Planting and crop management for strawberry
Case 1 The season calendar - 1
Start from the Crop Selection button Tap Crop Selection for questions such as a planting and harvest calendar, varieties for your market and harvest window, or crops that fit a plot’s soil, water and climate. For pruning and fruit set, type your question. For strawberry For an annual crop like strawberry, the planting date is the start of everything. Make sure it is right in the plot profile before you ask for a calendar. - 2
Ask for a planting and harvest calendar We tapped Build a planting and harvest calendar for my farm. ORTH used the October planting as the start and laid out establishment until mid-November, canopy and first flowers to the end of December, first-harvest readiness from mid-December, the main harvest from January to the end of May and the last picks in June. It covered the blueberry plot in the same table and warned against new planting or soil work during the wet, windy days from 8 to 15 November. The harvest windows stay provisional until you record the first open flowers and the first coloured fruit. Case 2 Care during establishment - 3
Runners While the crop establishes, growth should go into roots, crowns and flowers. ORTH said to remove runners as they appear, cut cleanly near the base with disinfected scissors, never pull or twist them, and take them out of the tunnel. A lot of runners is a sign to review nitrogen, tunnel heat or weak flowering. - 4
Old and diseased leaves Clean selectively and keep a working canopy. Remove dead, broken, yellow and diseased leaves, above all those on wet mulch or trapping humidity at the crown, and keep healthy older leaves that feed the roots and first flowers. Cut the stalk, work when the leaves are dry and carry the material out in closed containers. ORTH remembered the wilting plants from our diagnosis chat and said to inspect those whole plants instead of removing their leaves again and again. - 5
Tunnel ventilation With 80 to 90% humidity forecast from 8 November, ORTH said to open early each morning to clear condensation, keep cross-flow without a cold blast on young crowns, close before evening only once the leaves are dry and avoid late irrigation. In rain keep a sheltered opening, and in strong gusts secure the structure first. Condensation on the plastic, wet leaves late in the morning or a musty smell mean ventilation is not enough. - 6
When the bumblebees go in Introduce the hives at the start of sustained flowering, with open flowers across representative rows: not for the first single flower and not once bloom is heavy. Place them level, shaded, dry and out of the irrigation, the sun and the main airflow, and do not move them after activation. Finish any treatment that is harmful to bees before they go in, because once the hives work, ORTH assumes the bees are exposed all over the tunnel.
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