Strawberries - is it too late?

[busylizzie]

I ordered a strawb tub and plants from Dobies weeks ago - they were supposed to be sent out first week of May. Anyway, after numerous phone calls, it turns out mine's still not sent out and they promise it will be delivered some time this week. The woman I spoke to said that the plants are kept in cold storage to make them dormant until they are sent out.

I've never grown strawberries before, but it strikes me as being rather late in the day now to start plants off - what do you think? Aren't they supposed to be ready in June?! I don't know whether to cancel my order for this year and wait for next year and get a proper growing season out of them.

Mind you, probably best they haven't arrived yet or they would have drowned given the weather we've had the last couple of days!

[dan1979]

You don't get much fruit in the first year anyway, second year is the bumper crop so I would still take them.

[Gary66]

Definitely take them. I bought six from a local garden center about two weeks ago and they are covered in pretty little white flowers already and have nearly doubled in size! I also bought a packet of seeds which are just starting to poke through, so looking forward to this and next year!

[busylizzie]

The plants and planter arrived yesterday while I was still faffing about what to do, so have got them planted up and hoping they don't drown!

[~elizabeth~]

Now isn't a bad time to plant container-grown strawberries, but don't take a crop of them this year. Pinch the flowers out (and later the runners) and let them get well-established and they should produce well for about 3 years or so. Be very careful about keeping them well-watered if they are in a container though, particularly between flowering and fruiting.

[Norm]

I have 200 growing in pots in the polytunnel and expect to be eating the first fruit this weekend. If grown outdoors, don't expect a crop until July/August. The crop you get this year will only be half what you get next year...which is nice. As what you have will be last years plants, they should be fine. Only keep them 2/3 years as after that they run out of steam and make better compost than fruiting plants.
When the runners start to grow (you can't miss them, they're long bits with no leaves to start with) they will eventually develop into a small plantlet. Push the plantlet into another little pot with compost in and leave it, held in place with a hair pin or fencing staple. In a few weeks it will develop roots and you will have a free plant.
Beyoud the plantlet, the runner will continue to grow. Cut this bit off. They will develop into a second plantlet, but very weak with pathetic fruit.
12 years ago I started with 3 plants. I must have given away about 1000.