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Seasonal Nutrient Trends in Strawberry Leaves

Author: Christoph Kessel - Nutrition (Horticulture) Program Lead/OMAFRA
Creation Date: 01 July 2004
Last Reviewed: 17 September 2004


Traditionally, fruiting June-bearing strawberry leaves are collected in early July for leaf analysis. Their analysis is used to adjust fertilizer programs to maintain or improve next season's crop. The values reported are interpreted against an established numbers. These have been determined for a certain stage of development and age of the leaves sampled.

But, lately many growers are sampling leaves more frequently during the growing season. This seems to be especially true for fertigated strawberries. By regularly checking the leaf nutrient status, one hopes to "fine tune" the fertigation program. Yet the one challenge remains - the interpretation of the analysis. Trying to maintain the standard values for a July leaf sampling through out the growing season might be unrealistic, impractical and unnecessary. Research indicates that leaf nutrient levels fluctuate during the growing season.

Below are 5 references from 1959-1997 for June-bearing strawberries. Leaves were sampled over the growing season from field and greenhouse experiments. These may be helpful in trying to interpret your reports. When looking at the reported values, it is important to remember that the stage of plant development, varieties, fertilizer practices, soil types, irrigation, and other cultural practices can all affect nutrient levels.

The research does indicate a few interesting trends during the growing season:

  • Nitrogen (N) decreases in the leaves until harvest and remains unchanged after harvest. It increases again in early fall.
  • Phosphorus (P) seems to remain relatively consistent throughout the season.
  • Potassium (K) declines in May-June. It appears to level off in July, August and September. Increasing slightly at the end of August or shows little change.
  • Magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca) are the highest at the beginning and end of the season. Concentrations seem to drop after harvest.
  • Most elements change rapidly during periods of high metabolic activity such as flowering and fruiting.
  • In the first year, Cornell University found that P and Mg tend to decrease over the season, while other nutrients remain relatively consistent
  • In the second year, the same study found that during the growth of petioles, leaves, flower trusses and fruit, nutrient elements did not decrease. Foliar Ca and Mg were observed to increase.
  • Nutrient concentrations are most stable during the 6 weeks after harvest.
  • These nutrient trends are probably different for day neutrals and are a topic for a future newsletter.

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Table 1: % Concentrations of Nutrient Elements in Strawberry Leaves,
Kwong, S., D. Boynton, 1959
Sampling Date

N

P

K

Ca

Mg

June 14

2.4

0.28

1.7

0.71

0.25

June 30

2.1

0.30

1.7

0.88

0.29

July 15

1.8

0.28

1.6

0.66

0.24

July 30

1.8

0.31

1.7

0.65

0.24

Aug 16

1.9

0.32

1.7

0.70

0.27

Sept 5

1.9

0.30

1.7

0.87

0.30

  • Time of sampling, leaf age and leaf fraction as factors influencing the concentrations of nutrient elements in strawberry leaves. Proceedings Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 73:168-173.
  • Location: New York.
  • Variety: Sparkle
  • Description: field, sampled 1957-58, values are averaged from report between terminal and lateral leaflets; fertilizers: not reported
  • Yield: not reported
Table 2: % Concentrations of Nutrient Elements in Strawberry Leaves,
Bould, C, 1961
Stage of Plant Development

N

P

K

Ca

Mg

Flowering

2.9

0.37

1.76

0.75

0.22

Fruiting

2.5

0.28

1.59

0.9

0.25

After picking

2.0

0.19

1.31

1.71

0.30

  • Strawberry nutrition. Advances in Horticultural Science 1:173-180.
  • Location: England Description
  • Variety: Climax
  • Description: Field grown. Long term manure treatments, rates not reported
  • Yield: not reported
Table 3: % Concentrations of Nutrient Elements in Strawberry Leaves,
John, M.K., H.A. Daubeny, F.D. McElroy, 1975
Sampling Date

N

P

K

Ca

Mg

May 9
(flowering)

4.15

0.352

2.45

1.00

0.312

May 23

3.58

0.311

2.06

0.95

0.277

June 6
(fruiting)

3.19

0.273

1.97

0.9

0.267

June 20

2.71

0.286

1.76

0.87

0.24

July 4
(harvest done)

2.49

0.294

1.65

0.99

0.259

July 18

2.25

0.294

1.70

1.03

0.259

Aug 1

2.29

0.291

1.61

1.02

0.268

Aug 15

2.46

0.312

1.73

1.07

0.261

Aug 29

2.45

0.3

1.56

0.75

0.231

Sep 12

2.88

0.285

1.49

0.9

0.27

Sep 26

2.85

0.256

1.57

0.94

0.276

Oct 10

2.81

0.252

1.46

0.95

0.283

Oct 24

2.54

0.249

1.5

1.07

0.285

  • Influence of sampling time on elemental composition of strawberry leaves and petioles. J. Amer Soc. Hort. Sci. 100(5):513-517.
  • Location: British Columbia.
  • Varieties: Shuksan, Totem, Northwest
  • Description: field, planted 1972, sampled 1973, averaged values reported; total fertilizer applied in both years 104 kg N, 81 kg P2O5, 22.4 kg K2O /ha (late March: 30 kg N, 36 kg P2O5, 22.4 kg
  • K2O/ha; early May 36 kg N, 45 kg P2O5/ha; beginning August 38 kg N/ha)
  • Yield: not reported

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Table 4: % Concentrations of Nutrient Elements in Strawberry Leaves ,
Monard, P., Lacroix-Raynal C, 1989
Stage of Plant Development

N

P

K

Ca

Mg

Beginning of flowering, opening of first flowers

3.7

0.83

2.2

0.67

0.38

Beginning of maturation, harvesting of first berries

3.5

0.73

2.4

0.69

0.34

Full production

3.5

0.43

2.3

0.80

0.35

  • Uptake of macro-nutrients by strawberry plants in soilless culture. Soilless Culture 5 (2) 32-45.
  • Location: France
  • Variety Gariguette
  • Description: greenhouse grown, N-P-K nutrient solution Yield: 220 g/plant at end of cropping season
Table 5: % Concentrations of Nutrient Elements in Strawberry Leaves, Stanisavljevi, M., J. Gavrilović-Damjanovi, O. Mitrović V. Mitrovi, 1997
Sampling Date

N

P

K

Ca

Mg

May 15

2.5

0.252

1.15

1.09

0.343

June 1

2.48

0.276

1.06

1.37

0.357

June 15

2.39

0.273

1.09

1.48

0.355

July 1

2.24

0.296

1.26

0.98

0.306

July 15

2.21

0.291

0.98

1.15

0.335

Aug 1

2.14

0.311

0.98

1.33

0.370

Aug 8

2.27

0.293

0.93

1.24

0.345

  • Dynamics and contents of minerals in some strawberry organs ans tissues. Third International Strawberry Symposium Proceedings. Eds. H.A. Th. Van der Scheer, F. Lieten, and J. Dijkstra. Acta Horticulturae 439 2:705-408.
  • Location: Serbia
  • Variety: Senga Fructarina
  • Description: field, 2 year study, fertilizers not reported
  • Yield: not reported

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