf. It is better to fertilize with sawdust.
4. Heavy clayey. Fertilize with a mixture of manure and river sand.
5. Soils with low acidity. Add dolomite flour, ash or limestone flour.
6. Alkaline. Peat and rotted fallen leaves work well.

For all types of soil, in order to grow healthy and strong plants, you should definitely add ash to the soil 2-3 weeks before planting. This is not only an additional fertilizer, but also a disinfectant. The fruits are of higher quality and purer.

At the same time, it must be added before digging the soil so that it mixes well with the soil. But it all depends on the level of soil fertility. A mandatory procedure is the complete removal of weeds and remnants of the previous harvest from the selected area. On the day of planting, carry out loosening. It is better to start general soil preparation 4-6 weeks before the intended planting.

Planting strawberries in autumn in open ground

Strawberries are a frequent visitor to garden beds; they do not require much effort when growing and are ready to bear fruit even under not the most favorable conditions. But if you follow all the rules of agricultural technology, you will be pleased with a rich harvest.

Selection of seedlings

You should buy strawberries only from trusted producers, giving preference to nurseries. Private owners' plants may be weak or even completely infected.

It is best to choose seedlings from mother bushes. It is initially immune to diseases and has high productivity. Good seedlings can be recognized by a number of signs:

• The horns are dense, healthy, their thickness should be at least 7 mm.
• The roots are living, branched, up to 8 cm long.
• The leaf blade is dense, shiny, even, bright green in color.
• The number of full leaves is no more than 5.
• The seedlings appear healthy, without damage or signs of infection.

11 Strawberry Varieties Suitable for Fall Planting

Among strawberries, there are several varieties that take root best in the fall and produce an excellent harvest in the spring. These include both remontant (fruit several times per season) and non-remontant (berries are formed once per summer) varieties. We have described them in the table below.

Preparing strawberry seedlings for planting

If you have good, proven strawberry varieties on your site, they can become a source of high-quality planting material. If there are none, then it is best to purchase strawberries from a specialized nursery. The main sign of suitable material is the presence of 3-4 full-fledged healthy leaves on the shoot. If there are more of them, then the excess needs to be removed. The length of the roots should be no more than 10 cm, otherwise they will need to be shortened.

Before planting, it is important to treat the root system of seedlings by soaking them in a solution of humus, water and a growth regulator, for example, Zircon, Epin or Mikras.

Predecessors and neighbors

Strawberries need to be planted in the bed where crops previously grown that are not characterized by “strawberry” diseases. It is best if legumes, onions, celery, radishes, corn or various green manures were sitting in the garden before the berries were picked.

Under no circumstances should you plant garden strawberries where nightshades previously grew: tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplants. In addition, strawberries will react poorly to radishes, cabbage and other cruciferous plants. Doesn't like cucumbers and raspberries.

Read more about choosing predecessors for strawberries and about neighbors on our portal.

If the area of ​​the plot does not allow you to plant strawberries where good predecessors grew, then the soil in the garden bed must be properly processed. To do this, dilute 35 ml of Fitosporin in 10 liters of water, and pour the solution generously onto the soil.

Neighbors for a garden bed with berries also need to be chosen carefully so that they do not have similar pests and the same diseases. It is best to plant garlic, marigolds, and parsley nearby, which slugs cannot stand. Among the flowers, irises, tulips, peonies, clematis, and phlox will be good neighbors. But proximity to all nightshades, as well as horseradish, Jerusalem artichoke, and sunflower can increase the risk of developing various diseases.

Garlic

Tagetes (Marigolds)

Perushka

As for planting strawberries in the garden after themselves, here you should follow the rule of 4 years, longer than which the berry should not grow in the same soil.

Soil for strawberries

The quality of the soil is of great importance for fruiting. Strawberries grow best in fertile soil. The recommended acidity is from 5 to 5.6 units, and the groundwater level is up to 60 cm.

When digging a bed, great attention should be paid to inspecting the soil for wireworms or Colorado potato beetle larvae. If pests are still found, the soil will have to be further processed, for example, by adding ammonium nitrate or generously spilling a solution of one of the products: Bazudin, Confidor or Marshall.

