Advice on Strawberries please!

[barefootfarmer]

Hey yall. I've planted strawberries this year for the first time. Im not quite sure what to expect. Ive heard the first year you really wont get much of a harvest, but the years after yes. Is this true? Also, Ive heard to increase your harvest or speed this process up, pinch off the blooms????

What advice on strawberry gardening do we have out there?

 

[Joel_BC]

Hey yall. I've planted strawberries this year for the first time. Im not quite sure what to expect. Ive heard the first year you really wont get much of a harvest, but the years after yes. Is this true? Also, Ive heard to increase your harvest or speed this process up, pinch off the blooms????

What advice on strawberry gardening do we have out there?

That's the conventional wisdom on the matter - that your plants will establish their roots better if you pinch off the blossoms which otherwise would become fruit.

While I do think this is true, I've not always decided to follow it when planting a new row or two of strawberries. One time I'd tilled an old patch in because the rows had become so infested with buttercup and quack grass. And it was hard to resist the prospect of getting some fresh berries from some new rows, when the new rows were our only rows.

A strawberry plant con do very well on rich soil. My main advice would be to enrich the soil via soil amendments... and keep the soil somewhat acidic, though straws do not require the acidity nearly so much as blueberries. For instance, give the strawberries patch calcium in the form of gypsome, rather than lime. Provide water if you don't live somewhere where rain comes pretty frequently.

 

[the funny farm6]

We always pinch off the blossoms the year we plant. It helps the roots grow strong and they send out more runners- which is more plants next year.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

I started about 10 plants last year and got quite a few berries, but the "vines" or "runners" produced a LOT more plants. This year we moved them all into rows and have over 30 plants. I've been pinching the blossoms off and have no berries yet, but the vines/runners are taking off again. Maybe next year I'll have 100+ plants, who knows but I'm done pinching the blossoms for now.

 

[barefootfarmer]

By blossoms we are talking about the white flowers correct? Not the berries themselves?

 

[Denim Deb]

Correct. I don't have my berries yet, but am hoping to get some for next year. And, that's what I'm planning on doing. They suggest the same for apples, peaches, etc. You don't want the plant to put all its energies into making fruit. A strong root is more important. I do the same w/tomato plants that get blossoms early. You get a better harvest if you get rid of the early stuff.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

By blossoms we are talking about the white flowers correct? Not the berries themselves?

Yes, it is best to pull the blossom BEFORE it turns into a berry but you will have the same result if you pull the berry while it is still in the very early stage of development. As stated above, if the plant is spending energy to develop fruit, it has less energy to develop roots.

 

[pinkfox]

as other said, general rule of thumb is to prevent fruting the first year so the second years harvest is better...strawberries are perenials but tend to fruit best in yrs 2 and 3...
there seems to be a few schools of through on strawberries, theres those who plant allow to fruit and then start fresh next year, theres others who allow fruit allow runner then cut the old plants and toss them keeping the runners for next year, and then others who pinch the buds on 1st year plants and allow runners (though some dont even allow runners the first year) and allow them to fruit on second year plants.

personally i have a strawberry bed fresh this year and will be pinching buds so i wont get a crop this year but future crops should be very nice.
i did howver put a few strawberry crowns in some hanging baskets too, there not doing much yet but if they do bud ill probably allow them to fruit and then start fresh in the baskets next year.

 

[barefootfarmer]

What do I need to do at the end of this growing season? cover? cut back?

 

[Joel_BC]

What do I need to do at the end of this growing season? cover? cut back?

Personally, I take a simple approach. If I have time, I put runners into the rows (that is, if the runner has some little roots that allow it to be planted in soil - and in many cases, they do). Also if I have time, I'll give the strawberry rows one more weeding.

Then I just let the snow come and cover up the patch, as it does everything else in our gardens. Once rooted, I've found strawberry plants to be tough. Snow may cool them off, but it also provides insulation aganst the coldest of winter temps.

But in fall, before the wintery conditions come, you can decide if you want to pull out some old plants whose berry productivity has dropped off. Managed with a bit of care, a strawberry patch can in effect be self-regenerating. Because you can use young plants at the end of runners to fill in where you've pulled old plants.

In spring you can, of course, also put runners, that may have rooted haphazardly in the patch, into the rows.