How to Plant and Propagate your Strawberry

How To Plant Strawberries
It is important to plant strawberry plants to the correct depth - too low in the ground and the growing crown may rot, too high and the roots may dry out.

Use the diagram on the left as a guide and also see the real picture below it.

Click the picture on the left to enlarge it.

The left hand plant in the diagram above is too high and the roots may dry out. The right hand plant in the diagram above is too low and the roots may rot, the middle plant is correct (as is the real picture to the right). The plants should be planted to the same depth as they have grown in their pots.

Care of Strawberries
Strawberries need lots of water until they are well established but don't water-log them. When they are established (around May), they should be OK without additional water. But when the fruits start to swell, begin to water again.

Summer fruiting strawberries planted in spring and perpetual strawberries should have their first blooms pinched off to enable a good root system to be established. Strawberries planted in September (as recommended above) can be left to flower and fruit in their first summer.

Strawberries prefer a well-dug, free draining soil. If the soil is water-logged the plants will quickly attract a wide variety of mould disease. Feeding strawberries is not needed if you spread a layer of well-rotted compost around the plants in early spring. This will also help retain moisture without causing water logging.

If you want to feed the plants in the spring, use a weak solution of tomato feed which is high in potassium. Feeding with a nitrogen rich feed will only encourage leaf growth at the expense of fruit growth. The best time to feed the plants is when you see the fruits forming in late spring.

Because strawberries produce their fruit so quickly, it is not necessary to feed them - this makes it all the more important that the soil is prepared as described above.

In May, the plant will produce runners which have 'nodes' along them - these nodes are the beginning of new strawberry plants. The runners should be removed because they will sap the strength from the plant resulting in less fruit.

Where the plants are being grown under cloches, remember to open them wide during the middle part of the day so that insects can reach the flowers and pollinate them.

Protecting the Fruit
As the fruit begins to develop, their weight will cause them to lay on the ground. Before this happens (but no earlier than necessary), cover the soil around the plants with either straw or black plastic. Where plastic is used, it can be kept in place with stones - small holes should be made in the plastic to allow drainage and stop water gathering on it. The plastic or straw will prevent the fruits from lying directly on the soil which will rot them.

If you have a bird population in your garden, the plants should be protected (when the fruits begin to swell) with light weight plastic netting. This should be held clear of the plants by tying it to short wooden posts and securing the netting to them. A more permanent and effective solution to bird damage of many fruits is a fruit cage.

Click here to see a range of excellent quality and good value walk-in, heavy duty steel fruit cages.

Other walk-in fruit cages are available by clicking on the descriptions below:
Decorative Steel Fruit Cage
Aluminium Fruit Cage, by far the best on the market in it's class!
Timber Fruit Cage, for a more rugged natural look

Smaller fruit cages are also available below:
Steel Vegetable and Strawberry Cage, stands 1.2m high above ground
Steel Freestanding Veg and Strawberry Cage, easily moved around
Aluminium Vegetable Cage - the cost effective option

Container Growing Strawberries
Strawberries can be grown in all sorts of containers and their needs are the same. We recommend the specially designed strawberry planters with rings of neat holes - there is no need for the fancy ones, a basic one will do the job well.

First, prepare a layer of drainage materials (hardcore, broken bricks etc.) covering the base of the container for an 2.5 cm (1in) high. Cover the drainage layer with potting compost to the level of the lowest ring of holes.

For all but the smaller containers, it is vital to provide a central drainage core as well. Either make a wire mesh tube 10cm (4in) in diameter, and 10cm (4in) shorter than the height of the container; place it into the middle of the container and fill with drainage material. Alternatively use a plastic tube of the same diameter and height, place it in the container, fill with drainage material and remove the plastic tube when it is surrounded by potting compost.

Place the plants through the lowest level of rings and add more compost up to the next level of rings - continue until reaching the top. It is a good idea to gently firm the compost down as you go along, and water the compost at each level of rings to ensure it is fully moist.

Recommended Varieties
Recommending varieties of strawberries is difficult because so much depends on personal taste. However you will not be disappointed if you choose one of the varieties listed below. Click here if you want to buy your strawberry runners online now.

CAMBRIDGE FAVOURITE (summer fruiting)
The best example of how a summer strawberry should be. Lovely red medium sized fruits with lots of taste. This variety has been a gardener's favourite for generations.

MAE (summer fruiting)
Brand new in 2003 this variety produces very early fruits. Use poly-tunnels or cloches to protect the plants up to mid June ( click here to buy poly-tunnels / cloches online now) and this variety will provide you with strawberries as early as mid May. The fruits are large, firm and tasty.

FLAMENCO (perpetual)
Large tasty red fruit produced over a long season starting in June. Very good disease resistance.

Strawberry Diseases and Pests
The major pests and diseases of strawberries are aphids, red spider mite, slugs, powdery mildew and botryitis. Click here to go to the GardenAction Pests and Disease Control Center which has a section dedicated to strawberry pests and diseases.

How to Propagate Strawberries

Propagating strawberries is simplicity itself. Look out for runners as in the picture on the left (click picture to enlarge it).

Let the plantlet that forms at the tip of the runner root of its own accord. Then about three weeks after it has rooted, cut the runner, dig up the soil around the rooted plantlet and put it in a pot of normal potting compost.

Keep the potted strawberry plant in a light position, keep the soil moist and feed with a nitrogen based liquid fertiliser every two weeks. If the plants outgrow the pot (the roots start popping out of the base of the pot) then pot into a slightly larger pot.

Around September time plant the potted strawberry plant into its final position.

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