A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 Need help with Straw Berries,,please..

Okay,,, last year my wife wanted a strawberry bed so I made her one,, it's about 4 feet wide and about 20 feet long,, we planted some kind of everbearing berries and got about 20-30 berries last year,,, but this year absolutely nothing! They are some very impressive looking plants,,, but ZERO strawberries,,, what is wrong?? any ideas??

Hey Roddewitz,
How many times did you pinch your runners?

Questions,
Did you let runners run?

Ok, like in spring, your plants green up, and fill out, flower and start producing berries....
After the first initial berry production, they have two they want to do, Produce and Multiply!!!
There's two ways the plant does that, is 1 by the berry itself, the seeds are on the outside of the strawberry....
And the 2 by sending out runners to produce more plants if the seeds fail to survive....

Now, by after setting fruit, and the fruit is picked, it knows it can't "continue" that way, so they start to send out the runners.....
IF you didn't pinch off the runners, they'll have thought they did their "plantly duty" and produced and multiplied...

Nowwwwwwwwwwwww, if you picked the fruit, and then snipped the runners, they are like, "HEY!!!
I got no seeds, I got no new plants, I gotta put out more seeds." and a second setting of fruit comes along.....
Hence the name, everbearing, but you must keep the runners snipped!!!!

I've also understand, you need to let them produce their runners every so many years *3*
And let the new plants produce...

And also, a good rule of thumb for planting them..
Is, half in and half out when you plant them..

Weezie

Well, we never pinched the runners, we just let them go and produce more plants,,that was last year,,, this year there were no runners,, no blossoms,,, nothing,,, but a big green plant. I was wondering about soil PH?? It's an elevated bed,, about 6-8 inches and I used purchased river bottom soil.. Any furhter ideas??

How did you plant them??

Did you know about the half in the dirt and half out of the dirt???
That's a probability??? Not 100% sure, for your case???

For the dirt, did you ever get it tested to find out your ph???
Just curious??

Did you ammend the soil with anything?
Compost??
Did you put in any fertilizers?
If yes, natural or chemical like???
IF the chemical kind, what brand?
*ie; Miracle Grow, and the numbers', ie; 18~2~2 or which ever the number might have been??*

Weezie

when we planted we just buried the roots and kept the crown thing above ground,,
No,, we didn't add any fertilizer,, we thought that river bottom soil would be fertile enough for at least a year or two,,the plants are actually large and quite healthy looking,,just no berries,,none,, and no we have not tested the ph.

what is a good fertilizer for strawberries? I don't know what "zone" I'm in but we are in Waterloo Iowa..

Planting sounds good!!
Many make the mistake of burying them too deep.
But sounds like you did ok!!!

The only fertilizer I use is COMPOST!!!
And newspaper, when I first set mine up....

And once in spring some "Spray~n~Grow" foliar spray *from QVC...* But not totally nessessary
just an additive..(It's a micronutrient, not a fertilizer...*) I don't use alot of it, only cause it costs a few bucks and I'm low on it)
But does nice, and it's organic, and I like that!

I'm not too sure of your planting zone either.
but I do know strawberries are pretty hardy..
(**the first year I bought a couple of 6~packs and never got around to planting them.... :rolleyes:
But they lasted no problem...

It may be, again, just taking some guesses here,
that the dirt may be too filled with Nitrogen,
*which makes the plant green and lush with growth*
And what you might need (next year) is some liquid fertilizer with a high middle number....
My own personal favorite is Schultz Plus 10~60~10.
Any one with a high middle number *again, NEXT YEAR* should do the trick...
Also, find some organic fertilizer, Alfalfa Meal (2~7~0) would be a good one...
And mix that into the dirt/soil...
And side dress with some compost!!

Okay, next question, how much sun do they get??

Weezie

It gets about 4-5 hours of direct sunlight each day,,, the rest is indirect light,, the same as our regular garden wich did incredibly well this year,, more tomatoes, beans and cucumbers than we've ever had,,,. I think you might be right on the nitrogen idea cause these are some rather large leafy plants,, and I like the compost thought too.. Can I add it this fall or should I wait till next spring? Last thought,,, if I cut down one tree I could add another 3 hours of direct light..

I'm sorry I didn't get back to this post....
I'm always a day late and a buck short!!

Anyhow, I, for myself, put the compost on in the spring.
The compost has some manure in it and it's got some nitrogen in it, which supplies good green growth to the plants....and you don't want to encourage them to grow in the fall or winter....

The compost, can be put on in March or April???
Depending the warm up and when spring~spring's...

I don't believe it would hurt the strawberries to have MORE sunlight, they do like it....
They're planted right out into widddddde open fields here....

Weezie

WOW! I just learned a lot about MY strawberry bed that had NO berries this year! I am so glad OTHER people ask questions I need answers to so I wont always be the one driving you crazy!!! but, my question is....what do I do to the bed for winter? Mulch it, nothing,??? And should I go ahead and start pinching off the runners now? I also have big healthy green plants producing a million runners. You guys are the BEST...just a wealth of knowledge!!!! Thanks!!!

This was helpful for me also. My strawberries produced and produced and produced this year, while my mother's didn't. She lives about nineblocks from me, so I know it wasn't the weather or climate.

Thanks Everybody!!!!!

4Ruddy,
Sorry I missed this post!!!
I don't do anything to them, and I've never mulched...Those plants are pretty gosh darn hardy!

In the spring time, I'd clean up the dead debris from the plants that accumalate over the winter...
put some fresh compost on the sides of them...
And watch the runners...*and the wood chucks around here eat them like crazy!!!

Hey BoothX3,
Glad to have helped!!!
Strawberries are soooooo delicious and relatively pretty easy to do... Glad you had a good outcome!!!

Weezie