Dying to grow your own strawberries at home? It’s actually a whole lot easier then you might think. Here’s my method for growing the BEST strawberry plants. Try these gardening tips to grow strawberries and expect a high yield.
Pinch Strawberry Plant Runners for More Berries
The first gardening tip to grow strawberries begins with runners. No, don’t worry, you don’t have to be an avid jogger for this. If you remove the runners, at the base of the plant, by pinching them off when they appear, you can produce LOTS more berries. When the runners are removed, the plant is able to receive more nutrients which will yield more. I did this for the first time a few years ago and ended up with more strawberries than I knew what to do with!
Pick The Right Plant To Grow Strawberries Galore
Choose a strawberry cultivar that is known to produce a large berry crop. Most people say that short-day varieties will give you the most strawberries, but you can try that out for yourself. Let me know what happens by commenting below. Additionally, this great resource will help you choose the best plant variety for you. Read more here.
Grow Even Healthier Strawberry Plants
For more berries, you should make sure to replace all of the plants in your entire bed every 3-5 years. Once the strawberry plants are older than five years, they start to decrease in productivity. By replacing your beds the younger plants will be able to take over and produce lots of new, even sweeter strawberries.
Fertilize Strawberry Plants With Mulch
Use mulch as fertilizer in your garden instead of the regular store-bought kind. Believe it or not, using mulch is even better for your plants anyway. As the mulch decomposes, it will feed your plants while also preventing grass and weeds from growing and stealing nutrients from your strawberry plants. For best results, I have found that it’s best to pile on six to eight inches of mulch at the beginning of the growing season every year.
Don’t Leave Ripe Berries Hanging
It might sound simple, but this is probably the very best of the tips to grow strawberries. If you want tons of strawberries, you should pick the ripe berries often. Seriously, it’s best not to wait much longer than a day before picking them! If your berries become overripe, they will promote disease and attract birds and insects, which could cause a wide variety of other problems!
Hello! Love your post! I have a question- I have 10 strawberry plants. Should I plant them inside now to let them grow then move them out when it gets warmer? I have a home with a lot of light. I am in zone 7 so its definitely too cold for outside planting! I could also plant them outside in Tupperware with my wintersowing plants to keep protected but outside. What do you suggest? Thanks!!
Sandra,
I would suggest starting your strawberries indoors while it’s cold. As soon as it’s warmer, and the plants are a little stronger you can move them outside! Hope this helps!
Hi! I never seem to have any luck with strawberries so I am really trying to study up. What kind of mulch do you recommend?
Thanks!
They prefer good soil with some acidic matter like pine needles and rain water not. city.
Hi, I really liked your article. Very informative. I haven’t had the best of luck with my strawberries the past 2 years. They are the Lorena or June berry and I thing I have 2 ever berry. They seem to be doing much better this year but they flower, form, start turning red but then they like for before they are even ripe all the way. One side will be green and the red side with be bruise. Any tips? Thank you so very much!!!!
There could be a lot of factors in that. Sunlight, water, soil. Possibly try planting in a different area?
Hie my strawberry plants look so health and green but are not producing there are no signs of flowering,what can be the problem?
Try hand pollination!
Strawberry plants come in male and female plants, male plants have big leave and no fruit, when I buy strawberries I always look for ones with flowers on them those are the female plants.
What is the cause of strawberries with no taste to them. It was my second year with them and they produced beautifully but had no taste! Help!!!
Sorry to hear you are dealing with this. Here are a few suggestions.
1. Soil drainage can cause issues. Make sure your soil drains well. If needed, break up soil and add sand.
2. Try changmg where you grow the strawberries. Try raised beds
3. Make sure your plants have adequate sunlight. The sweetest berries need 8 hours of sun a day.
4. Space.. make sure the plants have enough room to grow. Spread them out.
5. Last, but not least.. use compost and fertilizer.
Let me know how these work for you. Best of luck!