Strawberry Plants - knowing when they're done!

Orange_King

I have an 8 x 4 ft strawb patch but have not yet kept track very well on how old the plants are The oldest are 3 yrs in the ground but is there an easy way to check on whether they are still going to produce fruit?

I moved them about yesterday to get them nicely lined up again and some appeared to have a large rotten root but new small roots forming. Is it a case of waiting to see if they flower just or is there a better way to sort the good from not so good?

Ambidou

Not sure of any way to check. Strawberry plants normally do their best in the second year, however they can produce fruit for 7-8 years in total. Id recommend taking some runners from them this year for some nice fresh plants

annie123

you will often read that they should be changed every 3 years, but as Ambidou says 7-8 years is fine, in fact the ones embedded between the wall and fence are at least 10 years old now and still produce a crop. And I noticed today they have flowers on them!

Replace them when they stop producing

forgotmyname

Do you have space to pin the new runners down further along?

If not maybe split the plot into 2 or 4 sections, Dig up half of them or seriously thin them out leaving 1 or 2 of the strongest plants.

When the new runners start train them to enter the unused space or root in pots and plant them where you want them.

Then, next year do the same, Leave as couple of the strongest ones.

You should be able to have a good selection of plants than are 1, 2 and 3 years old. Maybe slightly older if they are still cropping well.

I have the idea of have a long strip, Plant them all at one end, Then slowly over the years they will creep down to the other end and i will dig the old ones up as i go.
Maybe easier said than done though?

neoman62

Because I'm mean I always pegged the runners into a small pot with the date written on a lollipop stick. The lollipop stick moves with the strawbs. Another thing I used to do was grow runner beans and freeze them, keeping a few from the last crop as seeds for the following year.

Orange_King

Must get a load of lollypop sticks - that sounds a good idea. The bed I have if full of plants of all ages between 1 and 3. I will wait and see which do well this year and mark out ones for recycling.

If they don't do so well I take it they can still put out runners for new plants or are these less likely to be successful?

cootambear

forgotmyname wrote: »

Do you have space to pin the new runners down further along?

If not maybe split the plot into 2 or 4 sections, Dig up half of them or seriously thin them out leaving 1 or 2 of the strongest plants.

When the new runners start train them to enter the unused space or root in pots and plant them where you want them.

Then, next year do the same, Leave as couple of the strongest ones.

You should be able to have a good selection of plants than are 1, 2 and 3 years old. Maybe slightly older if they are still cropping well.

I have the idea of have a long strip, Plant them all at one end, Then slowly over the years they will creep down to the other end and i will dig the old ones up as i go.
Maybe easier said than done though?

I think with a long strip it would be better to space them out then let the runners fill the gaps

cootambear

annie123 wrote: »

you will often read that they should be changed every 3 years, but as Ambidou says 7-8 years is fine, in fact the ones embedded between the wall and fence are at least 10 years old now and still produce a crop. And I noticed today they have flowers on them!

Replace them when they stop producing

good advice

commercial producers replace them thus, but they are after every berry they can squeeze out, but we can be more relaxed

radiohelen

Sorry to hijack but I've got a variety that doesn't appear to make runners! It does make loverly strawbs though. How can I propagate these babies other than from seed?

matt987106

Orange_King wrote: »

Must get a load of lollypop sticks

Mc D's or Coffee shop stirrers they are free

alixandrea

matt987106 wrote: »

Mc D's or Coffee shop stirrers they are free

Or you could do what I do and cut up old margarine/ice-cream tubs. :money:

Alixandrea