Planting, Growing, and Harvesting Strawberries
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Planting
Strawberry plants require 6 to 10 hours of direct sunlight a day, so choose a sunny spot. Otherwise, strawberries are tolerant of different soil types, although they prefer loamy soil that drains well.
Preparing the Soil for Strawberries
To ensure a strong start, add a few buckets of well-rotted manure before planting; you could also use garden compost. If you have clay soil, generally mix in 4 inches or more of compost and rake the clay soil into raised mounds to further improve drainage. If your soil is sandy, simply cultivate lightly to remove weeds and mix in a 1-inch layer of rich compost or rotted manure.
Soil pH should be between 5.5 and 7. If necessary, amend your soil before planting. If soils in your area are naturally alkaline, it is best to grow strawberries in half-barrels or other large containers filled with compost-enriched potting soil. Raised beds are a particularly good option for strawberry plants.
Practice crop rotation for the most success. Unless you plan to amend your soil each year, do not plant in a site that recently had tomatoes, peppers, or eggplant.
Also, note that strawberries and garlic are good planting companions if you wish to interplant. Garlic helps deter pests like spider mites.
When to Plant Strawberries
- Plan to plant when the ground can be worked in the spring. See your local frost dates.
- Establish new plants each year to maintain high berry quality each season. Strawberry plants will produce runners (daughter plants) that root and grow into new strawberry plants.
- Buy disease-resistant plants from a reputable nursery, of a variety that is recommended in your area. You can consult with the nursery you buy them from or with your state Cooperative Extension service for locally recommended varieties.
- You can buy strawberries in pots, but also you can sometimes find bare-root strawberries or runners, which offer really excellent value for money. They look fairly shocking, without any leaves and rather scraggly, but don’t let that put you off. Once they hit the soil, they’ll be well away!
How to Plant Strawberries
- Provide adequate space for sprawling. Allow for spacing of around 18 inches (1-1/2 feet) to leave room for runners and leave 4 feet between rows. Strawberries are sprawling plants. Seedlings will send out runners, which, in turn, will send out their own runners. (Container strawberries can be planted closer together.)
- Plant holes should be deep and wide enough to accommodate the entire root system without bending it. However, don’t plant too deep! The roots should be covered, but the crown should be right at the soil surface. It is very important that you do NOT bury the crown (central growing bud) of the plant, or it could rot. The leaves, flowers, and fruit must be exposed to light and fresh air.
- To settle their roots into the soil, water plants well at the time of planting.
- Use a mulch of the strawberry’s namesake – straw!
- It is also possible to grow strawberries from last year’s runners. See this video to find out how.
Planting Strawberries in Containers
Potted strawberries are easy to get right. They go in at the same depth as the potting mix in the container, but for bare-rooted plants, make sure you don’t go too deep or too shallow. If too deep, the plant may struggle and could potentially rot away. If it is too shallow, it will rock about and dry out really easily, creating a weak and brittle plant. You want the crown of the plant where the stems of the leaves emerge to be ever so slightly proud of the soil surface. Learn more about growing strawberries in pots.
Watch this video to see how to plant strawberries in garden beds or containers.
Growing
How to Grow Strawberries
- The big tip with strawberries is to keep them well watered while they are establishing their roots and during dry weather. Moisture is incredibly important due to its shallow roots. Water adequately, about one inch per square foot per week. Strawberry plants need a lot of water when the runners and flowers are developing and again in the late summer when the plants are fully mature and gearing up for winter dormancy.
- Keep strawberry beds mulched to reduce water needs and weed invasion. Any type of mulch—from black plastic to pine straw to shredded leaves—will keep the soil moist and the plants clean. Read more about mulching.
- Be diligent about weeding—weed by hand, especially in the first months after planting.
- Once strawberries flower, fertilize them with a high-potassium, liquid tomato feed to encourage good fruit production. Plants also benefit from the addition of an organic, general-purpose fertilizer early in spring, as they set into growth, to help power things up for the new season.
- In the first year, pick off blossoms to discourage strawberry plants from fruiting. If not allowed to bear fruit, they will spend their food reserves on developing healthy roots instead, which is a good thing. The yields will be much greater in the second year.
- Eliminate runner plants as needed. First and second generations produce higher yields. Try to keep daughter plants spaced about 10 inches apart.
- Row covers are a good option for protecting blossoms and fruit from birds.
Winter Care of Strawberries
Strawberry plants are perennial. They are naturally cold-hardy and will survive mildly freezing temperatures. So, if your area has mild winters, little care is needed.
