Strawberry farming – What you need to know/do before you start!

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Source:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y817moN8xUU

Duration: 

07:21:00

Year of Production: 

2023

Source/Author: 

Utmost Precision
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The first thing that you need to do when venturing into organic strawberry farming is to ensure that you've done your soil and pathogen test. This test is very important because you want to know what your soil actually has and what it's lacking.

The second thing is to ensure that you’ve done your watering test, strawberries are 92 percent water so without water they are not going to thrive. Next,  identify the land where you want to farm your strawberries and ensure the place where you want to farm strawberries does not have potatoes, capsicum, or tomatoes.

Next is to ensure that you have enough manure; either cow, sheep, or goat manure.  Ensure that your manure is dry because when wet, you are going to get lumps when you mix it with the soil which can be a challenge.  If you have a limited portion of land you can still do your strawberries in different ways; on raised beds, on vertical gardening using the multi-storey, using hydroponics, aquaponics, etc.

Factors to Consider

 The first thing that you need to do when venturing into organic strawberry farming is to ensure that you’ve done your soil and pathogen test. The second thing is to ensure that you’ve done your watering test, strawberries are 92 percent water so without water they are not going to thrive. Next,  identify the land where you want to farm your strawberries and ensure the place where you want to farm strawberries does not have potatoes, capsicum, or tomatoes.
This is because these three crops have a soil-borne disease called fusarium wilt or verticillium wilt which can completely finish your strawberry farm as soon as you get started. Next is to ensure that you have enough manure; either cow, sheep, or goat manure. Also, ensure that you have visited a farmer who has grown strawberries so they can advise you on the do’s and don’ts.

Manure

Before venturing into organic strawberry farming, ensure that you have enough manure; either cow, sheep, or goat manure. Chicken manure is not recommended because it depreciates really quickly, and you want to ensure that your strawberries have enough manure as they are extremely heavy feeders.
You should also ensure that your manure is dry because when wet, you are going to get lumps when you mix it with the soil which can be a challenge. Pig manure is also not recommended because it is very rich in nematodes and you don’t want to start introducing foreign components in your strawberry beds/farm. The only safe way to use pig manure is by testing it in the lab, alternatively use either cow, sheep, or goat manure.
Sequence from Sequence to Description
00:0001:29The first thing that you need to do when venturing into organic strawberry farming is to ensure that you've done your soil and pathogen test. This test is very important because you want to know what exactly your soil actually has, does it have diseases? Is it healthy enough? Are you missing nutrients?
01:3002:02The second thing is to ensure that you've done your watering test, strawberries are 92 percent water so without water they are not going to thrive. Next, identify the land where you want to farm your strawberries, ensure the place that you want to farm in strawberries does not have potatoes, capsicum or tomatoes.
02:0303:01This is because these three crops have a soil-borne disease called fusarium wilt or verticillium wilt which can completely finish your strawberry farm as soon as you get started. It is therefore advisable to test your soil before planting as it will only cost you approximately Kshs. 2500 as compared to the thousands you'll lose if all your strawberries are attacked by diseases.
03:0203:49Next is to ensure that you have enough manure; either cow, sheep, or goat manure. Chicken manure is not recommended because it depreciates really quickly, and you want to ensure that your strawberries have enough manure because they are extremely heavy feeders.
03:5004:55Ensure that your manure is dry because when wet, you are going to get like lumps when you mix it with the soil which can be a challenge. Pig manure is also not recommended because it is very rich in nematodes; the only safe way to use pig manure is testing it in the lab, alternatively use either cow, sheep, or goat manure.
04:5605:50Next is to ensure that you have visited a farmer who has actually grown strawberries they themselves because you want to know exactly how they actually did it and teach you the do's and don'ts. Failure to do this you're going to have such a huge challenge in knowing what to do and what not to do.
05:5107:21If you have a limited portion of land you can still do your strawberries in different ways; on raised beds, on vertical gardening using the multi-storey, using hydroponics, aquaponics, vertical pipes or have them hanging etc. The end goal is to to cut on costs; minimum input goes to maximum output.

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