Strawberry Patch Question

[5azsisters]

Here's how my strawberries look right now.

We have had many hard freezes and I still have green leaves coming up.

I plan to clean out the grass but was wondering if I should leave the dead strawberries leaves as mulch or clean them out.

Plan to use organic fertilizer next month.

Anything else I should do?

Thanks in advance for the help

Jacie :watering

 

[Buff Shallots]

Jacie, how old are those plants? If 3 years old or younger, I would clean up the dead leaves (trying not to upset or damage the crown), and fertilize when the crown starts to show new growth.

If older than 3 years, consider all new plants?

 

[5azsisters]

Jacie, how old are those plants?

They were only put in last year. What happens if you do not put in new plants every 3 years. Do they quit producing because I remember my Mom's very large strawberry plot and she never replaced the plants.

Jacie

 

[patandchickens]

I know that actual strawberry growers, and serious backyarders, have complex schemes of several different sorts for partly or fully replacing the plants every year or every couple years, generally in a regimented geometric layout and all that.

However, I have to say that my parents' strawberry patch was renovated every 10 years or so but otherwise pretty much left to its own devices, and aside from serious depredations by squirrels and a need for lots and lots of stale beer slug traps, it has always produced Real Well. (Until this past summer -- alas, my parents, who are now in their eighties, decided it was too hard to crawl around picking strawberries every coupla days during strawberry season, and mowing around it the rest of the time, so now it has been returned to lawn -- R.I.P. mom's homemade strawberry preserves with their erratic jelling habits :/ )

Anyhow. If it were me, having been raised as per the foregoing, I would mulch lightly with straw or dried leaves to try to discourage the plants from growing incessantly during the winter. It is probably weakening them. Remove mulch once Real Growing Weather arrives.

If I had had disease or pest problems last year, or if disease or pest problems were common in my area, I would 'deadleaf' all brown or reddish leaves. Otherwise I would probably be lazy and leave them, at least til spring (I'm not saying this is the best thing to do, but at least if you are my parents, you can generally get away with it <g>).

Next summer after strawberries are pretty much over, I would remove any plants that look sad and 'over the hill', and I would encourage runners to take their place. Other than that, I'd just kind of wait and see what happens. If you need to renovate some year, so you need to renovate, why not wait and see what happens first

Mind, I have NO idea how things may be different growing strawberries in Arizona. I suppose you have to keep the javelinas out of the patch, and stuff like that <g>

JME,

Pat

 

[Settin'_Pretty]

Snakes love strawberry patches with heavy mulch.
Not trying to scare you away from a good practice, just suggesting you carry a stick to poke around with when you go to pick.
How many berries I've smushed.... running from a snake that popped up, could probably be entered in the book of records.... somewhere.

Everbearing or june bearing?

If you get runners, I allow them to root by setting a stone on top of the vine next to the new growth so it will root.
I then transplant those in a pot as replacements or new patches.

It's good to cover them at the end of the season with a blanket as frost protection.
It's good to place netting over them before the fruits start setting, or about that time, to keep the birds from robbing you blind.
Other than that, strawberries pretty much take care of themselves.
Your chickens will love you for growing strawberries.
They will build an alter to you and hum in soft voices when they see you coming.

 

[5azsisters]

thanks everyone for all the hints on what to do.

They are covered with netting. And the javelina stay away because of the geese and llamas! LOL!


Thanks again everyone

Jacie

 

[Rosalind]

Are you watering them? I wouldn't bother watering them in winter. Just mulch well with straw (of course) and leave 'em be.

I used to take out dead leaves in early spring by setting one of the old-fashioned blade mowers at its highest setting and mowing the buggers, then raking about half the straw off. But mine weren't still growing in the early spring, either.

A little sprinkle of greensand won't go amiss, either.

 

[silkiechicken]

Mine looks just like that. I pick out weeds between them and just let them go. I plant on year one, let them go for three years while just weeding, then on the third spring, I pick out all the plants, separate out mother plants and runners, and replant them all in a slightly different spot, such as plant in the rows and make the old rows the new walk ways. The first year I end up with lots of small berries, the second year they are bigger and fatter, and the third year they are bigger but fewer. Probably could go a fourth, but just got used to the 3 year rotation.

I accidentally ran out of space last year and found that if I didn't switch the planting spot, the berries I replanted over the old plot area were less vibrant and were not as productive as the ones placed onto fresh soil.

I only water in spring when berries are producing. Rest of the year they just go dry... but being up here in the PNW.. it's never really dry, bar maybe 3 weeks... total..

 

[vegie chicken]

i make separate rows and put black plastic beetween the rows for weeds and works well. poke small holes in plastic for water penetration and covered the plastic with hay.