Strawberries and pests...

[Manny]

Hello all,

I had my first stint at gardening and have grown some strawberries in a space of 16ft * 2ft. Every couple of weeks I have been picking the strawberries and its been just great. However over the past few weeks some of the strawberries have been eaten by small black 1-2cm pests - I haven't got a clue what they are or how to get rid of them - they look like tiny black slugs/worms.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Also there seems to be alot of leafy growth - should I be trimming this away?

Thanks in advance.

Manny

[Earthbabe]

Hi Manny and welcome to the vine. Not sure what the pest is. Are you able to get a photo? I trim the leaves once my strawbs have finished cropping and then when I transplant and prepare for winter. I understand this is to reduce leaf borne diseases which can then harbour over the winter. I also cover with fleece for the winter. This definitely made a difference last year as even here in the south the winter was v. cold and the ground froze.