Strawberry Growing Guide
Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) are very easy to grow perennials. They are a great flavorful and healthy addition as a topping to your bowl of cereal or ice cream. Nothing can top freshly made strawberry shortcake. If you have enough strawberries you could even make your own jam.
Your garden will produce the best tasting strawberries for the same reason that your garden will produce the best tasting tomatoes. Another benefit is that you can grow them organically. Pesticides are heavily used in commercially grown strawberries.
A juicy, just-picked strawberry bears no resemblance to what you find in the grocery store. There is nothing like the flavor and sweetness of a strawberry that you just picked. A real one is very fragile and perishable and would not survive the trip from the field or greenhouse to your grocery store.
The type you find in your grocery store can hold up to the handling and storage conditions necessary to get them to the shelf in good condition. They might look good, but they may be hard and tasteless.
There are 2-main types of strawberries grouped according to their flowering habit. These 2-types are called June-bearing and everbearing.
The June-bearing is a variety on which the flowering mechanism is set by the length of the day. These will usually produce fruit during June and July and is why they are called “June-bearing.” In warm climates they may bear fruit before June. The length of fruit production is about 3-weeks. You will have more than enough for your morning bowl of cereal.
The everbearing variety is called day-neutral. The flowering habit of this variety is dependent on temperature, not the length of the day. The day-neutral varieties will set flower between 40°F and 80°F. They will produce fruit early in the season and then during the summer and right up to the first frost.
When deciding on what to plant, first look for a hardy variety that will survive the winters in your area and disease resistance.
Soil Preparation
Strawberries are shallow rooted and will grow best in a nice light high organic content garden soil. They like a slightly acid soil with a pH around 5.5 to 6.8. Adding peat moss or finished compost will get your plants off to a good start. Your strawberries are a perennial and will be in the location you choose for a long time so good soil is important.
Planting Strawberries
There are many ways to grow strawberries. They can be grown in long hilled rows which are the favored method of farmers, but strawberries can be grown in raised beds, containers as well as strawberry jars. It is also a great way to plant a collection of herbs if your space is limited.
When to Plant
Depending on your USDA zone they will show up in the big box stores from March through April as potted plants or in the bare rooted dormant state.
If your strawberry plants are in the dormant state and do not have new growth they can be planted up to six weeks before the last expected frost as long as the ground is not frozen and the soil is workable.
If you buy plants that are growing and flowering in pots, you should wait until after the threat of frost is over before planting outdoors. These were grown in greenhouses and are not able to tolerate a hard freeze.
The potted plants should be hardened off to acclimate themselves to their new growing environment. To do this put them outdoors for a few hours each day when the temperature is over 40-degrees. Increase the time gradually each day until they can be planted.
The planting depth of strawberries is very important. It should be planted deep enough for the roots to be covered by the soil, but do not bury the crown which is the growing bud. The plant may rot and die if planted too deeply.
Spacing depends on your growing method and variety. You can put 1-strawberry plant in each pocket of a strawberry jar planter which could hold 8 to 10-plants.
Some plant tags say to space them 12” to 24” apart. For most varieties 12-inches apart is a good spacing. If you have a 4-ft. by 4-ft. raised bed you could plant 16-plants spaced 12-inches apart.
You need to consider that most mother plants will send out runners with daughter plants at the end. The runners take energy to produce, so cut off all of the runners to encourage the plant to make more strawberries.
After the strawberry harvest slows down you can let 1 or 2-runners grow and make daughter plants. The daughter plants can be pushed into contact with the soil and will form roots of their own. Place the daughter plant where you want it, holding the runner in place with a small stone. After a few years the mother plant wears out and produces fewer strawberries. It can be removed leaving the previously rooted daughter plants.
Watering and Care
After planting and watering them in, mulch should be put down to keep the soil moist and to prevent weeds. Straw has been traditionally used, which is where the name strawberry came from. Pine straw, shredded leaves as well as black plastic can be used. For the strawberries to bear fruit they need about 1-inch of water per week. Fruit that is small, hard or misshapen may be a sign that they need more water.
They like to be in a slightly acid soil with a pH range of about 5.5 to 6.5. Fertilizing with a balanced slow release organic fertilizer such as Holly-tone at the recommended rate will help keep your strawberries producing all summer long.
Strawberries are cold hardy perennials when established and can withstand a hard frost.
Harvesting Strawberries
When the strawberry gets a nice deep red color and the frilled cap just starts to pull away from the shoulders, revealing the neck is a good indication that it is ripe. A gentle squeeze of the strawberry will also let you know. The first freshly picked, juicy strawberry that you eat will lead you to search for some more red sweet tasty berries that is very much the same as eating the first picked tomato.
Strawberries that are left on too long or forgotten will develop soft spots and rot. Discard any bad ones. If you check your plants often and carefully you are less likely to miss any of the tasty red gemstones.
Rinse your berries with cool water only before you eat or cook them. They should be dry when putting them in the refrigerator.
Popular Varieties
Some June-bearing varieties are: Allstar, Cabot, Clancy, Earliglow, Honeoye, Jewel, Sequoia, Sparkle and Surecrop.
Some everbearing varieties are: Albion, Cascade, Eversweet, Ozark Beauty, Quinault, Seascape, Tribute and Tristar.
Many gardeners like to plant some of each type to extend the season. The total amount of fruit per plant is greater with the June-bearing. The everbearing will not produce as much, but will produce delicious strawberries throughout the growing season.
Sources: Seeds Now, Gurney's Seed and Nursery, Park Seed
Strawberry Diseases and Pests
There are several leaf spot diseases caused by bacteria or fungus. Anthracnose causes the sunken soft spots on the fruit.
Remove diseased leaves and fruit and discard in the trash, do not compost. Do not get the leaves wet when watering.
Slugs and snails make holes in the leaves and fruit. Their slime trails will be seen on the plant foliage, rocks and soil. They usually cause the damage at night. Place some small boards on the soil near your plants for the slugs to hide under. Inspect them in the morning and kill any slugs that you find.
There are also slug traps that use beer.
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