Strawberries - cover them or not?

[RogueRose]

Last year I covered the strawberries with pine needles. I have not covered them at all yet this year and I might be too late. Do I need to cover them?

[applestar]

Deep freeze is coming. I recommend you cover them with whatever you can -- compost with straw and pine needles are great. I've resorted to fall leaves when desperate though they increase chance of slugs/snails, saw/pillbugs eggs/young getting added.

Strawberry plants will heave themselves out of the ground without mulch or snow cover.

[RogueRose]

Yeah mine started to come up through the mulch this year - real stubborn little plants! I love them.

[Harvester of sorrow]

I have been growing strawberries for 8 years now and I don't cover them at all during the fall/winter. I give them a little mulch of shredded leaves and that's it. The only time mine get covered is when they are starting to bloom and frost is forecast.

[JONA878]

If you suffer from very cold winters then it can pay to protect them with a covor of some sort...straw or leaves etc.
However....remember that once the plants get going in the spring then it is best if straw mulch is kept away from the plants while they are at the flowering stage.
If you should get an early ground frost dureing this period the straw will isolate the flowers from the residual heat in the soil and will make them more susceptable to frost damage.
So wait until you are sure you are frost free before the final strawing up unless you can protect them with full covor.

[mywebinfo]

I have mine mulched pretty good with shredded paper. I heard the strawberry roots are delicate and need to be protected from frozen ground. Mine have been doing just fine with and without and look real good right now even though we are freezing. The leaves of the plants are showing but the little roots are buried under the shredded paper. They seem to be happy. We'll see when the summer comes.