If you plan to enter the world of growing fruit, strawberries are one of the easiest fruit to grow and great for beginners. Plus, homegrown strawberries are far more flavorful than what you’ll ever find in a grocery store. Why? The sugar in berries converts to starch soon after they’re picked. Learn more about growing strawberries in the home garden.
About Strawberries
The best thing about strawberries is that they’re relatively easy to grow and maintain as long as you keep them in a location that gets full sun.
Strawberry plants come in three types:
- June-bearing varieties bear fruit all at once, usually over a period of three weeks. Day-length sensitive, these varieties produce buds in the autumn, flowers, and fruits the following June, and runners during the long days of summer. Although called “June-bearing” or “June-bearers,” these strawberries bear earlier than June in warmer climates.
- Everbearing varieties produce a big crop in spring, produce lightly in the summer, and then bear another crop in late summer/fall. These varieties form buds during the long days of summer and the short days of autumn. The summer-formed buds flower and fruit in autumn, and the autumn-formed buds fruit the following spring.
- Day-Neutral varieties produce fruit continuously through the season, until the first frost: Insensitive to day length, these varieties produce buds, fruits, and runners continuously if temperature remains between 35° and 85°F (1° to 30°C). Production is less than that of June-bearers.
For the home garden, we recommend June-bearers. Although you will have to wait a year for fruit harvesting, it will be well worth it.
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cutting back strawberries
should this be done after they have finished producing or in the fall?
when to cut strawberry leaves
If you have June-bearing strawberries, you mow off the leaves right after harvest. Mow 1 inch above the crowns of the plants with a rotary mower. Then rake up the plant debris. After you mow, narrow the strawberry rows to 8-inch-wide strips. If your strawberry bed is a solid mat of plants, create strips that are 8 inches wide. Keep the younger plants and get rid of the old plants. Space the strips about 2 or 3 feet apart. Then apply fertilizer. Mulch in the late fall once the ground is already cold, and then remove mulch in late April.
I have lemon balm growing in
I have lemon balm growing in my strawberry patch. Should I remove it or let it grow with the strawberries? I have a great 2nd year crop, and want to continue such yields.
growing strawberries
Lemon balm and strawberries can happily co-exist in the same bed. No worries there.
Raised Bed Plan
I would like to build a raised bed for strawberries. I would like to make the raised bed 6 feet wide and 20 feet long. My plan is to plant three rows of strawberries with each plant being 2 feet apart, using the matted row approach. Starting in three years I would remove plants from one third of the raised bed each year, allowing the strawberries to spread back into the newly cleared row. My thought is that with this approach I would be able to continually remove old plants, not have to purchase new plants and have strawberries to pick from two-thirds of the raised bed each year. Any thoughts on this approach or recommendations?
Strawberries raised beds
To grow strawberries, the matted row technique is tried and tested, and should work well. In the first year after planting, remove any runners to give the plants time to establish.
Strawberry plant
I just bought a strawberry plant in a pot but ready to put it in the ground. The best place to put it at my house also has other plants planted. is this okay or should I pick a diffrent spot? Thanks in advance!
interplanting strawberries
Strawberries can be planted in a bed mixed with other plants, as long as they have room and full sun. If space is limited, you’ll need to remove any (or at least, most) runners that develop; depending on variety, strawberries can be invasive and crowd out other plants if not kept in check (by removing runners). In a vegetable bed, strawberries do not do well with members of the cabbage family (cabbage, broccoli, etc.), but enjoy beans, lettuce, spinach, and onion as neighbors, as well as some herbs such as borage or caraway. Strawberries are susceptible to verticillium fungus–you might want to avoid planting it near other vegetables that are susceptible, such as tomatoes.
strawberry seeding
I have tried growing strawberries from seed several times, but have not even produced a plant, what can I do?
Strawberries are rarely grown
Strawberries are rarely grown from seed by the backyard gardener. The only reason you would seed is perhaps to propagate a rare variety. You normally buy them as small plants. However, if you wish to try growing strawberries from seed, keep in mind that they take a month to germinate and they will not produce until the following years.
strawberry seeding
Strawberries and other berries require digestion by an animal in order to propagate by seed in nature. This can be duplicated by pseudo fermentation in a weak compost tea, it will still take quite a while to germinate even with the fermentation. Even in nature, the strawberry's primary means of reproduction is "daughtering".
Frost
My strawberry plants have lots of blossoms and we are expecting a freeze the next 3 nights. Do I need to protect my plants?
freeze?
Always, protect in times of a freeze threat. Better to be safe than sorry—and we hope this got to you in time!
