strawberries

I don't know why your strawberries didn't flower but they usually do around May to fruit in June.

I pin down the runners - using one inch long strips of wire bent into a U shape - into little pots of compost. Come the Spring you'll have loads of new (free) strawberry plants to plant out.

hi crizzy ,you dont say if they are new crops or established . if its the first yr ,the old timers (such as me ) say u should cut off all the leaves in order to get the plant well rooted 4 the new season, if established it could be down to letting them develop too many runners in the early part of the season ,i cut all mine off till the later part of the season when the fruit starts slow down ,hope this is of some help good luck in the future bob

Tumbledown,

Is now a good time of year to pin down the runners?

Sorry if this is a stupid question but I'm a complete novice, got my first allotment this week and I have strawberry plants in my mums garden in pots on the patio with lots of runners!

Thanks.

I've never started this late in the year but I should think if you pin them down now they'll still take root and be ready to plant out for the Spring. You've certainly got nothing to lose by trying.

Thanks Tumble down, I'm going to pin them tonight. I'm still digging and clearing my plot from the previous owner of it, I've only had my plot officially for a few days but I will definitely get my strawberries from the patio in the plot!

I had some runners off a neighbouring allotment holder.

His plants produced a fantastic crop of strawberries but very few runners and his soil looked distinctly poor (clay based over Old Red Sandstone) and could be said to be in need of humus and feed.

His runners grew into fantastic looking plants on my plot (of identical base soil) and threw out masses of runners, most of which I removed early on.
However fruiting was very poor and several weeks behind the original parent plants. But my soil is definitely much more fertile.

They are now into their third year and this year they yielded better but still nowhere near the yield of the original plants. I did cut away and remove all top growth early on in this season, which I am convinced improved the fruit yield.

I have come to the conclusion that for best fruiting yield strawberries should not be on rich soil. My theory is that the strawberry plants will try to propagate themselves primarily by runners on fertile soil, but by fruit is they are on poorer soil.

Has anyone else reached a similar conclusion OR is there an alternative theory?

Hi, I am not great at technical knowledge as I am self taught and just learn from experience, however my strawberry patch does both, it produces vast amounts of large fruit and sends runners absolutley everywhere to the extent I have them growing in the paths with fruit on.

I beleive my variety to be Cambridge Favourite (I think) I bought them as roots, they are grown ridged up and then strawed, this year I manured around them and got as good a result as last year when I didn't. I would say that the weather plays a large part you need just the right amount of rain for the fruit to grow, but no too much as then the fruit starts to rot. I am sure you know they should be changed every third year, so maybe introduce another variety and maybe plants of varying ages might help.

I produced 60lb of fruit last year and am on track to do similar this year.

Some time there is just no obvious reason for success or faliure, I am sure if you keep trying new techniques you will evetually find something that works for you.

Good Luck with the experiments

Hayley

I used to grow my strawberries inside old tyres, i filled the bit where the air would go with tightly packed screwed up newspaper, compost in the middle stood on black bin bags (on patio), built these in a pyramid, result=no slugs, roots kept warm by black rubber & a good crop of strawberries.

Hello
Let me say first of all the majority of my strawberries are a failure this year due to lack of rain. Here are a few tips to ensure a good crop
1 Make sure the ground is clean and well worked
2 Obtain plants from a reputable grower you can get early, medium and late varieties
If you buy from a reputable grower they will normally be dry rooted
4 Stand the plants in water containing general purpose fertillizer
5 plant out in rows 15-18" apart in rows 2ft apart being careful not to bury the crown of the plant At this stage keep moist but not soggy wet
6 After the plants are established water with half strength tomorite then when flower buds start to appear change to full strength tomorite
7 When the fruiting is about finished just give one feed of high nitrogen to help the plant produce good strong runners
8 I have a small Mantis which I use to work the ground between the rows after spreading superphosphate about 2ozs per yard run then peg down the runners
9 When planting out the runners only use the two nearest the parent plant
Best of luck
Lottyman
PS If you grow in beds the plants will become congested and weedy and produce fewer and smaller strawberries