Planting Strawberries For Maximum Growth And Fruit Production

Planting strawberries

Strawberries are simply a favorite during summer. The fruits, deeply red sprinkled with yellow seeds from outside, are juicy, aromatic and mouth-watering.

Having strawberry plants planted under the right conditions in a backyard guarantees endless rewards for many years.

Planting strawberries is fun and easy. With little planning, they can be planted with little space and produce healthy harvest year after year.

There are three strawberry cultivars that can be chosen to plant in a home garden—Ever bearing , June bearing and Day Neutral.

• Ever bearing strawberries can have two to three harvests of fruits alternately during spring, summer and fall. The fruits are smaller than the other two cultivars, however, they are the sweetest. They also do not send out runners.

• June bearing strawberry plants produce one large harvest of crop each year during a three-week period in spring. June bearing strawberry plants are traditional plants; they produce single flush of flowers and many runners. Its fruit is also the largest among the cultivars, and it is classified into early, mid-season and late varieties.

• The Day Neutral strawberries produce berries throughout the growing season. They also produce a few runners. This too has a smaller fruit.

In planting strawberry plants, sunlight exposure is an essential consideration. Strawberry plants thrive best when they are given six to eight hours of sunlight each day.

The soil must be sandy and well-drained, and rich in nutrients such as compost and manure. The plants do not favor irregular watering and standing water, and are sensitive to mildew and rot.

Hence, it should be established that they are cultivated in an area distant from other plants especially trees, grasses and other heavy feeders.

For regular size gardens, the strawberry plants must be cultivated between 18 inches. If the garden is larger, the space row is set to four feet apart to accommodate the developing runners.

Also, having plenty of room in between the plant will cut down losses because of diseases. For best crops produced, the soil is sterilized, maintains a pH level between 5.8 and 6.2, and kept cool by mulching.

Mulching between rows is beneficial in some ways. For one thing, it keeps the soil temperature down. It discourages weeds from growing, for another thing. Finally, it keeps the fruits from lying on the ground.

Mulching should be done without the black plastic because it will increase the soil temperature.

Planting strawberry can be done in many systems. Matted row system works best for June bearing strawberries as they send out many runners.

• The plants should be grown 18 inches apart in rows of 24 inches, and 4 feet between rows.

• During the first year, the flowers are pinched off to encourage plant vigor and production of runners.

• Pinching off the flowers means no crop for that year but more crops for the following year.

Hill system works best for Day Neutral and Ever bearing as neither sends out many runners. Instead, both plant cultivars focus their energy on producing multiple harvests.

A hill system is a raised bed of 8 inches high and 2 feet wide. The berries are set out in double rows of 12 inches apart. All flowers are removed on their first year until July 1st.

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