There's a reason strawberries are among the most sprayed crops out there, Maria. Pay careful attention to the label on your insecticide to find out when, and if, it is safe to eat your berries after spraying.

We have slugs attack ours and it is hard to get rid of them too.

Maria, Here is what I will try next. Take a tomato topsy turvey planter & put strawberry plants in it & hang it from top of pergola in full sun. Paul M, I'm sure no slugs will get up there. Doug, can I plant strawberries this time of year or should I wait till later for my experiment?

@Maria: You need to find out what is doing the damage. Most caterpillars can be controlled with Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) and many other problem insectides can be tackled with a neem product.

@Sherrie: You should wait another month, until toward the end of September, to plant.

Good luck Maria & thank you Douglas.

The squirrels got mine!

O.K. I'm gonna blow all you Guy's away..I Have Strawberry's in My House and in My yard..LOL In hanging Baskets and on the Ground..you put Tuna cans in the Ground and fill them With Beer...OMG The Slugs LOVE it...My friends and I Go On Slug fest...Flash Lites in hand...I have a WONDERFUL southern expositor where the Strawberry's and Banana Trees Live Quite Well in the House....And Produce Nice Sz fruit..BUT...I Live in the Desert..we have a Lot More Sunshine Then Most and Very few slugs... Due To My TOAD population..

Squirrels got mine as well. Still looking for a solution, because I'm getting more blossoms..

Squirrels got mine too. Going to have to build a framed screen box to put on top.

I have mine fenced in with chicken wire to keep the bunnies & others out. And I've been told to put an fake owl by them too to scare off tritters, but I haven't & mine do great. My strawberry are done already for the yr. I don't use any pestasides on them!

I have issues with Slugs. I try and bait them, but every time I put a jar cap full of beer out to catch them it rains.

For slugs and snails, try cutting a 3 to 4 inch tall ring off of a plastic soda bottle, and place it around your plant. The slugs and snails will not cross the sharp surface. It also works around other veggie plants, peppers tomatoes eggplant etc.. You can save your beer for drinking, and it saves on chemicals too.

One other thing, if strawberry plant is to big for the plastic ring, you can cut 2 or 3 ring and tape them together to form a larger ring, just do not tape the top surface area.