If the soil on the site is characterized by low acidity, then it must be prepared for strawberries no later than 1 year before planting. To do this, when digging, add up to 6 kg of lime per square meter. The earth is dug to the depth of a shovel and 10 kg of quail manure or humus, 30 g of superphosphate and 15 g of potassium chloride are added to each square meter.

Before planting the seedlings in the garden bed, the soil in it is loosened to a depth of 10-15 cm.

Formation of beds and their fertilization

Many gardeners prefer to grow strawberries in a greenhouse, but in this case the crop may not have the best taste due to increased wateriness. It is a consequence of a deficiency of organic fertilizers. Therefore, it is so important to take care of fertilizing the soil in advance.

The following recommendations will help you prepare the bed:

1. 20-30 days before planting, the soil in the garden bed is dug up to a depth of 30 cm.
2. While digging, feed the soil with one of the following recipes with the following amount of ingredients per 1 sq.m.:
   2 tbsp. ash + 10 kg of humus;
3. 1 bucket of compost + 50 g superphosphate + 50 g urea + 1 tbsp potassium salt;
4. 2 tbsp. nitrophoska.
5. If pests or their larvae are found in the soil, treat with Confidor, Marshall, etc.
6. The strawberry bed should rise 25 cm above the site level, especially if the climate of the region is quite damp. All fertilizers used are scattered over its surface and leveled with a rake.

The video below shows how to properly prepare the bed and seedlings before planting.

Choosing a landing site

Strawberries prefer well-lit places where there are no drafts. Such areas should not be flooded in the spring, and groundwater should be located at a level of 1 m or more.

When choosing a place for strawberries, crop rotation rules are taken into account. Planting is allowed after certain plants that enrich the soil with useful substances. This includes garlic, onions, beets, carrots, legumes and cereals.

It is not recommended to plant strawberries in beds where eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, turnips, and radishes previously grew. These plants are susceptible to similar diseases and pest attacks. Planting strawberries after these crops leads to soil depletion and a decrease in yield.

Next to strawberries you can plant onions, legumes, sorrel, and sea buckthorn. In this case, you should avoid proximity to raspberries, cucumbers, potatoes and cabbage.

Advice! For planting strawberries in the fall, beds 80 cm wide are required if planting is done in two rows. Leave 40 cm between plants.

Wider beds are more difficult to maintain. Difficulties may arise when watering strawberries, eliminating weeds and harvesting. Plants are planted in the direction from east to west. This way you can avoid darkening the bushes.

The optimal soil height for strawberries is from 20 to 40 cm. Such a bed will require small sides that are easy to install.

Options for planting strawberries in autumn

Strawberries can be planted in the ground in different ways. We invite you to consider the main ones.

Planting strawberries in autumn in open ground

You need to plant garden strawberries in open ground according to the following step-by-step instructions:

1. Loosen the soil and level it over the surface of the bed.
2. Use pegs and rope to mark future rows.
3. Prepare the holes in accordance with the markings. The recommended depth is from 10 to 15 cm, but not less than the length of the roots.
4. If the weather is dry, the holes need to be watered. If the soil is moist and it rained shortly before work, then there is no need to additionally moisten the plantings.
5. The soil remaining after digging the holes should be mixed with rotted manure or compost. If the bed was previously fertilized, then this step can be skipped.
6. Place the seedlings one by one in the hole and sprinkle with soil so that the neck is level with the surface of the bed.
7. The soil needs to be compacted, after which you can start watering. This should be done very carefully so as not to damage the delicate roots and not get on the plant.
8. After all the liquid has been absorbed, the ground needs to be loosened and humus or peat placed on top.

How to plant strawberries in a greenhouse in the fall

The rules for planting strawberries in a greenhouse are practically no different from those used when working in open ground. The only thing that can be adjusted is the planting density - in greenhouse conditions it can be slightly higher.

Greenhouses and hotbeds are good because you can create an optimal microclimate inside them to increase berry yields. When preparing the land, the same fertilizers are used - humus, mullein, ash and others.

