strawberries dying

[debjay]

Hi
Has anybody any idea why my friends strawberries are dying.
they are from the same runners as we have,this is their first year.
They had some nice fruit on but now no fruit and dead leaves
any clues welcome
Debs

[shirlthegirl43]

This happened to all the plants I put in my strawberry planter. When I pulled one out I found the soil was full of woodlice. Still haven't worked out why it happened and keep reading that woodlice don't kill plants - though I suspect they do. Only other thought is that they didn't water them enough when they were first planted or something.

[Protea]

Sounds like the compost was too dry if there were woodlice in there Shirl - they don't like wet places!

The problem with those strawberry planters is that you're ecouraged to plant loads of runners in them and there simply isn't a good way to keep the compost evenly wet all the way down. Equally - strawberrys don't like to be too wet, so if the roots are black and slimy - i suspect they were waterlogged (another common cause of strawb death).

The problem with strawberry runners (cold stored as opposed to saved from own plants) is that they don't require much water when you plant them (because they have no leaves) so its far too easy to overwater. Saved runners as in debjay's case are different - perhaps they didn't keep them well watered enough - are they in pots? pots dry out very quickly. Alternatively - if they are soil grown it could be verticilium wilt, its a soil borne disease that also affects potatoes. picture of symptoms here: http://plant-disease.ippc.orst.edu/f...rec_type=image

[rustylady]

Are all the leaves dead? It is common for the older ones at the base of the plants to die off and go brown and dry (or mouldy depending on rainfall), but the middle of the plant should still be green and healthy. If the whole lot is brown then it is dead and you need to remove it.

[Alison]

Are you sure they were woodlice? I lost a whole tub full a few years ago to vine weevils - horrible little buggers they are too but fortunately I seem to have managed to have got rid of them now.

[jules]

Hi,
Im quite new to this, have planted strawbs in my allotment covered them with mesh to keep birds off but still found them eaten when ripened. Found that they are also covered in what looks like woodlice theres loads of them....any ideas what to do

[Flummery]

Welcome to the grapevine Jules! It's probably slugs noshing your strawbs. As they are netted you could use slug pellets without harming the birds (who will eat the poisoned slugs and ingest the poison themselves.) I don't think the woodlice will be a problem. They live on decaying vegetation. I've got quite a lot of ants in my strawb bed this year but the strawbs are doing fine.

[shirlthegirl43]

Hi,
Im quite new to this, have planted strawbs in my allotment covered them with mesh to keep birds off but still found them eaten when ripened. Found that they are also covered in what looks like woodlice theres loads of them....any ideas what to do

Hello and welcome to the vine Jules. You can buy a powder that kills woodlice. I have problems with them in areas of my garden and I am never sure whether they actually harm the plants or if they are just unlucky to be there when I find the plants damaged!

[bramble]

Once the slugs damage the plants the woodlice will come along and eat the rest. You need to get rid of the slugs as they are causing the problem.

[jules]

Thanks will try some pellets to get rid of slugs and see what happens next