Strawberry Growing Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs

hi everyone I'm CaliKim Welcome to my garden  one of my greatest joys of summertime is   growing strawberries the taste of homegrown  is absolutely amazing and way better than   You' buy at the grocery store now if you're a  first time strawberry grower or if you've been   growing strawberries for a while and wondering why  they're just not producing you want to watch this   video I'm going to share with you 10 mistakes  with strawberry growing that you want to avoid   at all costs so you can get a really good harvest  this season I have strawberries growing here in   my strawberry crate tower one of my favorite ways  to grow them it's basically three crates stacked   on top of each other lined with a smart pots  crate liners it's a great way to grow a lot of   strawberries in a little space I have about 20  plants in this tower first off strawberries do   not like their crowns planted too deep and let me  show you what the crown is where the stem attaches   there's a little woody part that's called the  crown so you want the roots in the ground the   crown above the ground and then of course the  stem above the ground and the reason for this is   when the crown are covered the strawberry plant  can rot which means it's not going to produce   or worse yet your strawberry plant will die now  you might be wondering why aren't my strawberry   plants producing and it could be because you're  only planting one type of strawberry there's   actually two different types of strawberries  Junebearing and everbearing and I always like to   plant varieties of both different types that way I  have harvest all season long now the June bearing   varieties pretty much produce one crop of a year  around June give or take depending on your climate   but they're nice big juicy berries the biggest  berries ever but once they're done producing   they don't produce again until the following year  these are great varieties to plant if you like a   whole bunch of berries at once like to make jams  or jellies or pies or that type of thing but the   everbearing will produce a couple of different  crops a year smaller berries they usually produce   one crop in May or June take a little break and  then regenerate might have some smaller berries   throughout the season and then generally they  produce another big crop in Fall so plant June   bearing and everbearing for berries all season  long another very common mistake to make with   strawberries is inconsistent watering and feeding  definitely don't want to do that because it will   really stress the plants out if they dry out  and stressed out strawberries are not going   to produce now what I've done to compensate for  this is I've installed drip irrigation here in   my hanging baskets I love growing strawberries and  hanging baskets they look very pretty hanging down   from the edge these are lined with a smart pot  basket liners and I can just step right outside   my back door and pick some for a quick little  snack so the drip irrigation means that I don't   have to remember to water takes the guesswork  out of it because a lot of times I get busy and   I can't get out here to water hangy baskets  and containers need watered a lot more often   they're going to dry out a lot quicker so with  drip irrigation you can set it to water once a   day which is what I do during the Spring and the  early summer In the Heat of the summer sometimes   these even get watered twice a day now feeding is  just as important at the beginning of each season   I add a handful of warm castings to my containers  and hanging baskets and just kind of scratch it in   around my plants This Is A Time release fertilizer  that'll feed them over the growing season and then   I give them a nice water soluble fertilizer at  the beginning of the season to kind of kickstart   them into production high nitrogen is important  at the beginning like fish fertilizer and then my   containers and hanging baskets give worm tea about  every 2 weeks to really keep their production   rolling along leaving unchecked runners in your  strawberry plants is another big mistake that you   can miss out on very big Harvest now let me show  you what a runner is it's a stem that shoots off   from the mother plant and it actually produces a  brand new free strawberry plant now you might be   thinking that sounds really good I want some  free plants however when you're growing your   strawberries during the peak of the season for  fruit production the runners can really take away   a ton of energy from the plant then you won't  get as much fruit the strawberries here in this   5 gallon smart pot are just waking up for the  season and they do have several runners coming   out of them now one of the runners is actually  rooted here in the ground and I'm going to clip   the runner from the mother plant so that more  energy goes into making a new plant and also   into producing berries for the mother plant but if  you do have a runner that hasn't rooted yet like   this one here what you can do is just pop it in  a little pot right next to the mother plant put a   landscape staple in and it will root after a week  or two when it gives a little bit of resistance   cut it from the mother plant that way you've got  another free plant and the mother has more energy   for fruit production now during the offseason  you can let