Strawberry ash mold...should I start over?
Hello! This is my third season as a home gardener and my strawberries need help. First year the plants did great, small berries but healthy and vigorous growth. Second year they spread like wildfire and the berries were bigger and more numerous and the plants nearly filled the 6x6 raised bed they are in but I started noticing the mold and it just got worse. I read up on it and decided I would replant the bed in the spring. I being overly optimistic AKA stupid decided they looked ok. I'd thin them out and see what happened. Well, needless to say my now developing berries are already showing signs. Sooooo. Should I scrap the whole thing and treat the soil to try again next year? Do I have to get rid of the infected soil entirely? I assume this season's crop is done for. I've read about treatments but not sure of the validity of that. Just for a little more info I started with six plants in a 6x6 raised bed with good quality soil and compost mixture in a well drained area with full sun. I know now at least some of the many mistakes I've made along the way, my question is where to go from here? Thank You!
The most common disease on strawberries is mildew. Once that's got a hold phytophthora rapidly comes in to finish the job.
Make sure at their is plenty of air movement through the bed by leaving plenty of room around plants. Keep all decaying leaves and debris cleared away.
Any sign of mildew..remove the infected fruit.
Spray with a fungicide or if you want to stay organic neem oil or Bordeaux mixture every two weeks.
The whole idea is to get a protective layer on the leaves...especially the underside of the leaf...so that as spores of the fungus fall onto it they are prevented from germinating.
Lifting ripening fruit up on straw helps keeps them dry and in the air as well as free from slugs and snails.
Make sure at their is plenty of air movement through the bed by leaving plenty of room around plants. Keep all decaying leaves and debris cleared away.
Any sign of mildew..remove the infected fruit.
Spray with a fungicide or if you want to stay organic neem oil or Bordeaux mixture every two weeks.
The whole idea is to get a protective layer on the leaves...especially the underside of the leaf...so that as spores of the fungus fall onto it they are prevented from germinating.
Lifting ripening fruit up on straw helps keeps them dry and in the air as well as free from slugs and snails.