I’ve tried strawberries now every year and usually get only a handful. small, too. common wisdom of pulling first year flowers, mulching and feeding, etc. do not do much for me. they do tend to survive winter but no fruit like I see other people getting.
what are your best tips for getting more from them? what do they really like?
I have quintalt, a kind of “everbearing”, and white pine berries. some in full sun, some in partial.
suggestions, tips, your grandma’s advice, I’ll take it.
I have mine bedded in sphagnum moss + iron oxide precipitates from the mine drainage treatment systems I maintain and they are doing very well amongst the blueberries this year, forming a significant and decisive groundcover as I had hoped for. I may need to thin/move them so they don’t snuff out the lingonberries they are sharing a spot with.
I sprinkle mine lightly from time to time with urea, and this year with Milorganite too. Keep them weeded. Compost sprinkled over them is good.
those are amazing!
is this full sun? part sun?
@masbustelo compost will be good, from what I hear - I did compost on one patch last fall but it’s yet to do better. may try again
Flamingo, June bearing in full sun in the backyard below grade from the asphalt driveway on a hill, so they get plenty of warmth and the moss layer retains plenty of moisture for the roots while keeping a fairly dry crust on top that seems to limit the berries rotting like I’d expect. If it ain’t broke…
Be careful of malorganite as its been fpund to have sognificant levels of PFAS in it.
I had quinault which didn’t do well. Seascape is a great variety I have them sharing a raised bed with a mature blueberry bush produces continuously until November in Western OR.
Are you growing in ground? I am growing 9 bare root ones in 3 gal pots. I had 10 but gave one to my mother in law after I had a rabbit eat one to the rhizome and pooped in the pot. I had put a cage over them but only 9 fit lol. Started in December or January and getting quite a few berries each week between the 9. The variety is Albion.
All I did was cut the first runner off and let them fruit and grow. Started them with an organic fertilizer and osmocote plus. Soil is peat moss and other mineral based stuff like Top Pot Laguna Hills Nursery. I water them everyday and have found them to be pretty easy to grow.
I’ve grown several varieties over the years but have kept a single one that’s behaving as a weed and is capable of spreading itself even in crab grass. This year it seems to fruit very well on the young plants that I’ve transplanted under fruit trees and bushes between frosts earlier this spring. They like mulched or moist soil and the less pampering I give the better. I have polyculture beds in near full shade and seen to like it there as well. I let them do their thing and only clip off the runners once new plants root so the patches don’t get tangled up.
Im done with strawberry beds myself… im growing them in pots now. The berries overflow on the sides and i pick them and eat them… Thats about as much as i could ask for.
Ive tried dozens of varieties… im down to Charlotte, Mara De Bois, Sweet Kiss and im trying Eclair. Sweet Kiss (aka. Buddy in Europe) is probably my favorite… it pumps out the berries and is super hardy…and tastes great. Eclair interested me because it has a raspberry taste to it supposedly.
I think your main issue might be the varieties that you are growing.
The Pineberries probably need a pollinator and I doubt that the Quinault will do the job. I planted some that I bought from Nourse Farms back in 2016 and they sold them with the pollinator, Sonata. They actually do not sell whites any more, probably because they do not produce all that well. I actually do not even pay attention to the ones that I planted. I need to go out and see if I got any this year, but I digress…
Other questions to ask, where are your strawberries located in your growing space? Are they in full sun (6-8 hours of light daily)? Is the soil dry? Are you feeding them too much N? Are they weedy?
I don’t do much to my strawberries. I have them in full sun. I mulch the ones that are not growing in black landscape fabric lightly with pine wood chips that I get for free from a tree service company. I apply this mulch on the whole area late fall or early winter. I do not remove the mulch, the strong younger plants will push through the mulch and the older weak plants will die and compost the younger plants. In this way, I never have to replace the bed, they replace themselves. That tip came from Back to Eden Gardening.
Every blue moon (3-4 years), I might sprinkle on some composted sheep/hay manure that I get from my neighbor in the fall. I also try to go through in the spring and pull the few weeds that make their way in the patches.
That’s about all I do and I get an abundance of strawberries each year. We have a working farm, so I sell them at the farmers market.
You may want to consider buying different strawberry varieties to figure out which ones do best for you. Here soon, companies like Jung should be marking them down 50% off. You can still plant them, you just need to make sure that you keep them watered until they get well established.
Hope that helps. 
I pull all flowers and runners the first year…until the plants get well established, large, healthy…
Then late summer early fall may let each plant send out and set one runner…
The next year I do the same as long as there is extra space to fill in.
Most strawberry varieties will way overproduce by runners if you let them and that reduces fruit size and quality.
Keep that to a minimum… and they will produce some nice berries for you.
Earliglow from a new bed started last spring.
I have several surecrop strawberries spread around and the Earliglow ripen early and in a short window… and the surecrop start ripening just after Earliglow stop… and the surecrop ripen over a longer timeframe.
Those two work well together to extend the fresh strawberry eating.
Mine didn’t do too hot first two years but this year they’re loaded with berries, at least a hundred immature berries right now in my plot. Last year there was very little sun with the rain+ smog from wildfires so it was a bad year.
Keep them weeded, I use grass clippings and horse bedding straw/hay and I think it’s crucial. I’ll fertilize this year but I haven’t ever fertilized yet. Mine are everbearing, they usually produce till second or third frost so this year might be a big crop. Id say wait and fertilize and mulch are very important things you can do.
This is how I setup a strawberry bed. Fine wood chip for mulch.
Those Earliglow plants were started early last spring and by late June were big and stout… all blossoms were pulled… and all runners were pulled. They were huge healthy plants…
Location is full sun… lots of compost in that bed.
Get them to that point and they will make some nice berries for you.
so much good information, thanks everyone.
mine get some shade which may be part of the problems. the white are the only ones that reliably set fruit!
I’m going to the feed and seed this week and they have the bare roots, so I’ll be picking some up- right now mine are planted in a mulched area but it gets maybe too much shade. I’ll try the others in a mounded or slightly raised bed area with more sunshine.
I pull runners and flowers the first year, until fall then allow a few runners to plant themselves. I’ll probably strip all runners and flowers when I put these new ones in and see if that helps.
I plan to get a bag of good mulch to start them off with too. I think I’ll need to get whatever variety is available; a local suggested the quinault to me last year, because my everbearing weren’t working out.
thanks all! and I’m still listening if anyone else grows them really well.
I
. Try adding some June bearing types. I think a little easier to grow. Mine just now are ripe. I’m having a good year. Blow away store bought. It took me awhile to find cultivars that were unique, and work well in my area.
Archer and old North Sea heirlooms harvested 5-2-24
I think some shade from afternoon sun should be helpful, I had a patch of June bearing (my guess Hood variety) planted under blueberries and a maple tree facing east which only received morning sun. They did produce quite well. I planted a few Puget Crimson this year in the same spot which re June/July bearing. Between Seascape overbearing and newly planted June bearing we should have enough to eat and make some jam.
I like growing white D pine berry because it’s so well adapted to my area. It keeps spreading by itself.
Most are finishing up now, June bearing.
Todays selection….
my trip to the store, no strawberries, they ran out. I may try some June bearing for next year
Several years ago I bought mara des bois at North 40, last year I bought a couple different strawberries to try. They were in the small pots so I didn’t have to buy a bundle that would be too many. Already in bloom and ready to go. One had sweet in the name and was really good. I tried them in rain gutters but they were always dry and did not do well. I put them in the ground last fall and they are doing well this year. I also have two tires I put strawberries in. Easy to cover to keep out deer and birds, also grass as I put old plywood under them.