In regions where the temperature regularly drops into the low twenties (Fahrenheit), strawberries will be in their dormant stage. It’s best to provide some winter protection:
- When the growing season is over, mow or cut foliage down to one inch. This can be done after the first couple of frosts or when air temps reach 20°F (-6°C).
- Mulch plants about 4 inches deep with straw, pine needles, or other organic material.
- In even colder regions, more insulating mulch should be added.
- Natural precipitation should appropriately maintain sufficient soil moisture.
- Remove mulch in early spring after the danger of frost has passed.
How to Propagate Strawberries
Strawberries produce long, wiry stems called runners with little plantlets along them. You can use these to grow more strawberries by just pinning the plantlets down to the root and then severing them from the mother plant once they have. See our article for details on how to grow more strawberries!
Harvesting
How to Harvest Strawberries
- When you grow your own, you can peak at the peak of ripeness. No more white strawberries! Harvest only fully red (ripe) berries, and pick every three days.
- Fruit is typically ready for harvesting 4 to 6 weeks after blossoming.
- Ideally, pick fruits in the warmth of the afternoon for maximum flavor.
- Cut by the stem; do not pull the berry, or you could damage the plant.
- For June-bearer strawberries, the harvest will last up to 3 weeks. Depending on the variety, you should have an abundance of berries.
How to Store Strawberries
- Store unwashed berries in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days.
- Strawberries can be frozen whole for about 2 months.
- Dehydrate them or turn them into delicious jams. Learn how to Make Strawberry Preserves!
Catherine Boeckmann
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Strawberries sometimes develop oddly due to various factors, including damage from insects such as the tarnished plant bug or mites, or frost or heat injury, nutrient deficiencies (such as boron), chemical injury, etc. Poor pollination can also affect development. Another factor can be that the variety is not suited to the climate where it is grown, meaning that it does not have the proper length of daylight or the right temperatures.
My plant doesn't look healthy at all. On some of the leaves have turned brown. I water it almost everyday. I first test it so I won't over water but living in Phoenix is different than any other place I have lived. For me a plant can go from well watered to dry in a matter of hours. That and the suns strength has been a challenge for me here like no other place.
I need to know if full sun all day is better than only morning sun ?
Strawberries generally produce the best fruit when in full sun, but in hot and sunny areas like Phoenix, they will appreciate some afternoon shade instead (especially if their leaves are getting burnt up). You could also try some light-colored mulches, like straw or white plastic, to hold in more moisture around your strawberry plants.
Hello how are you doing, my name is David Peters from Cuauhtémoc Chihuahua Mexico I need lots of information about growing Strawberries Onions Blackberries Blueberries I want to grow them here in Mexico and I need all type of Information I can have from these plants. Can you help me with that? I also need to know in what kind of weather condition I can best grow them and so on!
How do I transfer strawberries all sprawled out into rows?? I see they should be 2 feet wide with 4 foot aisles. What is the best trick?
I live in southern Minnesota.
There are several spacing systems for strawberries. The one mentioned above is likely the matte system. However, in the home landscape, you can grow strawberries more loosely, even as a ground cover, although they may not produce as much. If you are satisfied with your strawberries’ production and health, then you might want to leave them alone. However, if they seem overcrowded, or you want them to produce more, you might start by thinning out the plants when they are dormant in fall. One idea would be to transplant any of the small plants that are growing off runners; keep the mother plants where they are. Plant the baby plants in the chosen prepared area, using the spacing that you want. Eventually, the original plants will slow their production (after about 4 years), and you might want to then pull those up and start over; meanwhile, you will have your new rows with the younger plants. Strawberries usually produce best in their second and third year. For more information, you might contact your county’s Cooperative Extension; they might have publications on strawberry planting in your area. See: http://www.almanac.com/content/cooperative-extension-services to get started.
I recently transplated my plants from a round planter to the ground. About 3 weeks ago and know thwy seemed to have died any idea why?
There are several reasons why your transplanted strawberries may not be doing well. Did you plant so that the crown is properly exposed after the soil is closed around the transplants? Plants do not fare well if placed too deep and grow poorly if placed too shallow. Also, frequent irrigation is critical during the first 4 weeks after planting.
Adding organic amendments such as composted horse manure is a great idea, however, it must be sufficiently composted — when it looks and smells like soil.
Pls i want to start up a strawberry plantation in South eastern part of Nigerian for industrial use. How do i go about it?
I live in a suburan around Philadelphia, PA, so we have hot humid summers and cold snowy winters. I planted strawberries and want to have them grow each year. I have mulched and planted two strawberry plants. Not sure the type. I had some berries grow and it appears the birds and squirrels like to eat them. I have rasied boxes on the side of my house. How do I keep them out.
