Strawberries

[Sniper-T]

So who grows em? what is your methodology? I've had several large patches for a few years now, and they produce next to nothing each year. The plants grow well, they flower like crazy, but then only a couple of small berries are produced, if anything. :( I've tried cutting them back, separating, placing straw and mulch between. I've tried pollinating by hand, and both prayer and voodoo dances.

What say you?

[helomech]

I have mine in aquaponics and in the spring I was getting lots of strawberries, but with the heat I am not getting any now.

[eagle326]

napalm them.

[ak474u]

We have vertical pvc pipe planters, and they didn't do well at all. I have 2 out of 26 still alive an making one berry at a time. They're just snacks for the boy now. Kinda gave up on the vertical method. We're gonna do an honest strawberry patch next year, and make the vertical planters into flower towers instead.

[bacpacker]

I dont have any right now other than in a large tub. When I had them in the ground, I always had them in a wide row. I kept them in a three year rotation. I would till out 1/3every year which seemed to regenerate them.

[Caveman Survival]

I have old rain barrels that i took the bottoms off then cut 4" diameter holes into all the way around (about 20 per barrel). Turned them up side down and filled them with soil. All of the bottom holes I plugged with strawberry starts (about 15 plants) and the upper holes I seeded with loose leaf lettuce. On the top I seeded with broccoli. When the lettuce grows is provides shade for the strawberries to avoid burning, and the broccoli provides shade for the lettuce to avoid bolting. I have had a nice harvest of berries and lettuce for a few years now. My broccoli never produces and stays as leaves, but that's alright, we don't really eat broc in our house and more use it as a shade cover and then compost.

As you know snipe, the winters here are horrible, so I wrap the entire barrel in burlap, stuff with leaves and when the snow falls I completely cover them in snow to insulate.

We don't get bushel upon bushels of berries, but we get enough to do up jams in the late summer or have fresh berries for salad at harvest.

It works for us

[helomech]

I have old rain barrels that i took the bottoms off then cut 4" diameter holes into all the way around (about 20 per barrel). Turned them up side down and filled them with soil. All of the bottom holes I plugged with strawberry starts (about 15 plants) and the upper holes I seeded with loose leaf lettuce. On the top I seeded with broccoli. When the lettuce grows is provides shade for the strawberries to avoid burning, and the broccoli provides shade for the lettuce to avoid bolting. I have had a nice harvest of berries and lettuce for a few years now. My broccoli never produces and stays as leaves, but that's alright, we don't really eat broc in our house and more use it as a shade cover and then compost.

As you know snipe, the winters here are horrible, so I wrap the entire barrel in burlap, stuff with leaves and when the snow falls I completely cover them in snow to insulate.

We don't get bushel upon bushels of berries, but we get enough to do up jams in the late summer or have fresh berries for salad at harvest.

It works for us



Would you mind posting a pic.

[Caveman Survival]

http://i1038.photobucket.com/albums/a467/cavemansurvival/4166278F-11A1-4175-8D1A-17E9E89F8895_zpsjxageb5i.png

[Caveman Survival]

@helomech The strawberries in this barrel are more on the right side. I wanted to keep the sun off the lettuce as much as I could to prevent bolting. My other barrel (sorry no pics) has a better distribution. But as you can see in a 2 x 2 area I can plant MULTIPLE plants

[helomech]

Awesome thanks. Been wanting to do something like this for a while now.

[Sniper-T]

interesting... may have to try that!

[Socalman]

I have no idea what the species of strawberries are that my wife grows. They are fairly small but very good! She has them in a small bed that was formerly tomatos and peppers.

[Domeguy]

I tried a raised bed measuring 4' x 8' last year and planted about maybe 50 plants. We had a hot summer, and even though they bloomed and put out runners, they only produced about 20-30 berries in total, and only about 1 at a time. I did not do anything to them over the winter. We had several nights in the single digits, and one or two near zero, but many of the plants stayed green and alive all throughout the summer. We'll just have to wait a few more weeks to see how they did.

