Caring For Strawberry Beds

Well, on Tuesday we planted the strawberries.  Now, how to take care of them.  Shortly after planting, you should begin to see new leaves emerge, followed fairly soon by flower buds.  Hard as it is for me to do, it is important to pinch off those first flower buds to allow the plant more energy to put towards strong root and plant development.  For june-bearing strawberries, this means you sacrifice the entire first season's crop, but you will be rewarded with much greater production in the following year.  For day-neutral and ever-bearing varieties, pinch off the blossoms for about the first six weeks of growth.  If the plants seem to be growing vigorously after that, it is ok to allow them to produce berries.

Strawberries need at least one inch of water per week.  It is best to water them deeply once a week, rather than giving them small amounts more frequently.  During very hot, dry, windy weather, your strawberry bed may require up to two inches of water per week to keep the soil consistently moist.  Always water your strawberries in the morning, if using overhead watering systems.  Strawberry plants are prone to fungal and bacterial diseases that thrive on wet foliage.  Watering in the morning gives the foliage the opportunity to dry off quickly.  Using a drip irrigation system gives you more flexibility in when you water because the water never touches the foliage, but it is important to not ever have water standing in your strawberry bed.  Not only will that foster diseases, but the strawberry crowns can suffer rot very quickly if the soil is not well-drained.

It is also important to weed diligently in the strawberry bed.  Beds can be quickly overtaken with weeds or renegade grasses, especially quack grass.  Berry production will be significantly inhibited if the plants need to compete with weeds for moisture and nutrients.  Laying mulch between the rows of the strawberry bed can help with this.  I use several layers of newspapers, covered with clean straw and this keeps the weeds down with very little cost to me.  You can also use landscape fabric or any other type of weed blocking substance.  It is not recommended that you use a pre-emergent herbicide, such as Preen, on your edibles.  There is a form of Preen that is formulated for use on edibles, made with corn gluten.  I personally have not seen much difference in weed production in those areas where I've tried the corn gluten products and those where I haven't used any type of pre-emergent herbicide, so I've decided to just save my money.

Runner plants will begin to emerge in early to mid-summer.  These can be left and allowed to fill out the spaces between plantings, but for ease of picking, it is a good idea to keep the rows open.  Any plantlets that crawl over the mulch between the rows can be gently lifted and place back into the row or snipped from the runner and moved to a new location.

Strawberries are prone to fungal diseases, such as root rot, gray mold, powdery mildew and botrytis.  Keeping your bed clean of weeds, allowing for good air circulation, watering appropriately, and keeping the area free of old plant debris will help.  In very wet years, sometimes it is hard to keep the bed healthy, in spite of your best efforts.  If you must, you can use a copper based organic fungicide to control the disease and not sacrifice your entire strawberry crop.  It is always important to follow the instructions for use and not use the produce any earlier than the recommended time frame.  Just because the copper fungicides are "organic", does not mean that they are safe for humans to consume.

I have very few problems with insect pests in my strawberry bed.  The same cannot be said for bird pests.  Some weeks, I am very fortunate to find a single berry that does not have "bird pecks" in it.  I don't begrudge the robins and the orioles, the cedar waxwings, and assorted other fruit eating birds a few of my berries to share.  But, I do get irritated when they peck holes in every single berry and then leave the rest of it to rot.  To add insult to injury, they then go to my pond to drink and use my furniture there as their own private outdoor bathroom.  Arghhh!!!! 

To deter those little feathered devils, it works best to use bird netting over the entire bed. I place stakes around the bed for the netting to rest upon so that the berries are beyond the reach of the beaks.  Then I stretch two layers of net in different directions.  I've found that a single layer does not deter them - they find a way under it or peck their way through the plastic netting until there is a hole large enough for them to get through.  If they manage to peck their way through the first layer, they usually get caught in between and have to stay there until I take mercy on them and let them free.  In the interim, they raise such a ruckus that it deters other birds from heading that way.  The net gets tacked down with landscape staples to keep them from getting underneath.  It is a pain to have to uncover the bed each time I need to pick berries, but those sweet, juicy, bird-peck free berries are usually worth it! 

Someday, though, I am going to build an enclosed, covered fence around the entire berry patch.   Then I'll sit inside it and laugh at the birds while they are forced to watch the berry juice running down my chin!