Using urea as a fertilizer for strawberries

Efficiency of using urea for feeding strawberries

Some gardeners and gardeners refuse to use urea as a fertilizer because of the opinion that the level of nitrates in the fruits, which everyone is so afraid of, will be increased. But don't be scared. This position is erroneous, since urea is an artificially synthesized end product of protein breakdown containing 46% nitrogen, and is not very different from organic fertilizers. That is why it is not harmful to humans. Urea is also popular due to its low cost. Science has proven that nitrogen has a beneficial effect on the development and growth of any type of plant, and strawberries are no exception.

Tips for proper use

This fertilizer is universal for all types of crops. Due to its affordability, fertilizing is a favorite among gardeners. Thanks to the popularity of the granular type, the risk of overdosing is reduced to the minimum possible.

When fertilizing strawberries in the autumn season, you must remember to loosen the soil, this will ensure better absorption of fertilizing by the berries. Urea is sometimes used as an addition to other fertilizers, for example, ash, potassium permanganate solution or boric acid.

When planting strawberries in a new place, it is necessary to additionally fertilize them with manure. The main thing is not to overdo it with this addition, otherwise you can burn the plant. Humus spread between the rows will be beneficial.

Important! One of the main properties of urea is an increase in soil acidity. That is why the fertilizer is considered ideal for land with low and medium levels of this characteristic. At an optimal acidity level, limestone added in equal proportions will help neutralize the effect of urea.

If you follow the above rules, you can soon get a high-quality harvest of berries and enjoy the taste of strawberries for more than one season. Also, due to the absence of sulfate and the natural protein composition of the fertilizer, it has become widely used to improve the quality of any crop, including strawberries.

How much urea is needed for fertilizing?

Fertilizing strawberries with urea in spring is an effective way to increase yield. But in order not to harm the plant, strictly follow the instructions for use.

To achieve the expected result, you should adhere to the following recommendations:

• more than 50% of the annual nitrogen requirement should be applied in the fall, but not in the form of a solution, but in granules. About 80-130 grams of urea should be scattered per square meter of soil, and then dug up so that the urea gets to a depth of about 10-15 centimeters;
• in spring and summer there is no need to fertilize especially, you only need to spray with a solution of urea: 1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water;
• Keep in mind that regular application of urea increases the acidity of the soil. To avoid this problem, add ground limestone to urea in a ratio of 0.8 to 1. With its help, you neutralize the oxidizing effect of urea.

To increase the yield, feed strawberries with urea in the spring.

Organic fertilizers

Strawberries are very responsive to organic fertilizers, which supply them with micro- and macroelements. Natural compositions replenish nutritional reserves and are quickly absorbed by the roots.

Chicken droppings

Effect of spring feeding with chicken manure:

• increase in productivity;
• improving the taste of berries.

Prepare the fertilizer as follows:

• Dissolve 1/2 liter of semi-liquid litter in a small volume of water.
• Bring the total volume to 10 liters.

The soil is watered with a solution of manure, at a distance of 5-10 cm from the plants. This fertilizing is applied in early spring every 2-3 years.

Caution should be used when applying bird droppings. If you violate the proportions, you can burn the roots. Water the bushes especially carefully - do not allow the solution of bird droppings to get on the leaves and flowers.

Mullein infusion

Mullein is a universal fertilizer that can increase yields by 40-50%. It contains many micro- and macroelements - magnesium, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen.

Rotted mullein is used to feed strawberries - it is processed twice in the spring.

How to cook mullein:

• Mix manure and water 1:1.
• Close the container with a lid.
• Leave for a week in a warm place. During fermentation, bacteria, microbes, and parasites die in the mixture.
• When the manure is infused, it is used for spring feeding.
• Before use, mullein is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. A quarter cup of urea and 1/2 cup of ash are added to the solution.

Mullein is poured directly under the bushes or between the rows.

Humus

Rotted organic matter contains a lot of easily digestible substances. Humus is manure that has completely decomposed. Gardeners consider humus the best spring feeding. The norm for using humus is 5 kg per 1 sq. m.

Humus is very easy to use - it is scattered between the rows. This type of fertilizer is especially relevant for bushes 2-3 years old - humus covers the bare roots.

Humus is prepared from manure, spreading it with weeds. After 7 months of rotting, the fertilizer is ready for use.

Benefits of humus:

• Nutrients and microelements are in a form that is easily digestible for plants.
• Improves soil structure.
• Creates favorable conditions for growth and fruiting.
• It has a long-lasting effect – humus provides the plant with nutrition for about a year.

