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strawberry plants
Angela robinson3
Posts: 9
hi i was growing strawberry plants on my balcony they were doing really well had flowers and fruit but for the last few weeks they have wilted and some look dead is there anything i can do to bring them back also some have started to grow flowers again as well a bit confused
any tips or advice will be appreciated
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Posts
Angela depends on what size pots, if you are high, cold winds, have you had a frost lately, do they get enough sun and most important did they dry out. If in small pots they can dry out in no time with the wind or sun, they need to be not dry and not wet, stick a finger in the pot if it comes up clean add water, if muddy stop the water. I use ten inch pots one plant to a pot which up here in the NE are still in the greenhouse, they go out next week into a sunny sheltered spot.
clean up the plants remove any dead or dying material, repot into fresh compost, larger pots for bigger plants. They are hungry animals and mine get some well rotted manure in the base, organic fertiliser will do as well. If you are in a windy area try to shelter the pots but they do need direct sun. Runners pot into small pots and pin down leaving them attached to the main plant until new growth shows then cut the trailer, those will be brought on to fruit in year two and three. Most cultivated strawberries fruit well the second and third year then go back over, you may get fruit just not as much, I get rid of old plants having brought on plenty of runners. Do not worry too much about pot size anything from six inch up will do. Watch the watering and with luck you may yet get some fruit. If in doubt come back and ask.
Frank
we have not had frost lately as we live in the uk and it is summer now we have just this evening repotted them and have 1 plant for each plant the pots are about 6 inch do they need to be bigger we got advice from the garden center and they said they should be big enough
Good advise from Frank.
Also, if you've repotted them and not noticed any grubs in the compost then it's unlikely to be vine weevil, you would have seen them.
Also to add, if you have a number of varieties, different varieties flower at different times, pepetual strawberries flower twice unsually at the beginning of the growing season and again towards the end although the strawberries are smaller and there are fewer of them.
Angela, on Friday gone I had lunch in the garden and got slightly sunburnt, at five am that morning the temperature had been down to zero. Yes summer in England, in the NE where I live we have learned never to think the frost is over until June, then it comes and kicks us in the teeth. We all ask each other "what global warming" funny old world.
your pots are ok, I used bigger ones because they are there and strawberries are greedy, the more compost you can give them the better. Good luck Frank
thank you so much for advice it was really helpful we have repotted and removed all dead leaves yes we have new flowers on 2 of the plants should i pollinate them now or wait for a bit longer i must admit this is my first year in growing strawberry's and didnt realize how fragile and hard work it was to keep them going but enjoying it as well
many thanks
Angela
Angela, I leave to the insects to pollinate but then we are in a rural area. You can tackle them with a soft cotton bud or a feather, catching the bird to steal a feather gets you a sweat on, only kidding there are nests in my shrubs. It is up to you and the flowers have to be ready. Glad you are sorted an advice is what we do on here.
Frank.