Strawberries are easy to grow as long as certain precautions are taken so that they grow healthy. Among these we must remember that they must be protected from birds and insects.

In this article we will see how to defend strawberries from birds, aphids, gnats, mirids and snails.

Avoid the birds

Birds are fantastic animals to love, but when they “attack” our garden we must necessarily protect our fruits. They also want to taste the good strawberries, so we can avoid this by protecting the bed with a nice net supported by special supports such as arches similar to those installed for build a tunnel.

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

Aphids are insects that attack many species and are well known among those who grow vegetables. Aphids are tiny, but we can notice their presence thanks to warning signs, such as: wrinkled strawberry leaves and full of molasses. In fact, this sticky substance is produced by aphids, and we must get rid of it as soon as possible because it can attract other insects. We run to cover ourselves by spraying the seedlings with a solution of water and Marseille soap.

Mosquitos

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

The red spider is a mite that affects many crops and proliferates in dry and warm microclimates, so the crop must be watered   , without exaggeration, as necessary. In any case, we can try  garlic decoctions to sprinkle regularly on strawberries, so that they keep red spiders away.

miride

These are also small insects that land on strawberries that grow near the fields wheat. 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.