Planting strawberries on agrofibre in autumn

Many gardeners use agrofibre to plant strawberries. This method of growing using covering materials has a number of advantages:

• the required level of moisture is maintained in the soil;
• the bed does not need regular loosening;
• plantings are protected from adverse external conditions;
• the number of weeds is limited;
• the mustache cannot take root;
• the risk of pests and diseases is reduced;
• the care process is facilitated;
• the berries do not touch the ground, so they remain clean.

The covering material in the garden bed should be replaced once every 3-4 years at the time of transplanting the strawberries.

Algorithm of actions when planting strawberries on agrovolk:

1. Mark the beds based on the width of the covering material. It's better if it's whole. If there is a shortage, place the pieces of canvas on top of each other, leaving no gaps.
2. The soil must first be dug up and fertilized.
3. The prepared bed is covered with material. Special pins, pegs or heavy bars will help to fix it in the garden bed.
4. Using chalk, make appropriate marks on the material based on the berry planting pattern. In these places you will need to make small cuts crosswise and, bending the corners, plant the bushes there.

The video provides an overview of the main advantages of this method and describes in detail the procedure for planting strawberries on agrofibre.

The following are also placed on the ground as covering material:

• polyethylene film;
• special fabric;
• mulch, for example, rotted sawdust.

Soil preparation

Planting strawberries in autumn is not much different from spring. For the garden bed, choose a lighted, draft-free, dry place with sandy or loamy soil.

If the soil contains a lot of clay, it is improved by adding sand, peat or compost (1 bucket per 1 m2). Too acidic soil is limed in advance, achieving a pH of 5.0-6.5. The ridges are directed from north to south.

Predecessors and neighbors

Before planting strawberries in a new place, you need to pay attention to what crops grew there before. Good predecessors for garden strawberries:

• marigold;
• garlic;
• parsley dill;
• green manure.

You should not plant strawberries after nightshades: potatoes, tomatoes, petunias, peppers, eggplants. They deplete the soil and suffer from the same problems as strawberries.

Cleaning

Before planting strawberries, prepare the area in advance so that the soil settles by the fall. The selected place is cleared of debris, wood lice, dug up, and the roots of sow thistle, dandelion and other weeds are selected.

Treatment against pests and diseases

To prevent soil contamination by fungi, the soil before planting strawberries can be spilled with a bright pink solution of potassium permanganate, the drug Maxim (2 ml/l of water).

By autumn, many pests and pathogens accumulate in the soil. 2% copper or iron sulfate, Bordeaux mixture, the protective effect of which is activated at +5...+10 °C, will help get rid of them. The technique is suitable for disinfecting neutral or alkaline soil.

If the soil is in poor condition, bleach is used for treatment at the rate of 150-200 g per 1 m2. This is done a month before planting. Experienced gardeners recommend adding boron fertilizer to the soil in the fall, along with lime, which increases plant resistance to disease and accelerates root formation.

Top dressing

Simultaneously with digging, humus (10-15 kg/1 m2) and ash (400 g/1 m2) are added to the soil. As a preliminary feeding, you can use a mixture of 50 g of superphosphate, 50 g of urea and 8 g of potassium salt per compost bucket.

Another fertilizing option is to replace organic matter by adding 20 g of Nitrophoska per 1 m2.

Caring for strawberries after planting in autumn

Preparing the land and plants for planting is, of course, a very important stage. But the work doesn't end there. It is very important to properly nourish the soil in order to build a powerful root system. It will help strawberries survive the winter and develop faster in the spring.

Rules for watering strawberries

After planting strawberries in a new bed, they need to be watered generously every 2-3 days for 1-2 weeks. It is best to do this in the morning, when there is no solar activity. Try not to let drops of water fall on the leaves. Experienced gardeners prefer to use a drip irrigation system; it allows water to be distributed evenly and dosed between plantings.

Watering and fertilizing

Once the bushes take root, watering can be made less abundant, but the soil should still remain sufficiently moist.

Covering the surface of the bed with mulch will help reduce evaporation.

Top dressing

Fertilizers are added to the soil at the bed preparation stage. If everything is done correctly, there will be enough nutrients in it for 2 years of excellent growth and high yield. But over time, they are washed out of the ground, especially if the season is rainy or, conversely, too dry. Therefore, after a couple of years, even well-prepared soil needs to be fertilized.