When to Apply Fertilizer

Proper care of strawberry bushes involves regular treatment with urea at each stage of plant development:

1. Fertilizing strawberries with urea in early spring begins immediately after the soil warms up. To activate the growth of strawberry bushes, you need to trim off the dried leaves and shoots, and only then water them with urea. The method of its preparation depends on the chosen manufacturer. The concentration of fertilizer for strawberries in spring should be indicated on the package.
2. During the flowering period, when a stable air temperature has established, you can spray the unopened buds with a weakly concentrated solution of urea: no more than 1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water. One plant requires approximately half a liter of solution.
3. The next stage of fertilization occurs in August, after harvest. Feeding at this time of year stimulates the growth of tendrils and has a beneficial effect on their rooting;
4. The final stage of adding nutrients occurs in late autumn. This will help the plant survive the winter and will have a beneficial effect on next year's harvest.

Expert opinion on fertilizing strawberries with urea:

The addition of urea to stimulate the growth of strawberry rosettes in the spring helps to increase the yield of finished berry products. Urea does not affect the level of nitrates in ripened strawberry fruits. On garden strawberry plantations, fertilizing using urea is carried out in the early spring and autumn periods. To avoid plant burns, strictly follow the rules for dilution and application of the drug.

Anatoly Baykov

When to feed strawberries in spring

The timing of feeding depends on your capabilities, but the sooner the plants receive support, the better they will thank you.

1. If your site is located near your house, or you have the opportunity to visit the garden in late winter or early spring, scatter dry fertilizers directly over the melted snow. They themselves will dissolve in puddles and go into the soil to the roots. This is what they do with mineral fertilizers and wood ash.
2. If you enter the garden only after the soil has dried out, apply fertilizer at the first loosening. Scatter them evenly over the bed, mix with the top layer of soil and water. Or apply liquid fertilizer over damp soil.
3. If there is no water on the site and the soil is dry, then apply fertilizers before the rain or do foliar feeding on the leaves. It requires little water, you can bring it or bring it with you.

Any root feeding should be applied on damp soil, if possible in liquid form. Do not allow dry granules to get to the roots and dissolve there. In this case, you will get a concentrated solution that will burn the thinnest roots, namely they work as capillaries - they deliver water and nutrition to the bushes.

Video: tips for caring for strawberries, what and when to water them

How to do it right

Using fertilizer in the strawberry garden requires careful study of the instructions for the substance used, since urea is produced by different companies. The nitrogen concentration in them can vary significantly, and too large a dose will harm the plant.

Watering strawberries with urea dissolved in water

To understand how to dilute urea to feed strawberries, you need to know the existing options for applying fertilizer:

1. The first method involves directly introducing crystals into the soil. The root system absorbs the required amount of nitrogen, which slowly dissolves when moisture enters the soil. With this type of feeding, the possibility of overdose is eliminated, since the plant independently regulates the required amount of nutrient solution.
2. The second option is to add fertilizer already dissolved in water to the soil. Although this method is more effective, you must be careful when calculating the concentration, since the bulk of the nitrogen enters through the leaves and stems. Spraying strawberries with urea in the spring significantly increases the yield, but there is a possibility of deterioration in the taste of the fruit.

What is urea?

Urea or urea is one of the modern mineral fertilizers. This fertilizer is suitable for all types of soil. Urea is used to obtain a good and healthy harvest of vegetables, fruits and berries.

Of particular importance when using urea is its high nitrogen content. It is nitrogen that is responsible for high productivity and plant health. The fertilizer is produced in the form of white or translucent crystals.

Today, urea is one of the most popular types of fertilizers in household plots. It is used to fertilize not only fruit crops, but also lawns, hedges, and ornamental plants.

Signs of nitrogen deficiency

Nitrogen is one of the important components, without which full growth and development of strawberries is impossible. To understand whether the plant receives enough nitrogen, you need to take a closer look at the appearance of the bush.

The main signs of nitrogen deficiency are the following:

• the plant grows and develops too slowly;
• the leaves are not large enough, and the color is dull green, has a yellowish tint;
• shoots are too short or thin;
• The flowering period is accompanied by the absence of buds or too few of them.

If you notice these signs on your strawberries, they will definitely need a spring fertilization procedure. This will give the plant the strength to actively develop, and in the future you will get a high yield.

