Strawberry Growing Tips For 2023

no doubt everyone loves a juicy perfectly ripe strawberry but as a fruit that does not ripen off the plant they have to be picked basically when they're ready to eat making the reason to grow your own all the more important an astonishingly prolific hybrid of European and North American wildstock the modern strawberry plant is a low maintenance summer crop that punches far above its weight class while just one plant can give you a shocking amount of abundance it's kind of fun to imagine what a whole row of them would provide today let's talk about all the things that you need to do to max out your strawberries this spring both as a single plant and as a patch of many with strawberries it's not about working harder it's about working smarter yes they grow in a wide range of situations and they'll do just fine but give them Peak conditions well that's where the magic happens producing epic strawberry harvests is great it's what we're all here for but in order to do that you first have to get and establish the plants first this video is going to focus on all the growing tips to achieve the best possible strawberries but if you're just starting out and you're just planting your strawberries for the first time let's touch on all the parameters that strawberries need to look and perform their best as it is with many crops it all starts with the soil strawberries are unique in that they're equally at home in pots as they are out in the garden if you are growing in containers most quality potting mixes are going to work just fine as a base you always want the soil to be able to quickly absorb and hold on to moisture as strawberry roots are quite shallow but the soil cannot be so dense that it doesn't drain well it's Gotta shed the excess water strawberry plants at no point will ever tolerate standing water or soggy conditions with your soil all settled you can now pick up the spot where you'll want to grow your strawberries in the garden but you can't just pick anywhere because strawberries are a full sun plant so when you're scouting Out locations six plus hours a day of direct sunlight works best having said that I do find that they can tolerate some dappled shade here and there no problem they are a low Woodland type of crawling Berry plant so there is some leeway here but if you have the choice more sun is always better with the soil moisture and light parameters Med all that's left is the planting itself and with that you want a space of at least a foot between each plant we'll get to that spacing in just a minute but for now if you're planning and planting out your strawberry bed aim to keep the plants about a foot apart when planting make sure not to bury your strawberry plants too deep once that inner Crown gets buried the plants suffer and in extreme cases you could lose that mother plant altogether so set them up high and proud when you first plant them and you won't have any issues okay back to that spacing strawberry plants are quite unique in that they grow and expand horizontally they do this in two ways one by those crowns themselves dividing and multiplying but the most effective way is by stoleniferous appendages known as runners we'll touch on those Runners later but the point is strawberries like to grow and expand and they do it all on their own when you break it down strawberries are plants that like a Halo of space both room itself as well as from other plants really this one's important so give them their space okay with the planting done mulch thick and water thoroughly and your strawberries are successfully in the ground time wise we can plant our strawberries all the way from the last frost date in the early spring to the beginning of fall two to three weeks before our first frost date in the autumn strawberries are a cool climate crop and they need a winter dormancy this is fine but just realize that you probably won't get a reliable harvest in the first year of growing speaking of that fruit now that we're all up to speed with the planting let's go ahead and dive into those strawberry growing tips so that we can maximize our yields this summer hey if taking a deeper dive on the whole strawberry planting process is something that you're interested in check out the video in the top right corner like we said strawberry plants are quite low maintenance and they don't demand too much of us for the day-to-day but if we really want to tease out that Berry Bonanza this year there's a few things that we can do during the growing season to maximize our efforts and the first of those is weaving like we mentioned strawberry plants need their space Not only from each other but from other plants as well encroaching weeds and other colonizers are gonna cramp your strawberry plant style and really put a damper on their potential keep them clear of competing plants and they'll be much happier and productive as a result now one way to keep those weeds down and suppressed right off the bat is to mulch there's a reason why these guys are called strawberries a nice thick layer of straw works wonders to keep your beds and pots clear of weeds smothering them out and giving no fresh dirt for Airborne seeds to colonize more than that though a mulch layer is gonna trap in valuable moisture this cannot be overstated especially given the nature of a strawberry plant's shallow root system a thick layer of mulch is going to seriously mitigate evaporation trapping in that moisture and keeping the top layer of soil moist and bioactive this goes hand in hand with how a strawberry plant wants to grow and it's going to reduce the need to constantly water all summer long on top of that a mulch layer is going to moderate extreme temperatures always allowing your strawberries to operate in the safe Zone not too hot and not too cold always just right and really that's what I'm referring to when I talk about Peak conditions okay back to that watering like we said strawberry plants love the moisture they grow best when they constantly have access to water if they need it constant or better yet consistent is the key here strawberries are not like other crops and at no point should they ever have to go searching for water make no mistake those large broad leaves and those plump juicy berries take a lot of water and this is one crop that will immediately let you know if it's thirsty if conditions are too dry your strawberry plant is going to wilt right away it may look dramatic yes but within a matter of hours with access to moisture the plants bounce back the problem is we're not just interested in survival we're interested in Peak Performance and no doubt one or two drought scares at the wrong time is seriously going to kill your Harvest for the entire year even just a single drought scare when you want it the least can affect your Harvest I'd go as far to say as one drought one act of wilting during the flowering fruiting stage of a strawberry plant is going to result in a reduced pour or even no Harvest just one it's that important leafy crops can bounce back and not miss a beat like this lettuce here heck even beets can sometimes have dry periods and then bounce right back a fruiting strawberry plant has no such recourse and if they experience drought you run the risk of losing the entire Harvest for that