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Early Flowering Strawberry

februarysgirlfebruarysgirl Posts: 835
in Fruit & veg
I bought some Just Add Cream strawberry plug plants which arrived Saturday. I potted them on into 9cm pots with peat free compost on Sunday but I now unexpectedly have this.



This is my first year growing strawberries and from what I recall from a video I watched, strawberries should initially be fed with a nitrogen feed to start with and then when the flowers appear, switch to potassium. So far this is the only one of the strawberry plugs to flower, but the others probably won't be far behind. I'm going to be planting them into their forever pots next week, what is the best thing to feed them with? 

Also, please pretend the dead aubrietas in the background aren't there.

Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I'd take any flowers off at this stage ,so that they get a chance to build up the root system well. Normally, you don't let them fruit the first year, unless they're bigger, more mature plants to start with. 
    Once you have them in their bigger pots - and that's only when the roots are sufficiently big enough to do that, you can use any type of feed suitable for flowering/fruiting plants. Tomato food is ideal. Even the slow release granular stuff will do if you have it. 
    I wouldn't bother with anything else - the compost you have then in will be providing enough nutrition just now.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • februarysgirlfebruarysgirl Posts: 835
    Dammit, I just knew someone was going to say that 😭😂 I can see OH pouting about this 😆
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    februarysgirl said:
    Dammit, I just knew someone was going to say that 😭😂 I can see OH pouting about this 😆
     :D 
    If you want, and you have a fair number of them, you can always leave a couple and let them flower. You'll get runners quickly enough for growing on, so it probably isn't the end of the world to  let a couple fruit this year.
    My sister used to do that, but it possibly depends on variety. She had Elsanta though, which is a prolific fruiter and used commercially. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • februarysgirlfebruarysgirl Posts: 835
    I have three of them so not that many. Would have loved more but the pots they're going into are only 20cm so can't have more than one plant per pot. 

    The homemade strawberry ice cream will have to wait for a year!
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    That's a shame. It's sometimes worth buying a couple of decent sized plants, so that you get fruit this year, and can get runners later on, which will be a better size for fruiting next year. 
    Strawberries are on roughly a three year cycle, so a young plant this year will be better next year, and even better the following one, assuming they have adequate food and water.  Doing that then gives you a continuation of viable plants. The original plants will be less productive after they've had two or three years of fruiting.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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