strawberry dilema

[helly]

Hello, My bare root Strawberries arrived today and my beds are not ready in time for me to plant them in. Should I unpackage them and temporary plant them in a 2lt pot until the ground has been prepared fr them? Forgot to mention short of space so can I put 3 in a pot ? Any advice welcome
cheers H

[greendean]

hi helly

how many plants do you have?

i would be tempted to pot them up individually and grow them on in a sheltered place. 3/5 inch pots should do if the plants are not too big. when your bed is ready for them they should have a good root sytem with little disturbance. Thats what i do will all bare root plants to give them a flying start. or you could put them together on a bigger pot, a little like 'heeling in' for plants and shrubs so the roots don't dry out then tease them apart when the time comes

hope this helps

[Alison]

I got sent some for free with something else I ordered in November. The bed is not remotely ready so they are currently sat in 3" pots on the side in my unheated greenhouse. They'll be planted out probably about the end of March - bed preparation dependant!

[helly]

With me just potting them up should I leave them in the heated greenhouse for a few days and then transfer to the unheated?

[greendean]

With me just potting them up should I leave them in the heated greenhouse for a few days and then transfer to the unheated?

no need for heated greenhouse unless you want to force them a little to make them fruit earlier

the plants are quite hardy and the unheated will be fine

[helly]

thanks for your info greendean,I've potted up 50 just another 50 to go. Got a good deal off the internet from a Holland based company,could not resist so fingers crossed hope to have a good crop this year
cheers H

[greendean]

no wonder you had a dilema

100 strawberry plants

i've just ordered 20 asparagus crowns and i have nowhere to put them yet as well. you can't beat a bargain though.

which strawberries did you get?

[Alison]

Wow, a hundred strawberry plants, that's a lot of space dedicated to a strawberry bed! Don't envy you keeping them under control when they start producing runners in the summer but you'll be able to make some lovely jam.

[helly]

I got Ostara, they seem to have a good all season crop. Just finished potting them all they all seem healthy plants lets hope I can keep them that way

[Nicos]

When we moved here there was one strawberry plant . The previous owner said they weren't gardeners, but it might fruit the following year.
It was in a bit of a strange place so we decided to move it...only to find it was infact 12 strawberry plants bought in a bunch- and they thought it was just one plant!...we had loads of strawberries last year from them, and loads of babies too! So- I suppose you could have bunged them into a few bigger pots instead- but the way you've actually done it will mean very little disturbance.


Greendean...you need to get those asparagus in quickly once they arrive. Make sure the roots don't dry out!

[greendean]

thanks for the advice nicos

roots still quite moist but i cant get them into the ground just jet

i presume i can do the same as for strawberries and pot them up til ready

just one thing though. they seem much smaller than i expected.
they are one year old crowns but are only 4/5 inches long. does this seem right? they were quite cheap from ebay. i know you get what you pay for but i am wondering if i should get some 'proper' crowns. never grown before as you can tell.

any info appreciated

sorry to move away from strawberries

[Nicos]

You'll probably have to wait an extra year for them to produce!( I'd get a few older ones too)