Fresh strawberry pie, strawberry rhubarb pie, fresh strawberries, and strawberry freezer jam, just think of the possibilities if you had your own strawberry patch. Strawberries have to be one of the most popular berries grown in the home garden, yet I find that people know little about proper cultural practices concerning strawberries Most people mistakenly think home grown strawberries are small and yields are scant. Perhaps we need a refresher course on proper management of an existing bed and how to plant a new strawberry bed.
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| The bed on the left are Tristar and Ozark Beauties are on the right. |
- Strawberries produce best the first through fifth years
- Strawberries need well drained soil with lots of organic matter
- I prefer growing them in a 4x8 foot raised bed but they can be grown in rows. Rows are more difficult to manage.
- It's best to buy bare root plants in early spring. They are usually sold in bundles of 25
- Plant in multiple rows offset in a raised bed. Try to space plants 6-8 inches apart.
Planting and Early Care of Strawberries
- Work 2-4 inches of organic matter into the soil. Be generous and your harvests will be better.
- Also incorporate a dry organic fertilizer into the bed.
- During the first year, remove the runners with scissors
- This will encourage root growth and development
- Fertilize with fish emulsion the rest of the season
- Strawberries have shallow roots and require up to 2" of water when fruiting
- Infrequent and too little watering are the biggest reason for small fruit and small yields. Not thinning will also result in small berries.
- Strawberries are drought tolerant in a landscape setting but will not be productive when it comes to fruiting if drought stressed
- Mulch around the plants
- Keep weeds out
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| Harvest with caps and stems. Hopefully you have some left to take inside. |
- In winter, let the plants die back and leave them alone until spring
- In spring when they start to green up, remove all dead debris
- Thin plants back to 6-8 inches apart
- Thin each plant to 5-10 crowns per plant
- Sprinkle a dry organic fertilizer around the plants and side dress with a chelated iron and water thoroughly
- Add mulch around plants
June Bearing
- Need short fall days to initiate flower buds
- All flowers that are going to bloom next summer are set in the fall
- Produce one abundant crop in early summer
- Good large berries with a concentrated harvest over short time period
- They are classified into early, mid-season and late varieties.
- Varieties include Guardian, Earliglow, & Allstar
- Good for commercial growers or if you want a concentrated harvest for processing.
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| Real strawberries are red all the way through. |
- Initiate flowers in fall that produce the following summer
- Also initiate flowers during summer
- Produce second crop in summer until frost
- A good variety is Albion which is my all time favorite.
- Ever bearing are my favorite type of berry. You basically get berries from early summer until the first frost. The spring berries are smaller than the later berries.
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| Dehydrated strawberries are on of my favorite snacks. |
Day Neutral Varieties
Do
not require short day to initiate flowering
They
start producing once they reach a certain maturity level
They produce a larger crop in the early
summer and late fall
They
produce sporadic crop throughout summer
Good varieties include Tri-star & Tribute
Harvesting Strawberries
•Morning
is the best time to pick. Berries are
firmer
•Pick
with stems and caps on
•Refrigerate
as soon as possible
•Do
not wash or remove caps until ready to use them
•Carry
a ziploc bag
when you are harvesting. When you encounter a berries that have rot or mold put
in bag and throw away.
•This
will minimize spread of fungal disease
Freezing berries is easy. Individually quick freeze them on a tray lined with freezer paper then place in individual bags for use later in desserts, smoothies, of jams.
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