Strawberry

[Cloud]

Although I've been growing Veg for 37 years I decided to grow some Strawberries.
A friend told me they were more trouble than they were worth,but I seem to have plenty of green fruits and have lined the rows with straw.
Can anyone give me some advice on how to grow these lovelies

[percy charlie]

its the runners that are the trouble cut of the ones you dont want, before they grow too big, strawberry plants need replacing every 3-4 years as fruit production reduces.
runners are ready for planting around august sept time i plant them into plant pots. i feed with liquid growmore following directions on bottle every 2 weeks from april and every week from june till fruiting has finished also use a potash fertiliser once a month from march until fruit shows, any further watering the plant requires i just use plain water rain or tap if water butt empty.there one of the few plants that give you lots of extra plants for free once youve got a few ( i have around 130 without this years runners) some plants give a couple of runners some give as many as 10 but not usually that many, but letting runners grow reduces fruit production so take of unrequired one before they grow. hope this helps all the best from PC

[Cloud]

Thanks PC thats a big help.Do I cut them down at some point,thats what I've been told

[gojiberry]

Strawberries will naturally die down come winter, do not remove the dead leaves as they will protect the very heart of the plant from frost. Come spring when new growth starts then tidy the plants up and remove old leaves. The other big thing with strawberries is making sure that you get the berries and not the birds or slugs. I find that using landscape fabric tends to keep the fruit off the earth, keeps weeds down and the slugs away. You will still find a few slugs under the fabric but they do not seem to like crawling over it to get to the fruit. Use netting to keep the birds away. You can see that it is not easy growing strawberries.

Ian

P.S. Picked my first seven strawberries today.

[percy charlie]

as gojiberry said dont trim dead leaves till spring to protect the heart and as for the runners just snip it of without cutting any of the rest of the plant (i have 110 runners growing have snipped of 50 and have 15 plants yet to through runners, i have about 130 strawberry plants i think) as the life of the plants for fruitation being good is 3-4 years i save some each year to renew my stock and just stick a label on the pot when they were planted so i know which need replacing and which are to go. i have 8 varieties too! that are a mix of early mids and late fruiters

[Forget-me-Not]

Hi,

I've just planted some for the first time too. They have small fruit on at the moment. Read my book, they are in a sunny area, good drainage etc but couldn't find why they need straw and is it compulsory? Have hens, so can do it but just wondered why and will it blow everywhere?
Thanks

[Lavenderblue]

my strabs are going well, planted them as runners in the spring through horticultural fabric. I read somewhere that you are supposed to leave the fruit on the plant for the first year. Is this true? Also confused about feeding them. I've not fed them at all so far and have flowers and green fruit setting. I added a general organic pelleted fertiliser when i planted them but nothing since. What does the collective knowledge of the forum suggest i need to do, if anything?

[percy charlie]

i have harvested fruit from the first year and never had any problems and still loads each year after that, but your actually supposed to remove the flowers before they become strawberrys according to some books, but others say ok to let them fruit and eat them, as said above i prefer the latter. the average life of fruitation being good is 3-4 years so why waste the strawbs i used liquid growmore as per bottle directions once a week once flowers show and have the slow release stuff on as well. as for straw i use it as it stops the strawberries touching the damp soil and going mouldly or tasting earthy, so does blow away but most stays were its put, i only put straw down once the flowers start to show signs of being fruit. you can use membrane, bitchumin mats ect, water regularly.

[Forget-me-Not]

Strawberries

Hi Percy Charlie,

Thanks for the straw advice, it makes perfect sense, didn't think of damp, will add some tonight.

FMN

[Cloud]

I used straw cos that's what I rememeber when I went picking in the fields as a child.

[bramble]

Picked my first three strawberries yesterday and more just turning a nice rosy red. Lots of fruit on and these are just first year plants. They are also starting to produce runners so all looking good.

[Norm]

Also confused about feeding them.

I grow mine in a polytunnel, so I've been eating strawbs since last weekend. As for feeding, I use tomato food.....it's OK, they can't read