Feeding Strawberries With Boric Acid In Spring And Summer

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

Big harvest and tasty berries: feeding strawberries with boric acid

Strawberries are one of the berries most loved by Russian gardeners. At least a small garden bed can be found on almost any personal plot. Each summer resident has his own secrets of increasing its yield and quality of berries. One of these "know-how" is feeding with boric acid.

Content

• 1 Benefits of Boron for Strawberries and Signs of Deficiency

  1.1 Video: what does boric acid dressing give strawberries

• 2 Scheme of feeding during the season

  • 2.1 Video: how to properly dilute boric acid for plant nutrition
  • 2.2 Video: personal experience and the result of feeding strawberries with boric acid
• 3 When boric acid cannot be used

Boron benefits for strawberries and signs of a deficiency

Boron is essential for any plant. This trace element participates in the process of photosynthesis, the formation of chlorophyll, activates metabolism at the level of cells, is necessary for the formation of nitrogenous compounds and the assimilation of magnesium and calcium. The specific benefits for strawberries are as follows:

• The number of ovaries increases significantly, buds and flowers do not crumble even with strong winds and rain. As a result, higher yields.

  

  Boric acid fertilization does not allow flowers and ovaries to crumble

• The quality of the berries improves. The strawberry turns out to be larger, juicier, more aromatic, its pulp is not watery, the shape is correct, characteristic of the variety. The crop is distinguished by good keeping quality and transportability.

  

  After dressing with boric acid, strawberries become more presentable and tastier

• Bushes become less susceptible to the vagaries of the weather. Even with prolonged heat and drought, the leaves retain their freshness and bright green color. Plants tolerate lower temperatures and changes in temperature better.

  

  Strawberry bushes, which have enough boron, suffer less from the unpleasant features of the local climate

• Boric acid helps fight pathogenic microflora, significantly reducing the risk of developing diseases. It also effectively scares off ants living in a stable symbiosis with aphids - one of the most “universal” garden pests.

  

  Boron helps to ward off ants from strawberry beds, and therefore aphids

The strawberry itself "signals" about boron deficiency:

• leaves curl, "shrink", deform, shrink, the edges gradually dry out;
• buds and flowers are massively crumbling;
• ovaries develop slowly, there are few of them (unlike barren flowers), berries ripen small, deformed, watery, sour;
• in severe cases, necrosis of the aerial part of the plant develops.

Boron deficiency on the aerial part of strawberry bushes is clearly manifested.

Video: what does boric acid dressing give strawberries

Top dressing scheme during the season

The main ingredient for dressing at a more than affordable price can be purchased without a prescription at any pharmacy. But boric acid in its pure form (as a powder) is not used for feeding strawberries. First you need to prepare a solution. Plants are treated with it by watering at the root or spraying the leaves. Foliar dressing is carried out only before flowering. The only exception is the pronounced symptoms of boric starvation - then you need to spray the substrate and the lowest leaves. If you neglect this rule, firstly, you will scare away bees and other pollinating insects, and secondly, you will provoke the deposition of excess boron in the berries, which is harmful to health.

Scattering boric acid in the form of a powder around the garden, you will only harm the strawberry bushes.

Use only freshly prepared solution. First, dilute boric acid in a small volume of hot water, then add cool water so that the temperature of the liquid is 30–35 ° C and add the rest of the ingredients. Watering or spraying is carried out in the morning or in the evening, when the sun is least active. About an hour before the procedure, the strawberries should be watered abundantly - this will reduce the risk of burning the roots. After it, watering is reduced to a minimum for 2-3 days.

Video: how to properly dilute boric acid for plant nutrition

During the growing season, strawberries are sufficient for three dressings with boron content:

• in spring, before flowering, when the green mass is actively forming (some gardeners transfer it to the end of the season, feeding the strawberries with boron about a month after the end of fruiting - in their opinion, the bushes prepared in this way will winter better);
• at the moment the first buds appear, when they have not yet opened (the minimum interval between the first and second dressings is 10 days);
• about a week before harvest.

For foliar feeding of strawberries, 5 g of boric acid is dissolved in 10 liters of water. When the berry is grown on very light sandy or podzolic soils, the dosage can be increased by about 1.5 times.

Spraying strawberries with boric acid solutions in the vast majority of cases is carried out only at the beginning of the growing season.

If you want to water your plants in the spring, you can use the following recipes. One serving is enough for about 20-30 bushes. The norms for adult and young plants when watering under the root are about 500 and 300 ml, respectively (for spraying - three times less).

For a bucket (10 l) of water you need to take:

• 1-2 g of boric acid, 1 g of potassium permanganate;
• a glass of sifted wood ash, 2 g of boric acid and potassium permanganate.

Before flowering, you can use the following solution options:

• a glass of ash, 30 drops of iodine, 3 g of boric acid;
• about 100 g of ash, a tablespoon of carbamide, 5 g of boric acid and 3 g of potassium permanganate.

At the time of ripening of berries, complex fertilizers are most useful for strawberries. In 10 liters of warm water, dilute:

• about half a glass of sifted wood ash, 2 g of boric acid, 3 g of potassium permanganate, 10-15 g of fertilizer with nitrogen content;
• two tablespoons of ash, about 5 ml of iodine, 2 g of boric acid;
• a tablespoon of carbamide (or other nitrogen fertilizer), a liter of ash infusion, 2 g of potassium permanganate and boric acid each.

Watering strawberries with a nutrient solution is carried out according to certain rules, which you need to familiarize yourself with in advance

To make feeding with boric acid as useful as possible, experienced gardeners recommend powdering strawberry bushes and soil in the garden with sifted wood ash immediately before the procedure (if it is not in the recipe). The nutrient solution will "wash away" it deeply, allowing it to penetrate into the substrate, and not remain on the ground.

Video: personal experience and the result of feeding strawberries with boric acid

When boric acid cannot be used

Everything is good in moderation. This also applies to feeding with boric acid. Otherwise, instead of the expected bountiful harvest, you will provoke a massive death of strawberry bushes.

An excess of boron in the soil leads to root burns. Having suffered significantly, the root system is no longer able to provide the plant with water and nutrients in the required volume. On the aerial part of the strawberry bushes, this is manifested as follows:

• on the leaves, starting from the lowest ones, small brown spots appear, covering the entire leaf plate;
• the leaves are deformed, turn yellow, as if "swell", turning into a kind of dome;
• the bush practically stops developing.

It is better to underfeed than overfeed - this is a universal rule for any feeding, including for adding boric acid for strawberries

With such symptoms, feeding with boric acid content cannot be applied. There are other contraindications:

• increased acidity of the soil (unless liming of the substrate has been previously carried out);
• lingering heavy rainfall.

The most common mistake of novice gardeners is spraying with a ready-made solution of flowers and strawberry ovaries. Boric acid, which accumulates in excessive amounts in berries, can provoke the development of kidney disease.

Correct and timely application of fertilizers with boric acid significantly improves the yield of strawberries and the quality of its berries. To achieve the desired effect, you must first familiarize yourself with the feeding scheme and the method for preparing the solution - inept actions will bring more harm to the culture than good.