[Miss Blunted]

I need help. I just planted a strawberry patch today (because I like strawberries and pot) and I can't really find what I need to know about using compost on my Ozark Beauties. Of course berry growers suggest using kitchen scraps....well, that's awesome...but I'm talking about using guano tea.

It would make this 11 hour (non-pot) gardening day wonderful if anyone has ever used this type of tea and had success.

I have the soil requirements all correct for my berries...but I don't want to throw crap on them that doesn't work with the type of plant that they are.

This may be a dumb question, please no a-hole remarks....I haven't grown berries since I was a kid and of course Grandma used chemicals I would never, ever use on a fruit bearing plant.

[Miss Blunted]

Damn it....I need to fertilize my berries, someone has got to know a little about them.

[quadracer]

so are you using compost? I would top dress with lots of compost if you didn't prepare your beds with lots of compost mixed in, they love compost. A light guano tea would be good too, but nothing too strong.

I've been making nettle/comfrey tea that's high in K and in micronutrients and the strawberries really respond to it (also the garlic, I like to combo planted together).

Also, heavy feeding in the vegetative phase can reduce the amount harvested. There is some good advice from Swanton Berry Farm (best strawberries ever!) here:

https://www.swantonberryfarm.com/page...awberries.html

Organic methods may help in producing more
flavorful and nutritious food, but they are not the
only secret to success. It is certainly possible to
grow organic food that has only mediocre flavor.

We spend a lot of time thinking about how our
berries and vegetables are going to taste.

Take our strawberries, for example. Many
people confuse flavor and sweetness. ‘Flavor'
is our interpretation of the volatile oils in the
fruit. Sweetness is a pretty simple reaction
to sugars in the fruit. Most strawberries on
the market have a simple sweetness, but fall
short on the much more complex volatile oils.
We are looking to have both sweetness and flavor.

How do we do that?

1. We pick the fruit as ripe as possible, and get it to our customers as soon as we can.
This is quite risky, because the riper a strawberry the softer it is, thus it is more
susceptible to damage and spoiling.

2. We don't pump our plants with too much fertilizer, which would give us tons more
fruit, but much less flavor in each berry. Organic methods help in this regard because
our organic fertilizers release nutrients to the plant slowly.

3. We choose varieties that taste good. Unfortunately, those varieties invariably
produce lower yields (and hence higher per-unit cost).

4. We build our soil. Rich soil offers the plant a wide range of nutrients resulting in
a more complex flavor. Most strawberries are grown in sandy soils, which don't offer
the plant much in terms of nutrients. They tend to have only slight, simple strawberry
flavor.

5. We don't water too much. The extra water dilutes the flavor.

6. We don't give up. Of course, as weather conditions change, we get some variability
in flavor. But we do everything we can to get the best flavor possible at the time of
harvest.


We grow primarily two varieties of strawberry, the Chandler and the Seascape. We also try new varieties (actually old varieties) every year, always looking for the best flavor. Our favorite, the Chandler, is an old standby, but yields only about 2/3 as much as other varieties commonly available on the organic market. Nonetheless, we remain committed to this variety even though it is far less profitable to grow.

More on their farming practices here: https://www.swantonberryfarm.com/page...ractices2.html

[Miss Blunted]

Thank you so much Quadracer.... I have dark, very rich soil with light clay...hoping they will do fine without too much attention. I'm on my way to the website you suggested. Thank you so much for the tips. I live inner city, but have a limestone bed that can hold at least 36 Ozarks. My soil hasn't had a damn thing in it in over 5 years and I boosted it with promix and worm castings (it was covered in mulch previously, so there's still a lot of it left in the soil). I'm sure I'll get good berries...I just want them to be the best they can be...of course. I love the little things!!!

The guano tea that I use for MJ being too strong was where I was concerned....thanks again!

[hubcap]

thanks for the info quadracer.
i, too, learned from the info provided!

happy gardening.

[Papulz]

i have about a dozen fort laramies in the ground right now myself.. interested in this thread fo sho.

[Miss Blunted]

Originally Posted by Papulz

i have about a dozen fort laramies in the ground right now myself.. interested in this thread fo sho.

Hey, I planned on using Rainbow Mix Grow when my Ozarks get a couple inches taller by top feeding method....that should supply a NPK of 5-5-2 (or close). I used a big fat bag of worm castings in a 4X12 llimestone bed and airated the shit out of it. It's still cold in May where I'm at, so vegg growth has been slow...I can't wait to boost them with the Rainbow Grow!! This is my plants first year, so my first round of blooms will be picked off to let the mother plants get stronger, hopefull better berries in August for doing that. I think I'm gonna give them a top feeding of Rainbow Grow after first blooms as well. I want to get some more information about how often it's okay to use this nute...so far I want to keep it minimal...the soil that was in the limestone bed has been untouched and should be pretty rich....still has a good amount of mulch mixed in it as well from about 6 years ago when shrubs were there. As far as the second bloom and fruit cycle...I'll use the Rainbow Mix Bloom.

If you should find some more info....share it with me. I'm more excited about my berries than anything else I have growing this year....well, my Chater's Double Hollyhocks too

[B.C.]

High Miss Blunted! For the best advice about compost tea, I would suggest reading CT ( Compost Tea ) Guys article on compost tea, it's a stickie in the organic soil forum. CT Guy is prolly one of the foremost experts on the subject. It's an interesting read, yer bound ta learn somthin ya didn't know before.

It's kind of a co-winky-dink that I saw this thread. I'm fixin ta put in 50 strawberry plants myself, here in jus a lil bit. A couple of weeks ago I tilled in some compost, straw, and Plant-Tone fert ( 5-3-3 ) at 1/4 the recommended strength, as well as some Happy Frog fruit and flower ( 5-8-4 ) at 1/2 the recommended rate.( The extra Phosphorous will make the roots explode! ) I got lucky a few days ago and found a local source for worm castings, cheap too! So I'll be puttin some of them in today.

I haven't made any tea's fer several years ( I cheat and use bottled organics for my bud ). But since I have so much ground to cover, I think I'm gonna whip some up. I think I'll use a small mix of castings, compost, and some Happy frog soil ( lots of micro critters in it ) along with some molasses, and since it's all organic, and has micro critters too, I think Ill throw in a 1/4 cup er so of the Fruit and Flower fert so the bacteria have food.

Tons of micro critters, a wide range of food, and lots of air, this should supercharge the organic machine. lol.... I can just about taste those big, sweet, tasty berries now! mmm-hmm! hehehe.... Good luck with yers Miss Blunted. Take care.... BC

[Miss Blunted]

In addition to the Rainbow grow, I hit them with some liquid karma since the little things like their potash They're looking great...still snipping blossoms to strenghen the plants.

[maryjohn]

remember they are perennials, so think long term. Anything that builds up is going to do so over a long period.

If they get good sun, and you take care of them when they are out of season, they will reward you, and also spread.

the only thing that can get them is weeds, and then if you pull the weeds you find strawberries still hanging on.