Planting strawberries in hanging baskets

[IndigoElectron]

Mr Fothergill's have dispatched my strawberry plants, hooray! I am getting Albion (everbearing), Buddy (everbearing), Mara des Bois (everbearing), and Gariguette (which Mr F says are everbearing but Ken Muir says are early).

I have two 16" self watering hanging baskets in which to put them, along with one of these:

Wilko Grow Bag Strawberry Green 41ltr at wilko.com

I am trying to work out how many plants to put in each container. My RHS book shows 3 plants in a hanging basket but doesn't state the basket size, and another book (Crops in Pots) has 9 plants to a 14" basket, 4 planted through the sides and 5 in the top. Obviously this is quite a big difference.

The Wilko planter doesn't say how many plants it holds (I think there are between 6 and 8 holes round the sides but they are quite small), but it is similar to this one, which holds 9 or 10:

Gardman Pop-up Strawberry Planter

I have 20 plants in total - if I put 5 plants in each basket, I can put 10 in the planter, but they might be a bit close together then. If I get another planter, I can put 4 plants in each basket and 6 in each planter (which will save me having to turn it round so they all get enough sunlight), or I could do 3 in each basket and 7 in each planter.

Are there any disadvantages to putting them close together, e.g. will I get less fruit because the plants won't get as big?

Finally, when I plant them in the basket, can I space them evenly around the top or should I put them closer to the front? The books show them spaced evenly but that made me wonder how the ones at the back would get enough light.

Thanks for any advice

[IndigoElectron]

Also, do the early variety need more space because they crop over a shorter period of time? Which would be a better place for them, the baskets or planter? Thanks

[AllInContainers]

I would suggest that moisture is a more limiting factor than the space with hanging baskets. The greater volume of soil/compost there is per plant, the better it will hold moisture. The more plants you have fighting for the moisture (plus evaporation on hot days) the more the plants (and specifically the fruits) will suffer.

I grew mine in a two tier planter last year (think hanging basket on a stick), and they were drying out rapidly with only three plants per layer and some fruits went woody. I could have improved this with better compost, and moisture retaining gel/granules - hindsight is a wonderful thing

[IndigoElectron]

Thanks I have some water retaining gel and have bought hanging basket compost. Also they are self watering, which should help - I tried to cover all bases! The RHS book says to use a mixture of multi purpose compost and John Innes 2 but I am worried about using the JI in case it is too heavy for the basket brackets. I'll use some in the planter though.

[sammy_roser]

I've never used John Innes and grow happy fruit and veg every year. You can try if you wish but your normal MPC and feeding after 6 weeks does me fine.

[IndigoElectron]

Thanks Sammy. I think the JI was to try and retain moisture.