Strawberries respond best to organic fertilizers. Experienced gardeners chose chicken manure diluted in a ratio of 1:15. If you use it in its pure form, you will burn all the roots of the bushes. The solution is prepared for about two days, infused in a dark place. Watering is carried out not on the root itself, but between the rows along the grooves.

Strawberry protection

To prevent harmful microorganisms living in the soil from destroying your plantings, the soil must be further processed. This is done not only during the period of digging the beds, but also after planting the plants. The soil around each bush is carefully loosened to a depth of 8-10 cm so as not to damage the roots, after which it is spilled with Karbafos solution. It is prepared according to the attached instructions using water at a temperature of +30 °C. After you water the bed, you need to cover it with plastic wrap for 2-3 hours.

Autumn treatment against pests can be carried out using pesticides. They are capable of destroying all insects wintering in the ground. To prevent their occurrence, prepare a solution of Bordeaux mixture with a concentration of 2%. Another option is to disinfect the soil with a composition of similar action, prepared from 10 liters of water and 1 tsp. copper oxychloride.

Attention! Adherents of traditional methods of processing carry out it using infusions of tobacco, weeds with the addition of laundry soap. This method shows a good preventive result.

Trimming

The classic transplantation scheme involves increasing the vegetative mass, so pruning leaves or mowing is not carried out on freshly planted strawberries. But the weather in autumn can be unpredictable; often the sun continues to show summer activity, and the plant begins to grow mustaches. They need to be removed in a timely manner so that the main bush, and not its shoots, gains strength.

Mulching

Mulch in the garden bed helps maintain a comfortable level of humidity and prevents weeds from growing. Strawberries are mulched with humus or peat immediately after autumn planting or replanting, and before the onset of cold weather, additional mulching is carried out.

Preparing strawberries for winter in the fall

Snow is a natural covering material for plants. It prevents plantings from freezing and dying. But sometimes in winter there is too little of it or frosts occur before it appears. Therefore, it is important to take care of the artificial cover of the garden bed. Straw, dry leaves, sawdust, peat or spruce branches are suitable for these purposes. They are laid out on top of the bushes in a layer of at least 5 cm. It can also be spunbond, lutrasil or any other special fabric.

Organic fertilizers

Garden soil does not contain the full range of microelements necessary for strawberry growth. Therefore, fertilizers must be applied in the autumn. Their choice largely depends on the quality of the soil.

The composition of heavy soils can be improved by adding coarse river sand or sawdust. If sawdust is used, it must first be moistened with urea. If the material is sufficiently rotted, then soil can be added before planting the strawberries.

The content of river sand should be no more than 1/10 of the total soil volume. River sand must first be heat treated in an oven or microwave. This procedure will eliminate harmful microorganisms.

Important! Adding peat will help improve the composition of the soil for planting strawberries.

Peat includes components of plant and animal origin. Its use allows you to saturate the soil with nitrogen and sulfur. Peat is added to clay or sandy soil. Since this substance increases acidity, add a glass of wood ash or a few tablespoons of dolomite flour to one bucket of the planting mixture.

You can use organic fertilizers for fertilizing. A solution is prepared using bird droppings in a ratio of 1:10. The resulting mixture should infuse for two weeks. To prepare the solution, you can use mullein.

Common mistakes

1. Bad seedlings. Even proper care will not give results if weak seedlings were initially selected. A good bush should have from 3 to 5 healthy leaves, the roots should be juicy, moist without signs of dryness or disease.
2. The root system is not straightened in the hole. When the strawberry is placed in the hole prepared for it, it is necessary to carefully straighten each root. This is much easier to do if the roots are 7-10 cm long, otherwise it is better to shorten them than to twist or crumple them in the hole. For convenience, one wall of the pit is made vertical in order to press all the roots against it and distribute it over its surface.

How to properly plant strawberry mustaches: step-by-step instructions with photos

You can learn how to prepare a bed for garden strawberries by opening the highlighted link. Here we suggest you familiarize yourself with step-by-step photos and videos - how to plant strawberries with mustaches in summer and autumn correctly, at what distance from each other to plant and how.