[ak474u]

I planted 30 plants from root stock, about 8 came up, so I planted 18 more actual plants of a different breed and they're already making. I need them to do good this year. The box they're in is by far the most in-depth cedar box build I've done 3 tier 3'x6'x18"high. It's got about 1/2 a yard of really good soil in it and I buried the remainder of the soaker hose that's under the onion plastic into the box as well, so it should stay plenty moist. We've had strawberries stay alive thru the winter for several years before and they came back with a vengeance.

[Sniper-T]

My plants come back every year... and that is after a crazy assed deep freeze for many months.

I'm planting a bunch of flowers near the strawberry beds to try to lure in some bees. They only time mine have done ok is when I self poliniated them a few years ago.

The wife laid down the law about me running around in a bee costume rubbing flowers all over me that year! :(

[robsdak]

My plants come back every year... and that is after a crazy assed deep freeze for many months.

I'm planting a bunch of flowers near the strawberry beds to try to lure in some bees. They only time mine have done ok is when I self poliniated them a few years ago.

The wife laid down the law about me running around in a bee costume rubbing flowers all over me that year! :(

the wife sounds like a buzz-kill. if it works, do it.

[Sniper-T]

buzz a buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz....

[realist]

We plant them around the yard and they just grow. We do not have a formal garden when it comes to the strawberries. When my nieces and nephews come over we have them go out and get them like a Easter egg hunt. When they die back some I throw some good amended loam on a portion of them and they come back with a vengeance. Generally we get between 10 to 12 quarts of preserves a year from them.

[Domeguy]

I weeded the strawberry patch a few days ago and was very surprised to find so many of the plants alive and healthy. I lost some to the winter, and I don't know if the original or the runners survived, but I am happy with the results. There are green strawberry all over, and I ate 2 almost red ones today when I pulled out some more clover. It looks like this year will be a better year than the last.

[ak474u]

I hate you all, I have about 3 sad strawberries so far this year.

[Sniper-T]

me and you both pal... I have 90+ sf of gardens dedicated, and result in less than a dozen berries Grrr....

[ak474u]

me and you both pal... I have 90+ sf of gardens dedicated, and result in less than a dozen berries Grrr....

You have it even worse, you're in Canadia, and you have to worry about polar bears eating all your berries. Lol

[Sniper-T]

naw... around here it is black bears.

[ak474u]

naw... around here it is black bears.

Yeah, I was kidding. Lol. I know you have to worry about icebergs and avalanches too though.

[Sniper-T]

What is the scariest, is when things combine...

polar bears and iceburgs:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NyqkCsHHVHo/UPmTkW6LniI/AAAAAAAAD7A/c-Y4jZCCP-Q/s1600/polar+bear+on+iceberg.jpg

[ak474u]

What is the scariest, is when things combine...

polar bears and iceburgs:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NyqkCsHHVHo/UPmTkW6LniI/AAAAAAAAD7A/c-Y4jZCCP-Q/s1600/polar+bear+on+iceberg.jpg

See, al gore was right, that's the last iceberg with the last polar bear clinging to it.

[bacpacker]

ALGORE is a freaking IDIOT!

I sure you were all aware of that. But since the ASSHOLE claims to be from Tn, I felt it my duty to spread the word.

As far as Berries go, I used to grow a wide row of them. Maybe 36-40". Every year I would just till out a third of them. Runners would fill back in the next year. Complete turn over every three years.

[Sniper-T]

the last and the last?? shit I better stop shooting the bears and stop crushing the icebergs into my rum drinks. Damn! so much for my preps!

[Domeguy]

So I guess everyone's strawberries are or have come in. And we have all eaten as much of this delicious fruit as we can get. We make pies, jams, cover them in chocolate etc. But I am looking for something new to do with them, something out of the ordinary. Does anyone out there have any new ideas of what to do with a strawberry?

[jamesneuen]

I cut mine up for pancakes and such. I slice them really thin, 1/10th of an inch or 2.5 millimeters for our Canadian friend. Then put them in a jar with a couple tablespoons of sugar and let them sit for a few days. They make their own syrup kind of and it's delicious.

