Strawberry question.

[bobbin]

My 1st year strawberries are looking very lush and healthy I had earlier removed all the flowers to encourage better growth next year. Should I now cut back all the leaf growth to conserve their energy for next year? There are lots of runners which I will remove and leave a smallish amount to pot up for new plants. Any answers out there?

[Kirk]

Well as the leaves produce the food for the plant growth through photosynthesis I suspect that removing the leaf growth is not a good idea.

Might just be me but why will removing the flowers this year encourage better growth next year. Actually I would half suspect that that is why there are lots of runners. As they cannot reproduce by fruiting they may have decided to carry on the genes by runners. From the plants point of view they are there to reproduce by fruiting or by runners.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Agree with the above I only remove dead leaves and leave the rest to do their work.

[burnie]

Sounds like you have everything covered, fruit likes potash, I tend to feed in the spring myself and move beds every 5 years to avoid any likelihood of problems building up in the soil. Our village is surrounded by polytunnels full of Strawberries, so I do watch what they do.

[bobbin]

I understood by removing flowers in the first year it produces better fruit the next. Bit .. we'll sort of .. bit like asparagus you build up plant vigour by not exhausting it in its first year.