Healthy Soil: Creating a Strong Foundation for Top-Quality Strawberries

A number of factors affect how fertile acreage is. Two of the most important are the soil microbiome and soil structure. Microorganisms like bacteria, and fungi help decompose organic matter, releasing its nutrients for absorption by crops.

These tiny organisms also assist in creating soil aggregates. The spaces between these formations not only trap moisture, they transmit it down into the soil, which draws roots deeper and helps make plants more drought tolerant.

Over the course of repeated strawberry planting and harvesting cycles, soil can become both depleted of organic material and compacted, resulting in decreased water-holding capacity. To help counter these factors, Heliae^® Agriculture developed PhycoTerra^®.

This innovative, microalgae-based soil amendment—available in conventional and organic formulations—serves as “superfood” that delivers a wide range of benefits, including that it improves drought tolerance and stress resistance, helps reduce damage during harvesting and transport, and increases shelf life.

And these benefits aren’t a matter of opinion—they’ve been proven in many studies. For example, one trial found that fruit from fields with PhycoTerra^® applied had significantly less bruising, leading to double the amount of marketable berries, with overall yields also improved by 7%.

In another study, the increased ROI on California strawberry yields over standard practices ranged by location from 17:1 for one conventional trial to 42:1 in an organic trial. PhycoTerra^® and its soil-enriching properties have also been proven to reduce crop stress. In one field study, for instance, the percentage of stress-affected strawberry plants dropped from 23.9% to 6.8%. Optimal results have also been seen in other areas like improved root growth and greater root mass.

Ultimately, an investment in soil health and quality is one that pays tremendous dividends both at the next harvest and for decades to come. Not only does improved nutrient availability and water retention help younger fields produce robust crops, it can give aging fields new life and extend their viability significantly.

To learn more about Heliae^® Agriculture and PhycoTerra^®, please visit phycoterra.com/strawberries or call (800) 998-6536.