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Strawberry Pots-What Size Please ?
NewBoy2
Posts: 1,813
in Fruit & veg
I will soon have the following plants and wish to place them in pots on my patio...old garage base really !
5 x Vibrant
5 x Marshmello
5 x Malwina
? What size pots will I need....depth and width
Thanks friends
Everyone is just trying to be Happy.....So lets help Them.
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NewBoy2,
1) It is best to put Strawberries up high to escape the snails and they still get there, low down you can lose the lot in a night.
2) If they are new plants they do not fruit well the first year six inch pots with good compost will do.
3) I find using 9inch deep trays about four feet long with plenty of drainage and good compost best for second year plants four to a tray.
4) once fruited put pots or trays in a sheltered place and let them rest any runners should have been put in pots and held down until rooted then cut from the mother plant and grown on as above.
5) Clean up the plants in Autumn and put back in a sheltered place ready for the next year, I check the roots at this time too
6) two fruiting years is the norm though I have had five from some plants. Better to take as many runners as possible and increase your bed that way with fresh plants.
7) Midnight raids with a torch and a bucket of water with what ever you use to kill the little blighters and you will still lose some even on staging.
Good luck Frank.
Thanks Frank
I thought you were an engineer by the way you gave me brilliant instructions
No 2.............6 inches is the width.......what depth Frank
No 7.............I will research what to use for snails
Many thanks
I have put my strawberries in a hanging basket and hung it on my apple tree, an idea I 'stole' from someone on t's forum who told me she does the same (Bizzie Lizzie I think!)
I not only have to protect mine from snails and mice but also my beagles who love stealing the strawberries!!!
Palaisglide, when you say 'shelterd place' could they be put in the GH over the winter?
I've grown strawberries in troughs on a fence in the past which helps keep pests off. If you have small plants it might be better to buy a bigger pot and put three in together which will save watering lots of small pots too.
They're hardy OL so just tucked in beside a house wall or a little corner somewhere out of sight. If you're stuck, you could put them in there over winter but they don't need protection.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I had intended (when I eventually build my veg plot - all these ideas, so little time...) to put strawberries in the ground (well a slightly raised bed). It sounds like this is a bad idea? Should be looking for something raised to reduce pests eg a veg trough?
I think you can grow them in the ground Supernoodle, I have done, it's just I think it is easier to keep pests away if raised up. I still had good fruit from the ones in the ground, until the dog ate it!!!
Here is my basket, only planted on Sunday so needs to grow out a bit.
Thanks FG, we moved the shed over before putting the GhHH up so I have paving between the shed/GH and at the back of the GH too, lots of room for protection from wind where they can go
Strawberries are fine in the ground as long as you weed them and use straw when the berries appear
Black plastic or membrane is fiddly and time consuming to apply
Its just that I have allocated ALL of my allotment and garden for other stuff
NewBoy2,
1) Correct was an engineer all my life. Now retired.
2) a six inch pot is six inches up down sideways on end.
3) A sheltered spot can be up against a wall, under a bush beside a fence, they are hardy and overwinter outdoors. I bring a few into the greenhouse early spring to get early fruit, you can only do that once.
4) They will grow on in the ground and many do it that way as I did when I had stacks of room, as my old Dad used to say sow one row for the beasties, one row for the birds and two rows for yourself, he would finish we all have a purpose and all have to live. We are discovering now you cannot live without insects and other members of the food chain including us if lions are loose.
Frank.
I like that last saying Frank
So very true.
In the ground is fine of course Supernoodle I used to grow mine in amongst other ornamentals and I've just planted a few I got last autumn into one of my new raised beds in the same way.
Putting straw underneath the fruits is to keep them clear of the soil (and therefore nice and clean and dry ) and to help prevent damage from slugs as they're off the surface of the soil. It doesn't have to be straw though. I've used woodshavings in the past.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...