Strawberries – How to Plant, Grow, and When to Harvest
Growing Strawberries from Planting to Harvest
Strawberries – How to Plant, Grow, and When to Harvest. Why grow your own strawberries? Pretty simple. These little berries are packed with vitamins, fiber, and high levels of antioxidants called polyphenols; they’re low in calories and are sodium and cholesterol-free. Strawberries lower your blood pressure, protect your heart, increase HDL (good) cholesterol, and guard against cancer.
Growing Strawberries for Beginners. Strawberries are one of the easiest fruits to grow in your garden. Plant them in properly prepared soil where they’ll get full sun, fertilize twice during the season, give them plenty of water, and mulch so you won’t be weeding during the summer. This is all you really need to have an abundance of strawberries throughout the growing season.
So continue reading for your tips on planting and growing strawberries and how to get the best possible crop from your plants. HAPPY GARDENING 🙂
“Happiness, I have grasped, is a destination, like strawberry Fields. Once you find the way in, there you are, and you’ll never feel low again.”
Rachel Simon
3 TYPES OF STRAWBERRY PLANTS
How to tell what type of strawberry plant you have. There are three main strawberry varieties: June Bearing, Ever-Bearing, and Day-Neutral.
June Bearing – will produce berries in mid-June to early July, and will give you the largest yield. They produce a very large crop of very large fruits over the course of two to three weeks – these are the ones you buy in the stores.
Ever-Bearing – will produce berries in early summer and in early fall. Their berries are smaller than the June-bearing types
Day-Neutral – will produce berries throughout most of the growing season, but they will be small ones and not as many as with the June-bearing berries.
WHEN TO PLANT STRAWBERRIES
Growing strawberries from planting to harvest. The best time to plant strawberries is in early spring after the threat of frost is past. This is usually in April/May – also depending on your area. April is when you can plant your dormant transplants, and May is when you can plant your potted transplants.
STRAWBERRIES – WHERE TO PLANT AND SOIL PREPARATION
How much sun do strawberries need? Strawberries need full sun, so choosing a location where they’ll receive a minimum of 6 hours of direct sun, ten or more hours of sun is even better.
While you can plant strawberries amongst other vegetables, most growers dedicate a strawberry bed of their own and plant them in rows to help control the weeds and the strawberry runners. Remove all weeds from the new bed (strawberries hate weeds), then add some well-rotted compost to increase microbial activity and to improve drainage.
How far apart to plant strawberries. Space each strawberry plant 18 to 24 inches apart – in rows that are spaced 3 to 4 feet apart. Definitely follow the spacing requirement as strawberry plants send out many runners throughout the season, which will quickly fill the beds and become crowded.
NEWLY PLANTED STRAWBERRY STARTS
How to make strawberry plants produce more fruit. If you have just planted new strawberry starts, follow the above in the spring. And as much as it will pain you to do so (I cringed the first time I did this) pinch off any flower buds that appear during the first few weeks. This is actually good for the plants and will give you a great first years crop.
Pinching off the flower buds allows the plant to give its energy to the root system and the production of leaves. And then after the first few weeks when the flowers begin to bloom again, there is enough energy in the plant to develop large, juicy strawberries.
CARING FOR STRAWBERRIES – WEEDING AND MULCHING
Growing and caring for strawberry plants. Keep the WEEDS out of their beds as weeds will take the nutrients away from the strawberries. Gently pull the weeds and then add a heavy layer of mulch around the strawberry plants and under the leaves. You can use pine straw or regular straw to keep the weeds down and retain moisture. Black plastic and a weed barrier works well too.
It is very important to MULCH heavily underneath the leaves of your plants. This will keep the berries clean and soil-free, and help to prevent the spread of disease. When rain and water splashes into the dirt, it sends droplets of pathogen-infected wet mud up onto the berries and cause disease that can eventually kill your plants.
WATER – give them a good soaking of 1″ of water per week or water them with a soaker hose. FERTILIZE – in early spring and late fall. Keep nitrogen levels up in your berry planting by using organic fertilizers. Blood meal is a good option as it has 13% nitrogen. You can also use fish meal, soy meal, and alfalfa meal. Be careful to not give too much nitrogen to your strawberries as that can cause excessive vegetative production and fewer berries.
TRIM THE STRAWBERRY RUNNERS – runners are the long stems that run off the central plant and create more strawberry plants. While these runners will produce a new plant, they remain attached to the main plant and drain nutrients from it. This will cause the main plant to not produce any berries for the remainder of the season. So keep the runners at bay by trimming them.
FOR HANGING BASKETS AND POTTED BERRIES – If growing strawberries in pots or hanging baskets, feed them every two weeks during the growing season with a balanced fertilizer. When flowering begins, switch to a high potash liquid fertilizer to encourage good fruiting.
STRAWBERRY COMPANION PLANTING
COMPANIONS FOR STRAWBERRIES: the best is Borage as it will attract pollinators. Other great companions are:
Bush Beans and Peas – they are a natural fertilizer
Lettuce and Spinach – helps hide the berries from the birds,
Onions and Garlic – helps to deter raiders from eating the berries
Caraway – attracts parasitic wasps and flies that eat predators of many common strawberry pests
Herbs, Thyme, Marigolds – to help deter pests
AVOID PLANTING NEAR – any plant of the Cabbage Family as they will impair their growth. These include Broccoli, Broccoflower, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Chinese Broccoli, Cauliflower, Collard greens, Kale, Kohlrabi, and Romanesco Broccoli.
Plants like Tomatoes, Eggplant, Potatoes, Peppers, Melons, Roses, Mint, and Okra may actually contribute to Verticillium Wilt, which can be deadly to strawberry plants. Verticillium Wilt is a soil-borne fungus that lingers in the ground, so keep these plants well away from strawberry beds. You should not also plant strawberries in beds that have housed those plants within the 5 years.
WHEN AND HOW TO HARVEST STRAWBERRIES
Growing strawberries from planting to harvest. Strawberries are typically ready for HARVEST 4-6 weeks after flowers begin to blossom. Harvest only fully red ripe berries, and try to pick every few days. Also, cut the berries at the stem and do not pull the berry off or you could damage the plant.
FALL MAINTENANCE
How to care for strawberries. After your strawberry plants stop producing berries, still continue to water the plants and add your fertilizer. Now is also the time to start thinning them out to 6-8″ apart. Keep the younger plants for next year and remove the woody older ones.
Add 6″ of straw mulch on top of the plants once the temperatures stay below 40°F, to protect them from the upcoming winter months.
STRAWBERRY MAINTENANCE FOR FRUIT TO COME BACK YEAR AFTER YEAR
April – clear some of the straw away from plants as they start to grow
April, May – you can plant the dormant transplants
May, June – you can plant the potted transplants
May – remove the flower buds from the newly planted transplants for a few weeks
July – after 2 weeks of harvest, thin the June-bearing plants
July – August – add some compost to your day-neutral strawberry plants
July thru October – remove the runners as needed from June-bearing plants
November – protect your strawberry plants with straw for the upcoming winter weather
