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Planting strawberry plants
ian thenut
Posts: 55
in Talkback
Hi,
I bought some strawberry plants earlier in the year, mixed varieties, all grew fine, no issues.
I decided to grow some more plants from the runners.
Basically i want to fill a small flower bed with strawberry plants for next year.
Can i plant them now and leave them or do i have to keep them inside so they dont freeze in winter?
Ta
0
Posts
I agree, plant them out now. Strawberries require a cold period to produce well and are completely hardy. The longer they have to develop a goot root system now, the better future crops will be.
Cheers guys.
Bed made. Flowers planted.
Bought 5 plants this year, just planted 23
Didnt realise id grown that many.
This is the best way to get your new plants - you'll never need to buy another one if you peg down some runners each year! Remember to discard your plants once they've flowered for 3 years max as the crop won't be very good after that. I generally discard mine after 2 years for optimum results. Try potting up a few runners and keeping them under cover for a really early crop. You can't beat a freshly picked strawberry all warm and fragrant.
If you haven't already dug it in underneath them, spread a load of garden compost on the soil between the plants - strawberries love compost.
I agree with Dorcas (someone was up really early!) about runners, but would add two ...er...riders: you might find that the plants get virus diseases after a few years and then you will need to burn and replace them; and the bed should be moved every few years as well. This latter is easily achieved by pegging the runners into pots and then moving them when they've rooted.
And don't be too greedy - a couple of runners per plant is enough, certainly for any plant you want fruit from next year; the 3-year-olds can be exploited to their maximum before discarding them. After they've fruited.
Don't forget to take off all the old leaves in the autumn.
Steve309 , I am just about to do a new strawberry bed on my allottment with runner from 2 year old plants , have to say been a really good crop this year
but I note on you notes and also read in a book about taking off old leaves , is that on the existing plants and not the planted runners once ?will they need any winter protection?
as you can tell I am new to strawberry growing