Strawberries In Pots

[New_Bud]

Hi all, I was after some advice on growing strawberries in pots.
How big does it need to be?
Do I need to use a strawberry pot or will a normal one do?
What kind of soil do they like and how can I help them?

I know its a little late but if i plant the year-round fruiters I may be more successful.
Can anyone reccomend a kind of strawberry for a mid/late planter?

[moggssue]

Hi there New Bud - I grew strawberries last year in one of those commercial strawberry pots, with the holes down the sides. It was okay, but I had a terrible job with watering - even when attempting to drown the pot the water ran out of the higher holes before getting to the bottom, or the top dried out so when I needed to add water there the ones at the bottom got too much. One advantage is holding the fruits off the ground, but for me the difficulty with watering outweighted that and I'm not using it this year.

I'm sure other more knowledgeable grapes will soon be along with more meaningful advice for you soon though!

[nilling]

I am growing my strawbs this year in 6ft of guttering. Last year when planted in a wooden barrel and almost all the fruit was eaten by slugs and woodlice.

[Bassman]

I use a strawberry planter and planted my strabs in the side and left the top clear if you leave aprox 4" gap at the top of the pot I fill this up with water and find that this is enough to keep the plants watered ok.
Ive had a fairly decent crop from the plants this first year but I have had to put the strawb planter on an old patio table so it is up off the floor.

[New_Bud]

Yeah that's a fair point, I think growing them in my growhouse would be okay for that

[Inca]

I am using one of those expanding plastic strawberry planters with holes in the side and have overcome the problem of no water at the bottom by filling the planter around a length of approx 2" grey plastic downpipe finishing about 2" above the bottom of the container. Filling this seems to keep the bottom wet and top watering keeps the rest OK.

[squashysu]

hi new bud

i have loads of strawberries in just normal pots, the sort you buy in B&Q for a few quid and also some in normal terracotta ones that i had in the garden, they are growing great guns and I am getting lots of fruit from them, i think you can grow them in anything really, try B&Q they sell orange buckets for 89p each and and you can put holes in the bottom and grow them like that!

Put an ad on freecycle and see if anyone comes to your aid for some free pots, i just used general compost that was bought from aldi and they all seem to like it, just give them some tom feed when they have fruit one them.

Hope that helps, good luck, the straws are well worth any effort, also one thing, cover them with some netting to stop the bird pinching your fruit.

SS

[New_Bud]

Thanks squashysu! That's great! I got a spare large terracotta pot - alls i need are some seeds! and tom feed

I have regular all purpose plant feed, is that good? Or does it just promote leaf development rather than fruit?

[parrot1974]

I have regular all purpose plant feed, is that good? Or does it just promote leaf development rather than fruit?

Check what the ingredients are: you're looking for a feed that is high in phosphorous, rather than one that's high in nitrogen.

[RobintheBobin]

Strawbs

FWIW I grow my strawbs in hanging baskets and they are doing brilliantly (and amusing the neighbours - its not THAT unusual is it??) - touch wood (I KNOW I'll regret this) but they haven't been eaten by birds or squirrels.

The strawb terracotta jobbie my beloved bought has been a bit pants - water runs out of the holes and the plants never seem to grow that well.

RtB

[squashysu]

new bud,

i know you gonna get seeds, but i know that Aldi and Lidl were selling plants for £2.99, and they are really healthy, you get 6. Also dont forget that when the plant has grown it will produce a "runner" this will grow long and not look like a leaf, when it grows roots, put this into the pot or another pot close by and wait until it has taken and then snip it from the main plant, then you get another plant for nothing, but if you want a lot of fruit then snip all the runners or they take away from the fruit growing!

I hope you get some great straws, as mine are tasting gorgeous and also Wimbledon is now on, so i am in the mood to eat more and more, mind you they dont make the cream coming out of the fridge, the get washed and eaten ha ha !

Good luck with them x

[New_Bud]

Thanks for the tip about Lidl Robin!
And Wimbledon - got me wanting home made strawberries!
I'll buy a hanging basket from the poundland soon as well, I got a bottle of tomato feed from there for a £1 today after reading the posts on this thread! Can't beat the pound shops

[tizzycat]

I bought a planter from a local warehouse. It's like 5" round ceramic pots stacked like a pyramid.(eight in all I think) Much easier and more room to both water and plant. I mixed some compost from my wormery in with some multipurpose and they all seem to be doing great.

I got six of those plants, Squashysu mentioned, from Aldi. They were lovely healthy plants with two each of three different varieties. The other two were a couple of the runners from last years strawberry pot which had all the same problems mentioned above. I replanted the strawberry pot again this year but it's not a patch on the "pyramid".

[squashysu]

my aldi strawbs are amazing, i am really pleased with them...........

poundland is great, they did poly tunnels for £1 and i got some, they did the job just fine, i hope they grow well

SS

[gav28]

I am also looking for suitable pots for Strawberry's, mine are currently in a half barrel, they are OK , but now in need of more room for expansion :-)

I found a site selling pyramid/stacking pots, it sounds similar to "tizzycat's" find. Has anybody else used this type of arrangement, does it work well, it certainly looks like it should? Trouble is they aren't particularly cheep!





Any views?

Thanks

Gavin