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New Brunswick

I have a small patch of strawberries (33 plants) that are very close together. I have picked 24 boxes of berries so far and as the plants are nearly done producing for the season, I was wondering how to go about getting the patch ready for next year. Some sites say to till under the plants that bore this year, leaving the new runner plants, and other sites say to till up each side of the plants and leave an 8 inch wide strip of big plant in the center. I have many new runners...should I dig up the year old plants and set these new runners in their place? The soil is decomposed horse manure and is very easy to dig in but not so good for mowing off the tops of the plants with a lawn mower. The plants are huge and crowded so some pruning must be done...but how do I go about it?

7/10/2006 11:29:23 PM

Set side runners in new rows between the older crowns,(simply grab the runners and guide them to the new spot,put a rock on them until they root, keep them on a regular watering schedule) after they have rooted in, then remove the old crowns and till that area. Apply mulch up to the new plants,,pick all flowers the rest of this season. Next year you have new plants with added vigor. Make sure you keep a regular watering schedule when the fruit are setting on next spring you should average at least a box per plant in a well managed patch. This can be done until eventually you run into disease/blight then its time for a new site and new plants, preferably a different variety from a new source for the next patch.When getting new plants check out the everbearing varieties for 2 crops each year.
If you have the space you can also just snip the runners off and make another few rows for patch expansion, keep the older plants until the production slows,,then remove them and keep up the rotation.

7/11/2006 7:16:33 AM

New Brunswick

I don't really have any space between rows...they sort of ran in together. The plants are so huge it is hard to tell whos who. Could any of this pruning be done next spring?

7/12/2006 10:55:11 PM