Strawberries

I have several strawberry plants. Several months ago, I bought two Chef Jeff June Bearing Strawberry plants from Anderson’s. I planted one of the plants in a hanging basket (the kind with the coconut husk basket) and the other in a 10 inch plastic pot. Then I absorbed three of Sandra’s plants that were planted in a shallow but very wide terra cotta pot.

The plant in the hanging basket has been sending out runners for the last two months. Runners are basically long vine-like shoots that will grow into individual plants after then root in the ground. The strange thing is that only the plant in the hanging basket is sending out runners, the sister plant in the regular pot has not had a single runner. I did cut off two runners and put them in a separate pot. They seem to have adapted well and are growing new leaves. But I decided to do some research because I am unsure of whether I should be cutting the runners off of my parent plant more frequently- particularly, do the runners stop the plant from producing fruit. The following are the answers I found:

An article on ehow.com explains the proper method of preserving strawberry runners. I apparently did not do it correctly when I simply put the runner in the pot…Apparently I am supposed to chill the runners after they root to encourage vigorous growth. Though, I am not too keen on this article because it does not give information about how long the runner should chill. But be wary of this chilling method because this was the only site that suggested chilling.

The Bonnie Plants website confirmed my theory that I should be snipping the runners to encourage more berry development. The June bearing plant I have, puts out a crop in early summer and then does not bear again for a while. However, there are everbearing plants that continuously produce strawberries, but have larger yields in Spring and late summer. Look for Ozark Beauty, Quinault, and Sequoia varieties for everbearing.

Predators!

Slugs like to eat strawberries and the leaves. But, my main problem is the darn birds!! I left for a weekend in June and some bird ate all my berries (I could tell from the peck marks!). So, sadly, I have only enjoyed a few of my strawberries. But those few were delicious. When you see strawberries beginning to ripen, use a lightweight bird net to avoid loosing your lovelies to birds. I lined the lip of my pot with foil to avoid more birds, but I am not sure if this was proper.

Fun Facts:

• Plants will last 3-4 years!
• You must keep the soil moist. Strawberries need lots of water to grow big juicy berries.
• Strawberries need at least 8 hours of full sun.
• Strawberry plants make great ground cover.
• Don’t try growing strawberries indoors, because they need to be pollinated by bees and other insects.
• Avoid growing Strawbs in soil that previously held other berries or tomatoes to avoid viral disease.
• Mulch with straw. Strawberries will rot on the ground, use mulch to avoid rotting and to hinder weeds.

Links

Bonnie Plants

Green Harvest

Learn about all the varieties of Strawberries here and here and here