Strawberry HELP!!!
A neighbor dug up and gave me 40 strawberry plants, I took all the strawberrys and flowers off of them and planted them in rows with compost and peat moss (just like me other very very healthy strawberry plants on the other side of the yard) they where planted 2 days ago, I water everyday but the plants are not standing up? there just drooping? what can I do?
The problem is Avoight that they are best planted in the dormant season. They are losing water faster through the leaves than the newly planted roots can draw it up.avoight wrote:A neighbor dug up and gave me 40 strawberry plants, I took all the strawberrys and flowers off of them and planted them in rows with compost and peat moss (just like me other very very healthy strawberry plants on the other side of the yard) they where planted 2 days ago, I water everyday but the plants are not standing up? there just drooping? what can I do?
If they were mine I would cut off most, if not all the leaves, and give the roots a chance to establish.
Strawberry plants are tough little devils and it will not harm them and they will soon produce a new crop of leaf.
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applestar
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First, when you say you water every day, are you making sure to water deeply? Do you check by digging in the soil to make sure that the water has soaked in? One tip that I've read about when watering with hose end sprayer is to water until the soil surface starts to puddle and get shiny, let soak in, repeat, then repeat one more time.
When they were dug up, they lost a lot of their roots. It's possible that if these plants have full foliage and are in full sun (as strawberries should be), the transpiration loss of moisture is greater than what the roots, still needing to become established, can support.
While that is my guess, I don't know the exact method to take care of this. My inclination would be to clip of 1/3 of the leaves -- not the whole leaves but the tip of them. I'd just hold them in a bunch and use scissors, like giving them a haircut. I say this because this is what I would do when rooting cuttings. I guess the another method would be to clip off entire leaves, but I'm not sure if it would be better to clip off older leaves or younger leaves, or both.
They might also benefit from a bit of overhead shade until they're established.
When they were dug up, they lost a lot of their roots. It's possible that if these plants have full foliage and are in full sun (as strawberries should be), the transpiration loss of moisture is greater than what the roots, still needing to become established, can support.
While that is my guess, I don't know the exact method to take care of this. My inclination would be to clip of 1/3 of the leaves -- not the whole leaves but the tip of them. I'd just hold them in a bunch and use scissors, like giving them a haircut. I say this because this is what I would do when rooting cuttings. I guess the another method would be to clip off entire leaves, but I'm not sure if it would be better to clip off older leaves or younger leaves, or both.
They might also benefit from a bit of overhead shade until they're established.