year so keep them well watered just never flooded and never standing in water one trick that you container Growers can use is the water from below like we saw in our drought specimen earlier let the soil soak up as much water as it can possibly hold and then move on to the next pot once a week even in the Dead Heat Of Summer this could be a Difference Maker another thing that can make a difference with strawberries is nutrients soaking the soil from below like that instead of watering each and every day is going to allow that soil to hold on to its nutrients without being flushed frequently with fresh water from above the need to constantly fertilize and add back into the soil what gets used up is diminished having said that strawberry plants do like food compost is always the best but if you're going with a supplemental fertilizer strawberries only get fed twice a year once after all fruit has been picked and harvested in the late summer and then again in the early spring right after the dormancy break which for me was about six to seven weeks ago the fall feeding is to give back the plants some energy after a long fruitful season allowing them to go dormant and recharge over winter that's spring feeding however is to set those mother plants up for Max production for the coming summer this feeding is important both in timing and with what you use a balance blend skewing slightly higher in phosphorus and potassium is what you're after these are going to be the second and third of those three numbers that are found on the front label of all fertilizers they indicate the relative nitrogen phosphorus and potassium or your NPK ratio whichever one you choose liquid feed it into your patch or your containers once in the early spring and that's it no more feeding of those strawberries until the end of harvest I don't want to belabor the point but whatever you do whatever you feed with don't fertilize your strawberries if the berries are already on the plant it may look tempting like you're gonna boost production or add some flavor to the fruit but in fact it's the opposite mushy tasteless Globs is gonna be the result so please refrain from fertilizing if you already see fruit another thing with strawberries that can directly affect their growth in production are the runners like we said this is the main method in which strawberry plants reproduce themselves Runners also known as stolens are long offshoots of the main plant that start to appear a few weeks after they break winter dormancy they are composed of a long tough stem terminating in a daughter plant that is a direct clone of the main one absolutely brilliant reproductive strategy that knows no equal and if you're looking to increase your patch or your strawberry population this is the way but if you're already all planted up and you have enough strawberry plants these guys are nothing more than a drain on your production so we cut them off as soon as we see them some strawberry varieties are more prone to sending out Runners than others are but they all do it and it's always a drain on the plant at any stage in the life cycle so if you notice those Runners popping out especially during the flowering fruiting stage cut them off now if you do have a change of heart but you've already cut off all those Runners they can still be cultivated unattached from the mother plant simply root them in plain water at room temperature in plug trays they can then be planted up into small pots used at a later date this way you'll never have to buy strawberry plants ever again which brings us to our last strawberry growing tip and that's thyme strawberries are unique and that they take a while to get going in fact their first year is hardly ever their best year years two three and four are when your strawberries are really gonna get going bigger and more fruit as the plants really come into their own awesome stuff but it doesn't last forever because by year five maybe year six the plants begin to wane and production goes way down two things eventually happen with older strawberry plants the main mother plant will either burn itself out completely or they divide and multiply their crowns resulting in overgrowth and essentially creating competition from within thus on a four to five maybe six year cycle your strawberries are gonna have to be dug up and restarted it's just a fact of life with strawberry plants but it really explains the differences in production from year to year and speaking of explaining that was a lot too much to absorb on one go around so for maximum effect and retention let's recap those main points strawberries are a backyard favorite as evident by The Staggering numbers of small starters available for sale Every Spring but whether you buy your initial population or make your own from a few Runners strawberry growing is a long game long but not infinite the best years for production are years two three and four but after five seasons the main plants will likely need replacing so we need to maximize them at every turn for strawberries to reach their full potential to do this there's four main things to watch out for and stay on top of diligent weeding mulching water and nutrient levels and Runner removal you gotta keep your strawberries clear of competing plants so that they are not battling to find the resources mulching really helps with this as well as with temperature and moisture regulation keep your strawberries moistened but never submerged and if you are feeding only do it twice a year once in the early spring and then again after the last Harvest remove all those Runners as you see them making sure to be really diligent about this as brilliant as they are for reproduction and expansion they're an absolute drain on the plant and thus your yields no question these four things will all contribute to better harvests but when combined well that's when you start to see production go monumental without a doubt treated right and looked after strawberries can easily become your biggest producer especially when considering how little work they take if they're set up properly today hopefully we've given you the tools to do just that making this your best strawberry year ever and hey if strawberries are your jam I'll throw some links down below to a bunch more videos that I've done on them so you can take a deep dive if you're interested but for now happy growing best of luck in the patch this year guys and I'll see you soon hey thanks so much for watching guys I appreciate the support more than you know and if you're getting value from these videos please like and share them to spread the word and help your fellow Gardener to grow better foreign

Channel: The Ripe Tomato Farms

Views: 79,021

Keywords: how to grow strawberries, how to grow strawberries at home, growing strawberries, the ripe tomato farms strawberry, the ripe tomato farms, how to grow strawberries from seed, strawberry plant care, strawberry plants, strawberry plant, how to grow strawberries in containers, how to grow strawberries in a pot, growing strawberries in pots, growing strawberries in containers, propagating strawberries, planting strawberries in containers, planting strawberries in raised bed

Id: 4YBqRX3ZKtc

Length: 17min 24sec (1044 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 11 2023