LIDL Fruits and other questions

RoscoPColtrane

Hey guys, this is my first ever post here! Been lurking for ages though and found out loads on this and other sections of the site.

Hopefully someone will be able to help me with this. I bought some of the pop-up waste bags from poundland, initially to use as potato planters. But I've just come back from Lidl with 12 strawberry plants and 3 raspberry plants! Basically my question is, will the "planters" I have bought be suitable for these? Say if I was to put one raspberry plant in a planter and maybe 3 strawberry plants per planter? Or should the raspberries (or even strawberries) be planted into the ground?

My other option is to use some old pots, about the same size, that have previously had tomato plants in them, would that be a better or worse idea? I also have a few spare pots, I would guess 8" DIA, would they be more suitable for the strawberries?

Damn Lidl and their bargains...!

RAS

have a look here http://www.sendacow.org.uk/baggardens

I would not suggest using the bags for raspberries but they would work for the strawberries as long as you keep them watered.

evie451

honestly Rosco dont do the rasps in pots i have tried it twice as i was in rented houses but it wasnt worth the bother they did nothing! Straws are your best bet in pots they are so forgiving and we live in a great part of the world for soft fruit!!

RoscoPColtrane

Thanks guys, I will plant the raspberries somewhere in the garden then. As for the strawberries I will try and clean out the old pots and if they're no good I'll use the bag planters.

Only problem is some of the strawberries have white flowers on them, and I've just seen on someone else's post that this is a bad thing! What would the consequences be of planting them now with flowers on? No fruit at all?

ALIBOBSY

Some advice says to remove the flowers in the first year so the plant concentrates on root growth. There are also issues around the fact that they may have been grown in warm atmospheres and may be effected by a late frost.
To be honest, I just stuck our lidl strawberries straight into pots and they did fine (that was 3 years ago and they are still going strong as well as extra plants I got from runners off the originals ).
We are in the north west, but we seem to avoid late frosts in the local area or at least hard frosts. But watch the weather anyway and be ready with the old sheets/net curtains/fleece/cloches just in case.
The advantage with pots is they can be put in the GH or under shelter if a hard frost is predicted. Plus strawbs seem to be very hardy.

ali x