| We have different types of strawberry plants, all everbearing. Last year all our strawberry plants had very little fruit and the fruit they had was very small. Do we need to start all over again with new plants? Or, can we make the ones we have produce with doing something diffrent with the soil? Thank you! |
| Everbearing strawberries typically have two crops each year with small amounts of fruit produced between the main crop in June and a lighter crop in late summer or early fall. The fruit size differs between varieties, and plant maturity and the weather are what control the numbers of fruits your plants will produce. Strawberry plants are usually culled after their third season after being replaced by runners. This year dig the soil around the plants and amend it with compost or aged manure in preparation for rooting some of the runners from your original plants. Allow your plants to develop runners and peg them down into the prepared soil so they will be sure to root. At the end of the growing season cut the stems that attach the runners to the parent plants and remove the parents from the garden. Your new strawberry plants will grow larger next year - pull or cut off any flowers before they set fruit to redirect the plant's energy into growing a larger root system and crown. The following year you can begin harvesting the berries and you can continue to harvest for 3 years. Repeat the soil prep and pegging the runners the third summer so you can renew your bed with offsets from the plants. Enjoy your harvest! |
