Strawberries - scoolboy error?

[NotPercyThrower]

Hi, major novice here and have just planted strawberries in a (specially purchased) pot with gaps on the edge as it rises (you know the type, but I'm not sure how to describe better). However having just seen a similar pot advertised it recommends using trailling strawberries. This seems completely sensible, however I have used normal strawberries (roman).

What will happen? Will my strawberries try to grow up and will then snap off; will they not yield adequately, or will they magically let gravity turn them into trailing plants?

Basically, should I did them all up, plant them somwehere else and buy some new plants?

All advice very gratefull received..........Thanks

[vicky]

I think they'll be fine, they will all trail to some extent - ie the fruit and runners will hang down and they leaves go towards the light.
With your strawberry planter you must remember to water and feed to ensure the best crop!
And welcome to the vine, where are you, love the name!

[scarey55]

Welcome to the Vine Not Percy

A tip I was given is to put a length of hosepipe with holes drilled in it down the middle of the pot and water into the pipe as well as around the pot, that way, your plants get a bit extra water around the roots.

[FB.]

I think they'll be fine. Strawberry stems are fairly tough, so I doubt that overhanging will cause many stems to break.

Non-trailing strawberries are less likely to be eaten by wandering slugs.

We took last years runners, put an equal number of each type into each barrel and here they are, six months later;

[Mchanen]

Your strawberry pots are looking pretty good FB

I got my first flower today so i'm pretty pleased considering it's the first time i've tried growing them.

I didn't even know there were trailing type strawberries- i just planted some and hoped for the best

[FB.]

We put a 50/50 mix of compost and soil into the pots and the runners have been in there since last autumn.
These are just baby strawberries, like you'll find at nurseries. I don't expect many fruits from them this year (they should mainly grow in year 1). They'll be fruiting heavily next year, though. At the end of this year, we'll be taking runners from our strawberry beds to pot-up three more barrels. Then we'll do the same for three more the year after, until we have 3 x 3 barrels of mixed strawberries on a rolling rotation - 3x 1yr old, 3x 2yr old, 3x 3yr old - some will be growing and some fruiting.
The pots will be cleaned out as they each reach year three and the cycle repeated, taking runners from our main beds - Pegasus, Symphony, Alice, Christine, Hapil, Honeoye, Florence, Roman (Roman is for the early, pink flowers ).

Alice and Christine are the early-flowering vareites and I think that the one's in flower in the pots are mostly Alice.
Others will flower and fruit later.
We've decided that growing in pots means almost no losses to slugs.

[Mchanen]

Hi FB, Does that mean i should just leave the strawberry plants outside overwinter and they will look after themselves until they start growing again in spring? Or should i cover them with a plant cover in autumn/Winter?

I'm still trying to conving the OH that he won't be getting loads of starwberries this year- he'll be thinking my efforts aren't very good lol

[FB.]

Here's a pic of a two-year-old "Roman" strawberry with it's pink flowers (vigour is quite low and fruits can be strange shapes);

[FB.]

Hi FB, Does that mean i should just leave the strawberry plants outside overwinter and they will look after themselves until they start growing again in spring? Or should i cover them with a plant cover in autumn/Winter?

I'm still trying to conving the OH that he won't be getting loads of starwberries this year- he'll be thinking my efforts aren't very good lol

Our strawberry runners "roughed it" outdoors in those pots since they were separated from their mothers, last autumn.
Despite the hard winter, you can see that all of the cups have a plant in them and they're all growing fine.

A few strawberries for a "taster" should be OK, but I doubt that you'll get more than a dozen berries per plant in the first year and they'd be best if you encouraged them to grow and only let a few fruits develop. Many strawberries seem to produce more runners in their second and third years (which are also their best fruiting years). If you want more fruit, nip off any runners.

[NotPercyThrower]

Thanks for your messages, the consensus seems to be that they'll be fine. Unless anyone else has conflicting information I think I'll leave them and hope for the best.

In answer to your question Vicky I am from just outside Bath. A serious amateur, but keen to learn. I have grown vegetables for the last three years with some success, although can't claim much credit; I just have good soil and am good at remembering to water. I am most certainly 'notpercythrower'.