Stages of crop fertilization

First, fertilizers for the crop are added as soon as the snow melts. In the spring, strawberries need to be fertilized after the threat of frost has passed. Otherwise, the plant may disappear.

How to properly feed strawberries with urea in the spring:

1. First, you need to remove all the foliage in the garden that remains from last season.
2. At the same time, you need to carefully examine each bush and remove dead shoots.
3. For feeding to benefit the plant, you need to dilute two large spoons of urea in 10 liters of liquid and pour ½ spoon over each bush.

In spring, fertilizing is carried out once. Keeping these simple rules in mind, you can provide strawberries with all the substances they require to awaken.

Important! Root fertilizer application during flowering is not used.

The crop is fertilized a second time after picking the berries. The feeding procedure is identical to the first case. This procedure is important because it allows you to get a wonderful harvest next season.

How to use urea correctly

Urea is very useful for all crops, be it strawberries, peas or strawberries. It stimulates the dynamic ripening of berries and the growth of crops. Urea is inexpensive, which is why it is very common among gardeners. Stores most often offer granulated urea; this will reduce the risk of overdose when diluting the composition.

In autumn, the soil on the site must be dug up, this will allow the fertilizer to be properly distributed over the ground. Urea can be used in combination with other fertilizers: ash, potassium permanganate, iodine, boric acid. You can find out what a culture lacks by its appearance

If the berry is planted in a new place, then it is allowed to additionally feed it with manure. This feeding is very effective in autumn or spring. However, it must be remembered that an overdose of manure can cause the crop to burn. The berries also need to be fertilized with humus; it is laid out between the rows.

On a note. Urea has the property of changing the acidity of the soil.

If there is a significant amount of acid in the soil, fertilizer will not change it. However, if there are not enough acids in the soil, then urea will increase their quantitative composition. If you don’t need to change the amount of acid in the soil, you can add crushed limestone to the fertilizer. It neutralizes the soil oxidation process.

It is not difficult to grow a crop such as strawberries in your garden plot; you just need to follow all the above rules. Then a high harvest is guaranteed. Urea is not a harmful fertilizer than others containing sulfates, so it is more often used by summer residents in their gardens.

Useful tips for gardeners

In specialized stores you can ask what fertilizers to apply in the spring for strawberries and other plants. In addition to purchased products, you can inexpensively treat beds with folk remedies. One option is a yeast infusion. Easy to prepare:

• add 25 g of raw yeast and 5 tbsp to a three-liter jar of warm water. l. Sahara;
• leave in a warm room until foaming occurs;
• when foam appears on the wort, pour it into a 10 liter bucket, dilute it with warm water and water the beds in the amount of 1 liter per bush.

Summer residents advise using fermented milk products to increase the culture’s immunity and protect it from harmful bacteria. Raw milk (not pasteurized) is left in a warm room to sour. After straining, you can water.

Treatment taking into account the growing season

Fertilizer for strawberries after flowering is carried out at the moment of formation of the ovaries. Use a boron solution for spraying. Take 2 g of boron into a bucket of hot water, mix it, cool the water, and use a sprayer to evenly treat the leaves along with the ovaries.

When the fruiting stage begins, mullein is used for fertilizer. For 15 liters of water, 1 liter of mullein is used. The mixed composition is infused under a tightly closed lid for 3 days, then 1 liter of liquid is poured under each bush.

When strawberries bear fruit, you can use herbal infusions. Nettles are crushed and a bucket is filled with it. Transfer the nettles into a large container, add 10 liters of warm water, and leave for 3–4 days. The finished solution is filtered, 1.5 liters of liquid are poured under each bush.

After pruning, all activities are aimed at a good wintering and a rich harvest in the future. The final fertilization is scheduled around the beginning of September. Trimmed bushes are fed with mixtures of potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, sulfur and nitrogen. You can use organics or ready-made products in the form of ammophoska, “Kemira”.

Features of types of fertilizing popular among gardeners

Environmentally friendly fertilizers based on folk recipes are especially popular among gardeners. In addition to traditional manure and chicken droppings, medicines from the pharmacy, food products, etc. are used.

1. Iodine is added to foliar fertilizers. Iodine partially plays the role of a fungicide (suppresses the development of pathogenic microflora on strawberry leaves), and also improves cellular nutrition.
2. Boric acid in microdoses affects fruit formation.
3. Bread yeast is a complex nutritional supplement for universal purposes: yeast fungi contain amino acids, enzymes, micro- and macroelements.

