poorly strawberries Q.Q

[George.m]

Hi, the leaves on the strawberries i planted earlier this year are looking a little odd, they are discloloured and deformed, and the plants themselves arent looking all that healthy, they have been covered in aphids though, (the new leaves), so i was wondering if this was just aphid damage or something more terminal :s, i will upload some pictures so you can get a better look.

What do you think i should do?

[roitelet]

Get rid of the aphids! The leaves look a good color and I think that the distortion is caused by the aphids.

[FB.]

I wouldn't worry about it unless leaves start going brown or dying.

Beware of deploying the nukes (chemicals) for aphids - have a read of this topic:
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ids_79652.html

[Nicos]

Are there still aphids on the plants?
If so give em a squidge
if not..then it's old damage and the plants will recover.

[George.m]

i'll start spraying the aphids with heavily diluted soft soap, they are impossible to pick off the young leaves by hand without damaging the leaves anyway

[WendyC]

As long as you don't go too mad, removing some of the worst leaves will remove the worst of the aphids too. It will grow more leaves.

[boundtothesoil]

I'm with FB on this. Fruit bushes/trees with a full set of leaves in perfect condition are pretty rare at the start of the season, and become even more so with time. Wear and tear, nasty weather, pests & diseases, transient nutrient imbalances, water stress etc will all take a toll, but usually the fruit still appears. Plus, most plants will develop more leaves than they strictly need. The ones at the top of the canopy are doing the bulk of the work in terms of photosynthesis. Those beneath them are either on their way out or on their way up and in neither case are particularly productive photosynthetically.