This killer plant sucks all the potassium out of the soil! Don't let it near strawberries - 100% of newbie gardeners make a fatal mistake

Are you proud of your strawberry patch, but the harvest is disappointing year after year?

Perhaps the culprit is couch grass, a weed that agronomists call the “green vampire.”

Its roots secrete toxic allelopathic substances that block the absorption of potassium, phosphorus and magnesium by neighboring plants.

In 2023, the magazine "Gardening and Vegetable Gardening" published the results of an experiment: in areas infested with wheatgrass, the potassium content in the soil decreased by 65% over the course of the season.

Doctor of Biological Sciences Anna Morozova explains: “Strawberries without potassium lose their sugar content, become smaller and become vulnerable to fungal infections.”

But how does couch grass get into the beds? Most often – through contaminated compost or soil.

Summer resident Elena from the Moscow region admitted: "I bought some soil for seedlings, and a month later all the strawberries were covered in yellow spots. I dug them up and the roots were entangled in couch grass!"

Scientists from the Timiryazev Academy advise: before planting, pour boiling water over the soil with 1 tbsp of copper sulfate per 10 liters. This will kill the weed rhizomes, but will not harm the beneficial microflora.

How to fight couch grass without chemicals?

• Dig up the couch grass by the roots using a narrow shovel. Even 2 cm of root will produce new shoots.
• Mulch the beds with black agrofibre or a 10 cm thick layer of straw – without light the weed will die.
• Plant competing green manures: mustard or rye. Their roots secrete substances that suppress the growth of couch grass.

Olga from Voronezh shared in her blog: “After weeding and planting mustard, the strawberries produced berries the size of walnuts!”

But remember: couch grass often disguises itself as harmless cereals. The distinguishing feature is hard leaves with jagged edges and creeping white roots.

If the weed has already taken over the bed, use a spot application of vinegar (9%) - it will burn the roots, but will not harm the strawberries.