At least my strawberries are close

This one of 2 plants that I had from last year and it is going nuts. I only got 3 strawberries off of it last year due to some hungry deer eating it to the ground but it came back nicely. I hope it is not the only one that produces fruit this year.

It is a Quinalt and this is it's second year. I hope to get a third year out of it but will see how it does this year. I assume that every strawberry species is the same and really only produces well for 2-3 years, right?

 

Nice looking strawbs, F4A. That plant looks right for a second year plant.
I usually keep my plants no longer than two years, although when I have a bed that is full of especially good producers, I do keep them one extra year.
In my plot the second is the best year and so I do not waste time with holding out for a third year and just take the plantlets at the end of the second season and plant them out in august.

I hope that your strawbs are very tasty this year.

 

Ive already eaten my first two strawberries *lol* they were small but so yummy!!

 

I have known people that have had strawberry beds for years without problems !!The plants will put out runners that will become new plants !! I just snip the runner and let it grow and produce !! Or move it to a place I want a new start !! I have Allstar and Sequoia !! Both are June bearing !!

 

eileen, haven't gotten to eat any yet but 4-6 of them are getting close. hopefully the warm weather coming will get them growing well.

All of the strawberries I have are everbearing, season is too short here for June bearing for the most part.

I will be taking all the runners I get and starting them this year so I have healthy strong plants for next year. The store bought ones are so hard to get to grow properly. If I ever make myself a big strawberry planter I will be able to start new plants all the time and move old ones out every year. Either that or when I finaly buy a house I will be able to start my own rows and won't have to worry about it anyomore.

 

Even though mine are June bearing they are producing pretty well now !! And this is their first year !! Last year I got the everbearing and only got a berry every now and then !! They were not worth the trouble for me !! Because they say "June Bearing" doesn`t mean that they will not produce earlier or later than that !! I think that it just means that whatever month it hits the right day length and temp. they will produce for that period !! Here in Texas they are green all winter and can take a lot of cold weather without problems !! Even if they go dormant and the tops die off the roots are fine and will come back in the spring !! Some even need the cold to stop the berry production and get the plant ready for dormancy !!

 

I don't know about June bearers here. My grandmother had them as well as everbearing ones and the evers out produced everything and she got lots of berries for months on end. I may try some Juneb's when I have more room and have everything set up for them.

 

Hopefully soon you will have a place for them and lots more !!! I just hope mine continue to do as well as they are now !! The berries on the sequoia are huge !!! Much bigger than the allstar and very sweet !! I may add a couple of new varieties later !!

 

I am trying Sequoia and Quinault this year (only bought one of each plant last summer and divided plants in the fall.

My Sequoia's are looking about like yours F4A and really had a lot of new plants off the one. My Quinaults are fewer and smaller plants so far. They were on several favorite picks for strawberries so it is good to see yours F4A. I should have encourage more root growth and not new plants from what I read. The taste of the Quinaults has also been classified as sweeter than most. Can't wait to see/taste to judge for myself. Yuuuummmmm

Both the Sequoias and the Quinaults were supposed to be everbearing, so will have to wait and see. Might have been mislabeled :-?

 

They should be ever bearing, my grandmother's produced all year long as long as we kept the berries picked.

My large one was a huge specimen from last year. I only got 3 berries off it last year because the deer ate it to the ground. I think it will produce for a long time this year once the weather stays in a warmer cycle. It recovered well and the root ball was the size of cantalope even in the tiny planter I had it in. Have spoiled it a little this year so we will see how well it produces. 30+ flowers and berry starts isn't bad for how cold it has been.

 

With that many flowers you will be surely enjoying fresh strawberries by the bowlful this summer.

 

Whens best to move the runners?

wait for them to get some roots then transplant?

i've got a couple of 2yr old in one bed and an empty strawberry patch we built this year ready for new plants.

Had totally forgotten about runners as possible new plants :-D

 

This is what I have found most often for planting Runners: Leave the baby plants connected to the runner and mother plant, plant it in a small planter and let it grow until it gets established and then cut it off. This is what I am going to do this year with all of my runners when I let them go far enough to make little ones.

 

I leave mine till they have good roots put down then snip the runner and transplant with as much dirt as possible. I usually water well a day or two before transplanting so that the roots stay moist. I have not found that one time is better than another for transplanting as long as they don`t get too dry. Mine seem to do better if transplanted while small.