[bacpacker]

We like them sliced then and mixed with whatever other fruits we have on hand, cantaloupe, bannanas, blueberries, etc. Then put just a thin oating on Tupelo honey over them. Oh man that's good.

[realist]

Are strawberries are just coming in and they are taking over by the front lawn. I am just going to throw a bunch of amended loam on top of them and they will come in better. I have a large area out back I was going to lay down some gopher wire (aviary wire) and then cover it with compost and use the strawberries for a ground cover we can eat. They will surround our pomegranate trees. It does not matter if we step on them when harvesting the pomegranates, they will just come back. We are bless with great weather all we need is water.....

[helomech]

Ours are just starting to make strawberries now. Can't wait.

[Vodin]

They wont bear if it is hot, experience a cold snap, are not watered enough but not to much and they have a 3-5 year bed life. So it wont produce properly if the conditions are not near perfect.

[Socalman]

In past years we have not had a great deal of luck with our strawberries. Many years I never put any in. Last year my wife wanted some so she put in about a dozen plants in a small patch. We got some, but they tended to be a bit on the tart side. We had a mild winter even for So. Cal. and this year they are producing heavily and have a great sweet taste.

[Sniper-T]

mine are flowering steady, but producing nothing! :(

[ak474u]

Mine are making. They're a little tart, but still ok. I've gotten a few good ones. I guess daily rain for 26 days in a row helped.

[helomech]

Just starting to get some off mine. They where just planted a few months ago, but doing great. Got one off of the plants the other day and it was delicious.

[realist]

We are starting to get ours too. Another week and we will have a bunch.

[Katrina]

Ok all, need some help. Some of the leaves on our strawberry plants are turning red. Da Hubs isn't sure what's wrong but as he won't be back for awhile I've been keeping an eye on the garden, weeding watering, although as it's been raining for the last week , off and on,so I'm not watering a lot. Brussels (now that bunny has stopped eating the leaves), peas, carrots, maters and peppers are ok, Have all but one of the squash plants blossoming now. It's the strawberries I'm concerned with. Any suggestions?

[helomech]

These plants where just planted this year, and I got a few strawberries off it, but now not getting any berries, but the plants are going crazy with growth.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii247/helomech1973/11403298_10200746859590094_3562132749982226032_n_z pskjuaffo1.jpg (http://s266.photobucket.com/user/helomech1973/media/11403298_10200746859590094_3562132749982226032_n_z pskjuaffo1.jpg.html)

[Caveman Survival]

Ok all, need some help. Some of the leaves on our strawberry plants are turning red. Da Hubs isn't sure what's wrong but as he won't be back for awhile I've been keeping an eye on the garden, weeding watering, although as it's been raining for the last week , off and on,so I'm not watering a lot. Brussels (now that bunny has stopped eating the leaves), peas, carrots, maters and peppers are ok, Have all but one of the squash plants blossoming now. It's the strawberries I'm concerned with. Any suggestions?

Red leaves typically are a sign of disease, or old plants that are on their way to the strawberry patch in the sky. Either way odds are you won't get a harvest from these ones and they should be trimmed away.

S'berries don't like wet roots, and take care to space plants appropriately. Hopefully you can salvage the rest of your plants!

[Katrina]

CS,
Thank you will have DH trim them. They were supposedly new plants when he bought them. they are in a raised bed , mulched but with all the rain we've been having the roots could be too wet. I'll let DH know. We have one berry on one of the plants right now. Hopefully Bunny won't get it.

[Katrina]

Well the bun-bun got the one berry , I told DH about the leaves. He went out and cut the red ones out. Plants look much healthier now. The brussell's are doing great can't wait till the fall to get my sprouts. Our peas didn't do so good , hubs thinks between all the rain and the mulch he used, they drowned. The peppers are gone too but the tomatoes, Carrots, onions and squash are coming in great.
Thanks for the advice on the berries,CS much appreciated. Found plans to build lean-to greenhouse, hopefully we can get it built before winter.