Strawberries over winter

[theinsidegardener]

This is my first year growing strawberries so I bought and was given a few strawberry plants (now 9 in total) which I have in a large box container in the garden. I was just wondering if there is anything I need to do with them over winter? Do the leaves get cut back? Should I cover them when the weather goes below zero? I have no idea what type of strawberries they are.

[Jasmine]

They should be fine as they are theinsidegardener. Come the spring the leaves will have died back and they just pull away so you can tidy the plants up and new growth will appear.
They say strawberries only last about 3 years so next summer it may be a good idea to grown on some runners - you can do this several ways - and then you'll have some new plants to take over from your old ones.
I take runners by cutting them off the parent plant and putting them in a jam jar of water. They will quickly make new roots and can then be potted up.
Good luck with yours.

[theinsidegardener]

Thanks Jasmine thats great to know, will try and remember about the runners. Hopefully they will be tasty and I'll want to replicate them lol.

[Barbara]

Good luck with them Insider, I plant the runnerd into little pots at the side of their Mother.

[Chuckles]

This year I put my 3 strawberry hanging baskets and a tub on one of the raised beds and have let the runners grow down and root into the soil, come spring I'll cut them off, dig them out and pot them up

I normally let mine die back naturally and just cut off leaves that look manky, they then get trimmed and tidied when new growth starts in spring

[theinsidegardener]

Thanks Barbara Chuckles, that's exactly what I wanted to hear, no work til Spring lol.

[andy]

Mine are showing some particularly lovely autumn colour at the moment

[theinsidegardener]

yes I'm delighted with mine too andy. I think I will move the box that I have them in over the next few days, but I'm glad not to have to do anything else with them til Spring!

[Dutchy]

Hi Inside, mine sit under fleece but I can get severe frost either end of December or in February. As I planted only in October, too late really out here the fleece was the best option and it is no work at the moment.

I hope all strawberries do well for us next year.

[theinsidegardener]

Strawberries are quite expensive in the shops here Dutchy so I'm hoping for a bumper crop!

[Dutchy]

I fully second that theinsidegardener .
Out here strawberries can break the bank as well and then they do not taste half as nice as the ones you pick at the allotment. ( with the sun in your face, a mild build up of sweat on your back and a good feeling about doing something for your food that does not imply transport from half around the globe... )

[theinsidegardener]

haha, my thoughts exactly Dutchy.

[Chuckles]

Nov 30, 2013 17:22:32 GMT Chuckles said:

This year I put my 3 strawberry hanging baskets and a tub on one of the raised beds and have let the runners grow down and root into the soil, come spring I'll cut them off, dig them out and pot them up

I normally let mine die back naturally and just cut off leaves that look manky, they then get trimmed and tidied when new growth starts in spring

Over the last couple of weeks I've potted on at least 20 runners from the above.  GN (great nephew) has potted on 8 of the biggest to take home at some point and plant up in a trough on thier garage wall, he eats them as soon as they ripen

The rest I've put in an oblong trough and a few of the smaller ones are now in pots.  The plants from last year have been trimmed up and given a feed and fresh compo put on the top and the baskets are hanging up on brackets around the chicken run

[Rosefriend]

Done all my strawberries as well - decided to put them on my working table so that they can hang better...due to the mild winter they have done very well..



RF

[Missredhead]

My daughter bought me a pot with strawberry seeds in the sale last year, I sowed the seeds and stuck the poy in a pot hanger on the fence and forgot about them..looked today and there is definitely some rowth there..will take a pic tomorrow to show you. I am surprised though as there isnt a hole in the bottom of the pot and with all that rain we had I thought anything in there would have 'drowned'

Yours are looking good RF

[Jasmine]

Very lush looking strawberries theinsidegardener and well done with the strawberry seeds Missy.

At the boys' old primary school I grew strawberries in one of those huge veg trugs. We were lucky and one of the children at the school was the daughter of a local GC owner so he gave a veg trug to each class...I was always waiting for him to give me a veg trug for my school gardening efforts Anyway, I'd still love one for my strawberries...am wondering if my birthday money would make it enough!

