As long as specific measures are followed to ensure their proper growth, strawberries are quite straightforward to grow. Among these, we must keep in mind that they need to be shielded from insects and birds.
This article will discuss how to protect strawberries from snails, gnats, mirids, birds, and aphids.
Avoid the birds
Although birds are wonderful creatures, we must defend our fruits when they “attack” our garden. We can prevent them from tasting the delicious strawberries by covering the bed with a lovely net that is held up by unique supports, like arches that are used to construct tunnels.
Birds often search for fruits not only for food but also for water at the edge of the garden, to safeguard our crops.We can add beautiful water troughs that they contain.
Aphids in strawberries
The insect known as an aphid is a common pest among vegetable growers, attacking a wide variety of varieties. Despite their small size, aphids can be identified by warning indicators like wrinkly strawberry leaves and molasses-filled leaves. Aphids are the ones that create this gooey material, and we need to get rid of it right away since it can draw in more insects. We douse the seedlings with a mixture of water and Marseille soap as we dash to safety.
Mosquitoes
The little fruit fly doesn’t spare even the strawberry. The larvae develop in the small fruits, leading them to rot, so we must act quickly, for example with food traps or fine-mesh anti-insect nets.
Red mite on strawberries
Numerous crops are impacted by the red spider mite, which thrives in warm, dry microclimates. As a result, the crop needs to be watered as needed, but not excessively. Either way, we can try sprinkling strawberries with garlic decoctions on a regular basis to deter red spiders.
Miride
These are also small insects that land on strawberries that grow near the wheat fields. Strawberries that are affected by this insect form deformed fruits , and the leaves end up curling. The crop is defended by spraying solutions based on the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana.
Snails in strawberries
Sometimes it happens to find half-cooked strawberries eaten by snails. To prevent this from happening again we can use the anti-bird net , but something else is also needed to keep birds away. the snails. The classic expedients are the rings of wood ash to spread around the seedlings, but they only work as long as they remain dry , so the operation must be repeated after each rain or irrigation. Then we have the beer traps: glasses half buried more than halfway into which snails fall, attracted by the smell.
