plant them in the strawberry potting mix, I did last year and we had a great crop of strawberries, either that or give them some strawberry food and make sure the plants are surrounded by straw so that the strawberries dont touch the soil
patrick.star,
Oct 7, 7:17am
thank you, should I use pea straw!
robyn35,
Oct 7, 7:29am
yip pea straw is great, are you planting in the ground or in containers, if containers make sure they dont dry out and the straw isnt needed until the strawberries start to appear after the plants have flowered
mikee6,
Oct 7, 7:31am
.or,try using weed-matting peg it down cut holes and put the Strawberry plants in works brilliant.
robyn276,
Oct 8, 4:17am
then put crushed shells around the area, that stops the snail from getting to them.
gardie,
Oct 8, 6:57pm
Yes - this keeps the fruit off the ground but the water just does not get through the weed mat sufficiently and the ground underneath can bake.We removed the weedmat we put down last year - even after all the rain we had, it was quite dry underneath.(And yes, it was definately weed mat!).
We brought some pea straw pellets (Tui brand) to place around them this year - holding the moisture in beautifully.Pea Straw is not available in our area unfortunately.
poppy500,
Oct 12, 1:45am
Keep them moist e.g. regular watering when dry mulch them- pea straw, straw or even pine needles (free) they like the acidity apparently. Mulch keeps moisture in and fruit clean and off the ground, use slug bait if slugs are a problem, nets for birds- peg the nets right down so the birds can't sneak under it and fertilise plants regularly (Tui strawberry food and/orblood and bone or citrus fertiliser). Don't let the plants send out runners until the end of the season when you want to multiply plants up (runners can be due to deficient levels of either phosphorus or potassium but I can't remember which) or too much nitrogen or too dry/ wet and other causes of stress. Good luck.
maegit,
Oct 12, 5:08am
You can use pine needles for mulch. strawberries like them because they are acidic (I like them because they are free! and they go around my blueberries too). Plus if you put the pine needles down when you plant the strawberries it stops weeds so one less job to do. I usually feed them a lot (by the way, soggy sheep pellets are apparently not nice between the toes!). Havent tried the strawberry food yet but it does seem to be popular. I looked on the back of the pack to see what was in it. And like above, dont forget to water! Its the runners that stop them fruiting so try to keep up with them (I have about 100 plants so they eventually get the better of me!). And plant them on mounds. keeps the crown dry so it doesnt rot. I think with weed mat the commercial growers have irrigation set up which might be why relying on rain or handwatering doesnt work so well.
utegirl7,
Oct 12, 7:02am
Didn't even know strawberries after flowerin' need to be off the soil usin' straw, pea straw etc. Am pleased I saw this thread. Am growin' strawberries for the first time and they are in the pots by front door. Can anyone else explain why it is necessary to keep the fruits off the soil! Is it necessary to have straws etc when the fruits are about to come out from flowers! What are the runners! Does that happen after strawberries are ripe or ! I have so much to learn! Thanks for this thread =D
robyn276,
Oct 13, 3:45am
Apparently they do well in hanging baskets. Apparently the birds don't get to them. Plant one plant per basket and the fruit hang down and easy to pick and are clean. Going to give it a go this week.
I already have a Strawberry bed but going to try the new named plant, can't think what they are called.
maegit,
Oct 13, 5:56am
Keeps the bugs and dirt off them lol The ones outside the strawberry patch dont have anything around them (theyre the escapees from the runners. they are multiplying everywhere!)
utegirl7,
Oct 14, 8:15am
Thanks for the tip. What shall I do with the escapees the ones that multiplying! Do that happen after flowering or after strawberries! Can I nip and seperate them to grow more strawberries!
hazelnut2,
Oct 15, 6:09am
I saw strawberries planted in rockbeds, inbetween the rocks.keeps the fruit clean too! lol
lil_toes,
Oct 15, 7:43am
you guys say straw or pine needles . . . . how about small, light bark!
dirtroom,
Oct 15, 8:32pm
The shoots coming off the plant that produce small plants generally find themselves a bit of dirt and start growing in it (or you could direct them where you want). once established you can cut the shoot from the parent plant. Towards the end of the season they seem to grow like weeds trying to mass produce! Supposedly they fruit best on the second year plants and with the new plants you can replace old ones or expand your numbers. You'll soon work out which are shoots and which are fruit. shoots will travel quite a long way. Checked my plants yesterday and I think I might have a battle keeping up with them. the older plants have up to 50 flowers each and they arent even very big plants, just lots of flowers!
raebea,
Oct 16, 9:14am
another good idea for keeping strawberries clean & off the ground is carpet. I cut strips of old carpet & put between the plants- stops the ground from drying out, keeps the weeds away, so saves a lot of work as well. The rain soaks through it quite well, & clean berries on top.
julz29,
Oct 17, 6:29am
A lady told us she grows hers in a piece of gutter with both the ends make some holes in an sticks it to the fence an they grow great, with strawberry food.so going to give this a blast
macandrosie,
Oct 18, 7:12am
the idea of pea straw is if it gets wet you put the straw under the plants to keep the strawberries off the soil or they can rot. Sit the strawberries on the straw.
edenrose,
Oct 19, 12:30pm
Last season I grew mine in hanging baskets on the deck, (under the the clearlite roof) the birds still found them.I blew up a couple of balloons and attached them to baskets with ribbons (blew in the breeze and scared the birds away) worked a treat.Hardest part was keeping baskets watered enough, water running straight through.Planted them with water retaining crystals this year, should work better!
patrick.star,
Nov 4, 6:07am
So many great ideas, thanks a billion. Ive used peastraw as a mulch and also covered my stawberry patch with a net, the birds were still getting in and under the sides, so have now made it more secure and have put some xmas tinsel over the net to scare them away. Lots of flowers and strawberries on my plants.Yippee, kids love them and me too.
leanne1980,
Nov 4, 6:45am
We have just let us go free - best crop ever!
jag5,
Nov 4, 7:49pm
If your baskets dry out (any hanging basket) take down and sit in a container of water.one big enough to take the basket submerged.can add liquid fert as well.Leave them to sit until completely wet.Best to do this regularly to prevent them drying out altogether.I know through the summer, I can be watering mine twice a day.Big job if you have a lot of baskets.
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