You will be interested to know: Strawberries (garden strawberries): sowing and growing in a roll-up (in a snail) step by step with photos

Tips from Mister Summer Resident

Our portal https://mrdachnik.com reminds:

• The main component of successful autumn planting of strawberries is the right time. Only by being in the soil at the right moment will the plant be able to take root well and adapt before the onset of frost, gain resistance to the influence of harmful microorganisms and gain strength for abundant spring fruiting.
• Soil is of great importance for good strawberry growth. If it is too sandy or swampy, then the berry takes root very poorly, and in the end it may even die. In other types of soil, its fertility depends on the nutrient content. That’s why it’s so important to properly prepare the bed. It is dug up a month before plants are planted in it, so that the soil has time to settle. Otherwise, late-dug soil will expose the roots of the bushes during settlement, which will make them vulnerable to pests and susceptible to weather changes.

What varieties are planted in autumn?

In addition to traditional strawberries, which produce one harvest per summer, remontant strawberries, which bear fruit continuously or 2–4 times per season, are also very popular. Ordinary strawberries, like any berry crops, are divided according to harvest dates into early, mid-early and late. The timing of its fruiting is slightly adjusted and the timing of autumn planting. Indeed, in the case of late varieties (such as Mitze Schindler), you have to wait for the end of fruiting; the mustache also grows later on them. The latest varieties are sometimes more convenient to plant in the spring.

Mitze Schindler strawberries only ripen in August and are not easy to plant in the fall.

If we talk about remontant varieties, the situation here is somewhat more complicated: after all, some of them produce crops right up to frost. Therefore, sometimes it is even necessary to interrupt fruiting, cutting off the ovaries and peduncles. In addition, many varieties of remontant strawberries produce very few mustaches, and some are completely without mustache (for example, Sweet Evy). They are propagated either by seeds or by dividing adult bushes. In order not to lose the harvest, they try to carry out division in the spring, before flowering. Thus, the timing of planting remontant strawberries very much depends on the specific variety.

Selection of planting material

When selecting mustaches suitable for autumn planting, follow the following rules:

• It is best to take mustaches from two-year-old bushes. As a rule, there are many horns on them.
• Select tendrils only from healthy plants.
• The best donors are well-bearing bushes with large, juicy berries.
• Select only daughter rosettes of the first and second order. After they are formed, the mustache is pinched.
• It is advisable to remove excess mustache from bushes in a timely manner during the summer so that the remaining 4-5 mustaches are as strong and resilient as possible.
• The mustaches that appear in July are the most powerful. By the time of autumn planting, they form a strong root system and powerful rosettes.
• The diameter of the root collar of the selected rosette should be 6 mm or more.
• Each rosette prepared for planting must have at least 4 developed leaves.
• When selecting, pay special attention to the size of the root system of the seedling - a minimum length of 7 cm with a large number of suction white roots.

Answers to frequently asked questions

When to plant strawberries in the fall?

A lot depends on the growing region, but on average it is September.

Do I need to water the plants after planting?

Necessarily. And for the first week you generally need to water it every other day. Then the frequency of watering is reduced.

How to feed the crop during the procedure?

There is no need to put anything in the hole. Fertilizers are added to the soil 14-30 days before planting. The only thing is to treat the roots with a growth regulator solution. This will help the plant take root faster.

Which variety should I choose?

Select the variety to suit the climate of the region where you live.

How to choose the time for autumn planting according to the lunar calendar in 2022

You need to decide when to plant strawberries, first of all, based on the weather conditions of a particular day.

But, if there is such an opportunity, then it is better to plant new rosettes during the waxing moon phase.

But it is better not to carry out any planting work on the full moon and new moon. Plants do not take root well and often get sick.

Favorable days

In the fall of 2022, the Moon will wax on the following days:

• in September - 1, 18 - 30.
• in October – 1, 17 – 31.
• in November – 16 – 29.

Unfavorable days

Full moons and new moons will occur on the following dates:

• in September – 2, 17.
• in October – 2, 16, 31.
• in November – 15, 30.