Can I move strawberry "mother" plants?

[Rusty]

Last fall I REALLY goofed. I put 30 wheelbarrow loads of fresh manure in my garden and covered it with hay. This spring I tilled it all in and planted 50 strawberry plants. Ho-boy! Was that a mistake! The bermudagrass from the manure and the bahiagrass from the hay are taking over the garden. The more I pull, the thicker it grows.

Can I "rescue" the strawberries by digging them out of the garden and re-homing them somewhere else? LOLOL I've got more grass in my garden than I have in my lawn! A lot of the strawberry plants have been smothered by the grass, but I could probably find 20-25 of them and put them somewhere else--like maybe in a strawberry barrel, or something of that sort.

Anybody ever done this? This late in the growing season? Or am I better off starting all over again next year?

Rusty

 

[simple life]

You could probably move the plants to a container or raised bed of some type if you have 25 of of them.
That way if you accidentally replant some of the grass/grass seed that could be lurking in them you will have it contained somewhere and able to control it more easily than if you have it spreading into your lawn or garden.

 

[blurose]

I've transplanted them this late in the season and had things turn out ok, but I'm in Oregon. I made sure to get a good ways away from the "roots" when I dug them up so as not to shock them too much. I did loose a few blossoms that just dried up and fell off after the move.

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

I would rather pull them up now save what you can and then harvest what you can and hope the best for next year.

 

[Tutter]

I would do it, as well.

I know that people have different feelings on hay as mulch, but that's why I am so careful about it. I'm sorry you experienced this, and hope that the transplanted strawberries do well for you!

 

[Rusty]

Well, I did it! I found all of 14 plants under all that grass, dug 'em up and stuck them in a bucket with water. I will pot them tomorrow. Then time will tell. Maybe if I can get that bed back into some kind of shape I can replant them back there in very early fall. Or I'll overwinter them in the pots and replant them in early spring--if they survive that long.

Gardens are really just an ongoing experiment to see what works and what doesn't, are they not?

 

[pjkobulnicky]

Here is an option .. all be it a difficult one.

Let the strawberry plants where they are. When they send up runners, direct the runners into pots set out in the bed. Let the runners root in the pots and then clip off the runners from the mother. Then replant the potted plants when you have the bed reworked. It is not the easiest method but the one most likely to yield healthy plants for production next year. See my related blog on this at http://pjkobulnicky.wordpress.com/ .

Paul

 

[simple life]

You are absolutely right about the gardens being one big experiement. Lucky for us all that we can share our experiences with eachother and learn from our mishaps and successes.I am glad that you were able to salvage some of your plants.