Strawberries !!

wssla00

In a book of mine, it says you need at least a meter square of strawberries to make Jam....but I can see that there will be many more than that come next year as I seem to have an addiction! I love seeing them in flower, they are so pretty!

longtermlurker_2

Hi sorry to butt in but I need some help please. I am new to all this growing lark:o
I was given a hanging basket of strawberry plants, some had flowers, some had green fruit. I noticed one started to ripen at the beginning of the week but before it was fully ripe it went rotten and now another is going the same way:(

Any ideas what I am doing wrong please.

cootambear

lolly5648 wrote: »

If you use guttering where do you put it - hang it from the wall or what? Is it deep enough and do you punch holes in it. It sounds an interesting way to grow them.

1. Its deep enough
2. You need holes to avoid waterlogging, but, it needs watering frequently as it can dry quickly
3. Put it where you like. I run it along my fence above the ground.

cootambear

Orange_King wrote: »

I am trying the guttering idea too but am trying to think of a way to keep a little more soil for them. Have considered laying plastic bottles in them with a hole cut out on one side and pierced for drainage on the other side (bottom). Just need to cut it downa bit and seal it where cutting off the neck!

Any other suggestions appreciated!.

As for the guttering, I am running it between fence posts at a bit of an angle to allow the water to drain easily.

Loose stones, gravel, sand, anything non toxic,

davemorton

longtermlurker wrote: »

Hi sorry to butt in but I need some help please. I am new to all this growing lark:o
I was given a hanging basket of strawberry plants, some had flowers, some had green fruit. I noticed one started to ripen at the beginning of the week but before it was fully ripe it went rotten and now another is going the same way:(

Any ideas what I am doing wrong please.

Are they sitting on damp soil?? Id so, lay them on straw or something similar.

digitalphase

Any tips on growing larger fruits?

I have seven plants in a grow bag, and 3 runners which I've just taken. The ones in the grow bag started really well, but we haven't had enough to have one dessert yet

Where we live it is pretty windy, this may account for the odd bit of scorching on the ends of some of the leaves?

They get tomato feed every other day, along with the toms (who are doing well).

The fruit did start going rotten, so I raised it up by stuffing some hay (not got straw) alongside the plants in the growbags.

We've now had a few more strawbs which taste nice but are diddy.

Any ideas what we're doing wrong?

I am going to try the raised bed idea next year, rather than growbags.

Oh, and how do you overwinter them and know when they've stopped fruiting?

Thanks

cootambear

digitalphase wrote: »

Any tips on growing larger fruits?

I have seven plants in a grow bag, and 3 runners which I've just taken. The ones in the grow bag started really well, but we haven't had enough to have one dessert yet

Where we live it is pretty windy, this may account for the odd bit of scorching on the ends of some of the leaves?

They get tomato feed every other day, along with the toms (who are doing well).

The fruit did start going rotten, so I raised it up by stuffing some hay (not got straw) alongside the plants in the growbags.

We've now had a few more strawbs which taste nice but are diddy.

Any ideas what we're doing wrong?

I am going to try the raised bed idea next year, rather than growbags.

Oh, and how do you overwinter them and know when they've stopped fruiting?

Thanks

Firstly, I think thats way too much feed. Second, are these new plants? Mine crop the heaviest in year 3. Third, sadly if the bees or other insects dont pollinate them, the can be small and misshapen. Fourth, the only thing strawbs are fussy about is water. Overwatering is deadly, and underwatering makes for small hard fruit. Five, beds are better than bags because that eliminates wild changes in water content. Six, they are tough and dont require any protection. Seven, depends on the variety. Some finish in early July, others will continue until first frost.

weiser

glad to see your having more luck with your strawberries this year ive had a really poor year dont really see why

Jake'sGran

~~Diane~~ wrote: »

We've had a good few deserts with our strawberries but not nearly has much as we'd like.

Thanks for info, i've loads of runners so i'll do some more runner potting tomorrow.

Is it correct that to grow the runners they need to be still connected to the original plant?. I did this last year and have had my first bowl of good strwbs this year. I grow the originals in tall plastic tubs from the supermarket and when the runners are quite long (as now) I pin them in a pot at the side. You need to pin them down e.g. with a bent piece of wire. Also, they like plenty of water and I fed them with tomato food.

A long time ago someone described a method of growing them hanging in some kind of bag but I have lost the instructions.

sb44

enrich100 wrote: »

its very difficult to say how many plants you need per person, I think the question is more how much space are you willing to use to grow them, personally I use flower pouches against a wall (12 pouches so far), they don't take up much space, the only downside is they need feeding and watering regularly, if its just a couple bags you can combine watering and feeding (use tomato feed) by dunking the pouches into a bucket every few days (every other in weather like this) the other way is us a drip irigation system so they stay watered

as mentioned Fothergils have Cambridge favourites on offer
http://www.mr-fothergills.co.uk/catalogue/product/strawberry-cambridge-favourite/80938/ £2.95 + 3.95 p&p

Thompson & morgan have a couple of offers on strawberries if you go via the Gardeners world link (usually free P&P)
if they are still in stock, The Sonata and iresistible are as far as I can see

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/affx/plants1/gwm.html

try to mix early Mid and late strawberries along with perpetials to extend the season

I can highly rec the Cambridge Favourites.

I bought these a few months ago and planted one in each of the flower buckets that you can buy from Morrisons.

They are providing beautiful tasting sweet strawberries, far tastier than anything that I have ever bought in the supermarket.