Asked on Jul 18, 2013

Raising Strawberries

Judy
by Judy
Someone told me to place the strawberry runners back into the main row of strawberries, rather than letting them branch into another spot. Is that a good idea? My strawberries are in two rows, but I want to make sure I'm doing this right, so that I get a crop of berries each year. I hear that the plants bear 3 years. What do you do? http://www.cranberrymorning.blogspot.com
Strawberries in my garden.
  8 answers
  • Cindy Cindy on Jul 18, 2013
    My father grow prize winning strawberries and sold to a candy maker. You can do as been suggest to you but your new plant will be competing with the old plant unless removed after harvest and the soil will be tired. If you want no break in your harvest the best thing to do is start new in another area and give the soil a rest that is growing now and switch back and forth. Your plants will be strong and also the yield. Start new runners two yrs. into your yielding plants and you will have no down time. Just a tip, use planting plastic over your row mounds and place straw over that. Feed the soil before planting. Find the proper mix on line...been so long I forget. He did use plant lyme. He would put some in a bulap bag and walk down the rows and shake over the whole plant, he had about an acre...slugs love strawberries and they don't like lyme. Good luck
  • Judy Judy on Jul 18, 2013
    Thank you, Cindy! This sounds like just the advice I was seeking. One more thing: Do you know why some of the berries are large, but most are small?
  • Douglas Hunt Douglas Hunt on Jul 19, 2013
    University of Wisconsin-Extension has a 24-page booklet on growing strawberries that should answer just about any question you might have, Judy: http://milwaukee.uwex.edu/files/2010/05/GrowingStrawberriesA1597.pdf
  • Judy Judy on Jul 19, 2013
    Thank you. I will check into that!
  • Melissa Gutilla Melissa Gutilla on Jul 19, 2013
    I planted the everbearing strawberries this year. They are on there second round of producing and from what I have read I should get one more before fall. I guide my runners to a second row. I planted one row from plants bought at the nursery the whole second row are the runners. So far out of six plants bought I now have 12 and they look beautiful and are currently producing about 75-100 berries per round. I did plant them in a raised bed and added manure, moss and I add coffee ground every so often. Not sure if I'm doing it right but seems to be working! I also cut the runners off the original plant once they have rooted so it doesn't continue to feed it.
  • Ruth Ashworth Ruth Ashworth on Jul 21, 2013
    JUDY ! Please let me know what u find out, mine are also that some are large, but most are small
  • Cindy Cindy on Jul 22, 2013
    There are many reasons for small berries. Too close to each other... should be 6-8 in. apart. They should be fertilized twice a yr. The breed of your plant. They need as much sun as possible and consistent water. The first year in some breeds, the blossom should be snipped off to let the root get good growth. It is important to know your plant, how to tend it and what can be expected from it. And what it expects from u...Fertilize and water is the biggie....good luck.
  • Judy Judy on Jul 22, 2013
    Thanks so much. I have been good with the watering, but not the fertilizing. They are in full sun on sandy loam. But they are probably too close together. Thanks for the info!