Recipe for making pressed yeast top dressing

• Dilute 200 g (2 sticks) of yeast in 500 ml. lukewarm water.
• Leave for 20 minutes.
• Bring the volume of water to 10 liters.

For watering, use only freshly prepared solution.

Spring feeding of strawberry beds is carried out after sanitary cleaning. In the Central region, it is usually already noticeable in mid-April that the plants have begun to grow. You cannot miss the moment when the leaves and flower stalks begin to develop. Proper and timely application of fertilizers during this period is a necessary condition for a good strawberry harvest.

Urea: features of fertilizer and its use

Adding an article to a new collection

Urea is a popular fertilizer among summer residents. Why it is needed and how to use it correctly – read our article.

Urea (or urea) is a granular fertilizer that contains 46% nitrogen. Thus, this is the most concentrated nitrogen fertilizer applied to garden crops. The substance is odorless and dissolves well in water. Moreover, with increasing temperature, solubility increases. To understand how necessary urea is in dacha farming, you need to know to what extent nitrogen is valuable for plants.

The principle of “work” of urea

Once in the soil, urea reacts with enzymes and bacteria contained in the soil. During the first 2-3 days, a chemical reaction occurs that converts urea into ammonium carbonate. Upon contact with air, the latter transforms into ammonia gas.

Therefore, if urea is not incorporated into the soil, part of the fertilizer will simply be lost. If the soil is alkaline or neutral, then the losses can be very significant. This means that the effect of adding urea will be insignificant. Therefore, urea granules scattered around plants must be embedded in the soil to a depth of 7-8 cm.

Treating strawberries against weevils

With the onset of spring, a small bug called a weevil wakes up. It lays its larvae in strawberry buds. It turns out that the berries do not have time to ripen, as they fall off in advance. The pest can be detected by bitten and eaten buds. Appropriate treatment will help get rid of the uninvited guest. To achieve maximum results, you need to know the spraying time. The procedure is carried out at least twice. The first - at the end of May, when the buds have not yet begun to develop, and the second - at the beginning of June. For processing, “Fitotherm” and “Iskra-bio” are used. In fact, they can hardly be called chemicals, as they are biological mixtures that contain microorganisms for the soil. After spraying, the fruits can be eaten after two days.

Stage 1. Cleaning and cleaning the beds

In the spring, the beds are thoroughly cleaned of last year's leaves, loosened, diseased bushes are removed, and bare bushes are lightly hilled up without covering the growing point. Plant residues are the main source of overwintered pests and phytopathogens that cause diseases.

Next, the beds are mulched with non-woven material, vermiculite, spruce needles, high-moor peat, etc. Mulching is carried out after the first spring fertilizing and preventive treatment of the soil and bushes against diseases and pests.

Stage 5. Agricultural technology for strawberries

Agricultural technology is regular activities, including: updating strawberry plantings at least every 4-5 years, timely destruction of diseased bushes, weeding beds, periodically changing the top layer of soil and/or disinfecting the soil with biological products, harvesting damaged and overripe berries, using drip irrigation systems, cleaning leaves and plant debris in which pests like to overwinter, mulching the soil, etc.

Timely implementation of agrotechnical measures is the basis for obtaining a high-quality harvest and protection from pest diseases.

Mineral fertilizer for strawberries

How to feed strawberries during flowering? You can use drugs:

• Azofoska is a universal remedy used for any soil.
• Potassium monophosphate is a fast-soluble, easily digestible fertilizer applied together with watering.
• Ammofoska is an effective complex product that does not contain sodium, chlorine and other harmful components.
• Kemira Lux - granules based on nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus. The drug is added to the soil in dry form.
• Ryazanochka is a complex of microelements intended for dissolution in water.

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Overdoses and what not to do

The first problem is drug overdose. Almost all inexperienced agronomists try to add a little more dose to “work better.” In fact, the instructions indicate a limit that cannot be exceeded. The first sign of an overdose in the soil is a change in the color of the leaves to a dark brown color. If there was too much spraying, small brown dots and burns appear. Some leaves may curl and wrinkle. It is necessary to immediately water and, if possible, limit sunlight.

The second problem is the combination of drugs. Read the instructions carefully, some insecticides (and there are many) already contain potassium or salts, so combining them can be the same as an overdose. It is better to treat with a fungicide before spraying with urea - the effectiveness will be much higher. If you do this later, the result may be zero.