wilting strawberries - they're all drooping and dying!

[eskymo]

Hi all

My strawbery plants are all drooping and dying off one by one and I have no idea what is causing this mass suicide. I've nver grown strawberries before so this is very confusing for me.

I've got some in a growbag and some in planters/troughs. They've all looked very healthy and vigourous and then all of a sudden one just decides to flop and die off. I was wondering whether it's becuase they're outside and exposed as I've got a growbag with 6 plants in it in my greenhouse and those are doing great and even have some strawberries maturing. But then I look over into my neighbours garden and he has the same variety of strawberry in similar sized troughs and his are all doing great. I must be doing something wrong.

They are all situated outside. Please havea look at the photo's. Any info on this would be much appreciated.

[GardenFan]

Hi eskymo

They don't look too bad to me, one of the pics looks like you may have had some sun damage but nothing too serious. The sheer amount of rain and weak light the last week in the UK might have something to do with things getting a little down in the dumps. They do appear to be still putting on new leaf growth so I would just cut down any that get too long and straggly (or tatty) and see if they flower.

[eskymo]

I thought something might be killing them off as the other plant in the same trough is looking really healthy as are the other plants in my other troughs. It seems odd that only one plant has been affected.

[Alice]

Hello Eskymo, one plant looks a bit scorched to me. Did it get bright sun after the rain had wet the leaves. It's what it looks like. Doesn't look like a real problem. Sure strawberries will be fine.

[eskymo]

I've had some plants completely die though and have had to dig them up and chuck them out...so I fear the same is happening here...

[andrewo]

Check for vine weevil, they can also make the plants wilt and die.

[eskymo]

what do i check for exactly?

[poultrychat]

I'd bet on vine weevils as well, look in the soil around the roots, they are little off white bugs curled in a horseshoe shape with brown heads. And I don't know if anyone has tried this but I read somewhere that as weevils can't swim that if you put your greenhouse staging in cups of water and keep them topped up then your staging will be safe and weevil free

[SueA]

Hi Eskymo, I agree with the others that the plants in your pics. don't look too bad, just a bit of scorching on one. What did the roots look like on the one you that died? If it had hardly any roots then it could be vine weevils as Andrew says, they are horrible little maggot-like grubs & eat the roots.Do you have any evidence of adult weevil beetles anywhere?They leave little square chunks bitten out of the edges of leaves especially fuchsias,camellias,bays & some fruit trees.Or if your troughs/pots don't have enough drainage the roots could have rotted off if you've had a lot of rain or over-watered them.

[eskymo]

I'm going to check for vine weevil grubs in the soil today and see if that is the problem - never had them before, but then never grown strawberries before either, so there's always a first time for everything.

[andrewo]

If you have them, you will have to get rid of the plants or water with vine weevil nematodes but you are now coming to the end of the window to do this as the larvae will now be turning into vine weevil beetles. However, if you do have them, don't panic, two applications a year will get rid of them. I had them in a small trug and lost all the strawberries, I eventually had to compost the lot after removing all the grubs.

[bramble]

Hi Eskymo, if its vine weevil, get rid of the lot, particularly the soil and wash and dis-infect the container you were using. They can spread and ruin a lot of plants.Good luck.

[Lesley Jay]

Eskymo are these the containers that you have only just put up on your fence? If they are were they freshly planted up because if that is the case then the vine weevil grubs must be in your compost. Does any one else agree?

[Nicos]

For the cost of it all... I would wait and see,

If the plants continue to wilt further then rip them out ond stick some annuals in
Either way you will enjoy either gastranomacally or visually what you produce!!!

[eskymo]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to everyone about this...I've been off the Vine for what seems like weeks as I've been busy doing other stuff. Not got any work on at the moment and so been a bit down in the dumps.

Anyway the strawberries have not recovered and have just wilted further. I dug them up and checked the roots and the compost and found nothing wrong with them... no grubs or bugs...in fact nothing out of the ordinary. I replanted them in fresh compost in clean pots and they look the same. So I don;t know what has killed them off. I still have some plants which are doing fine so I'm not worried about going without straberries this year, but just wish I could found out what has killed the plants off like this.