Strawberry plants in snow

hwalkerh

Hi

This is the second year i have had strawberry plants and i have grown lots of shoots of them and have lots of plants that i planted in there tubs in September read for this year.

With all this cold weather and snow i am getting a bit worried about them. They are sat under an inch of snow in below freezing temperature. Will they survive is there anything i should be doing?

My Nan said that they leave them out in the fields! i guess that does make sense. I just don't want to loose all my plants that i have nurtured from the shoots.

Thanks

valk_scot

They will be fine. Stawberry plants may have lovely and delicate fruit but underneath they are tough as old boots and can survive really bad weather and frost. I've grown strawberries on my Scottish allotment for 13 years now and it would take a bit more than a -10'C frost to kill them off, belive me.

Golden_Anemone

Yep - strawberry plants actually need cold weather or they won't fruit. It's possible to bring plants into a greenhouse to encourage earlier fruits than you get outdoors but this only works where they've been exposed to frost first.

Linda32

Don't worry, they will be fine, seems odd dosn't it considering how delicate the fruits are, but they really will be fine.

wornoutmumoftwo

I had all mine moved to a mini greenhouse and then discovered they needed frost and had to move them all back into the open again. They're covered in lots of snow so fingers crossed I get a good crop in the summer.

cootambear

Snow is a good insulator so it will protect them from extremes of cold - think igloos. As it begins to thaw you might want to brush away the snow to prevent waterlogging. I planted 100 this year in late autumn, only one has died so far

SteveV2

I have 3 plants in pots from last year. All dying bact. Should I cut them back at all? I also have 2 runners in pots on the kitchen window sill

Tigerlilley1980

Thanks for asking this question. I've been so worried about mine aswell. I didn't get fruit last year as they were planted late, but I got loads of runners off them that have all developed into new plants. That's great that they need frost as we've had loads x

RAS

SteveV2 wrote: »

I also have 2 runners in pots on the kitchen window sill

Please get those outside ASAP. They need cold - perferably freezing cold to flower.

SteveV2

RAS wrote: »

Please get those outside ASAP. They need cold - perferably freezing cold to flower.

Just done that, thanks

How about cutting back of last years plants?

Linda32

SteveV2 wrote: »

Just done that, thanks

How about cutting back of last years plants?

No you don't have to cut them back.