your plants run as much as you want   root them and that way you'll have free plants  for next season if you found this video helpful   click the thumbs up button and subscribe  thanks another mistake that's a very easy   mistake to make especially when you're growing  strawberries in containers is overcrowding them   now over the winter time I had lots of runners  that actually automatically rooted in this 5   gallon container so it definitely needs thinned  out at this point in the season now when you're   planting berries for the very first time you  want to space them about 9 to 12 in apart so   about three plants for a 5 gallon container is  really perfect but you can definitely thin them   out as they grow I like like to use my garden  knife for this they're very very resilient   it's got some really nice roots in it see it's  still attached this this was a runner from the   original plant so we're going to go ahead  and cut that going to pop it right up here   in my herb garden which is perfect cuz I really  needed to fill in this area with more strawberry   plants just pop it right in there it's going to  take right off it it'll look really pretty with   the berries kind of spilling over the raised  bed by thinning out the berries here in my 5   gallon container it allows me to expand my berry  patch and will also really drastically increase   my fruit production this year year because these  berries will have a lot more room to spread out   the roots have more room to grow I'll get more  berries out of this container and more berries up   in my herb garden too another way I really enjoy  growing berries is putting them along the edges   of raised beds really makes good use of the space  they're easy to tuck in and then they just spill   over the beds and they look very very pretty  one big mistake I've made in the past before   is putting them in the wrong location they like  at least 6 hours of sunlight 8 hours of sunlight   is best for full-on production however they don't  like it too hot they stop producing flowers and   fruit once it gets over 85° and I know a lot  of you live in areas in the summertime where   it's way hotter than 85 so what I do is when it  gets over 85 Fahrenheit I cover them in shade   cloth and it's really a lifesaver it allows  some sunlight to penetrate but blocks out the   intensity of the sun's rays and allows the plants  to still get sunlight without stressing them out   with overly hot temperatures so I like to just  clip it to the sides here of my raised beds or   to my tomato cages and then once the temperatures  dip down below I take the shade cloth off so the   berries can enjoy the full benefit of the sun and  you'll be amazed at how much berry production you   get this way one of the biggest mistakes gardeners  make is forgetting to mulch now mulch is highly   underrated and it's just a good idea to get into  the practice of mulching whenever you plant but   especially with strawberries not only does it look  very very nice here in the raised bed but it's a   lot more than that when you're applying a nice  layer of mulch around your strawberries you're   also helping with water retention you're reducing  water evaporation but even more importantly than   that you're protecting the roots in extreme  heat and in extreme cold because strawberries   are a perennial and The Roots will survive the  winter they have a nice heavy layer of mulch   under them good mulches to use for strawberries  or for raised beds are this clean shredded straw   or shredded leaves and the strawberries are making  good use of the space by serving as spillers in   our raised bed we've also got some great looking  fillers in here greens and beans as well as the   thrillers the runner beans and some squash in the  back corner so for more info on how to double your   harvest and raised beds check out this video  here big mistake is to ignore pest control with   strawberries because the slugs the earwigs the  snails all love the strawberries just as much as   we do so as soon as I my strawberries I sprinkle  down some of am Monterey Sluggo Plus and it does   the job in taking care of the pest it's a bait so  the pests are attracted to the bait and then go   somewhere else to die and that way you don't have  any holes in your strawberries or your strawberry   leaves it's Mac's birthday week so make sure you  tell him happy birthday in the comments he's a 13   years old today our faithful garden dog I cannot  wait to harvest big beautiful juicy berries from   our garden oh it's one of my favorite things to do  in the summertime but if you've made some of these   mistakes don't be too hard on yourself just change  things over and let me know in the comments which   one of these strategies you'll be fine thanks  for watching see you next time in the garden

Channel: CaliKim29 Garden & Home DIY

Views: 53,625

Keywords: how to grow strawberries, how to fertilize strawberries, how to grow strawberries in containers, growing strawberries, how to grow strawberries in pots, how to grow strawberries in hot climates, how to grow strawberry, strawberry tower, strawberry crate tower, growing strawberries in containers, how to grow strawberries in a pot, growing strawberries in pots, growing strawberries at home, how to plant strawberries, growing strawberries in hanging baskets

Id: qvGBqndsKCY

Length: 9min 15sec (555 seconds)

Published: Wed May 08 2024