[theinsidegardener]

Gosh Rosefriend your strawberries are looking very lush indeed. Mine seem to be in pretty much the same state I left them in at the end of last year though I should probably be thankful they are not any worse off!

[Ladygardener]

Don't worry theinsidegardener, they'll soon pick up when the weather gets a bit warmer.
Rosefriend those look great, they were inside the growhouse over the winter were they?

[Rosefriend]

Mar 25, 2014 10:31:38 GMT theinsidegardener said:

Gosh Rosefriend your strawberries are looking very lush indeed. Mine seem to be in pretty much the same state I left them in at the end of last year though I should probably be thankful they are not any worse off!

Mar 25, 2014 16:10:03 GMT Ladygardener said:

Don't worry theinsidegardener, they'll soon pick up when the weather gets a bit warmer.
Rosefriend those look great, they were inside the growhouse over the winter were they?

Thanks both - yes they were in the GH all winter - well, what winter I suppose...it is their second year as well so I will try and take some cuttings this year. I must admit they taste very good indeed even if I have lost the label with the name!!

RF

[Ladygardener]

Good idea to make use of some of the runners this year Rosefriend. They should give a really good crop this year.

[Dutchy]

I have new strawberries in my GH at the moment ( they are this year runners )
The plants are dying back slowly and I remove any leave that has an inclination toward phytophtera look alike spots.
Watering finally is slowing down but they still need attention. Small pots and big plants...

For next year I am hoping on a nice early crop. But I have never had them in my GH so can someone enlighten me on when I may expect them to start flowering?
They are cropping in June when outside.

[coppice]

All generalizations are false. Painted at a distance there are June-bearing and ever-bearing berry.

When I have tried both (mostly in new England) the June bearing, did so much better than ever-bearing, I never looked back.

[Ladygardener]

Dec 14, 2014 10:33:09 GMT Dutchy said:

I have new strawberries in my GH at the moment ( they are this year runners )
The plants are dying back slowly and I remove any leave that has an inclination toward phytophtera look alike spots.
Watering finally is slowing down but they still need attention. Small pots and big plants...

For next year I am hoping on a nice early crop. But I have never had them in my GH so can someone enlighten me on when I may expect them to start flowering?
They are cropping in June when outside.

I've read in many gardening books that if you can give them a bit of protection as you're doing by putting them into the greenhouse, you'll be Strawberries a few weeks earlier than those outside. Worth doing certainly if you've the room to do it Dutchy.

[Dutchy]

Well, be it a generalization, June bearing is what they are named as. So I assume you have them both in and outside coppice?

A few weeks earlier thanks LG. I'll keep them in the GH and see how they do for me.
As long as the Toms aren't in I have plenty of space. Which means I have to find clever storage from April on.

What experience do you have with Strawberries passing on diseases to other plants in the GH?

[Ladygardener]

Dec 15, 2014 8:52:24 GMT Dutchy said:

What experience do you have with Strawberries passing on diseases to other plants in the GH?

I don't have any Dutchy, I only know what I've picked up over the years from books etc...

[Dutchy]

Like me Ladygardener. I pick up a lot from books.
But some say keep well away from tomatoes and others just plant underneath so I am hoping on some experience from those on here.

[Mowhay]

Hi Dutchy I have grown my strawberries in the greenhouse for the last few years with no problems affecting any other plants. I move my pots into the gh in the second week of january and give them a good feed of children pellets. Water as usual but remember that you have to be the bees to pollinate every flower ( missy says you must make a buzzing noise like a bee when you do it ....... ha ha )
Mine are usually finishing as the outdoor ones are just starting to ripen.

[Dutchy]

Thanks Mowhay Mine are already in the GH but I suppose that doesn't matter.
Erm children pellets? Mind you somehow it sounds festive ( playing pellets doing hide and seek between the pots) but I suppose you mean chicken pellets. Would cow pellets be ok too or are they too much?

[Mowhay]

Oopps slip of the fingers
I think the cow pellets would be okay

[coppice]

Strawberry and other small vermin like berrys. Um, lets reorganize that. Whitefly and others like strawberry. But they tolerate soap spray well, and (the berry plants) move onto the garden in the spring and only their children ever return to the GH.