strawberry pollination....

[dirtpixie]

Hi all, have been reading the forum for a little while now - am very impressed with all the top tips and info I've found!! I have a question about my strawberries though... would be very grateful if anyone could help. I had them under fleece for a while but it's warming up a bit now (My plot is in north London), and the fleece came off about 3 weeks ago so bees etc can do the business...quite a few blossoms on the go now, the thing is, there are red ants in the blossoms and I'm wondering if they play any part in pollination?? I've had a good look for aphids and other wee beasties and can't see any, so I'm wondering what the attraction is.... also, how can you tell visually if they've been pollinated? I had a few distorted fruits last year (apparently due to partial pollination) so I'm wondering whether to get busy with a little brush or not.... all help very gratefully recieved... thanks!

[rustylady]

Anything that crawls over the flowers will help with pollination. Plants grown outside don't usually need any extra help. When you mention ants I wonder if the plants have greenfly - this is the only reason I've ever found ants actually on plants (they "milk" the aphids). Otherwise they usually stick to running around in the soil disturbing plant roots. You can use a paintbrush if you want to, but I've never found it necessary with plants out of doors.

[dirtpixie]

Hi rustylady... thanks v. much. I couldn't see any greenfly, but plan to keep an eye out for them. Red ants seem to be endemic on my plot - the little darlings are everywhere - I've even been bitten whilst weeding!! grrrr...

[Alison]

As your strawberries are outside you shouldn't have any problems with germination, mine seem to manage OK and I only give them a helping hand if I'm going for an early greenhouse crop. Don't know about the red ants though, fortunately not one I have to suffer!