Strawberries !

[Snag]

Hey y'all , I have a strawberry question . I bought one of those packages of 10 (June-bearing) plants at wallyworld , planted them in a prepped bed a week or so ago according to the package instructions . How long should it take before I start seeing new growth ? These are well-rooted (roots 5-6" long) starts . The wife sez she doesn't think we'll get berries this year , but the web sites I've looked at seem to indicate a small crop the first year ... and better in succeeding years depending on how I care for them . I'm on new ground here , haven't a clue what I'm getting into . But we love strawberries , and for a couple of bucks worth of starts and a little work I'm willing to try .

[David Hare-Scott]

It depends on the conditions, if it is too cold they won't do much. If not in full sun they will be slower.

These are well-rooted (roots 5-6"

You may get a small crop the first year. Keep the weeds down and manure, water and mulch during summer. Note that mulch goes under the leaves :-)

David

[Snag]

I prepared the bed by tiling under some turf , letting it stand a couple weeks , tilling in some compost , then laying a double layer of newspaper topped with 3" of the same compost . Once they get a little growth I'll be adding a layer of mulch too . There are no plans to use chemicals ... my marigolds are sprouting ! Top of compost is warm, 2" down is still pretty cool . The bed gets pretty good sun from 9-ish until midafternoon . I'm probably just being impatient ...

[songbird]

i'm not sure where Snag is, but the strawberries here in USDA zone 5 are starting to show some new growth.

we've not had much sunshine lately and the temperature is rarely above

45F. so they will grow in cloudy, cold, wet weather, but i will expect the most growth the happen once it gets a little warmer and some sunny days happen.

they do best in full sun (unless you are really far south, then they like some late afternoon shade), so your production might not be super heavy.

covering the soil with newspaper limits how fast it will warm up. so it could delay the rate of some of your growth.

when mulching in a bit, be careful to not cover the crowns and be sure to leave some space for air.

songbird

[Rick]

Strawberries tend to put a lot of energy into developing a good root system at first. Once new leaves start popping out the flowers will soon follow. Conventional wisdom is to pinch off the flowers so more energy goes to the plant in the first year, but I have never been able to do that . Strawberries are pretty hardy and probably won't get you any greif unless you have a hot wet summer and then fungal diseases like brown rot can be a problem. Plan on 3-4 productive years on the plants, and you'll get plenty of runners from most varieties.

[Snag]

I'm in Memphis Tn , and the weather can't seem to make up it's mind. We set record highs one day and have 35° temps the next .

[Snag]

ALL summers in Memphis are hot and wet . Well , hot and very humid . When I opened the package , I saw these stringy roots with a small brown lump at the top buried in a wad of dry mossy looking stuff . A lot of them still had a short piece of runner coming from the lump. Looks like I just need to be more patient ...

[Steve Peek]

Just remember not to plant strawberries where tomatoes were earlier, They are susceptible to the same diseases.

[The Cook]

I'm guess you will get a handful of berries this year. Next year should be a good crop. At least judging from our experience about 6 years ago. I believe that the climate in Memphis is close to ours (see info in my signature.) Just hope that you don't get a 4 day freeze in early April next year.

[songbird]

Snag wrote: ...

thanks. i see in the other post that you started with dormant plants (perhaps even dead, hard to say at this point). that adds time too.

songbird