Perennial Strawberries
I bought strawberry plants last summer and had them inside in a dark space all winter- I just took the pot out and broke off all dead parts and watered the plant well- Will strawberries grow a second year?
row cover on strawberries
hello
When using a row cover on strawberries, is it necessary to remove the cover when the plant blossoms so the bees can pollenate the flowers? Thanks
row covers
Yes, even though strawberries are self-pollinating, you will get better quality and more yield if you allow pollinators access. When the strawberries begin to flower, you can remove the row covers, at least during the day. If the plants are used to being under row covers, you might gradually increase exposure for a few days before removing the cover completely.
strawberry plants
I live in Trinidad and i recently decided to try planting strawberries. I got the plants but i dont know what kind. They started sending out runners and i dont know what to do. Do i leave them connected or do i cut them and plant them elsewhere?
planting strawberries
Whether you keep the runners will depend on what planting system you use. The matted row system (good for June-bearing strawberries) keeps the runners, allowing them to root freely in rows; this system produces more strawberries, but they may be smaller than with other systems. The hill system (good for day-neutral and everbearing types) would remove the runners before planting, allowing only the mother plants to grow more crowns; this encourages larger strawberries but less of them. There are also other planting systems, but those are two basic ones. For the first year, unless you will be growing the strawberries as annuals, it is advisable to remove the flowers of June-bearing types, to allow the plants to spend their energies on growing roots and runners. For day-neutral and everbearing, usually the flowers would be removed the first year until the end of June, then allowed to flower/set fruit later in the season. (These are guidelines for the United States–I’m not sure how this translates to the growing season in your area.) Hope this helps!
Actual Strawberry Terra Cotta Pots
I bought 2 strawberry pots and 20 strawberry quinault roots. Is it good to plant the roots directly in to this type of planter? Or is it better to plant them in a separate container until they sprout then transfer? I already have the PVC pipe drilled with holes in the pots so that is set. Thank you! Have a sweet day!
planting bareroot strawberries in pots
You can plant your bareroot ‘Quinault’ strawberries directly in your strawberry pots. Follow the vendor’s direction, if you have some. Usually, you may want to soak the dormant roots (but not crown) in water for about 30 minutes before planting. Also, generally you would trim the roots to about 6 inches long if they are longer than that (be sure not to injure the crown). Plant so that the crown is level with the soil (roots are not showing, but crown is not buried). Enjoy!
strawberries
When is it a good time to move plants from the ground to a tiered planter?
Spring and late summer are
Spring and late summer are the best times to transplant strawberry plants. Move the plants as soon as the ground warms up and water well.
I love this
I love this website!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I use it to do homework.
Yes I agree.
I use it for home work too works great in agriculture science
This is our 2nd year
This is our 2nd year strawberries in raised bed. Lots of leaves but afraid berries are rotting because they are shaded and close to damp soil. Is my bed soil level not high enough for berries to get sun and air? Soil is currently 3" below the edge of our wooded 4 x 8 box bed?
I live in western Washington
I live in western Washington (USDA 8b, Sunset 5) and I'm hoping to plant strawberries in my suburban backyard next spring. I am new to gardening, however, and I was wondering how I make the soil in which I want to plant them the correct pH, if I plant them directly in the ground. Also, which variety of strawberry would you recommend?
These publications from
These publications from Cooperative Extensions might help:
soil:
http://county.wsu.edu/spokane/...
http://www.soiltest.uconn.edu/...
http://county.wsu.edu/spokane/...
varieties:
https://ir.library.oregonstate...
for commercial growers, but some good information:
http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPubl...
This is my second year of
This is my second year of trying strawberry's. Must say they are doing really well. I have picked at least 4to5 times now and have got a pretty good container of them \. My space is about 10ft by 10ft. They are pretty good but one problem they don't seem to be very sweet. Is there something I can do to get the sugar up in them? I thought about mixing some sugar water to my irrigation some way. Would that help any?
Thank you Don Wambolt
Who knew, Don?! We would have
Who knew, Don?! We would have suggested that the flavor was all in the variety, and it might be, but research suggests that you can fool Mother Nature and improve it yourself. Here are a few ideas:
• strawberries grow in acidic soil, with high potassium content, have produced great-tasting berries. Apply a potassium-rich fertilizer—think a comfrey solution or molasses tonic (that's right)—every two weeks in summer.
All of this, and more is explained here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gar...
Every year we get one good
Every year we get one good crop of strawberries, but then nothing again until the next spring. I had always thought that if you picked the berries regularly they would give you another crop before going dormant??
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