Calling veg gardeners - strawberry problem

[bushcraftbob]

Hi all - I was wondering if anyone could tell me what im doing wrong with my strawberrys....

For the last 3 years I have grown strawberrys in a fairly deep hanging basket. I usually buy small plants from a garden centre, and plant in a mixture of farmyard manure and multi purpose compost.

In the first 8 weeks or so the strawberrys come thick and fast, with fairly large juicy fruits, but after this the leaves seem to go a bit of a paler green, and crinkle slightly, and the rate that the fruits appear is reduced massively, and the fruits then tend to be smaller.

Any suggestions anyone? I read in my Jamie Oliver book that you should avoid feeding them, as this tends to make large fruits, but they tend to be rather tasteless?

Cheers

 

[Buckshot]

I always thought the season for strawberries was quite short.
If you're getting 8 weeks then I would say you're doing alright!
Each plant should be replaced every 3 years IIRC, otherwise they get too old - apparently a 3 year old perenial is too old!

Mark

 

[locum76]

Yup, 8 weeks is a very respectabel length of season. After that the plants should be putting energy into producing more runners.

 

[Whittler Kev]

Also change every three years because they get a lot more suseptible to disease (they are usually burned off after three years to destroy all disease etc).
Told to me by a local grower (one of the largest in the UK)

 

[locum76]

I thought a large commercial grower would be doing the whole keep them in the fridge and replant every six weeks for year round production type thing. Could be done at home to I suppose.

 

[spiritwalker]

i would still feed them too i feed my strawberrys with tomato food with no negative effects, but if your worried after youve cropped them feed them a liquid feed for vegetative growth so they face the winter well fed and will have strong roots. As said above pot on runners and replace every 3 years or so. I mainly grow alpine and "wild" variety as well as bolero for something bigger

 

[GearGuru]

try an alotment forum

 

[Suffolksteve]

Hi BB,

Take a look at this forum post from the river cottage forum, good advice on there for growing your own in general but I think this covers your situation quite nicely.

http://community.rivercottage.net/u...fruit-and-vegetables/viewtopic/topic_id:28677

Steve

 

[Whittler Kev]

Just found this
http://www.gardenhive.com/fruit/strawberries/grow/runners/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/growfruitandveg_strawberries1.shtml
http://www.doctorgreenfingers.co.uk/Growing_Vegetables_help_advice/Growing-strawberries.html
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/vegging-out/feeding-strawberry-plants_45700.html
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080517064353AAXW7Aj