Strawberries, how much water?

[The Black Thumb]

I have 3 strawberry plants in a large planter. I researched and found that they need about 18" of water/rain over a 200 day growing period. This works out to just under 1" of water/rain per week. Does this sound correct? Just want to make sure they are a success! Thanks in advance!

[hendi_alex]

You can't measure water needs for a container plant in the same way that you would measure it for an in ground planting. During the rapid growth of spring I water my container strawberry plants almost every day. After fruit has started to set, water less frequently but never let the container dry too much, perhaps water when the top inch of so of soil gets dry. Also consider putting some kind of mulch on top of the soil as that will help prevent the strawberries from rotting.

[tn_veggie_gardner]

Strawberries will live just fine with a slightly minimal amount of water, but from my experience, they do better with more water (I.e. keep the soil moist almost all of the time).

[The Black Thumb]

Thanks for the input folks, my wife and daughters love strawberries and I want to make em proud!

[JONA878]

It would give your Straws a good boost if once a week you added a good Tom feed to your watering. the high potash in this feed is just what the berries love.

Jona

[The Black Thumb]

By Tom Feed, do you mean tomato feed? I did mix in some bone meal into the soil before planting.

[JONA878]

Sorry BT yes I did mean Tomato feed.
The good thing about this feed for strawberries is that it is a high Potash , low Nitrogen feed.
Straws, like most fruit, require high Potash levels to produce good fruit.
On the other hand , although they need Nitrogen, excess amounts can cause them to produce too much foliage to the detriment of fruit production.
Bone meal is a good planting fertiliser as it releases its nutrients slowly. It is relatively low in Nitrogen and high in Phosphorous.
NPK is normaly 4-12-0.

Jona